The completely updated edition of the Digital Review of Asia Pacific contains authoritative reports on how 31 economies are using ICT in business, government and civil society written by senior authors who live and work in the region. Included are two subregional chapters on ASEAN and APEC.

United Nations Meets Web 2.0

New Media, New Entrepreneurs and New ICT Opportunities in Emerging Markets

The Global Alliance for ICT and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA-GAID) organized an event, entitled "United Nations Meets Web 2.0 - New Media, New Entrepreneurs and New ICT Opportunities in Emerging Markets", on 25-26 March 2008, in Conference Room IV of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This event was second in a series of intimate, interactive and action-oriented meetings organized by UNDESA-GAID with ICT leaders, who create new and innovative technologies.

Location(s)

See map: Google Maps

If the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was the summit of opportunities, Connect Africa can be best described as the summit of assurances.

Listening to panelists at the first day of the International Telecommunications Union's Connect Africa Summit in Kigali one cannot but wonder why, if connecting Africa is going so well, why it was necessary to convene the summit at all.

The Commission decided at its recently held tenth session, that the themes for this inter-sessional period will be on:

* Development-oriented policies for socio-economic inclusive information society, including access, infrastructure and an enabling environment

* Science, technology and engineering for innovation and capacity-building in education and research

* Progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes at the regional and international levels

Location(s)

Some of the world's leading information technology corporations are in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, for what organizers are calling a historic summit focusing on Africa's growing IT sector. Representatives of tech giants are calling for business solutions to alleviate poverty.

Industry leaders say chronic poverty in Africa will be alleviated by investment in information technology, rather than foreign aid.

The "Connect Africa" summit concluded today in Kigali with commitments to create the right regulatory environment from African leaders and pledges by private-sector leaders to invest in the continent's communications sector.

Some 1,000 participants -- including six African Presidents, executives of information and communications technology (ICT) companies and heads of international development banks -- convened in the Rwandan capital to devise ways to improve Africa's information and communications technology infrastructure, especially in relation to Internet broadband connectivity.

As a two-day summit on improving Africa's information technology infrastructure wrapped up today in Rwanda, the head of the United Nations telecommunications agency reminded investors that Africa is "open for business and looking for partnerships."

The Connect Africa Summit, held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, brought together some 1,000 participants, including political leaders, executives of information and communication technology (ICT) companies and heads of development banks.

African countries working jointly to construct an undersea telecoms cable should harmonize laws governing the sector if they are to land the much-awaited communications link, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

Some 23 nations on the east of the continent have long harbored a much-delayed plan to build the submarine cable to slash Internet and calling costs in a project known as the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy).

I. Investing in education and training

1. Train teachers to integrate technology into classrooms

Computers aren't magic, teachers are. Putting the right technology tools and teacher training in place now will help the next generation learn skills required in today's global knowledge economy.

According to Gary Bolles, President of Microcast Communications, big information technology corporations in Silicon Valley are going through a change in their "mindset" concerning emerging markets.

Speaking to a U.N. panel, Bolles said that IT firms are thinking about how technology can benefit developing countries in different ways than in developed countries. However, he also noted that firms were still hesitant to get started in emerging markets.