GENEVA, October 24 (Itar-Tass) — About 250 representatives of governments, industry, NGOs and academic circles are taking part in the ITU Telecom World 2011 exhibition that is opening here on Monday. The forum’s organiser is the International Telecommunication Union, headquartered in Geneva.
The exhibition, which will be held at the Palexpo Centre, will be attended by the leaders and chief executives of such major players in the telecommunications market, as Alcatel Lucent, Intel, Microsoft, Ericsson, AT & T, China Mobile and others.
Among the guests of the forum are Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Margaret Chan, Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Francis Gurry, Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Jose Angel Gurria.
The agenda of the prestigious exhibition focuses on global issues that are acquiring a new form and change the focus in the information and communication technologies that are rapidly changing in today’s world. Thus, the exposition will highlight such topics as the use of communications capabilities to solve problems caused by urbanisation, innovations in the field of telecommunications, the use of communication in healthcare, education, financial markets and for entertainment, organisation of broadband access, the subject of security in the sphere of ··telecommunications.
A summit of broadband communication leaders, conferences on digital cities to discuss how technologies can help solve problems arising from rapid urbanisation, an in-depth technical symposium on promising technological development are to be held during the exhibition.
ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Toure told journalists before the forum that “this time, more emphasis will be placed on establishing high-level contacts and exchange of experience and consensus-building rather than on the exhibition format, as it was in the previous years.” He called Telecom World “a unique platform for meetings between representatives of the state sector with the heads of private companies.”
Russia, the same as two years ago at Telecom World in Geneva, has its own stand at the exhibition, which will represent nine Russian companies. Minister of Communications and Mass Media Igor Shchegolev heads the Russian delegation.
The first ITU Telecom World event was held in 1971. It quickly established itself as the leading exhibition and forum for the global ICT industry. Bringing together representatives of governments, regulators and industry, the event has provided a forum for some of the industry’s most influential people to collaborate and engage in high-level dialogue on the major challenges facing the sector.
In 1985, the ITU Telecom staged its first regional telecommunication exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region – Asia Telecom85. This was followed the next year by its first regional event in the Africa region — Africa Telecom86. By 1992, the series of regional telecommunication exhibitions was completed with the first such events in the Americas region — Americas Telecom 88 and in the Europe region - Europa Telecom 1992.
ITU Telecom World 2009 was attended by over 2,250 VIPs, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers, Ambassadors, heads of regulatory agencies, and CEOs from around the world. Through a series of top-level roundtables, meetings and debates, the event addressed pressing issues such as climate change, global economic recovery and cyber security.
Unlike the previous events, ITU Telecom World 2011 will dispense with a traditional exhibition show floor and instead focus on facilitating knowledge sharing, networking, deal making and consensus building. By addressing the major trends and challenges facing the ICT industry – at both a governmental and industry level – ITU Telecom World 2011 will provide a forum for high-level debate and decision-making. Bringing together top-level representatives of government and industry under one roof for four days, ITU Telecom World 2011 will be held in Geneva between 24–27 October 2011.
Participants will range from Heads of State and Government from around the world, CEOs, key players from big business, telcos, technology companies, manufacturers, operators, content and applications providers; plus regulators, policy advisers and key media players.
The agenda will address the macro challenges facing all 6.8 billion people on the planet that can be influenced by the ICT industry. ITU Telecom World 2011 aims to provide insight into the role that ICTs have, and will have, in changing people’s lives, creating the forum for analysis, debate and examination of the global challenges; ultimately discussing how individuals, governments and organisations address these concerns.
The invitation-only Broadband Leadership Summit will bring together government representatives, the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development and other key players to discuss global and regional issues relating to broadband today. With half of the world’s citizens who are already city-dwellers, Digital Cities'11 will see mayors of the world’s major cities, digital innovators, experts in utilities, technologies, city planning and transport and industry CEOs address how building better cities for a better future means building better connections.
Through a series of forums, delegates will discuss the issues that dominate the boardrooms of major ICT companies, and the technologies that will be taking us into the future. In addition, core sessions and workshops will provide a deeper dive into thematic issues where ICTs are helping to shape the future such as cloud computing, monetising the real time web and other new business models, innovation in emerging markets, the permeability between ICT and other sectors, smart living, cyber security and spectrum. Key sessions include ‘Pathway to a Connected World’, ‘Future Internet’, ‘Smarter Lives’ and ‘Data: Free and Priceless’ and bring together CEOs of global ICT companies with government ministers and Internet pioneers with NGOs tackling the challenges of globalisation.