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ITU INNOVATION CENTRE IN NEW DELHI, INDIA

BACKGROUND

A digital innovation divide splits countries into digital haves and have-nots. In the latter, talent is unfulfilled, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are struggling, and the slow digital transformation of economies and communities affects livelihoods and the achievement of development goals. Countries need access to a more resilient and forward-thinking approach along with cutting-edge innovation at their fingertips, which entails developing new capabilities and localizing these capabilities for sustainability.

The Asia-Pacific region is widely seen as a dynamic digital hub. However, there is a divide in the region between those countries that are top performers globally and those whose digital ecosystem is relatively nascent. The region hosts top performers including China and India, as well as 23 Member States that can be considered LDCs, LLDCs, and/or SIDS among the 39 Asia-Pacific Member States covered by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

India, in particular, has experienced remarkable growth in the digital innovation ecosystem. From its earliest days as an outsourcing hub, India has been racing up the Global Innovation Index produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and, in 2022, was 40th in the world and an impressive rank 1 among lower middle-income group economies and in the Central and Southern Asia region.(1) That innovation culture has created fertile ground for start-ups. According to India's Economic Survey 2021-2022, India is now estimated to have the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world, with 83 Indian startups valued at more than $1 billion. Additionally, Delhi has replaced Bangalore as India's startup capital, with 5,000 recognized startups added in Delhi vs 4,514 startups added in Bangalore from April 2019 – December 2021.

Innovation center 1.png India's strengths are further highlighted through the rising Deep Technology (DeepTech) and sectoral strengths in digital innovation, per the graphic above.(4) Despite these strengths, stakeholders in the India digital technology innovation ecosystem can face the following barriers: 1) Adapting to the fast-changing global digital environment; 2) Becoming an effective adopter of emerging digital technologies; and 3) Becoming a driver of digital innovation that creates socioeconomic impact globally, beyond the domestic market.

These challenges are also replicated in both the Asia-Pacific and global region, especially regarding the digital innovation divide. UNCTAD's 2020 Technology and Innovation Report highlighted the fear of widening technological gaps, with developed countries adopting frontier technologies, reducing the labor-cost competitiveness of developing countries, including in Asia. Their Frontier Technologies Readiness Index showed that Asia's average score was at the world average, below 0.5 out of 1.Among the 46 countries included in the report as Asia and Oceania, 11 of them were placed in the lowest 25 percent quartile, while 10 were in the top 25 percent quartile.(6) There remains a distinctive digital innovation divide in readiness to adopt frontier technologies and innovation in the region.

In response, ITU has launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development (Alliance). This initiative is in line with Resolution 90 on 'fostering telecommunication/ICT-centric entrepreneurship Digital innovation ecosystems for sustainable digital development', and Resolution 89 on 'Digital Transformation for sustainable development' adopted by the last World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-22) held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2022. It offers a new approach to bridging the Digital Innovation Divide and empowering ITU-D membership to overcome challenges on their path through digital transformation – unlock their digital potential, build local capabilities in innovation and entrepreneurship, and accelerate their ecosystems' impact on cross-cutting sectors for an inclusive and sustainable society.

The Alliance will enable transformational projects, fostering digital innovation and entrepreneurship for national, regional and global impact. It will help strengthen countries' capabilities to integrate ICT innovation into national development agendas and build humTo navigate the changing environment, stakeholders need to fast-track four strategic objectives to enable acceleration of ecosystems:an and institutional capabilities.

To navigate the changing environment, stakeholders need to fast-track four strategic objectives to enable the acceleration of ecosystems.
Innovation center 2.png

INNOVATION CENTRE OVERVIEW

The vision of the global Innovation Centre (IC) hosted in India is to drive and mainstream emerging technologies and digital innovation in critical aspects of inclusive and sustainable digital transformation regionally and globally to reduce technological inequities in key focus areas. The IC will deliver its mission by accelerating four strategic objectives through a whole-of-ecosystem approach: trend research, open technology innovation, the growth of SMEs and Entrepreneurship, and policy experimentation, while partnering with India's and region's leading technology solution providers, SMEs/startups, incubators, financing institutions, government agencies, regulators and academia. The Centre will be led by BDT and collaborate with all ITU sectors to amplify the work of the Union to deliver transformational impact.

The IC will bring together the main stakeholders of the digital innovation ecosystem (entrepreneurs, finance, support networks, public sector, academia and, private sector) and serve as a global centre to reduce technological inequities. It will also allow for spotlighting of the Indian innovation ecosystem through South-South and Triangular cooperation, while supporting ITU's mission with new capabilities and accelerating digital development.

While the Innovation Centre will be part of and co-located with ITU's Area Office in Delhi, it is a separate project with a global focus beyond the South Asia region. ITU proposes to revisit the viability of possible relocation to any other location in 2025 after the next World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly (WTSA) to be held in India in 2024.

The IC will provide work on the following areas of focus:

Connectivity
Digital Applications and Services
Digital Innovation Ecosystems
Digital Public Goods
Other areas to be identified over the course of the IC workplan implementation.

To work on these focus areas, the IC will provide and utilize the following services:

Trend research readiness: Develop trend research and strategic foresight capabilities and engage academics and relevant stakeholders to conduct activities on relevant topics of focus areas
Open technology innovation: Encourage technology innovation that will support projects to accelerate the development of open technology
Capacity building : Develop capacity-building content and initiatives while leveraging relevant ITU capacity-building platforms and partners
Global goods showcase: Develop platforms for showcasing global goods (including digital public goods) and related technology in key areas, including physical and online
SME and entrepreneurship scale-up: Establish an accelerator to support calls for ready solutions and seed funding support for SME and entrepreneurship scale-up regionally or globally
Policy experimentation: Establish a policy knowledge base in the selected topics of focus areas, to provide stakeholders with safe space for experimentation, encouraging innovation and attracting investment in the digital ecosystem/
Changemaker network: Develop a digital innovation network of changemakers with specific interests in the key areas.

Linked to the above seven services it is proposed to have the following activities:

No	Service	Activities	Planned Timeline
1	Trend research readiness	Event : Digital Health Joint Workshop and Symposium Onboard research : Foresight issue on Digital health and technology for socioeconomic development	TBD
2	Open technology innovation	Event: Safe and Secure School Connectivity Sensitization Event	July/August 2023
2	Open technology innovation	Event: ITU-T Metaverse Standards Event: ITU-T Climate Change Standards including data centers and e-waste Event: ITU-T Green Data Center Standards Event: ITU-T Financial Inclusion and Digital Financial Services Security Lab Event: ITU-T Metaverse Standards Challenge: ITU-T Smart Incubator challenge on standards Onboard Public good challenge: Digital public goods for IOTs in agriculture and finance	TBD
3	Capacity building	Event: Introduction to Govstack and Country Engagements	August 2023
3	Capacity building	Event: UNDESA Bangladesh Study Tour to India Event: Cisco Academy and Capacity Development	TBD
4	Global good showcase	Event: ICANN and Universal Acceptance and Localization	August 2023
		Event: Global Innovation Forum	October 2023
		Event: AI for Good Global Summit	TBD
5	SME and entrepreneurship scale-up	Onboard of SMEs Scale-up Challenge: Agritech south-south IoT scale-up challenge	TBD
6	Policy experimentation	Onboard of Project: IoTs policy sandbox	TBD
7	Changemaker network	Onboard Platform project: Indian Digital Innovation Network	TBD

POTENTIAL PARTNERSHIP

The dedicated programmatic activities and equipment needed should be financed/provided by the resource mobilization from potential partners. Specific partners could be as follows:

CDOT
Private sector, especially for in-kind equipment support and specific programmatic activities (mobile operators, satellite operators, HAPs operators, small operators, community networks operators, value added service companies, service providers and global operators e.g., Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Cisco, Nokia, Starlink, SAP, Amazon, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel),
UN Office for South-South Cooperation,
Development banks (e.g., the World Bank, African Development Bank, Asia Development Bank, etc.), investors, bilateral or multilateral donors (e.g. EU, GIZ, FCDO) and other UN Agencies (UNDESA, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNCDF, etc.)
Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and IT, India,
Other Accelerators and Labs: WFP Accelerator, UNDP SDG Accelerator, other Accelerators and labs from the UN system and other accelerators and labs from ITU members, Fablabs,
UNESCAP, APCICT and APCTT,
Academic Institutions, Civil society, NGOs and, foundations.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Further information, you may contact :
itu-ic-southasia@itu.int

Information Material :
Co- Creation Report >
India Innovation Centre PPT >