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WTIS 2015 - Programme

Programme


Download the programme (pdf format)

Follow the event live through the WTIS-15 webcast and remote participation. 
 
Sunday, 29 November 2015
15.00-18.00 ​Peace programme
Floral tribute for monument at Peace Memorial Park (Pre-registration only).
​19.00 ​Hiroshima Soirée
Official reception at Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima (Hosted by Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima City and MIC).

 
Monday, 30 November 2015
​09.00-09.30 Opening ceremony 
Special opening ceremony commemorating ITU’s 150th Anniversary.
  • H.E. Ms Sanae Takaichi, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan - [biography]
  • Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU - Speech - [biography]
  • H.E. Mr Yasuo Sakamoto, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, Japan - [biography]
  • Ms Makiko Yamada, Director-General, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan - [biography]
  • Mr Brahima Sanou, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU - Speech -  [biography]
  • Mr Kiyoshi Mori, Director-General for International Affairs, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan and Chair of WTIS-15 - [biography]
​09.30-10.00 Group picture
​10.00-12.00 Ministerial Roundtable: ICT as a driver of sustainable development                   
 
In September 2015, the international community committed to a new sustainable development agenda, with 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. As a key enabler of development, ICT plays a key role in the policy debate aimed at implementing the post 2015 development agenda. This session will hear from Ministers across the world how ICT can drive sustainable development. In particular, the session will address the following questions:
  • What is the role of ICT in achieving sustainable development goals including in areas such as poverty reduction, education, economic growth or inclusive societies?
  • How can ICT drive innovation and entrepreneurship? What are the requirements and preconditions for unlocking the potential of ICT for innovation, and what is the role of businesses and the public sector?
  • What data are required to monitor sustainable development, growth and innovation?
Moderator: Dr Cosmas Zavazava, Chief of Department, Project Support and Knowledge Management, ITU - [biography]

Speakers:
  • H.E. Ms Sanae Takaichi, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan - [biography]
  • H.E. Mr Celistino Bonifacio Bakale Obiang, Minister of Transport, Technology, Post and Telecommunications, Equatorial Guinea - [biography]
  • H.E. Dr Debretsion G/Michael, Deputy Prime Minister Ranking, Finance and Economic Cluster Coordinator, and Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Ethiopia - [biography]
  • H.E. Mr Pastor Ngoua N'neme, Minister of Digital Economy and Post Office, Gabon - Background document (pdf) - Policy statement (pdf) -  [biography]
  • H.E. Dr Joao Bernardo Vieira, Minister of Transport and Communications, Guinea-Bissau - [biography]
  • H.E. Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, Secretary General, Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, Malaysia - Policy statement (pdf) - [biography]
  • H.E. Mr Tjekero Tweya, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia - Policy statement (pdf) - [biography]
  • H.E. Mr Mario G. Montejo, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology,  Philippines - [biography]
  • H.E. Dr Pansak Siriruchatapong, Vice Minister, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Thailand - [biography]
  • H.E. Mr Siaosi Sovaleni, Deputy Prime Minister, Tonga - [biography]
  • H.E. James Kapyanga, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Zambia - [biography]
  • H.E. Dr Win Mlambo, Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Zimbabwe - Policy statement (pdf) - [biography]
​12.00-13.30 ​Lunch break
​13.30-15.30 Leaders’ Dialogue: Future ICT trends, policies and measurement challenges              
 
Achieving ICT-led sustainable development will require a concerted effort from policy makers, telecommunication regulatory authorities and the private sector. Statistical offices will have to ensure that reliable and policy-relevant data are available to support the right decisions. In view of the time frame of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this session will highlight key future ICT trends, address the evolving debate around 5G and the Internet of Things, present examples of effective policies and strategies to cope with those trends, and reflect on measurement approaches necessary to capture these developments. In particular, the session will address the following questions:
  • What are regulatory responses to ensure ICTs can be leveraged fully for sustainable development?
  • How will technological developments, such as 5G and the Internet of Things (iIoT) shape future developments of the information society?
  • How will ICT technology trends impact the measurement of the ICT sector, as well as the knowledge that we have of the society as a whole based on new data from the ICT sector?
  • How can producers of official statistics, such as Ministries, regulators and national statistical offices, adapt to these future ICT trends so that their contribution to monitoring development remains relevant?
Moderator: Ghida Fakhry, broadcast journalist - [biography]

Speakers:
  • Antonio Correia, Chairman, National Communications Authority, Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications, Timor-Leste - [biography]
  • Kazunari Furugen, Senior Vice President, Member of the Board, and Senior Executive Manager of Corporate Business Headquarters, NTT West, Japan - [biography]
  • Areewan Haorangsi, Secretary General, Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) - Leadership remark (pdf) - [biography]
  • Basuki Yusuf Iskandar, Head, ICT Research and Human Resources Development, MCIT Indonesia  - Leadership remark (pdf) - [biography]
  • Seung Keon Kim, Vice President, Statistics Information Center, Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT) - [biography]
  • Dražen Lučić, President of Council, Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) - [biography]
  • Philippe Metzger, Director General, Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), Switzerland - Leadership remark (pdf) - [biography] 
  • Tadashi Onodera, Chairman, KDDI, Japan - [biography]
  • Seizo Onoe, Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President,  Member of Board of Directors and Managing Director of R&D Innovation Division, NTT DOCOMO, Japan - [biography]
  • Jaume Salvat, CEO, Aggaros - [biography]
  • Stefan Schweinfest, Director, United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) - [biography]
  • Abdoulkarim Soumaila, Secretary General, African Telecommunications Union - Leadership remark (pdf) - [biography]
15.30-16.00​ Coffee break
​16.00-17.30 Launch ceremony of the ICT Development Index (IDI)
 
During this launch ceremony, the results of the latest IDI will be revealed, as presented in the Measuring the Information Society Report 2015. Top performers and dynamic countries will be highlighted. An award will be given to the country ranked first on the IDI 2015 and to the countries that improved most on the IDI.

Moderator: Ghida Fakhry, broadcast journalist - [biography]
17.30
Press conference (for media only)
19.00
150th Memorial Soirée

Dinner reception at Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima (Hosted by MIC).
150th Memorial Speech by Professor Ken Sakamura (ITU 150 Award winner).

 

Tuesday, 1 December 2015
09.00-10.30​ A World That Counts: the role of ICT in advancing a data revolution                    

In its report to the UN Secretary General entitled “A World That Counts”, the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development provides a set of recommendations on how to improve data for monitoring sustainable development. This session will highlight the central role of ICT to this data revolution, identify challenges and opportunities, and discuss options for statistical offices to embrace the data revolution. In particular, the session will address the following questions:
  • What is the link between ICT growth and the data revolution?
  • How can the statistical community become a driving force in the data revolution?
  • What skills are required by official data producers to exploit new data sources, in particular those from the ICT industry, and what are the capacity building needs in developing countries?
  • How can big data sources from the ICT industry complement official statistics and which challenges need to be addressed?
Moderator: Alexandre Barbosa, Head, CETIC.br, Brazil - [biography]

Speakers:
  • Enrico Giovannini, Full Professor of Economic Statistics, Rome University “Tor Vergata”, Italy - [biography]
  • Margarita Guerrero, Director, Statistics Division, UNESCAP - [biography]
  • Johannes Jütting, Manager, PARIS21 Secretariat - [biography]
  • Tango Matsumoto, CTO&CIO, Fujitsu Limited, Japan - [biography]
​10.30-11.00 ​Coffee break
​11.00-12.30 Big data and the ICT industry: building effective public-private partnerships

The ICT sector constitutes one of the major sources of big data, including telecommunication operators, Internet and social media service providers, and satellite companies. A number of statistical offices have started to engage in projects with private data providers in order to exploit such data for official statistical purposes. Key to this discussion are issues of data access and concerns related to data protection, privacy and security. This session will bring together public and private stakeholders to examine best practice cases in building effective partnerships. In particular, the session will address the following questions:
  • What are the main issues and challenges to be addressed in terms of accessing and using new ICT data sources and how can data users deal with privacy and legal issues?
  • What are examples of model agreements for data sharing between private and public entities?
  • What are examples of successful partnerships between NSOs, data providers, academia, etc. and what are the lessons learnt?
Moderator: Stefan Schweinfest, Director, United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) - [biography]

Speakers:                  
​12.30-14.00 ​Lunch break
​​13.10-14.00 Meet the Industry: Part 1 (coordinated by MIC)
​14.00-15.30 ​ICT and innovation: policies, measurement and impact                  
 
Science, technology and innovation have been recognized widely as drivers of business development, economic growth and social development. ICTs play a key role in enhancing innovation across different sectors, including health, agriculture, environment, energy, transport, and security. The ICT sector is also highly innovative, constituting an important source of R&D and productivity growth. This session will present emerging topics related to ICT and innovation, addressing the following questions:
  • What role does ICT and connectivity have as a driver of innovation, and what are some of the models highlighting the importance of ICTs?
  • What are the key indicators used to monitor and track the level of ICT-related innovation, within and outside of the ICT sector?
  • How are countries and regional and international organizations measuring innovation and what are the main data sources?
Moderator: Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, Senior Economist, WIPO - Presentation (pdf) - [biography]

Speakers:
​15.30-16.00 ​Coffee break
​16.00-17.30 Emerging trends: Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile applications as a growing source of development data                    
 
Growth in the number of connected devices and mobile apps and their usage has been steep over the past years, in line with the spread of smartphones and mobile broadband access. Such applications are also a rich source of new data that could provide useful input to ICT policy makers and analysts. This session will present concrete examples of mobile apps in the development field and showcase their potential as a source of non-traditional data. In particular, the session will feature:
  • An overview of IoT and the growth in mobile apps (numbers, types, origin, devices)
  • Examples of new apps and how they contribute new data on the information society, the use of ICTs as well as other development aspects
  • Specific development topics such as health, government, business, finance and others
Moderator: Annie Baldeo, Executive Officer, Policy Planning and Market Economics, Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) - [biography]

Speakers:

 
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
09.00-10.30​ ​Special session: Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators and Expert Group on Household Indicators
Over the past year, the Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (EGTI) and the Expert Group on Household Indicators (EGH) have continued their work through the online discussion forums and a face-to-face meeting held in September 2014. This session will feature:
  • The work of the EGH and EGTI since WTIS 2014
  • A discussion and agreement on the recommendations and proposals for the future work of the two expert groups
  • Country presentations related to topics under discussion in EGTI and EGH, such as data on advanced mobile-broadband technologies and monitoring of over-the-top Internet services

Moderator: Khopotso Mtwazi, Director, Information Society Evaluation, Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, South Africa - [biography]

Speakers:
​10.30-10.45 ​Coffee break
​10.45-12.00  Presentation of the Measuring the Information Society Report 2015
 
For the seventh consecutive year, ITU will publish the Measuring the Information Society Report. The 2015 report presents for the first time a quantitative assessment of the global ITU goals and targets agreed upon at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-14) and included in the Connect 2020 Agenda. The report features the latest ICT Development Index (IDI) and its analyses, covering the digital divide and least connected countries. The report also presents new data on prices for fixed and mobile telecommunication and broadband Internet services and highlights trends in this regard. The report also looks into recent developments, opportunities and challenges of the Internet of Things (IoT).

This session will present the main findings of the Report, followed by Q&A - Presentation (pdf)

Moderator: Ludwig Siegele, Technology Editor, The Economist - [biography]

Speakers:
  • Susan Teltscher, Head, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU - [biography]
  • Esperanza Magpantay, Senior Statistician, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU -  [biography]
  • Vanessa Gray, Senior Analyst, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU - [biography]
  • Ivan Vallejo, Analyst, ICT Data and Statistics Division, ITU - [biography]
​12.00-13.30 ​Lunch break
​​12.40-13.30 ​Meet the Industry: Part 2 (coordinated by MIC)
​13.30-14.00 ​Chair’s summary and conclusions 
 
The Chair of WTIS will present his final conclusions and recommendations of the meeting. 
  • Mr Kiyoshi Mori, Director-General for International Affairs, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan and Chair of WTIS-15 - [biography]
14.00-14.30
 Closing ceremony 
  • H.E. Mr Yasuo Sakamoto, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, Japan - [biography]
  • Mr Brahima Sanou, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU - Speech - [biography]
​​​14.45 ​Excursion to Miyajima

Miyajima is one of two World Heritage Sites in Hiroshima and the third most popular Japanese destination for foreign tourists.
19.00
 ​​Closing Reception: Think digitally and enjoy locally

At Takanobashi Shopping Arcade in Hiroshima City
(Hosted by MIC and Hiroshima local communities).

​Additional information can be obtained from the contact below:

Email: wtis@itu.int

Tel:  +41 22 730 54 10

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