The timely identification and study of technology, policy and regulatory, social, and economic aspects of emerging telecommunication/ICT trends is underway through several initiatives in all three Sectors and General Secretariat. More details are available in the various sections relevant to each Sector, as well as on the ITU website. The intersectoral group on Emerging ICT Trends continued to meet regularly and discussed emerging topics, including big data, cybersecurity trends, Artificial Intelligence, annual ICT forecasts, and other subjects.
In November 2016, the High Level Economic and Industry Expert Roundtable was co-organized with UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) at ITU Telecom World in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting exchanged views and analyses on how best to accelerate the connection of the remaining unconnected. The report of Economic and Industry Expert Roundtable served as an input to the Broadband Commission Special Session at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, in January 2017.
ITU launched a new series of Briefings to Permanent Missions in Geneva and also in New York, taking into account the result of a Survey on
ITU, ICTs and Emerging Trends, conducted through April and May 2016. The first ITU Briefing on Emerging ICT Trends was held at the ITU HQ in Geneva in November 2016 and provided an overview of the emerging trends, challenges and opportunities relating to 5G, followed by a Briefing to Missions in New York on the Role of ICTs in accelerating the achievement of SDGs, held at the UN HQ in New York, in January 2017.
ITU News – full digital transition and new digital products:
ITU News no longer means a printed magazine but a full suite of digital products with massively scaled up distribution, ability to measure impact (including topics of interest to our readership based on user behaviour) and much-improved marketing of our events blended with weekly mentions in the weekly e-letter as well as new rapid-response products released one week after key events. ITU News Magazine was revamped into a dedicated digital product, with email delivery to 80,000+ recipients, compared to mailing print editions to less than 3,000. A new 'ITU News Plus' branded reports – was launched including the "Snapshot Report," which is a very visual, condensed recap report that gives a "snap shot" of a recent, key ITU event. These are short, rapid-response reports, for publication one week after an event. (See
WTSA Snapshot Report, for example).
Additionally, the weekly ITU Newsletter was launched. This newsletter – which matches the redesigned magazine for a modern look that ties together the expanding range of ITU News products – contains key ICT trends and insights and is distributed to more than 80,000 inboxes through the CRM system. Along with an increased timeliness and relevance of ITU, the newsletter also offers an increased ability to promote ITU initiatives in context, which is crucial for maximum impact.
Regarding the ITU Blog, there has been a massive Increase in traffic, which is a major push for more frequent, timely, relevant high-quality, and consistent content. A 60+ % year-on-year increase to ITU Blog traffic was noted, as well as very low unsubscribe rates (.02%) for the ITU Newsletter (this is very low, particularly for sending to a new mailing list). An even lower unsubscribe rates (.004%) for the ITU News Magazine was noted, and the top performing post for 2016 was "The foundation of India's digital payments platform".
The key takeaways from ITU News activity in 2016 are as follows:
- Frequency, timeliness, and relevance to broader discussion of ICT trends outside ITU drives results in the form of massive increase in traffic.
- Delivering content to readers matters – sending content to Inboxes (Newsletter and Magazine)
- Better design and more customized content – building out in 2017 will maintain growth
- Resource constraints and digital talent gaps hinder growth potential
- In December 2016 alone, there were 120 new subscribers to the weekly ITU Newsletter and the ITU News Magazine, consisting of an impressive array of leaders (25% director or C-Suite level; 65% private sector with healthy growth; and from 60+ countries).
