SUMMARY
RECORD OF THE SECOND TELECOM INTERACTIVE 97
PREPARATORY MEETING
SUMMARY
RECORD OF THE SECOND TELECOM INTERACTIVE 97
PREPARATORY MEETING
Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva
Wednesday, 15 January 1997
Mr. Jipguep (President, Telecom and Chairman, Telecom Board) opened the meeting, the purpose of which was to provide a progress report and elicit feedback and comments with a view to improving preparations for Telecom Interactive 97.
Probably the biggest step taken since the first preparatory meeting in September 1996 had been the appointment of a marketing company, Mueller-Shields, to assist in selling exhibition space. Some 160 companies had stated their intention to participate, and 67 of them had submitted option forms. The exhibition included not only big names from the telecommunication field, but also important nontraditional Telecom exhibitors and many new and innovative companies.
The Exhibitions Division had been active in attracting sponsors, particularly for the network, which would be the most important part of the event's infrastructure, and in implementing the thematic pavilions. The Forum Division had secured the services of a number of world-class speakers, and the CyberForum was already in operation. The Business Development and Marketing Division had produced a set of publicity materials for the event, and launched a punchy advertising campaign in the mainstream and trade media.
One aspect to be highlighted was development. Despite appearances, the innovative technology on show at Telecom Interactive 97 was relevant to the developing countries and targeted programmes would be organized to bring key developing country representatives to Geneva to participate in the Forum, attend the Exhibition and take part in special workshops.
Despite the satisfactory progress, much still remained to be done, and the Telecom secretariat was extremely keen to hear participants' ideas and comments.
Mr. Dahl-Hansen (Senior Vice-President, TELECOM and Head, Business Development and Marketing Division) said that in connection with TELECOM Interactive 97 his Division was attending or distributing promotional materials at a whole series of important events worldwide. A number of missions were also being conducted to promote TELECOM Interactive 97 and evaluate ways of improving TELECOM events. Close contacts were maintained with various organizations.
One such body was the Advanced Networked Cities and Regions Association (ANCARA), the world's first formal association of cities and regions exploring advanced uses of information technology. Digital and intelligent cities and the use of tools such as the World Wide Web to service local communities would be a key feature at TELECOM Interactive 97, particularly in the thematic pavilions.
Much hard work had gone into the creation of publicity material, in close collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi, the official advertising company appointed for all TELECOM events including 1999. The logo, representing the meeting of the virtual and real worlds, was excellent. A factsheet and call for speakers was being widely disseminated, and the first TELECOM newsletter "Inter.act" was being finalized.
An ambitious advertising campaign had guaranteed extensive exposure for the event. The campaign to attract new exhibitors would continue through until the end of March. The sales and promotion efforts deployed by Mueller-Shields in various parts of the world were bearing fruit.
It was expected that the official publishers for TELECOM Interactive 97 would be appointed by the end of March. That would not only be a source of revenue, but add weight and importance to the event, with a first-class catalogue and CD-ROM and a news service offering a daily newspaper, an onsite TV station, broadcasting around the event and feeds to the outside world.
As soon as the closing date for applications to exhibit (1 March) had passed, a detailed brochure would be published with information on the Exhibition, Forum, venue, service providers, etc., followed by the preliminary Forum programme.
May would see the start of press accreditation activities and ramping up of the media coverage campaign, remembering that the topics addressed at TELECOM Interactive 97 were extremely media-friendly. Excellent facilities would be available at the event for print, radio and television media, hopefully including advanced facilities such as videoconferencing interview rooms and a broadcasting studio for the use of journalists.
Mr. Lanvin (UNCTAD and Chairman, Forum Programme Committee) commended the advertising and marketing campaign that had been described. The logo was good and reflected energetically the substance and impact of TELECOM Interactive 97. Timing was a crucial factor so as to ensure that the new event meshed with the other TELECOM events, differentiating its image while at the same time remaining in phase. The development aspect mentioned by Mr. Jipguep was important.
With respect to timing, he wondered how the two advertising/marketing campaigns for Asia and Africa TELECOM would fit together, and what impact the image created by TELECOM Interactive 97 was liable to have on Africa TELECOM.
Mr. Jipguep said that although the regional TELECOM events were well-established, nothing was taken for granted and continuous efforts were made to improve their standard and penetration in the regions concerned. New participants were being attracted all the time.
Mrs. Rison (Vice-President, TELECOM and Head, Exhibitions Division) said that the focus of the campaign for Asia TELECOM had shifted from exhibition space, all 18 300 m2 of which had been sold out, to attracting delegates and visitors.
Mr. Dahl-Hansen said that for TELECOM Interactive 97 the campaign would be carried out in the following order: Exhibition, Forum, visitors. The same approach would be adopted for Africa TELECOM, for which promotion activities would start up in May/June (taking advantage of Asia TELECOM). Continuity between the different events was ensured, inter alia, by using the ITU logo as a permanent feature. A lot of work had gone into the TELECOM Interactive 97 logo, which also symbolized a global event relating to something new in the universe that would change the world.
Replying to Mr. Mitchell (Oracle EMEA), who pointed out that the decision to what extent to participate hinged on the critical mass of players in industry committed to the event and hence on which leading players from the telecom and IT worlds had signed up, Mr. Jipguep said that a comprehensive list could be obtained from Mrs. Rison, and included big names like Alcatel, Bay Networks, Fujitsu, Global One, MCI, NEC, Nokia, Sun, Autodesc and Corel.
Mr. Lagraña (Vice-President, TELECOM and Head, Forum Division) said that there was a definite linkage or synergy between the regional TELECOM and TELECOM Interactive in terms of the Forum content and discussions. First, the impetus for TELECOM Interactive stemmed from Nelson Mandela's speech and the resounding success of the two Internet days at TELECOM 95, and it should be remembered that Africa TELECOM 98 was being held in Nelson Mandela's home country. Second, 1997 had been earmarked as the year of the GII/GIS. The theme for Asia TELECOM focused on Asian routes towards the GIS; the main aspects underlying TELECOM Interactive were multimedia, the Internet and the GIS; and Africa TELECOM would also be addressing GII issues in terms of the potential of communication and information technology to transform African diversity into a business and market reality.
Mr. Tallah (Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Cameroon) congratulated those who had had the vision to organize TELECOM Interactive 97. The literature received so far was very impressive. However, it should be remembered that the developing countries were still grappling with the problems of providing basic telecommunication facilities, and had only a vague idea of the subject of TELECOM Interactive. Every effort should thus be made in the promotion campaign for Africa TELECOM to ensure that the developing world, and especially African countries, were familiar with the concepts developed at TELECOM Interactive 97, so that they would know what to look for and target at Africa TELECOM in the short time available to visit such a huge event.
Mr. Jipguep noted the need to disseminate promotional material which was easy to understand for people in the developing countries. Also, while the campaign for TELECOM Interactive 97 had mostly been directed at the developed countries where software was produced, there were software developers active in developing countries and efforts should be made to step up the campaign in that direction also. One key activity conducted within the TELECOM series with the aim of helping developing countries to master new technology was the TELECOM workshop.
Mr. Dahl-Hansen said that the Africa TELECOM promotion campaign had begun with Nelson Mandela's invitation and the corresponding press release, and had continued at the ISAD conference in South Africa the previous spring. It would come into full force in late June, with global coverage, through the news media, trade and specialized magazines, etc.
Mrs. Rison said that, in response to the request made at the first preparatory meeting, a novel concept had been created for the Exhibition, which would not only comprise national pavilions and corporate stands, but also boast four thematic pavilions promoting applications in the fields of health, commerce, education and "intelligent living".
The worldwide marketing campaign referred to by Mr. Dahl-Hansen had targeted some 60 000 individuals and companies and elicited an overwhelming response. The volume of replies to the sales programme devised and implemented by the Mueller-Shields high-tech direct marketing company was also huge, and space applications were still being processed beyond the original closing date of 15 December 1996. The current list of 67 exhibitors was by no means final and the number was bound to increase significantly in the coming months.
A thematic pavilions coordinator had been appointed, in the person of Mr. Ken Davies, one of whose tasks would be to ensure that each pavilion actively promoted interactive applications and services within the specific industry sector. Integrated connectivity would be facilitated by a high-speed highbandwidth network made available by ITU, complete with the technical support. The network infrastructure had been designed by two staff members of the ITU's IS Department, Mr. Luis Rodrigues and Mr. Steve Geis, who would be responsible for implementation and performance of the network together with Ken Davies.
Thematic pavilions, a completely new departure for TELECOM events, would serve to bridge the gap between the concepts and strategies debated in the Forum and the practical equipment, software and services promoted at the Exhibition. Participation in the pavilions would represent a unique opportunity for developers, suppliers and users of interactive applications, systems and supporting products to gain knowledge and visibility. Clearly, consideration of interactive services aimed at users in both their professional and private lives must involve organizations beyond those normally participating in TELECOM events, and a determined effort was therefore being made to attract broadcasting and content providers and people with interests in such areas as healthcare and public administration.
Mr. Davies (Thematic Pavilions Coordinator) described the concept of thematic pavilions and the supporting networks. The aim was to focus on interactive applications and demonstrate innovations in interactive systems, showing how the applications were strongly dependent on telecommunications. The pavilions would provide a link between the Exhibition and the Forum. They would be multivendor, cooperative systems. The selected applications were education (e.g. distance learning and training), healthcare (e.g. telemedicine and administration), commerce (e.g. finance, retail, catalogues, travel), public administration and infotainment/Internet. The latter two items were described under the heading of "intelligent living" or "intelligent cities". Education and healthcare were topics of considerable interest to a wide spectrum of users including in the developing countries.
Participants would be drawn from a number of areas, both from within and outside the telecom field: developers of systems, standards and hardware/software; system integraters; IT developers; telecom operators; Internet providers; content providers; administrations and institutions at the national, regional and local levels; user groups.
Interactivity hinged first and foremost on networks and multimedia applications. For that reason, a high-speed network (ITUnet) would be established linking the Exhibition stands, the thematic pavilions, the Forum, press and support facilities and, last but not least, external networks. ITUnet would provide the hub for external connectivity and sponsors' products in a global network based on ATM. Moreover, to make the network highly visible and demonstrable, its operating centre would be made a feature of the show itself. Such visibility would be beneficial to sponsors, for whom there would be considerable opportunities. External connectivity would be achieved through highcapacity links, hopefully over both terrestrial and satellite media, to European, North American and possibly Far Eastern and Australian networks and to the Internet.
As regards the schedule of activities, sponsors and equipment would be selected in early March, the design finalized by the end of April, equipment installed on site by 30 June to be up and running for tests throughout July, and applications testing would start on 1 August. In other words, participants would have a month to put everything in place in order to ensure reliability and good connectivity.
In response to a question by Mr. Braue (Data Communications and Tele.Com Magazines) on the number of vendors who had signed up to sponsor the demonstration project so far, Mrs. Rison said that replies had been received to a letter sent to 62 companies and some 150 individuals, and the evaluation and selection process was under way. Mr. Mainguy (Alcatel) said that Alcatel had confirmed to ITU that it would provide equipment for ITUnet. He was convinced that the network provided a platform essential to the success of the event and that there were participants willing to support it.
Mr. Rodrigues (IS Department, ITU) drew attention to the description of the concept of the TELECOM Interactive network in the folder made available to participants. The organization chart proposed a technical committee comprising not only representatives of industry sponsors but also advisers. A further important opportunity for sponsorship lay on the network management and supervision side. The technical committee would design the network in terms of requirements for the event, and then a network management team would be appointed to handle the entire coordination of the network during the Exhibition, not only in terms of the core network or backbone, but also interconnection with supplier and exhibitor requirements.
Mr. McCluskey (E-News), while commending the idea of thematic pavilions, expressed concern at the emphasis placed on networks and interactive applications. In fact, applications were at the service of people, and to his mind it was on people that the main focus should lie.
Mr. Sentilhes (Bertelsmann) said that a key issue was how the requisite content and publishing activity would be created to take advantage of the applications and possibilities offered by the network.
Mr. Davies said that the essence of the thematic pavilions was precisely operational, content-based, demonstrable applications. All the fields selected, be it education, healthcare, commerce or intelligent living, lent themselves to demonstrations, tutorials and running applications. For education, for example, the network could be used to tap into ongoing interactive presentations of lesson material. Naturally, those aspects would have to be worked out between the organizing group on the technical side and the sponsors of each portion of the thematic pavilions. The intention was also to link demonstrations and presentations in the thematic pavilions to the activities going on elsewhere in the Exhibition and in the Forum, showcasing specific demonstrations and discussions at particular times. The precise difference between TELECOM Interactive 97 and other technical exhibitions was the practical opportunity to run demonstrations and applications thanks to the network.
Mr. Laws (Communicationsweek International) said that the attempt to involve the computing and content industries represented a departure from the ITU's traditional role focusing on infrastructure. The list of exhibitors so far still had a heavy leaning towards infrastructure. Attention should thus be given to finding means of attracting significant participation from content organizations and recruiting vested interests from content-related industries.
Mr. Jipguep said that the desire to introduce that new element was one of the motives for engaging a high-tech telemarketing consultant which, he was confident, would produce good results. Mr. Lanvin said that the specificity of an event like TELECOM Interactive 97 was precisely to address three levels at the same time: technology, applications and people, or infrastructure, content and users. As he saw it, the idea of the thematic pavilions was to do just that, by offering the possibility to mesh the three components with exhibitors from the three worlds participating together in a common endeavour. The strong filiation between TELECOM 95 and TELECOM Interactive 97 had already been highlighted. He personally had vivid memories not only of Nelson Mandela's address, but also of Andy Grove's intervention, as one example of how people could be placed at centre stage even in a world focusing on technology. In a way, it was more a matter of form than substance. Exhibitors should be encouraged to try and focus on people, safe in the knowledge that that would not prevent them making valid points about infrastructure and content.
Mr. Gelijns (ANCARA) said that, on the topic of intelligent communities, ANCARA could help a lot in delivering relevant applications. It should indeed be emphasized that applications were extremely important and would be the feature that made TELECOM Interactive such a distinct event. It would therefore be very wise for ITU to promote the content and applications side much more. To that end, it would be useful to formulate a few guidelines and reference points for content providers, to indicate what was expected of them.
Mr. Purcell (Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) fully endorsed the comments on the need to focus more on content than technology. That was what would make TELECOM Interactive memorable. ITU should proactively seek innovative content-related structures to create a vision for the future of telecommunications.
Mr. Thompson (Digital Audiovisual Council) said that his organization hoped to participate in the event to demonstrate openness and interactivity globally and, as such, echoed the concerns expressed that the focus should be on people. A key tool to that end would be the extensive networking facilities and connectivity outside Geneva. Accordingly, he wondered whether those facilities would be available round-the-clock in order to involve other continents. Mrs. Rison said that the question was extremely pertinent. It would be taken up with Orgexpo to see what could or could not be done.
Mr. Barton (Information Society Observatory) said that, in the context of the change of direction for ITU given the importance of content and the Internet, two key questions were how to involve the publishing and content sector and what issues to address. A way needed to be found to bring together the fragmented and small/medium-sized companies in the publishing market for an Exhibition which generally entailed somewhat larger stands than an equivalent publishing event. It was thus necessary to appreciate the dimensions of enterprises in the publishing industry and also identify themes and issues of relevance to the content side, such as intellectual property rights.
Mr. Braue, while agreeing that applications and content drove the infrastructure sector, advised some caution in shifting the focus too much. ITU and TELECOM shows had always been infrastructure shows, and it would be counter-intuitive to expect the vendor community not to set infrastructure in centre stage. The challenge facing the world today was precisely to build a new infrastructure to support applications and content. In the months ahead, therefore, one should not lose sight of the importance of bringing in large infrastructure exhibitors and new ones such as Microsoft, Netscape, the Internet, satellite providers, and so on.
Mr. Laws said that the content industry included not only publishing companies but also Hollywood and television and broadcast production companies, some of which were very large and all had interactive divisions and businesses. It would be a good idea to approach entities such as Disney, Time Warner, CNN, etc. Even on the infrastructure side, there were perhaps some new groups or companies (such as Microsoft and Netscape) that needed to be approached. ITU might not be the best organization to do that on its own, and should perhaps consider involving other organizations which had a coordinating or representative role in other industries. Even if at that late stage it might not be possible to attract all the companies desirable, it would be a step in the direction which might pay off at future events.
Mr. Jipguep fully agreed with those comments; in fact, some of the organizations quoted had been approached, and Time Warner was present at the meeting.
Mr. Davies said that content providers or owners and those parts of such companies which provided interactive services were all an essential part of TELECOM Interactive. Good contacts had been established with major content providers such as film studios and TV networks and their participation in the thematic pavilions was being explored. The crux of the problem was aptly illustrated by the whole discussion: TELECOM Interactive was a cooperative effort involving infrastructure, communications, equipment and content, bringing all the strands together. There was no single magic solution, but ITU was endeavouring to establish new liaisons and participations, while at the same time trying not to erode the traditional base of support, by bringing new organizations on board in ways which were useful to everyone. New faces were already emerging, and everyone in the room had an obligation to promote the convergence of content, infrastructure, services and people. TELECOM Interactive was very much a people-driven event. Content was one element, but only when all the strands were brought together could it be a success. Appropriate structures, liaison and contact had to be established to make that happen.
Mr. Ramsey (Squire, Sanders and Dempsey) pointed out that key players from various walks of life were in fact present at the meeting, thanks to an excellent job by ITU, and a commitment on their part would have a snowball effect and go a long way to ensuring a successful event. It would be useful if the TELECOM secretariat could provide information on all the other companies interested in participating in the event. Another important player was ANCARA, which had projects in many important cities. One example was Stockholm, and a senior official from the city of Stockholm was present. On the subject of Sweden, one week hence the King of Sweden would be giving out the Bangemann Challenge awards, which closely concerned applications. In short, the critical mass had probably been reached, and it was now all about people making a commitment. One matter requiring clarification was whether participation in the traditional company stands and in the thematic pavilions was mutually exclusive.
Mrs. Rison emphasized that participants were quite welcome to participate in both a national and corporate stand and in a thematic pavilion.
Mr. Comstedt (AB Stokab) said that it was interesting to see how the traditional structure was trying to find new ways of handling a new situation. Other towns and countries were probably having similar experiences to Stockholm and Sweden, where the telecommunication environment itself was changing, through liberalization, and at the same time converging with other activities. In that process, cities and regions were becoming players in their own right. That was reflected in the Bangemann Challenge, where 25 of the 67 biggest cities in Europe were participating in application-related projects.
Nevertheless, everything hinged on the existence and development of the underlying infrastructure and the ITU should not depart too far from its current role or try to move all the way over to the content side. Many of the initiatives being undertaken by the cities and regions connected the various layers of the market, and ITU could draw experience from that and plug in to many of the things that were happening in the world, be they embryonic. A vision was emerging, and TELECOM Interactive must be founded on that vision.
Mr. Sentilhes said that there was no antagonism between the content and telecommunication infrastructure players. The challenge was to endeavour to shift the traditional TELECOM events into a real marketplace in which the facilities offered by the telecommunication infrastructure players would attract others from fields such as content provision, city applications, electronic commerce. That would in turn reinforce the role and business of the TELECOM infrastructure players.
Mr. Lagraña, referring to the comments expressed regarding participation in TELECOM Interactive 97, listed the companies taking part in the Forum Programme Committee, which constituted a broad cross-section of several segments of industry.
Since the first preparatory meeting, much work had been carried out on the Forum. The traditional Forum structure of a Technology and a Strategies Summit had been modified to introduce a new variety of elements. The Forum and Exhibition had been strengthened by the introduction of new topics, speakers and participants, and a link had been built between the Forum and Exhibition through the thematic pavilions, which would provide an application showcase mirroring the subjects discussed in the Forum. Interactivity was not only something to be talked about in the Forum programme; rather, it was a new way of thinking, working and collaborating. Accordingly, interactivity had been fostered right from the beginning, at all stages of development. The new-look Forum would comprise five aspects: a traditional conference, the cyberForum, the cyberCafé, poster sessions and the Development Workshop.
The traditional conference was organized around five platforms. In the Policy Summit, politicians at all levels would be called upon to provide guidance. The goal would be to build the session around the concept of the right to communicate, possibly culminating in a declaration by the some 100 ministers who would be present in Geneva. After all, the infrastructure was developed so that people could communicate. The Global Information Infrastructure Challenge would look at the interactive infrastructure needed to respond to new models of communicating, and how the technicians, engineers, regulatory bodies and standardization organizations could work in that direction. The Applications Platform and Intelligent Communities Agora were about people and content, but went much further. The Forum would hear from high-level gurus about their perception of the future; from philosophers, artists and scientists trying to shape the new communication space; from community-based projects of the kind represented in the Bangemann Challenge, such as the London Initiative; and from key distance-learning experts and centres. The purpose of the last platform, Internet@ TELECOM 97, consisted of two public days at the end of the event to raise awareness and explain the findings of the Forum to the public.
The cyberForum would be open on the Web very shortly, to serve three purposes. The first aim was to start discussion as of now and continue during the event and even on into the information age. It served as a managerial tool for handling speakers' contributions, providing a standardized framework for posting them on-site, on the Web, in the thematic pavilions, or at poster sessions. There would also be a magazine part in which personalities would be invited to submit multimedia presentations and position papers to feed further discussion.
The cyberCafé was envisaged as an informal place where people could meet and discuss issues and post their discussion on Web-based "workshops". The cyberCafé had already generated much interest, and there were probably discussion groups already formed and ready to come to Geneva with items to post, which would enrich the work of the Forum. It was a very promising aspect of the Forum programme.
In conclusion, the event had been defined and the visitor and discussion base had been enlarged to include governments, luminaries and personalities, bodies such as ANCARA, the software industry, audiovisual and multimedia industry, artists, philosophers, academics, operators, engineers and research centres. A very valuable participant was also ISOC, which was currently negotiating a memorandum of understanding to hold INET in Geneva. A tremendous amount of synergy could be derived from a sequence of events at Geneva Palexpo - TELECOM Interactive 97, INET 98, TELECOM 99.
Mr. Lanvin, outlining the Forum Programme Committee's orientations and proposals for the Forum Programme at TELECOM Interactive 97, said that its success would depend on four interrelated factors: the quality and relevance of its content; its vision and thus continued relevance to industry and all other interested parties from the numerous different sectors; participation, i.e. its ability to attract the right kind of speakers and audience; and its visibility, prior to the event and with regard to dissemination of its results. The Forum would attract individuals, organizations and business because by its very nature interactivity challenged existing models, for example regulation in its conventional form and coverage; economies, in that the GIS challenged traditional rates of accounting, tariffs, et al.; and governance, in that interactivity challenged the traditional power structure, as power would lie in the hands of both those possessing information and those disseminating it - a phenomenon of importance to governments, industries, but also smaller players as it opened up new avenues of participation. Certain subjects deserved particular attention. First, for example, Internet, especially as TELECOM Interactive had been born of TELECOM 95, where the highly successful Internet@TELECOM had indicated the development of something fundamental and extremely challenging. Second, development: interactivity, the GIS and GII were all one, and as the event was to be held under the auspices of the ITU, it was important to bring national and regional phenomena on to the global scene. Communities was a third example, and real cases of smart cities should be presented as examples of how new approaches could bring about change for improvement. He proposed that individuals with extensive contacts in particular areas should be made responsible for promoting and coordinating their subjects for the event, in much the same way as Guy Girardet had for Internet@TELECOM. Five subjects, no more, should be chosen from the list already drawn up. Lastly, as interactivity was multi-faceted and multi-sector, bridges should be built between different areas of activity and events, for example between TELECOM Interactive 97 and the forthcoming UNCTAD Expert Meeting on Telecommunications, Business Facilitation and Trade Efficiency, with participants in one event being encouraged to attend the other, bearing in mind their mutual relevance.
Mr. Krivocheev (Vice-Chairman, Forum Programme Committee) proposed to add two items to the agenda of the round table, namely, the concept of intelligent communities, and ways of international cooperation. The demand for interactivity in television and sound-broadcasting systems alone, potentially requiring up to several billion microtransmitters and individual return channels, far exceeded the existing and planned number of conventional duplex telephone channels available in wire, mobile terrestrial, satellite radio or other systems. Future TV systems potentially would offer thousands of programmes, and there would be a social demand for the effective use of new, massive streams of information in any language, using automatic computer voice and text translation. That would be impossible without interactivity to enable the establishment of an information infrastructure within regions and individual cities. Mass interactivity brought to virtually each inhabitant of a city would be of paramount importance not only in telecommunications, but also in economic, social and other spheres of a city's life. The concept of intelligent communities would have to be refined in the light of the mass interactivity required to provide millions of return wire and air channels. In so far as such interactivity would require extremely high levels of production and was global in nature, it must be considered at international level. Many interested associations from cities and regions would certainly attend the round table, along with several hundred mayors, thus providing the opportunity to discuss mutual cooperation, possibly through the establishment of a union of associations of intelligent communities. The Inter-Union Technical Committee, created by worldwide broadcasting unions, was a good example of cooperation of that kind.
Mr. Hodac (Time Warner Europe) stressed the need to follow up and provide new impetus to the G7 initiative at its Brussels meeting, from which the main message had been that industry must send governments clear indication of what was required at the regulatory level for interactivity with a view to providing the GIS/GII. In addition, there would be no GIS unless the question of IPR was properly addressed.
Mr. Lagraña recalled that one of the main purposes of the Forum policy platform was to follow up and build upon the initiative of the G7 meeting and the subsequent ISAD Conference. Representatives from both government and industry would participate in the Policy Symposium round tables and have ample opportunity to share their mutual expectations. Interaction with industry would serve to increase the awareness of many members of the ITU family. As to IPR, security would be a key issue during discussions at TELECOM Interactive 97, in close association with infrastructure and the mechanisms required to pay for content provided.
Mr. Lanvin agreed that the question of security and property should and indeed would be a prominent subject of discussion at the Forum, but how it was discussed would depend on whether issues were addressed from the point of view of content providers, infrastructure/service providers, or participants in electronic commerce. He personally believed that electronic commerce would pick up worldwide in 1997/1998, but not without proper guidelines on security, property protection, etc. The topic proposed for the next regulatory colloquium in December 1997 was in fact security and property, and it would be a key theme in the follow-up to the WTO discussions in its bearing on the transfrontier migration of information and content.
Mr. Jipguep gave a brief resume of the history of the informal regulatory colloquiums, which had led to the production of certain booklets and to the recent, first World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF), on GMPCS.
Mr. Gilhooly (Teledesic) warned that over-focus on content might lead the event's organizers to lose sight of the ITU's main strength and the key to the outstanding success of the main TELECOM events, namely the ability to attract infrastructure and service providers. There should be more focus at both the Exhibition and Forum on the new trend in the telecommunication world over the past 1218 months, whereby telecommunications were moving towards the Internet far more than the Internet towards telecommunications. His own company saw itself more as an Internet company than a satellite company, and his impression was that the ITU family still saw the Internet more as a threat than an opportunity. The G7 itself had raised awareness considerably, by bringing industry in at the highest possible level; and the Group should not be underestimated, as the GII would begin there before branching out elsewhere. Lastly, with many potential exhibitors still waiting to see how much space other exhibitors would reserve, and with time so short now, the TELECOM secretariat should provide information on reservations already made.
Mr. Ramsey, following up on the previous speaker's comments, stressed the need to attract participants for practical reasons, i.e. by providing the opportunity for business people to meet one another and perhaps strike deals. He congratulated Mr. Lanvin and Mr. Lagraña on the structure proposed for the event, which could be the most important meeting of its kind by the subject matter it sought to address and the participants it sought to attract, many of whom had never had dealings with the ITU previously and would include theologians, philosophers, individuals who to some extent would be the international gatekeepers of information. The single biggest issue to be resolved by the converging industries and which should be discussed by the event, was the legal machinery required to handle convergence and take interactivity into the next century. The event's structure and context proposed would provide the opportunity for such discussion along with new impetus to the G7 initiative.
Mr. Lagraña said that a balance had been maintained between the Policy Summit and Infrastructure Challenge on the one hand and the Applications and Intelligent Communities on the other, to which had been added two full days on the Internet.
Mr. Gilhooly, following up on his own earlier comments, said that the Internet@TELECOM weekend had been an outstanding success at TELECOM 95, and he saw no reason not to extend it into the broad range of the Forum. Secondly, thus far the critical mass of infrastructure/service providers which had ensured the success of TELECOM 95 had not registered for TELECOM Interactive, and something must be done to make it clearly worth their while, otherwise the event might not live up to expectations.
Mr. Hindle (Nortel) said that, in addition to the broad marketing programme already adopted, the secretariat might consider a more targeted, individual approach to attract the critical mass referred to by the previous speaker, as well as less traditional potential participants.
Mr. Gelijns, referring to other successful conventions and congresses, stressed the importance of economics to decision-makers and as a fundamental element of success stories.
Mr. Braue echoed Mr. Gilhooly's comments on the need to ensure a judicious balance between infrastructure/service and content providers, and stressed the need to bring in new infrastructure providers not yet involved in the event. The challenges which the concept of interactivity posed to the ITU's membership should not be underestimated; the PTTs and carriers of the world would be the key players in putting the GII's elements into place, and numerous problems had still to be resolved in such a vast area. Given the number of subjects covered by the event, an effort should be made to focus more clearly on certain items so that participants, especially the PTTs, grasped them properly and recognized their importance.
Mr. White (Allied Communications Group Inc.) endorsed the structure proposed for TELECOM Interactive, which his company and various of its partners would support. The convergence of telecommunications and computers was a daunting concept, but the event as proposed and participation in the present meeting reflected all key elements - customers, cash, carriage and content. Nevertheless, his company would be present with an association that had never been involved in telecommunications before, the Fannie Mae Foundation, perhaps the largest financial institution in the United States, which was sponsoring a smart home community near Washington DC, to be duplicated in every State. The smart community involved the true convergence of communications and multimedia, with telemedicine, a private telephone system, cable network, etc., but perhaps its most important characteristic was its location in a working class neighbourhood. No problems had been encountered in finding participants in the project, which involved both foreign and national companies.
Rather than focusing on whether too many content providers would be present at TELECOM Interactive, he wished to support the suggestion to send out targeted invitations, as until recently at least one of the companies with which his own worked had not even heard of TELECOM Interactive. With regard to the applications and intelligent communities thematic pavilions, he suggested that if a high-speed network was to be established, those exhibiting in the two pavilions should be enabled to exchange information as soon as possible with a view to creating interfaces. Furthermore, if those exhibiting could provide information on their intentions, it might attract potential exhibitors not yet involved. With regard to fees, he would like to know the transmission charges as soon as possible.
Mrs. Rison said that, over and above the basic cost of 40 000 Swiss francs to participate in the multi-vendor pavilions, additional engineering costs would be worked out once the network had been established and all precise requirements were known.
In reply to a query by Mr. Sentilhes, Mr. Dahl-Hansen, Mrs. Rison and Mr. Lagraña provided details of the efforts already deployed or foreseen on marketing, including direct marketing, advertising, editorial and promotion material, fax on demand, etc. A publisher would shortly be appointed for the news service, catalogue, and to look into various other ways of supporting the event. Missions to promote the event would continue and the Forum speakers themselves made very effective ambassadors. Along with all "traditional" methods, the World Wide Web was being used, the CyberForum would raise visibility, and information was regularly being placed on key websites.
Mr. Rovers (ANCARA) said that his company had put the TELECOM Interactive 97 logo on its website, and he urged other companies to do the same.
Mr. McCluskey stressed that TELECOM Interactive 97 would be a fundamentally different event in that, although there would be a brief period of intense activity, the CyberForum would extent it to last some nine months. The model would probably be used in other instances and, along with the question whether interactivity could be used to broadcast the event worldwide and 24 hours a day, it gave a dimension which few seemed yet to have grasped. Many were still talking of an event lasting a week in one venue.
Mr. Lagraña said that, in addition to its debate function, the CyberForum would include a magazine which would be permanently available, and would serve as a database of contributions sent in for the conference itself. A mechanism still had to be found to make the results of debates available immediately after they had taken place and it had yet to be decided whether attempts would be made to analyse and summarize them.
Mr. Hindle having endorsed the pyramid campaign used to advertise TELECOM Interactive 97, Mr. Jipguep said that along with the problem of promoting the TELECOM event, the ITU was faced with the ongoing task of promoting itself and publicizing its new structure and significance to the world. It relied on individuals like those present to assist it in that task.
Mr. McCluskey, reacting to those remarks and observing that TELECOM Interactive invited much wider participation than previous TELECOMs, said that the concept of interactivity and the GIS potentially gave the ITU a far broader mandate than before, involving increased collaboration and responsibility sharing with other organizations working with communities interested in different aspects of interactivity. The ITU might be encouraged to relinquish its absolute power over the TELECOM event and adopt a more umbrella-like responsibility towards a wider community.
Mr. Jipguep said that one of the basic objectives of the ITU was of course to stay relevant, and the brainstorming and free exchange of ideas at TELECOM provided a useful and welcome alternative and contrast to the ITU's very formal series of other conferences.
Mr. Foresta (Artists Online) said that over the past two years the Cultural Committee of the Council of Europe had been working on a fresh approach to the new communications space, i.e. the Net, through art and culture. At a recent meeting in Prague, a number of proposals had been made where interaction with the ITU and its members might be possible. There had been a strong recommendation to continue building the school network, and in particular the art school network, with emphasis on the image and its interactive potential, the intention being to build a virtual faculty to discuss future ideas related to art and science, and to write a charter redefining the relationship between art and industry based on innovation. The proposals had been accepted by the Cultural Committee, and would be followed up in 1997 with a meeting that summer in France to produce the charter.
Mr. Jipguep thanked participants for their valuable advice, which would be carefully analysed and exploited by the TELECOM secretariat and Forum Programme Committee in particular, with a view to ensuring the full success of TELECOM Interactive 97. Any further ideas or suggestions, by email, fax, etc., would be welcome, and participants would be informed if the need for a further meeting arose.
The meeting rose at 1550 hours.
CHECKLIST OF MAIN IDEAS ARISING FROM THE SECOND INTERACTIVE PREPARATORY
MEETING
15 January 1997
Promotion campaign and target audience
Focus/subject matter
Coverage/structure
Responsibility of ITU