The Forum at WORLD 2009

The renowned Forum takes centre stage at WORLD 2009. Senior telecommunication and ICT industry leaders and decision-makers from around the world come together to explore areas essential to the continued development of our information society. Thought leaders including heads of industry, government, and regulatory agencies as well as academics, consultants, and policy advisors, engage in dialogue for problem structuring and policy solutions. In light of the current economic crisis, the forum is set to focus on key issues around the role and positioning of the ICT industry for global recovery, especially in delivering new investment and employment opportunities. A number of other specialist themes and topics are also addressed, including a strong focus on development issues as well as the Youth Forum.

Open Networks - Connected Minds

The thematic underpinning of the entire event is Open Networks - Connected Minds setting the aspirational ambitions of WORLD 2009. The theme highlights the importance of WORLD 2009 in developments of the telecommunications and ICT industries. Linking the concepts open and connected convey diversity in approaches to innovation, problem solving, collaboration and co-operation across all stakeholders. These notions of openness and connection also convey common purpose, as well as the ability and willingness of stakeholders to listen, share, experiment and learn from the broader community. This shared vision is more than a reference to technical standards; it is most importantly a focus on modes of dialogue that bring peoples of the world together.

The Forum programme for ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009 is designed in the context of a global economic crisis where the role of the sector is understood as both a basis of managing the downturn as well as providing a platform for new growth. Thus the Forum is asking profound questions about the nature and role of policy development and the interplay with new business models and sources of revenues. The confluence of technical changes, changing demand, new policy imperatives and global challenges are creating the opportunities for new debates and new solutions. The forum is designed to meet these challenges through both functional and thematic streams; allowing individuals to engage in diverse debates, and understand the diversity of views and the richness of new opportunities.

The three functional streams of the Forum are:

• Technology foresight
• Access: empowering development through communications in an information society
• Business models and policy developments: new ideas for new times

The thematic streams are:

• Development
• ICTs and climate change
• Cybersecurity

The overarching aim of the Forum is to allow telecommunications and ICT stakeholders to debate key strategic issues that will define the development of the sector.