Hello ITU Newsletter readers!

Here are your top ICT trends for this past week: The European Union moves closer to banning roaming charges, the G20 holds its first digital economy ministerial meeting and Indian ecommerce company Flipkart raises USD 1.4 billion from eBay, Microsoft and Tencent.

Spotlight

Startups: A USD 150 million fund, The Engine, will back advanced technology startups others find ‘too hard.’ Meanwhile, the Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland brought tech startups and investors together last week to discuss innovation in emerging markets. ITU News spoke to Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore at the event. Check out our podcast for more.

ICT Trends

Artificial Intelligence: Google's 'AlphaGo' is partnering with the China Go Association and the Chinese Government to test the upper limits of its AI at a summit in May. [Next week, ITU will host a briefing on AI for Good at the United Nations headquarters in New York.]

5G: Can component suppliers shake up 5G value chains? The vastly increased performance criteria for new 5G networks creates pressure - and opportunity - for component suppliers, such as Xilinx, which attended ITU's recent North American CTO Meeting on the importance of standardization.

Vote for WSIS Prizes 2017! ITU has released the final list of 345 ICT success stories selected for consideration by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2017. Voting closes on 30 April. Learn more.

Regulation: The European Parliament has taken a final step to abolish EU roaming charges. It's the latest in the EU's plan to end roaming charges by June 15. [Learn more about ITU's Mobile Roaming Cost Analysis Tool and our Let's Roam the World initiative.]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

G20's first digital economy ministerial meeting highlights key role of ICTs.
Digital health: Hospitals are prescribing home surveillance to save lives.
eCommerce in India: Flipkart raises USD 1.4 billion from eBay, Microsoft, and Tencent.
IoT: AT&T is launching a collection of IoT resources to help solution providers navigate the possibilities of IoT with their customers.
LTE: ABI Research predicts mainstream adoption of Public Safety LTE.
Huggable robots? Disney files patent for 'huggable and interactive' humanoid robots.

Insights

Smart City security 'Cyber security considerations should be on par with every design and architecture requirement when considering smart city strategies,' says Peter Tran of RSA Security.

#ICT4SDG: How ICTs can fast forward progress on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), by ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.

Keep up to date with ITU

UPCOMING EVENTS

- ITU Workshop on Digital Financial Services and Financial Inclusion; Washington, D.C., United States, 19 April 2017

- ITU Briefing on Artificial Intelligence for Good; New York, United States, 20 April, 2017

- International Girls in ICT Day; Worldwide, 27 April 2017

MORE FROM ITU

- New blogs! Read interviews with industry leaders, insights into the latest tech news and other ICT stories from around the world on the ITU Blog

- New videos! On ITU’s YouTube channel

- Read the latest ITU News Magazine here

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