Connecting the world and beyond

PP 26

ITU Europe Region Initiatives 2026-2029

​​The ITU’s initiatives in Europe are centered around global activities and projects. These regional Initiatives are designed to address specific priority areas of particular importance to the Europe region.

Formulated and revised at successive 4-yearly World Telecommunication Development Conferences (WTDC), these regional initiatives mobilize creative partnerships to implement the range of small, medium and large scale projects outlined here. Regional initiatives guide ITU and countries themselves in developing and implementing specific projects to address priority needs in the area of telecommunications and information and communication technologies. 

The ITU welcomes all stakeholders to engage with us in developing and delivering these vital actions.​ Contact us at eurregion(at)itu.int. ​​​​

EUR1: Digital infrastructure development

​Objective: 

To facilitate the attainment of universal and meaningful connectivity through resilient and synergistic infrastructure development and an enabling environment, ensuring ubiquitous coverage.

​Expected results

Assistance to the countries in need in the following areas: ​

​​Development and updating of plans and feasibility studies for the deployment of ubiquitous resilient high-speed connectivity with all relevant components including legislation, standards, organizational set-up, capacity building and cooperation mechanisms, as needed.​​

  1. ​Assessment of dynamics, challenges and opportunities in respect of the roll-out of resilient high-speed connectivity to inform best practice sharing on the various abovementioned aspects through the organization of regional workshops, conferences or webinars.
  2. Rehabilitation and rebuilding of telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in countries affected by natural hazards or human-induced crises, to ensure digital resilience for all.
  3. Providing national or regional platforms for building capacities in the field of universal and meaningful connectivity, including an enabling environment and collaborative regulation between the telecommunication sector and other synergistic sectors such as energy, railway and transportation.
  4. Mapping of ubiquitous infrastructure and services, fostering harmonization of approaches across the region and taking into account infrastructure-sharing approaches applied by countries, including the development of broadband mapping systems for broadband networks and related facilities and promoting innovative solutions for meaningful connectivity.
  5. Initiatives on the wider deployment of broadband ICT services and contributing to environmental sustainability. 

Activities related to EUR1

EUR2: Digital transformation for resilience

​Objective: 

To facilitate the digitalization processes of services in different sectors (e.g. agriculture, health, government, education), including those of public administrations, in order to ensure greater resilience in responding to critical situations, including the challenges of pandemics, natural hazards or human-induced crises.​

Expected results 

Assistance to the countries in need in the following areas:

  1. Creating an experience- and knowledge-exchange platform between countries.
  2. Developing technical and service infrastructure (data centres, networks, secure gateways, authentication, interoperability, standards and metadata) as well as capacity building within the national administrations and institutions.
  3. Strengthening emergency preparedness in the case of natural hazards or human-induced crises, including through special initiatives, such as Support to Western Balkans on Emergency Warning Systems, aimed at roll-out of cell broadcast systems in countries concerned.
  4. Building the capacities necessary for accelerating the digitalization process, through the development of national strategies and dedicated programmes, including the cross-sectoral actions in support of the digitalization of different sectors of economy.
  5. Increasing public trust in, and successful development/uptake of, e-government services and processes.

EUR3: Digital inclusion and skills development

Objective

To facilitate equitable access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and necessary digital skills for all groups of society, including persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, as well as women and youth, in order to take advantage of telecommunications/ICTs.​

Expected results

Assistance to the countries in need in the following areas:

  1. Leveraging digital accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs as a priority for the countries, and supporting them through the creation and updating of strategies and policies, taking into account regional or global standards, building capacity, fostering application of innovative approaches, monitoring the implementation of digital accessibility, and creating new partnerships or strengthening existing ones such as ''Accessible Europe – ICT for All''.
  2. Improving gender equality in all groups in the telecommunication/ICT sector and beyond by providing opportunities for collaboration, skills enhancement, maximizing impact and supporting the setting up of new projects and the scaling up of successful ongoing projects.
  3. Meaningful empowerment, engagement and participation of youth in the telecommunication/ICT sector and beyond, leading towards the creation of new career schemes and opportunities.
  4. Assessment of national and regional approaches for digital-skills development, elaboration of national and regional strategies or action plans, development of necessary digital skills, knowledge and literacy programmes, and providing support for educators.
  5. Building and/or strengthening partnerships with the private sector, regional and subregional organizations, United Nations system organizations, academia and other possible stakeholders for the benefit of digital inclusion in the European region and globally.​

EUR4: Trust and confidence in the use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies

Objective

To support the deployment of resilient infrastructure and secure telecommunication/information and communication technologies (ICTs) allowing all citizens, especially children, to use telecommunications/ICTs in their daily lives with confidence.​​

Expected results

Assistance to the countries in need in the following areas:

  1. Providing platforms and tools for building human capacities to enhance trust and confidence in the use of telecommunications/ICTs, including establishing strengthened approaches to cybersecurity capacity building for European countries with a cross-sectoral cybersecurity-skills curriculum and guidelines promoting related skills.
  2. Sharing best practices and case studies, conducting surveys on confidence and trust in the use of ICTs, including training, and creating other opportunities for sharing knowledge and experience.
  3. Elaborating or reviewing national cybersecurity strategies that promote multistakeholder engagement and facilitate secure adoption of new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies.
  4. Setting up or improving the capabilities of national computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs) and the corresponding networks to support these CSIRTs in cooperating with each other.
  5. Conducting simulation or educational exercises such as cyberdrills or other events at the national and regional levels in cooperation with international and regional organizations.

Creating a safer online environment for children and young people through raising awareness and education about cybersecurity, implementation and promotion of the Guidelines on Child Online Protection and other educational resources, encouraging stakeholders to identify risks and vulnerabilities for children in cyberspace.

Activities related to EUR4

EUR5: Digital innovation ecosystems

Objective

To foster environments that are conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship through systemic approaches based on digital telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs), aimed at closing the growing digital innovation divide in the region.

Expected results

Assistance to the countries in need in the following areas:

  1. National digital innovation strategies and policies, country profiles and reviews, and sectoral innovation assessments to provide an accurate assessment of digital innovation gaps.
  2. Conducting of trend research readiness and foresight studies to support countries in navigating the changing environment.
  3. Capacity-building and knowledge-sharing platforms such as regional innovation forums, open innovation competitions and ecosystem development training to empower stakeholders.
  4. Ecosystem-building initiatives and projects developed in line with the Regional Initiative Accelerator Framework such as technology sandboxes and programmes supporting tech start-ups and entrepreneurship to create concrete impact.
  5. Promoting multistakeholder and multisectoral partnerships between and within different ecosystems, for sustainability and scale-up.

Fostering inclusion by sharing, twinning best practices and connecting different ecosystems, with special attention to gender and youth.​​

Activities related to EUR5

UN Processes: ITU as a member of the UN Development System

​Information and communication technologies (ICTs) form the backbone of today's digital economy and play a key role as development enablers to achieve the goals and targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Emerging technologies like 5G, Big Data, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, together with highspeed broadband connectivity, create new avenues for addressing global challenges in the fields of education, employment, health, agriculture, inequalities, climate change, governance and many more.

With the objective to strengthen the role of ICTs as development enablers that can facilitate countries' capabilities to reach all the 17 SDGs, as well as aligning with the repositioning of the United Nations development system around the SDGs and the adoption of a “One UN" approach, ITU Office for Europe is taking part of various regional and national coordination mechanisms reporting at the UN level.

Activities related to the UN Processes​

Cooperation with European Institutions: EU, EC, EaPeReg, EMERG, IRG, BEREC, EIB, EBRD, OECD Council of Europe, EBU

ITU activities related to Ukraine

​Ass​essing​​​
  • Development of Ukraine Digital Development Profile 2024 which will inform the UN's Common Country Analysis for 2024 and will be the foundation of the ITU's input to the 2025 Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) 2025.
Assisting 
  • Towards rebuilding and rehabilitation of the Broadcasting Stations
    As of August 2024, 10 stations have been already assessed, and 10 initial bankable project proposals are currently seeking financial support to kick off the rehabilitation. ​

Human capacity development action 
  • Executive Training Program for Ukrainian Officials working in the digital sector on the 5G roll-out.
  • Organisation in cooperation with the European Commission organizes the TAIEX training on implementation for Ukrainian policymakers and regulatory and technical experts to be hosted by the Office of Electronic Communication of Poland.
Mobilizing commitments 
  • Special Fund: Thank You to Japan, Czech Rep., Bulgaria, Lithuania!
  • ITU actively engaged in the Ukraine Recovery Conference in UK and Berlin and continues to develop the network of the partners. 
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Previous years

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