Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning and welcome to the I-CoDi Global Workshop and the very first meeting of the Network of Acceleration Centers of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development!
Allow me to first thank the United Arab Emirates and its Telecommunication and Digital Regulatory Authority for hosting us today. I must add that you are a strategic partner in this ambitious journey as we build capacities across the globe to bridge the existing innovation gap – iCodi and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance converge in strategy and vision. I congratulate you for fulfilling your gracious Partner2Connect Pledge that has brought us here today.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am excited to finally meet and address this distinguished and diverse crowd of representatives of the seventeen organizations that the International Telecommunication Union selected from across the world to host and lead our flagship centres!
As you know, the Network of Acceleration Centres is one of the primary vehicles of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development that the Telecommunication Development Bureau launched last year when I took office.
The Network of Acceleration Centres offers a new framework to help countries build critical local enablers to bridge the digital innovation gap. Together, we have created a space where innovation and entrepreneurship will be born and nurtured. Accelerating and scaling digital innovation will fast-track our journey towards meaningful connectivity and sustainable digital transformation for the SDGs by 2030.
One of the strengths of the Network will be its ability to the transfer knowledge and promote South-South cooperation. Concretely, it will provide a platform for policy experimentation, research, open technology innovation, scaling up innovation, driving entrepreneurship for economic growth, and igniting creativity and talent.
As you already know, the Acceleration Centres will have five strategic capabilities to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. I prefer to refer to them as focus areas. I want to call upon you to stand tall and to be bold – it is you who will provide the launching pads of our initiatives - you will be directly in charge of driving these five strategic areas in your countries and ecosystems namely:
• to see where digital is taking your economies, and how you need to shape your actions and ecosystems to respond.
• how to create clusters of innovation and stakeholders working together to unlock specific opportunities in your sectors.
• how to unleash the capacity of talent and to turn it into competitive opportunities.
• the ability to transform your country’s policies in a manner that will lead you in the right direction.
1. And, creating global synergies so that we will go fast together in the right direction towards prosperity of our countries and regions.
Let me remind you that the aim of the meeting today is to kick-off the activities of the Network of Acceleration Centres, to meet each other, and to decide the direction we are headed. We will build a mutual understanding of the new institutional and human capacity-building framework that will accelerate digital innovation. Throughout the coming days, you will benefit from UAE’s approach to innovation and its own methodology, which I hope will provide insights to the work of Acceleration Centres.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The world today is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. It is changing at lightning speed. Technology plays a critical role in this rapid and unpredictable transformation. And it is unstoppable. As we live our lives, we cannot stay still. We can no longer do business as usual. The institutions we inherited from the 20th century are no longer able to cope with these rapidly changing times.
We need to reboot the system. This is why we are here today. We are bringing you together to carry the agenda forward, to ensure a future where universal human dignity is a norm, where equitable progress is a given. I have no doubt in my heart, that the Network of Acceleration Centres will bring forth a new operating system that will direct these volatile times into a force for good. This is what your mission at the helm of the Network of Acceleration Centres is all about.
It is my fervent hope that the seventeen acceleration Centres will work together to share experiences, transfer knowledge, and build synergies that will make a difference in each of your countries and bring an equitable digital future for all.
On a final note, I would like to inform you that we will soon hold the first meeting of the Digital Innovation Board, whose goal is to shape the overall direction of your work. The meeting will be held in Geneva on 19- 20 March. Our team will collaborate with you on the need for you to get your organizations to record short videos to introduce your centres to the Board. These will be played to the Board Members.
I thank you for your commitment and wish you all a successful start!
