Geneva, Switzerland, 1 July 2016

Contact: tsbworkshops@itu.int

Introduction

Future networks will need to support an enormous volume of ICT applications and a very broad spectrum of services. Billions of networked devices, things and objects will enable systems to communicate and learn from one another, creating intelligent ecosystems that adapt their behavior in the interests of efficiency. The next generation of communications will see applications in areas spanning from voice and video to industrial robotics, intelligent transport, remote medical surgery, virtual reality and much more. This increasing sophistication of ICTs and unprecedented level of ICT ubiquity will demand significant transformations in network infrastructure and services. We are on course for a world in which nearly every aspect of economic and social activity will depend on ICTs, making it essential that we build ICT infrastructure and services deserving of our trust.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organized a one-day workshop on "Future Trust and Knowledge Infrastructure, Phase 2" on 1 July 2016 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva.

The task of this workshop and coming events in the series will be to conceptualize the form of future ICT infrastructure and determine the course of ITU standardization work in response.


Objectives

This workshop provided a platform to continue the discussions on future converged ICT services and information infrastructure, which started during the one-day workshop, held on 24 April 2015 at ITU Headquarters, on "Future Trust and Knowledge Infrastructure, Phase 1".

In the modern world, trust is an essential component of doing business in the world of communications technology. While technical measures are important, no technical solution alone will overcome customer doubts as to the trustworthiness of any new ICT technology. As such, customer trust must be earned and built up from a framework of transparency (honesty), good governance (decision making), and policies (such as privacy and data protection), which can then be implemented and supported by technologies such as those for cybersecurity, systems management, and virtualization.

Accordingly, the workshop aimed to:

•  Review the strategic and technical priorities for future ICT infrastructure and services from Trust perspective;
•  Provide a Tutorial on the concept of Trust and Trust Provisioning for ICT infrastructure and Services;
•  Raise awareness regarding key technical, policy and governance issues in order to make ICT Infrastructure and services trustworthy;
•  Provide an overview on Trust standardization landscape and the work of ITU in this field while identifying priorities for future standards development work for the next study period.