Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 20 November 2012

Opening Remarks

Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It was four years ago at WTSA-08 in Johannesburg that the membership of ITU-T initiated the creation of ITU’s academia membership category, and in October 2010 this new category opened for business.

It is thus rewarding to note that academic membership has become a particular point of pride to ITU-T, accounting for 34 of the 49 new academic members to have joined ITU.

The demand for ITU-T membership from academic and research institutes is clear, and we have made consistent progress in serving the unique needs of academia.

Academia’s participation in ITU-T has always brought tremendous value to our standardization work through the addition of specialized expertise and insights into forward-looking research.

We have been working with academia to understand its unique demands and I believe present a unique value proposition to this crucial segment of the ICT ecosystem.

Today’s event will outline the actions ITU-T has taken to engage universities and research institutions, and in our discussions I am certain we will identify many successes but also many ways in which to improve.

I will not go into detail as I will be followed by Bilel Jamoussi, the Chief of ITU-T’s Study Groups Department, who will give a detailed breakdown of our services to academia.

However, I would like to share with you what I view as the highlights of our academic activities as well as a few points to keep in mind for new academic members of ITU-T and for those interested in joining.