Good morning, afternoon, evening, to everyone wherever you are, welcome and thank you for joining us.
ITU is very pleased to be a co-organizer of this event together with ASME and UNMGCY, and I would like to thank Ambassador Milica Pejanović-Durišić and the Montenegro mission to the UN for supporting this event.
The pandemic has illustrated as never before the critical role of enabling technologies in achieving the SDGs: through developing human infrastructure, strengthening partnerships, innovation and building back better for a more sustainable world.
This is something ITU, as the lead UN agency for information and communication technology, has long been advocating, including since 2007 by being active in the Climate Change Conferences.
Unfortunately, many of the gains in achieving the SDGs have been reversed since that start of the pandemic, and countries with low digital technological capabilities are at an increasingly risk of being marginalised.
This growing digital skills and innovation gap is at the heart of the digital divide, and many national policies and strategies — even in developed countries — often fail to address it. As a result, talent is unfulfilled, small- and medium-sized enterprises are struggling, and a low digital transformation is hampering progress in reaching the SDGs.
The question is how can we foster innovation and ensure that the benefits of the extraordinary advances that are taking place in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things and mobile communications are widely distributed and shared across the world? This is what we will be addressing in this session.
As for ITU, we maintain the international treaty on the harmonised use for the radio spectrum and satellite orbits, and develop associated international technical standards. We also promote best practices in developing countries.
International standards are an essential aid for developing countries to build their infrastructure and stimulate economic development. They can drive competitiveness — not just for individual businesses but for the world economy as a whole — by fostering efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and innovation.
Enabling technologies such as 5G and AI have great potential - as we have already seen in healthcare, businesses and education during the pandemic.
International agreement on the use of spectrum and standards is not easy, but it is essential to ensure interoperability and to reduce costs through economies of scale. Collaboration is the key - between all stakeholders – in the public and private sectors.
This spirit of multi-stakeholder cooperation is reflected in ITU’s membership. It is also characteristic of the World Summit on the Information Society process, led by ITU. The need for collaboration, cooperation and coordination across sectors and borders has never been more obvious than during this pandemic.
We all need to bring our own specific competencies to the table, pool our resources and avoid duplication of effort to build vibrant digital innovation ecosystems. What is at stake is nothing less than the world’s capacity to harness enabling technologies to put the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development back on track and ensure that today’s digital revolution turns into a development revolution - for all.
I congratulate the efforts of ASME and Engineering for Change and look forward to continuing our cooperation with you and all interested stakeholders to bring the benefits of this technology to everyone, everywhere.
Thank you.