​​WTISD 2019:​ Key messages

• ​ITU standards improve lives: ITU standards – developed using processes beholden to the principles of consensus, transparency, balance, due process and openness – enable inte​rconnection and interoperability, promote economies of scale, grant access to global markets, and provide a common basis for growth and innovation. They are critical in generating confidence for large-scale investments in ICTs. Most people are not aware that many technologies are based on ITU standards.
• ITU standards create mutual benefits for both developed and developing countries: ITU standards enable companies in developing countries to access the global marketplace, and enable global players to access emerging markets.
• ITU standards lead to equity and fairness: They allow all countries to benefit fairly from ICTs, and to accelerate progress towards all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
• ITU is the platform where different stakeholders from both the public and private sectors as well as academia, from both developing and developed countries, develop international ITU standards.
• Bridging the standardization gap is a foundational pillar of ITU’s mission as an organization: One of ITU’s core objectives is to develop international standards that offer a common basis for growth and innovation, highlighting the importance of ITU’s efforts to ensure that our standardization process is globally inclusive.
• ​The inclusivity of the ITU standardization platform is supported by ITU’s Bridging the Standardization Gap (BSG) programme: The BSG programme is developed in line with ITU governing texts, with the aim of:
• ​​​​​facilitating the participation of experts, in particular young and women experts, in standards development, with services such as ITU’s fellowship and mentorship programmes and tools for remote participation;
• assisting delegates from developing countries in improving their skills in standards development, helping them to ensure their own specific requirements are included in the standards. Key to this assistance are ITU’s standards-making effectiveness training sessions, video primers and e-learning courses;
• empowering communities of standardization experts at the national and the regional levels, with tools such as ITU guidelines for the establishment of national standardization secretariats;
• promoting information exchange, with tools such as ITU publications and regional and inter-regional standardization forums;     
• mobilizing resources and fostering collaboration with relevant regional organizations.​​​