Excellencies, distinguished board members, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the third Meeting of the Digital Innovation Board, here in the beautiful city of Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.
I would like to thank our hosts, Dr Guido Gómez Mazara, Chairman of the Board of INDOTEL and Ms. Julissa Cruz, Executive Director of INDOTEL for hosting us, in this beautiful country that is making great progress in digital transformation and innovation.
I would like to acknowledge the Board Members present here in person and also those online and extend a warm welcome to our new Board members. The details on the new composition of the Board will be presented by the Secretariat later at this meeting.
At our last Board meeting, we agreed on a high-level strategic plan, which the Alliance Secretariat has since been actively implementing.
At this third meeting, we will report on the progress achieved this far, reflect on lessons learned and shape the next steps for the Alliance.
I am pleased to note that progress is being made on all fronts. I recently visited Pakistan, Cambodia, and Uzbekistan who all expressed their appreciation for the work of the alliance which is also shaping their innovation ecosystem.
Let me share some of the progress that we have made.
First, 12 Acceleration Centres are cruising forward with services despite headwinds along the way.
The centres are using ITU Academy courses to build skills with some already launching services and hosting events.
The representatives of the centres gathered in Dubai in August in their third meeting to plan joint activities. This is meant to reinforce their key capabilities which are needed to shape the future that their countries aspire to, in the digital domain.
Second, there has also been progress on the Digital Transformation Lab, which continues to support centres with training, workshops and other guidance. In fact, our ITU Global Innovation Centre hosted in New Delhi has been very active working hand in hand with the Digital Transformation Lab developing new playbooks on entrepreneurship, running hackathons, and measures to strengthen capacity building.
Third, thanks to the Regional Initiative Accelerator first piloted this year, projects valued at USD 20 million have been developed in Europe, while a roadmap for Asia-Pacific is also in place.
Fourth, our Expert Network held its kick-off meeting in July 2025 with about 70 experts from over 30 countries.
These experts are organized in seven thematic areas and sub-groups to support the strategic objectives of the Alliance. Each of the subgroups is busy planning its works and updates will be reported when completed.
Finally, I am pleased to note that significant progress is being made on our High-Level Work Plan. You will benefit from the Secretariat presentation on this.
On the other hand, Strategic foresight reports have been developed on startups and SMEs, Africa's Venture Capital landscape, smart cities and healthcare.
This series is a critical enabler for helping the board fulfil its commitment to support countries in shaping an equitable future to bridge the digital innovation divide.
The first report of the series, "Shaping education for tomorrow" was approved by the Board and is ready for release.
At this meeting, the Board will also receive presentations on four additional reports - “Shaping the future of Startups and SMEs", “Shaping the future of an African Venture Capital landscape", “Creating smarter cities", “Transforming healthcare". These were peer reviewed and will also be launched at this meeting after the Board's approval.
In terms of the Partnership Ecosystem Workstream, we are seeing stronger collaboration with other areas of work through the Regional Initiative Accelerator. We will continue to use every opportunity to showcase progress, putting in mind, that this supports the ITU-D priority on 'resource mobilization and international cooperation'.
Clearly, there is much for us to discuss over the next two days.
Later today, our Thematic Leads and Expert Network will present the results of their work across seven key areas :
- Open technology innovation
- Ecosystem development
- Entrepreneurship and SME growth
- Policy experimentation
- Strategic foresight
- Strategic communication, and
- Partnerships and resource mobilization.
culminating in foresight briefs that highlight the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Tomorrow, our focus turns to the ITU Acceleration Centres, with global updates on their journey to becoming fully operational.
Finally, we will synthesize key takeaways and action items.
Overall, this meeting will allow us to align our priorities and chart a shared path toward WTDC-25.
Once again, I thank INDOTEL, the Dominican Republic and all of you, for your dedication and engagement.
I look forward to shaping the future together.
Thank you!
