FORUM 95: STRATEGIES SUMMIT Breaking down barriers towards the global information society When the Strategies Summit Steering Committee met for the first time with Gabriel Warren in the chair, it was quick to reach agreement on the theme for the 1995 Summit. Industrial, geopolitical and strategic considerations all led to the same conclusion, namely, that the three different sides of the information pyramid - the open system comprising the electronic processing, transmission and universal dissemination of information (symbolized by computers, telecommunications and audiovisual media, respectively), which hitherto had been viewed as distinct and clearly delimited concepts - had now merged to form a new common reality, the electronic market-place of the planetary village, the global information society. It was therefore only natural that the ITU should endeavour to provide the international community with an arena where the way towards the new society could be the subject of joint discussion and exploration, with barriers and obstacles broken down in the process. This is the privileged role taken on by the Forum 95 Strategies Summit which will be held from 3 to 11 October this year. 3 October - Joint opening of the two Summits The first day of the Forum will see the joint opening of the Strategies and Technology Summits, whose previously parallel but separate paths have converged over the years due to the intermeshing of current topics of debate. The general theme of the joint sessions will be "Towards the global information infrastructure". On this particular day the speakers, be they observers or players involved in the ever- increasing coalescence of industrial and technological, political and regulatory, economic and financial, commercial and strategic realities - the multifarious forces which shape the informatics, telecommunication and audiovisual markets - will tell us how the most influential decision-makers view this multi-faceted, constantly changing world. Network operators and service providers, product and application designers and distributors, regulators and politicians, bankers and financiers, analysts and "gurus", engineers and marketing managers will argue their respective cases, pointing out tomorrow's trends for markets, technologies, services and applications. Bridging the gap - a renewed challenge "As the new niche and mass markets in wireless and multimedia take shape, is the imperative of global industry convergence compatible with the needs of both developed and developing nations? A decade after the Maitland Commission's "Missing Link" report, the disparities between developed and the least developed nations have widened. When will the gap be narrowed?" These are the questions which the three speakers in the opening session will endeavour to answer. With NEC Chairman Dr. Tadahiro SEKIMOTO (who will be representing the industrial viewpoint) in the chair, ITU Secretary-General Dr Pekka TARJANNE, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization and Mr. Lewis PRESTON, President of the World Bank, will explore the challenges and opportunities arising from new technologies, booming markets in services and applications, and new investment and financing prospects for countries seeking sustained development based on high-performance, accessible telecommunications. Two round-table sessions to explore possibilities for innovation In the two sessions which make up the second part of the opening day of Forum 95, two round tables will provide opportunities for discussion at hitherto unsurpassed levels, enabling representatives of all the players in the information society to compare notes. Attending these interactive sessions will be several ministers (Saudi Arabia, Russia, Congo, India and Ghana), private and public network operators (Lain Tong, AT&T, Telmex, British Telecom), telecommunication and informatics companies (IBM, Ericsson, Microsoft and NTT), plus the media (Turner Broadcasting, The News Corporation) and cable operators (TeleCommunications Inc.). 4 October - The unfinished dialogue Taking as its topic "Global markets, regional realities - characterizing the opportunity, characterizing the challenge", the second day of the Strategies Summit will be devoted to discussing often divergent interests. The gap between developed and developing countries will be the prime focus of papers and debates which will punctuate the day. There will also be an opportunity to explore conflicts between user requirements and the supply of services and applications, between the move towards globalization and local and regional realities, between countries seeking investors and investors' own requirements. 5 October - The regulatory challenge The global information society will not materialize unless barriers to market entry are identified and removed. Structural reform of established institutions, industry players and corporate entities is essential to the development of a truly open global information infrastructure. This will be the theme of the third day, with the title "Evolving structures - regulating for growth, managing for change". 6 October - The economic and social challenges The fourth day will be devoted to identifying the financial, operational and social challenges to be faced in moving towards the global information society. Innovative investment, financing and production models will be investigated and a wide-ranging debate will be held in order to weigh conflicting market requirements against the search for capital and potential investors. The theme of the day will be "Resourcing for growth - capital formation, human resources". 9 October - Devising innovative solutions Under the sensitive heading "Telecom risks, telecom futures", the aim on 9 October will be to look at the lessons learned from the first week and come up with workable innovative solutions. The main subjects covered during the first week will be taken up again, such as the development gap, growth, the opening up of access and networks, and many others. 10 October - Strategies in transition The new geopolitical realities will top the agenda. The impact of convergence and new technological parameters on geographical realities will be analysed. The conflict between public and private strategies will also be looked at. Finally, emphasis will be placed on the gradual shift from subscriber to user and from user to consumer, an indication of how a monopoly established in a captive market is changing into an industry of services and applications which have become mass consumer products. The new industrial strategies, in which the message is becoming more important than the medium, will also be examined. 11 October - Policy day and closure The role of policy and international cooperation at all levels will form the central focus for the last day of Forum 1995. The establishment of technical, economic, legal, regulatory and social priorities to reconcile the needs not only of developed and developing countries but also of network operators, service providers, vendors and users alike, is the key to setting up the global information society. What do the major players and decision-makers have to say? ____________________