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World Telecommunication and Information Society Day
focuses on ‘ICT entrepreneurship for social impact’
ICT start-ups and SMEs to connect the world
Geneva, 17 May 2016 –World Telecommunication and Information
Society celebrated the fact that billions of people around the world are now
connected to a smart, networked environment and looked ahead to new and
previously unimaginable possibilities of communicating.
“These welcome developments make it even more urgent that we continue to
pursue our goal of bringing the rest of the world’s people online, so that they
too can access and create extraordinary social and economic benefits,” said ITU
Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a message to people around
the world, said: “Information and communication technologies provide smart
solutions to address climate change, hunger, poverty and other global
challenges. They are key instruments for providing mobile health care and access
to education, empowering women, improving efficiencies in industrial and
agricultural production, and safeguarding the environment.”
Mr Michael Møller, Director General of the UN Office at Geneva, represented
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2016 marks the 151st
anniversary of the establishment of ITU, which was founded in Paris on 17 May
1865.
Global focus on ICT entrepreneurship for social impact
The celebrations in Geneva today brought together leading academics,
incubators, and entrepreneurs to discuss the significance of ICT
entrepreneurship to create social impact.
Keynote addresses and an interactive panel discussion focused on ICT
entrepreneurs and start-ups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which
have a key role in ensuring economic growth in a sustainable and inclusive
manner. They are often the source of innovative ICT-enabled solutions that make
a long-lasting impact in global, regional and national economies, and are an
important source of new jobs especially for youth. SMEs make up more than 90 per
cent of all businesses worldwide, and represent a ‘path out of poverty’ for many
developing countries.
Whurley, co-founder of Honest Dollar, a start-up based in Austin, Texas, USA,
which aims at bringing honesty, transparency, and simplicity to the financial
services industry, urged governments to apply better interventions to support
small businesses.
Mr Alexandre Weber, co-founder of Seedstars World, a business incubator in
more than 50 emerging markets, focused on creating ideas, programmes, platforms
and products for start-ups and ventures, and provided a status update on the
emerging market tech start-up scene.
Mr Raphael Silva, co-founder of the Ludwig Project based in São Paulo,
Brazil, delved into the social impact of ICTs by showcasing how developers
create unique and life-changing applications for social good, such as
introducing the hearing impaired to the world of music. He is a member of the
Red Bull Amaphiko network of social entrepreneurs.
A panel discussion outlined best practices in enabling ICT innovation through
small business development, both in terms of applications and development of the
ICT sector. The panellists included Ms Katherine Mulligan, Director, Schwab
Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship; Ms Candace Johnson, President, EBAN
(European Business Angel Network); Mr Marcos Vaena, Chief of Enterprises and
Competitiveness, International Trade Centre; Whurley and Mr Houlin Zhao, ITU
Secretary-General. The debate was moderated by Astrid Zweynert, award-winning
journalist, editor and social media specialist at Thomson Reuters.
For more information, please see
www.itu.int/en/wtisd/2016/Pages/default.aspx or contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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