Web Dialogue on the
ITU International Center of Digital Innovation
(I-CoDI)
29 June 2020
Opening Remarks
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau
International Telecommunication Union
(by remote participation)
Good morning, Good afternoon and good evening to all participants joining this web dialogue from all parts of the world.
I am very pleased to welcome you to this conversation on Innovation and how we can leverage on resources and platforms to exploit the innovation potential in the ITU and within our Member States.
As the UN SG has said: we need to be doing different things and doing things differently, with half the world not connected, we know that business as usual is not going to close the divide.
In the present crisis, technology, innovation and creativity are critical in providing opportunities for recovery, that will lead to a more dynamic, sustainable, inclusive and diversified global economy.
We know that we can no longer think about connectivity for connectivity sake.
We have to go further, we have to apply new technologies to existing business problems, societal challenges and practices in a manner that brings benefit to humanity.
And Innovation is at the heart of that, it is at the heart of development.
As many of you may know our World Conference for Telecommunication Development stressed clearly the need to create a culture of innovation within the BDT.
This was highlighted as a priority by the Buenos Aires Declaration, as one of our main objectives in our strategic plan, and as a regional initiative for all ITU regions. This was further emphasized in the ITU Connect 2030 Agenda, where we have a Goal to enable innovation in telecommunications/ICT in support of the digital transformation of society.
We were mandated by our members to strengthen capacity to integrate innovation in national development agendas and to develop strategies to promote innovation initiatives including through partnerships.
Today we are excited to converse with you on innovation and to introduce to you, a joint effort we are advancing with the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in United Arab Emirates, known as the International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI).
The foreseen activities under the I-CoDI as we call it, will cut across all programmes and regional initiatives.
Today, digital innovation relentlessly rewrites the rulebook for business.
It is an essential component in the culture of any organization and it requires us to constantly re-evaluate how we deliver our products and services, and how we best equip ourselves and membership with an enhanced capacity to innovate.
At our Advisory Group meeting a few weeks ago, we highlighted a number of steps we have taken to build this culture of innovation, how we are trying to re-invent some of our products and services for the membership, all drawn from the priorities, initiatives and programmes decided by our last WTDC.
We certainly would like to scale innovation activities because therein lies a huge potential.
I believe that we can fill the missing gaps.
But to fill these gaps we need you members, and other partners to collate our efforts and generate transformative impact from the capabilities of digital innovation.
ITU, as the lead UN agency for ICT, has a unique capacity to help support countries through our regional and area offices and our team here in HQ, and this is what I-CoDI is all about.
We have a tremendous opportunity to connect the knowledge ITU produces to the problems that countries are facing in digital transformation.
We are convinced that we can do a lot more if we create synergies between various actions both within and outside ITU.
This collaboration with UAE to create I-CoDI could not have been more timely. While we are still working on the design of the centre, we envisage I-CoDI to be a melting pot that can be both physical (here in Geneva) and virtual given the reality of the world today.
Through this centre, we hope to achieve several objectives including:
- supporting Member States, to better integrate telecommunication/ICT innovation into their national development agendas;
- to develop the capacity within ITU/BDT to integrate innovation in our day to day activities; and ultimately, accelerate the development of inclusive digital economies.
The current environment has many challenges that come with digital disruption, and we therefore envision that I-CoDI will help key ITU/BDT constituents to navigate the changing ICT/Telecommunication environment.
We plan to embark on the first phase of the project, beginning with the design.
This will involve design of the operating model, the budget and resource mobilization strategy, as well as mapping out initial activities. With lessons learnt, our hope is to have a future phase where the I-CoDI concept can be rolled out to the Regions.
It is our wish that we carry our stakeholders along, in all the stages of the I-CoDI journey.
This is why the session today is primarily purposed to listen and seek your views on how we can create an I-CoDI and make it work for you members, in collaboration with stakeholders.
We therefore would welcome your collective inputs and thoughts not only at this web dialogue but as we go forward. We would be pleased to have on board, as many partners (member states and sector members)
I want to sincerely appreciate the support of the UAE Government, and TRA in particular, for accompanying us in this endeavor. The expert advice and support during the entire design phase of the project will be invaluable to the foundation of this initiative.
And finally, in his own words, the UN Secretary-General encourages everyone to, “Be bold, be revolutionary…. and disrupt… because without innovation, there is no way we can overcome the challenges of our times."
Now is the time to make innovation the new normal.
Thank you
