Special Program of the Broadband Commission and the World Economic Forum
The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development has described broadband internet as “the nervous system of the global economy.” As we are approaching a 5G world, the increasing efforts put in bringing broadband in low density areas are proving to be successful. This year’s co-hosted special program of the Broadband Commission and the World Economic Forum gather Government representatives, leaders in business, civil society and academia aiming to advance in the following:
- How to increase the efforts put towards connecting the 52% remaining people to the internet?
- How to fight the increasing cyber-crime and cyber-bullying?
- How to ensure that the fourth industrial revolution technologies don’t create a digital divide?
- How to ensure that the issue of growing gender digital divide is addressed?
The discussion at the special session was built around four break-out groups:
- The Gender Digital Divide
- New Financing Solutions for Connectivity
- Privacy, Safety and Security
- The Fourth Industrial Revolution Divide.
The Special Session was attended by Co-Chairs of the Broadband Commission: H. E. President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, ITU Secretary-General Mr Houlin Zhao, and other Commissioners including: Director General of GSMA Mr Mats Granryd, Nokia President and CEO Mr Rajeev Suri, CEO of UN Foundation Dr Kathy Calvin, Mr Börje Ekholm President and CEO of Ericsson Group, Ms Arancha González Executive Director ITC, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi Secretary General of UNCTAD, Mr Boris Koprivnikar Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Philipp Metzger Director General of the Swiss Federal Office of Communications, H.E. Ms Anusha Rahman Khan Ministry of State for Information Technology& Telecommunications, Dr Ann Aerts, Head of Novartis Foundation, Mr Chang-Gyu Hwang CEO of KT Corporation, Dr Carlos Jarque Executive Director of America Movil, Dr Nasser Marafih CEO for the Ooredoo Group, Mr Patrick Masambu Director General of ITSO, Mr Sunil Mittal Founder and Chairman of Bharti enterprises, Mr Paul Mitchell Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Microsoft Corporation, Mr Nikolai Nikiforov Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Mr Achim Steiner Administrator of UNDP, Mr Sunny Varkey Founder and Chairman of GEMS Education and Ms Sun Yafang Chairwoman for Huawei Technologies.
