About ICT for Development (SIB-Dev)
ICT is increasingly recognized as a key catalyst tool for accelerating economic development and peace, especially in countries with poor natural resources and/or endemic conflicts. This happens thanks to ICT capacity to provide e tools and opportunities for marginalized groups, to raise levels of education and professional knowledge, to empower people’s participatory and professional capabilities, to increase efficiency and consequently foster income generation and reduce poverty, to improve standards of health and protect environmental resources. ICT is considered key to development sustainability and durable peace, because it creates – through exchanges, information sharing and communication – new social and economic networks that help citizens to participate in the democratic process, be part of the global community, bridge between conflicts and shape their own development solutions.
SIB on Development for Peace will consolidate and help spearhead the importance of establishing development and a culture of peace by providing hands in technical expertise and project proposals. This SIB will analyze those ICT projects that have built bridges between communities in conflicts, explore ways to assimilate self-sustainability into ICT projects, share best practices, challenges and solutions, and turn ITC projects into a significant empowerment force for the targeted communities. It also looks at business models and novel approaches to foster innovation in ICT in contexts and territories characterized by scarce resources.
Development for Peace aims at identifying and promoting all those ICT and community involvement approaches, which can support communities to promote development and establish a durable process of peace. By introducing ICT tools, this SIB seeks to improve key components for sustainable development and community empowerment such as inclusive growth, bridging the technological gap among developing communities, education and spreading wide learning tools. Empowering communities and promoting development help addressing some of the root causes of conflicts such as ethnic cleavages, social and political divisions, and marginalization of certain segments of society as well as gender and religious discrimination.
Empowered people not only participate in the institutions’ decision making process, a precondition for a durable peace process, but also to the democratization of their societies (democratic revolutions in the Middle East). In promoting this process, EAI becomes an integral part of the route already started by the EU and UN aiming at adding rationality and consistency to peace and development, while reducing vulnerability of social, racial, gender and political groups.
Materializing novel ways of using ICT to foster development improve in order to improve people’s quality of life and help addressing overarching problems such as human security and peace stability, in developing and/or conflict shattered societies where ICT penetration is still low. ICT in particular and innovation in general can use the proper potential to promote socio-economic investment, cooperation and people to people interaction.
The SIB on Development for Peace will address these key challenges:
- Efficient and effective delivery of services to citizens in territories with low penetration of ICT, presence of conflict patterns and scarce infrastructure or physical barriers;
- Creating environments and conditions to foster innovation and drive development: business models, living labs, open source;
- Reducing digital divide through the deployment of low-cost infrastructures, low-cost hardware, service delivery through economically viable services, and definition of novel approaches to service delivery;
- Efficient integration of ICT services in a context characterized by poor development and the lack of institutional participation;
- Security of mobile devices and secure delivery of services in environments in which devices and resources are shared (especially in the case of conflicting communities);
- Feasibility and user interfaces for low-cost devices and for people with low ICT culture;
- Promote a culture of conflict resolution among communities through the ICT tools.
Summit
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT
Find the right talent for your company, foster education and training initiatives, support student competitions, share your innovative training program: this track is aimed to facilitate SIBs members towards informative exchange about education and professional enhancement so to implement innovative approaches to college and university educationand make sure the academic environment is able to match the expectations of the business one. Read more about this track...
Track Program Elements Include:
MARKET TRENDS & SOCIETY
Men and women who have changed the world. Companies that perform outstandingly. Case history to get inspired from. Unique chances to be in touch with the most reknown innovators. This is what the “Market Trends and Society Impact” track is for. SIBs members who are eager to understand the world they live in, to identify the innovation trends that will make it a better place, to discover how their commitment could influence not only further technological developments but also engaging ICT in a positive way for societal changes, find here what they need. Read more about this track...
Track Program Elements Include:
FUNDING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The shape of funding is changing. SIBs community enables to investigate any opportunity, present projects, upload prototypes, get recognition and feedback from the grassroots community so to maximize any information about funding and investment and help members to access the counterparts they need to further develop their businesses. Read more about this track...
Track Program Elements Include:
- Presentation of innovation Services
- Elevator Pitch competition
- Panels
- Workshops
- Keynote presentations
- Exhibits
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & STANDARDS
Like no other environment, SIBs community enables their members to play an active and effective role into the definition of standards, regulations and policies. No one better than the innovators themselves know what work for them and how crucial the right policy may be. This track is for any member who wish to propose, share and evalutate current and future innovation policy, and is ready to play a leading role into transforming it. Read more about this track...
Track Program Elements Include:
RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Matchmaking is crucial to any business. Whether it is aimed to skills, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing or facilities; whether among governments or universities and other institutions, or among private organizations, to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of users who can then further develop and exploit the technology into new products, processes, applications, materials or services is this track’s main objective. Read more about this track...
Track Program Elements Include:
DISSEMINATION & PERSONAL RECOGNITION
Share insight and your wisdom with the most qualified audience from the innovation environment: this track enables SIBs members to maximize the impact of their ideas, business, products, services by making the world aware about them. Whether through a keynote speech or a dedicated publication, their impact on innovation will find its way to the right audience. Read more about this track...
Track Program Elements Include:
SIB Network
Social links
SIB Board
