[Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dec 1, 2022] Stakeholders at the 17th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) have called for increased global collaboration to expand digital inclusion in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in a joint effort to promote better connectivity and greater durability.
“The goal of universal and meaningful connectivity cannot be achieved by improving coverage alone. By leveraging lessons learned from these 15 published research projects – and working to ensure broadband access, uptake, affordability and resilience – together, we can build back better with broadband.” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General-elect.
Ms. Anne-Rachel Inné, Director of the ITU Regional Office for Africa and HE Dr. Belete Molla, Ethiopian Minister of Innovation and Technology at the launch of the report
The remarks were made as representatives of the 15 winning teams of ITU’s Connect2Recover (C2R) Research Competition presented the findings of their report during a Day 0 session of the IGF in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and discussed concrete ways to contribute to digital inclusion at the global conference. recovery.
The research grants for the global competition, launched in July 2021 as the first of its kind under ITU’s global flagship C2R initiative, were supported by ITU-D Sector Member Huawei.
“Thank you to the ITU team as well as all the research teams who made the research competition a success. The work that has gone into these projects is true to the core of Huawei’s mission to leave no nobody aside in our efforts for a fully connected, intelligent world,” said Karl Song, vice president of corporate communications at Huawei, adding that the company “will try to make the most of the knowledge gained by the research projects and implement selected recommendations”.
A compilation of summaries of each report, titled Building back better with broadband: researching frontline storieswas also released on occasion.
The 15 winning teams represent 43 universities and institutions from 22 countries around the world and focus on digital connectivity, resilience and digital inclusion for education, health, business, job creation, as well as vulnerable groups. Their reports focused on empirical evidence collected from 17 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Arab States.
The teams were evaluated and selected by an impartial international jury which reviewed 307 entries from 80 countries.
To read the short publication Building back better with broadband: researching frontline stories
Learn more about the Connect2Recover initiative
