The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) set a new broadband challenge to the global information and communication technology (ICT) community following ITU Telecom World 2011 held last week in Geneva: ensure that 50% of the world’s population has access to broadband Internet.

The multinational event consisted of a series of conferences that brought together leading industry players, government heads, young digital innovators and technological talents looking to harness the power of technology to address local and global issues.

Broadband challenge

The Broadband Leadership Summit, one of the featured events, sought to address challenges in broadband deployment, because of the crucial role this plays for economic growth and job creation.

According to the World Bank, broadband contributes more to GDP growth than other telecom services (i.e. fixed, mobile and internet) and every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration generates a 1.3 percent increase in economic growth.

The summit stressed the importance of promoting broadband with concrete policy measures and developing locally relevant content. The Broadband Commission for Digital Development challenged world leaders, governments, industry players and civil society organizations to work together and ensure that at least 50% of the developing world’s population, including 40% in households, are using broadband internet by 2015.

Youth and ICT

To highlight the importance of youth in the ICT sector, ITU also sponsored the inaugural Young Innovator and Digital Innovator competitions, which brought 45 finalists from 22 countries to showcase the latest information and communication (ICT) solutions to today’s challenges.

“Youth are the future, and nowhere is this more true than in our fast-changing industry, where innovation is being driven by a new generation of ‘digital natives’ for whom ICTs are a natural and intrinsic part of the world. I have no doubt that many of the 45 young innovators ITU has hosted this week will go on to big things, and help further reshape our digital world,” Dr. Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General was quoted as saying in ITU’s press release.

Winners, voted by delegates in Geneva and around the world via online polls, were:

Nigerian Fab-Ukozor Somto, one of three winners in the Young Innovators category, won with the MS2C (Mobile Skills to Cash) texting service that matches NGOs, private companies, and public sector opportunities to text-messaged skill-sets of citizens seeking work.

And in the Digital Innovators category, Andrew Benson from Sierra Leone, won with Digital Hope, a service that uses digital tools to empower amputees to sell their own home-made goods.

“The ITU Telecom World 2011 Young Innovators workshops provided a bridging effect to actually help you migrate your idea from theoretical concepts to something that is useable practical and feasible,” young innovator Komborerai Murimba from Zimbabwe was quoted as saying in ITU’s press release.

ITU Telecom World 2011 marks the 40^th anniversary of ITU’s commitment to serving the global ICT community through knowledge-sharing, networking, and connecting innovators in the public, private and civil society sector to apply the power of technology in addressing real world issues.