Artificial intelligence

International Telecommunication Union

ITU is the United Nations specialised agency for digital technologies, driving innovation in ICTs together with 194 member states and a unique membership in the UN system of over 1,000 companies, universities, research institutes, and international organisations. Established 160 years ago in 1865, ITU is the intergovernmental body responsible for coordinating the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoting international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, improving communications infrastructure in the developing world, and establishing the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. From broadband networks to cutting-edge wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, intelligent transport systems, radio astronomy, oceanographic and satellite-based Earth monitoring, as well as the convergence of fixed/mobile phone, the internet, cable television, and broadcasting technologies, ITU is committed to connecting the world. For more information, visit www.itu.int.

See also: Africa’s participation in the International Telecommunication Union

Digital activities

Some of ITU’s key areas of action include radiocommunication services (such as satellite services, and fixed/mobile and broadcasting services), developing telecommunications networks (including future networks), standardising various areas and media related to telecommunications, and ensuring access to bridge the digital divide and addressing challenges in ICT accessibility. ITU’s work supports emerging technologies in fields such as 5G, AI, intelligent transport systems, disaster management, agriculture, metaverse, quantum technologies, smart sustainable cities, and the internet of things (IoT); access and digital inclusion; accessibility of ICTs to persons with disabilities; digital health; ICTs and climate change; cybersecurity; gender equality; and child online protection. These and many more ICT topics are covered within the framework of radiocommunication, standardisation, and development work, through various projects, initiatives, and studies carried out by the organisation.

Digital policy issues

Telecommunication infrastructure

Information and communication infrastructure development is one of ITU’s priority areas. The organisation seeks to assist member states, sector members, associates, and academia in the implementation and development of broadband networks, wired (e.g. cable) and wireless technologies, international mobile telecommunications (IMT), satellite communications, IoT, and smart grids, including next-generation networks, as well as in the provision of telecommunications networks in rural areas.

The ITU International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) have as an overall aim the facilitation of global interconnection and interoperability of telecommunications facilities. Through the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), ITU is involved in the global management of the radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits, used for telecommunications services, in line with the Radio Regulations.

International standards developed by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) enable the interconnection and interoperability of ICT networks, devices, and services worldwide. It has 10 technical standardisation committees called study groups (SGs), with mandates covering a wide range of digital technologies:

The work on standards is complemented by short-term exploration/incubation ITU-T Focus Groups (FGs) whose deliverables guide the ITU-T SGs in new areas of standardisation work. Some current and recent groups include:

Collaboration among various standards bodies is a high priority for ITU-T. Many platforms have been established to support coordination and collaboration on a range of topics, for example:

The Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) establishes an enabling environment and provides evidence-based policy-making through ICT indicators and regulatory and economic metrics, which facilitates benchmarking and the identification of trends in ICT legal and regulatory frameworks. As part of global activities, the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) has published a series of collaborative digital regulation country reviews. All country reviews follow a standard methodology and put forward a set of actionable recommendations on developing a better understanding of the role and impact of collaboration and collaborative governance, as well as the use of new tools for regulating ICT and digital markets.

The Digital Regulation Platform aims to improve the human and institutional capacity of the ITU membership. In 2024, articles were published on data governance, transformative technologies (AI) challenges and principles of regulation, and one is being finalised focusing on a guide for incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) into policymaking and regulation for compliance. Two modules are being reviewed and articles updated: spectrum management and access for all, under the ITU-EU project in Central Africa, supported by the EU Delegation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2023, ITU-D launched the Digital Regulation Network DRN, a peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing platform for regulators. The aim of the Network is to accelerate sustainable digital transformation through common approaches to collaborative digital policy, regulation and governance across economic sectors and across borders.

ITU-D sends regulatory and tariff surveys to membership, with data being received and analysed for integration into the ICT Regulatory Tracker and ITU Data Hub and publication in early 2025. Visualisation tools on the G5 Accelerator platform allow for a customised analysis and deep dive into the data on 54 indicators by region or country.

The above activities result in increased awareness and access to regulatory and economic data and analysis to support evidence-based decision-making.

ITU is committed to enhancing both human and institutional capacity within its membership, prioritising the delivery of high-quality training programmes. In this context, training courses were conducted through the ITU Academy and the ITU Academy Training Centres (ATCs), with the aim of making a meaningful impact on ITU membership. From May 2024 to December 2024, the ITU Academy registered 9,500 additional users, bringing the total number of learners to over 58,400, from all member states, with more than 70 per cent coming from developing countries. During this period, over 79 courses were delivered via the platform to over 13,000 registered course participants, of which more than 5,400 had completed their courses by December 2024. Over 1,000 participants also completed course evaluation surveys, and 95 per cent reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their experience. 

During the second year of implementation, in the same period (May – December 2024) ATCs delivered 67 courses, attracting over 2,600 registrations, with more than 1,100 course completions by December 2024. In 2024, BDT organised several training sessions on how to conduct engaging online training, aimed at the instructors of the 14 ATCs. The goal of the initiative was to impact the quality of the training courses by improving facilitation, virtual delivery skills, and allowing for exchanges of best practices among the participating institutions.

The Global Symposium for Regulators 2024 (GSR-24) is a knowledge exchange platform that features topical thematic sessions bringing together regulators, policymakers and digital stakeholders from around the world and providing a global platform for knowledge exchange. GSR also features the Regional Regulatory Associations (RA) and Digital Regulation Network (DRN) meetings, Heads of Regulators’ Executive Roundtable, the Industry Advisory Group on Development Issues (IAGDI-CRO), and the Network of Women (NoW) in the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector.  

As part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024, ITU-D leads the interactive session of Action Line C6 (Enabling environment).

Such knowledge exchange platforms result in strengthened partnerships, engagement, and collaboration of regulators, regulatory associations, the private sector, and policymakers from across different sectors, enriching conversations and showcasing collaboration across sectors to accelerate digital transformation. 

The impact statement of the Telecommunication Development Bureau’s (BDT) thematic priority on network and digital infrastructure is ‘Reliable connectivity to everyone’.

ITU-D SG1 also focuses on various aspects related to telecommunications infrastructure, in particular, Question 1/1 on ‘Strategies and policies for the deployment of broadband in developing countries’; Question 2/1 on ‘Strategies, policies, regulations, and methods of migration and adoption of digital broadcasting and implementation of new services’; Question 4/1 on ‘Economic aspects of national telecommunications/ICTs’; Question 5/1 on ‘Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas’; Question 6/1 on ‘Consumer information, protection and rights’; and Question 5/2 on ‘Adoption of telecommunications/ICTs and improving digital skills’.

IMT-2020

ITU plays a key role in managing the radio spectrum and developing international standards for 5G networks, devices, and services, within the framework of the so-called IMT-2020 activities. ITU-R SGs together with the mobile broadband industry and a wide range of stakeholders, established the 5G standards.

The activities include the organisation of intergovernmental and multistakeholder dialogues, and the development and implementation of standards and regulations to ensure that 5G networks are secure, interoperable, and operate without interference.

ITU-T is playing a similar convening role for the technologies and architectures of non-radio elements of 5G systems. For example, ITU standards address 5G transport, with the passive optical network (PON), Carrier Ethernet, and the optical transport network (OTN), among the technologies standardised by ITU-T expected to support 5G systems. ITU standards for 5G  networking address topics including network virtualisation, network orchestration and management, and fixed-mobile and satellite convergence. ITU standards also address ML for 5G and future networks, the environmental requirements of 5G, security and trust in 5G, and the assessment of 5G quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE).

Satellite

ITU-R manages the coordination, notification, and recording of frequency assignments for space systems, including their associated earth stations. Its main role is to process and publish data and examine frequency assignment notices submitted by administrations of the ITU member states towards their eventual recording in the Master International Frequency Register (MIFR).

ITU-R also develops and manages space-related assignment or allotment plans and provides mechanisms for the development of new satellite services by determining how to optimise the use of available and suitable orbital resources.

Currently, the rapid pace of satellite innovation is driving an increase in the deployment of non-geostationary satellite systems (non-GSO). With the availability of launch vehicles capable of supporting multiple satellite launches, mega-constellations consisting of hundreds to thousands of spacecraft are becoming a popular solution for global telecommunications.

To this end, during the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), ITU established regulatory procedures for the deployment of non-GSO systems, including mega-constellations in low Earth orbit. At the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference, ITU agreed on orbital tolerances for the operations of such non-GSO systems. 

Additionally, ITU held its first Space Sustainability Forum in Geneva in September 2024. Recognising the rapid growth of commercial space ventures, ITU gathered governments, space agencies, and private stakeholders to address the economic, environmental, and operational dimensions of space sustainability.

In 2025, ITU launched the ‘Space Connect’ series, examining low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, focusing on the rapid growth in satellite deployments (rising from roughly 1,000 active satellites in 2014 to nearly 10,000 by 2024) and the market shift toward broadband applications. The episodes investigate different constellation architectures, evolving market dynamics, new players, and the overall impact on radio spectrum usage.

Regarding climate change, satellite data today is an indispensable input for weather prediction models and forecast systems used to produce safety warnings and other information in support of public and private decision-making.

Emergency telecommunications

Emergency telecommunications are an integral part of the ITU mandate. To mitigate the impact of disasters, the timely dissemination of authoritative information before, during, and after disasters is critical.

Emergency telecommunications play a critical role in disaster risk reduction and management. ICTs are essential for monitoring the underlying hazards and delivering vital information to all stakeholders, including those most vulnerable, as well as in the immediate aftermath of disasters to ensure the timely flow of vital information needed to coordinate response efforts and save lives. ITU supports its member states in the four phases of disaster management:

ITU activities in the field of radiocommunications make an invaluable contribution to disaster management. They facilitate prediction, detection, and alerting through the coordinated and effective use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the establishment of radio standards and guidelines concerning the usage of radiocommunication systems in disaster mitigation and relief operations.

ITU-T SG2 plays a role as the lead study group on telecommunications for disaster relief/early warning, network resilience, and recovery. Other study groups are working on emergency telecommunications within their mandates. Examples are shown in the following paragraphs.

ITU standards offer common formats for the exchange of all-hazard information over public networks. They ensure that networks prioritise emergency communications. They have a long history of protecting ICT infrastructure from lightning and other environmental factors. In response to the increasing severity of extreme weather events, recent years have seen ITU standardisation experts turning their attention to ‘disaster relief, network resilience, and recovery’. This work goes well beyond traditional protection against environmental factors, focusing on technical mechanisms to prepare for disasters and respond effectively when disaster strikes.

ITU standards now offer guidance on network architectures able to contend with sudden losses of substantial volumes of network resources. They describe the network functionality required to make optimal use of the network resources, still operational after a disaster. They offer techniques for the rapid repair of damaged ICT infrastructure, such as means to connect the surviving fibres of severed fibre-optic cables. They provide for ‘movable and deployable ICT resource units’ in various sizes, such as emergency containers, vehicles, or hand-held kits housing network resources and a power source – to provide temporary replacements for destroyed ICT infrastructure.

ITU is also supporting an ambitious project to equip submarine communications cables with climate- and hazard-monitoring sensors to create a global real-time ocean observation network. This network would be capable of providing earthquake and tsunami warnings, as well as data on ocean climate change and circulation. This project to equip cable repeaters with climate and hazard-monitoring sensors – creating Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) cables – is led by the ITU/WMO/UNESCO-IOC Joint Task Force (JTF) on SMART Cable Systems, a multidisciplinary body established in 2012. Currently, several projects are ongoing to realise SMART cables.

ITU-T G.9730.2 Recommendation was approved by ITU-T SG15 in August 2024, as the first ITU-T standard on SMART cables. In addition, the work on ‘Impact assessment framework for evaluating how ICT-based subsea infrastructure could support climate, environmental and biodiversity monitoring in the oceans’ (L.SMART) is ongoing within ITU-T SG5. 

In ITU-D, a lot of effort is directed at mainstreaming disaster management in telecommunications/ICT projects and activities as part of disaster preparedness. This includes infrastructure development and the establishment of enabling policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks. ITU also deploys temporary telecommunications/ICT solutions to assist countries affected by disasters. After providing assistance for disaster relief and response, ITU undertakes assessment missions to affected countries aimed at determining the magnitude of damage to the network through the use of geographical information systems. On the basis of its findings, ITU and the host country embark on resuscitating the infrastructure while ensuring that disaster-resilient features are integrated to reduce network vulnerability in the event of disasters striking in the future.

ITU is also part of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), a global network of organisations that work together to provide shared communications services in humanitarian emergencies.

ITU-D SQ Question 3/1 ‘Utilising telecommunications/ICTs for disaster risk reduction and management’ was agreed at the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2022 (WTDC-22) and will operate for the 2022–2025 study period. This Question continues the work of Question 5/2 of the 2018–2021 period.

The ITU/WMO/UNEP Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Natural Disaster Management (FG-AI4NDM), established by ITU-T SG2 worked between March 2021 and March 2024 to develop best practices for leveraging AI in data collection and handling, improving modelling across spatiotemporal scales, and providing effective communication. Building on the activities of the FG-AI4NDM, the Global Initiative on Resilience to Natural Hazards through AI Solutions was created. This Global Initiative is a collaborative effort between ITU, WMO, UNEP, UPU and UNFCCC.

Work includes the following:

Strengthening the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems, ITU partnered with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), WMO, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), and the World Broadcasting Unions in 2020 to develop Media Saves Lives to reinforce broadcasters’ role in the early warning chain.

Artificial intelligence

ITU works on the development and use of AI to ensure a sustainable future for everyone. To that end, it convenes intergovernmental and multistakeholder dialogues, develops international standards and frameworks, and helps in capacity building for the use of AI.

AI and machine learning (ML) are gaining a larger share of the ITU standardisation work programme in fields such as network orchestration and management, multimedia coding, service quality assessment, operational aspects of service provision and telecom management, cable networks, digital health, environmental efficiency, and autonomous driving.

AI for Good is the UN’s leading platform on Artificial Intelligence for sustainable development. Focused on identifying trustworthy AI applications, building skills and standards, and advancing AI governance for sustainable development, the platform is organised by ITU in partnership with over 40 UN sister agencies and co-convened with the Government of Switzerland.

This AI governance dialogue will facilitate exchanges between key stakeholders on effective approaches to AI governance. The high-level plenary session will explore the changing landscape of AI governance, with a focus on innovative policy implementation across regions. Discussions will address risk management strategies and the emerging role of AI agents, particularly their implications for the future of work, investment, and cross-sector collaboration.

The AI Skills Coalition, spearheaded by AI for Good under the AI for Good Impact Initiative, will serve as the UN-led global, open, trusted, and inclusive platform for AI education and capacity building.

Various ITU-T SGs address aspects of AI and ML within their mandates. The work has so far resulted in ITU-T Recommendations and Supplements, for example, in the L-, M-, P-, and Y-series of ITU-T Recommendations. As of March 2026, 203 AI-related ITU-T standards are in force, and a further 199 are under development, spanning areas from foundation model benchmarking and AI-generated content to security guidelines for generative AI and energy efficiency metrics for large AI models, as catalogued in the AI Standards Exchange Database.

The adoption of Resolution 101 (New Delhi, 2024) at the 2024 World Standardization Telecommunication Assembly (WTSA-24) further emphasises the recognised role of ITU in establishing trusted AI standards. ITU-T SGs are instructed to continue applying AI to telecom/ICTs in their Recommendations, periodically review and update AI-related standards, and facilitate information-sharing among the membership, with particular attention to developing countries.

The World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC 2025, Baku) adopted Resolution 91 on AI technologies in telecommunications development, directing ITU-D to help Member States build foundational telecom/ICT infrastructure as an enabler for AI adoption, assess their readiness, and identify strategic goals for enhanced AI uptake, with a particular focus on developing countries.

The ITU Council has allocated dedicated funding to support AI-related activities. In 2025, the Council approved Resolution 1434, allocating KCHF 500 from 2024 savings to an AI initiatives fund within the General Secretariat and the TSB. The 2026 Council approved Resolution 1439, proposing CHF 1 million to support priority mandates emerging from WTSA-24, to reinforce ITU’s AI for Good platform, and to provide technical guidance to developing countries on implementing international AI standards.

The first International AI Standards Summit, co-organised with ISO and IEC, brought together global experts to advance standards for responsible and inclusive AI. The second summit took place in December 2025 in Seoul, Republic of Korea, where IEC, ISO, and ITU adopted the Seoul Statement, committing to incorporate socio-technical dimensions in standards development, strengthen multistakeholder participation, and enhance public–private collaboration on AI capacity building. An International AI Standards Exchange was also held in July 2025 at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva. ITU runs the AI Standards Exchange Database under the World Standards Cooperation framework, comprising an AI Standards Database, AI Standards News, and an AI Standards Capacity Building component planned for 2026.

Under the World Standards Cooperation (WSC) framework, ITU participates in the AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards (AMAS) initiative alongside IEC, ISO, C2PA, and other organisations, focused on protecting the integrity of information and fostering trust in the digital ecosystem through robust technical standards. The initiative has produced a technical paper on the landscape of standards related to digital media authenticity and AI, and a policy paper offering recommendations to regulators on the scope and instruments of regulation.

The ITU-T AI/ML in 5G Challenge, introduced in 2020, rallies like-minded students and professionals from around the globe to study the practical application of AI and ML in emerging and future digital communications networks and sustainable development. The second Challenge (in 2021) attracted over 1,600 students and professionals from 82 countries, competing for prizes and global recognition. The 2022 Challenge covered a wide range of topics, including AI/ML in 5G, GeoAI, and tinyML. By mapping emerging AI and ML solutions, the Challenge fostered a community to support the iterative evolution of ITU standards. To learn more, see the Challenge GitHub.

ITU is also actively working on the environmental impact of AI. The AI and the Environment report highlights existing and emerging standards that support AI’s environmental efficiency. ITU, France, and UNEP co-initiated the Coalition for Sustainable AI and contributed to the report on Standardization for AI Environmental Sustainability – Towards a Coordinated Global Approach, launched at the AI Action Summit. ITU-T SG 5 is developing new standards to assess greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy efficiency of AI systems, with the report Measuring what matters: How to assess AI’s environmental impact serving as a key reference.

Several ITU-T Focus Groups are considering the use of AI and ML, including:

Main activities related to ITU-R SGs and reports include:

  • ITU-R SG1 covers spectrum management and monitoring, and has published a report on next-generation spectrum monitoring, applying AI and big data technologies to the automation of spectrum monitoring. Question ITU-R 241/1 ‘Methodologies for assessing or predicting spectrum availability’ was approved in 2019 and remains under study.
  • ITU-R SG6 covers all aspects of the broadcasting service and is working on AI for broadcasting, including the use of generative AI in programme-making workflows and the extraction of audio and video objects during production. SG6 deliverables include Question ITU-R 144/6 ‘Use of artificial intelligence (AI) for broadcasting’ and Report ITU-R BT.2447 ‘Artificial intelligence systems for programme production and exchange’.
  • ITU-R has established a Correspondence Group on machine learning for propagation studies, providing guidance on the application of ML in the development of radio-wave propagation prediction methods.

During the 40th High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) session in October 2020, the Inter-Agency Working Group on AI (IAWG-AI) was established to focus on policy and programmatic coherence of AI activities within the UN. IAWG-AI, co-led by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and ITU, aims to combine the ethical and technological parts of the UN to provide a solid foundation for current and future system-wide efforts on AI, ensuring respect for human rights and accelerating progress towards the SDGs.

ITU also coordinates an annual UN Activities on AI report, a joint effort with almost 50 UN agencies and entities, all partners of AI for Good or members of the IAWG-AI. The report usually presents over 400 cases and projects run by the UN system, in areas covering all 17 SDGs, ranging from smart agriculture and food systems to transportation, financial services, and healthcare. The report contains an Executive Summary that presents an analysis of all the projects submitted to the report, providing a snapshot of the key tracks, trends, and gaps in AI activities within the UN system.

ITU plays a role in global AI governance as part of the secretariats for the Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the Scientific Panel on AI, and co-leads the sub-group on AI of the working group on digital technologies. The CWG on WSIS&SDGs has been regularly reviewing the Secretary-General’s report on PP Resolution 214, with members calling for more detailed reporting on how ITU’s AI activities relate to the implementation of that resolution; the January 2026 meeting also consulted with co-chairs of the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance, with members emphasising the value of holding the Dialogue alongside the AI for Good Global Summit and WSIS Forum 2026.

The CWG-Internet discussed, at its January 2026 meeting, a proposal by Saudi Arabia and Morocco on Internet-related public policy issues emerging from the WSIS+20 outcome, noting that emerging technologies, including AI, introduce new dimensions to Internet-related public policy and that dialogue among Member States can help identify shared priorities and support capacity-building efforts.

The CWG on Child Online Protection (CWG-COP) has placed increasing emphasis on the implications of AI for child safety online. Its 23rd and 24th meetings (September 2025 and January 2026) addressed AI-enabled risks — including content generation, automated moderation, and algorithm-driven engagement — while highlighting opportunities to embed safety-by-design and child-centred safeguards in digital services. The Joint Statement on Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child was also presented to the group.

The Expert Group on International Telecommunication Regulations (EG-ITRs) finalised its report in January 2026, reflecting divergent views on whether the ITRs should be revised to address AI and other emerging issues. Some members supported revision; others cautioned that an inflexible treaty instrument is ill-suited to regulating a dynamic technological landscape, and that whether and how to accommodate emerging technologies within ITU’s mandate remains an open question.

The UN-led initiative, United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC), coordinated by ITU, UNECE, UNEP, and UN-HABITAT, and supported by 19 UN agencies and programmes, has been examining how AI can be employed in the smart city domain and through its thematic group on Artificial Intelligence in Cities for implementing AI-based solutions in line with the SDGs.

ITU, through its Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), organises the Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR), ITU’s flagship annual event, bringing together regulators to address emerging challenges such as data governance, 5G licensing, and cross-border data flows. Key outcomes from GSR24 included the GSR Best Practice Guidelines on a roadmap for regulators to harness transformative technologies (e.g. AI, 5G) by promoting agile, risk-aware policies and stakeholder collaboration.

As part of its ‘Green Digital Action’ initiative, ITU emphasises green AI to reduce data-centre emissions. The AI Climate Institute, operating under the Green Digital Action Hub and supported by ITU, UNESCO, and Brazil’s ANATEL, further anchors this work institutionally.

ITU-D’s regional initiatives approved at WTDC 2025 include several with an explicit AI focus for the 2026–2029 period: AFR2 aims to develop an inclusive, trustworthy AI ecosystem in Africa for socio-economic development; ARB4 supports innovation ecosystems for the adoption of emerging technologies including AI across the Arab States; and CIS5 focuses on the development and implementation of AI technologies in the CIS region, including a planned regional branch of the AI for Good platform.

Critical internet resources

Over the years, ITU has adopted several resolutions that deal with internet technical resources, such as Internet Protocol-based networks (Resolution 101 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022)), IPv4 to IPv6 transition (Resolution 180 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022)), and internationalised domain names (Resolution 133 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022)). ITU has also adopted a resolution on its role regarding international public policy issues pertaining to the internet and the management of internet resources, including domain names and addresses (Resolution 102 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022)). In addition, the ITU Council has set up a Working Group on International Internet (CWG-Internet) – related Public Policy Issues, tasked with identifying, studying, and developing matters related to international internet-related public policy issues. This Working Group also holds regular online open public consultations on specific topics to give all stakeholders from all nations an opportunity to express their views with regard to the topic(s) under discussion.

ITU is also the facilitator of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Line С2 – Information and communication infrastructure.WTSA-24 recognised the importance of the common understanding on the technical requirements and standardisation aspects of digital public infrastructure by adopting the new WTSA Resolution 103 ‘Enhancing standardization activities on digital public infrastructure’.

Digital standards

In the work of ITU the issue of digital standards is addressed as ‘International standards’

Presently, 95% of international traffic runs over optical infrastructure built in conformance with ITU standards. Video now accounts for over 80% of all internet traffic; this traffic relies on ITU’s Primetime Emmy-winning video-compression standards.

ICTs are enabling innovation in every industry and public-sector body. The digital transformation underway across our economies receives key support from ITU standards for smart cities, energy, transport, healthcare, financial services, agriculture, and AI and ML.

ICT networks, devices, and services interconnect and interoperate thanks to the efforts of thousands of experts who come together on the neutral ITU platform to develop international standards known as ITU-T Recommendations.

Standards create efficiencies enjoyed by all market players, efficiencies, and economies of scale that ultimately result in lower costs to producers and lower prices to consumers. Companies developing standards-based products and services gain access to global markets. By supporting backward compatibility, ITU standards enable next-generation technologies to interwork with previous technology generations. This protects past investments while creating the confidence to continue investing in our digital future.

The ITU standardisation process is contribution-led and consensus-based. Standardisation work is driven by contributions from ITU members and consequent decisions are made by consensus. The process aims to ensure that all voices are heard and that the resulting standards have the consensus-derived support of the diverse and globally representative ITU membership.

ITU members develop standards year-round in ITU-T SGs. Over 6,000 ITU-T Recommendations are currently in force, and over 300 new or revised ITU-T Recommendations and Supplements are approved each year.

For more information on the responsibilities of ITU SGs, covering ITU-T SG as well as those of the ITU radiocommunication and development sectors (ITU-R and ITU-D), see the ITU backgrounder on study groups.

The ITU World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) is the governing body of ITU’s standardisation arm (ITU-T). It meets every four years to review the overall direction and structure of ITU-T. This conference also approves the mandates of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector Study Group (ITU-T SSGs) (WTSA Resolution 2) and appoints the leadership teams of these groups.

ITU develops international standards supporting the coordinated development and application of IoT technologies, including standards leveraging IoT technologies to address urban development challenges.

WR to TL recognition procedure

Based on an MoU signed by ITU-T, the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), ITU recognises testing laboratories (TLs). These are accredited by an accreditation body (AB) that is a signatory to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for testing. The scope of accreditation contains ITU-T Recommendation(s). All TLs which meet the criteria are listed in the ITU TL Database. More details are also available in the ITU C&I Portal.

Human rights and human-centric technologies 

In recent years, ITU has strengthened its commitment to embedding human rights in the development and deployment of digital technologies, particularly in the context of technical standards. This work is grounded in the recognition that standards have far-reaching implications for privacy, data protection, freedom of expression, accessibility, and non-discrimination. In response to calls from the UN Human Rights Council and the Global Digital Compact, ITU has deepened its collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), engaging in joint dialogues, multistakeholder consultations, and awareness-raising activities to ensure that standards development reflects fundamental rights principles.

At the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24), a landmark side event co-organised with OHCHR, the European Union, France, and the Czech Republic emphasised the need to embed human rights from the earliest stages of standardisation. The event was accompanied by a powerful statement from the Freedom Online Coalition, supported by 42 countries, calling for international standards that are not only technically sound but also aligned with the SDGs and human rights. For the first time, resolutions adopted at WTSA explicitly referenced human rights, including those related to emerging technologies such as AI and the metaverse.

Through its standardisation work, ITU has addressed the human dimensions of technologies across several ITU-T study groups. These include the development of standards for e-waste management (SG5), smart sustainable cities and digital inclusion (SG20), and accessible telehealth services (SG21). ITU has also advanced work on AI watermarking and deepfake detection—crucial for safeguarding the authenticity of information and the right to freedom of expression in an era of generative content. The AI for Good platform, convened with over 40 UN agencies, provides a trusted space to promote the development of AI that is inclusive and rights-respecting.

In this effort, ITU promotes inclusive participation by reducing barriers for civil society and experts from the Global South to engage in standardisation, offering fellowships, online participation options, and targeted training. Initiatives such as the Network of Women and Youth Advisory Board aim to diversify the voices shaping the digital future. By anchoring its digital governance and technical standards in human rights, ITU affirms its vision for a digital world that empowers individuals, protects the most vulnerable, and promotes equality and inclusion at its core.

Internet of things

Within the work of ITU, the work related to the IoT also includes ‘Smart cities’.

ITU develops international standards supporting the coordinated development and application of IoT technologies, including standards leveraging IoT technologies to address urban-development challenges.

These standards not only enable the broad range of IoT applications—from smart manufacturing to smart cities and global monitoring systems—but also ensure interoperability and efficient integration of both wired and wireless technologies across networks.

Alongside ITU-T studies on IoT, digital twins, and smart sustainable cities and communities, ITU-R conducts studies on the technical and operational aspects of radiocommunication networks and systems for IoT. The spectrum requirements and standards for IoT wireless access technologies are being addressed in ITU-R, as follows:

  • Harmonisation of frequency ranges and technical and operating parameters used for the operation of short-range devices.
  • Standards for wide area sensor and actuator network systems.
  • Spectrum to support the implementation of narrowband and broadband machine-type communication infrastructures.
  • Support for massive machine-type communications within the framework of the standards and spectrum for IMT-Advanced (4G), IMT-2020 (5G), and IMT-2030 (6G).
  • Use of fixed-satellite and mobile-satellite communications for IoT.

ITU-D SG2 Question 1/2 ‘Creating smart cities and society: Employing information and communication technologies for sustainable social and economic development’ includes case studies on IoT application and identifies the trends and best practices implemented by member states, as well as the challenges faced, to support sustainable development and foster smart societies in developing countries.

ITU-T SG20 is at the forefront of this effort, driving the development of innovative standards (ITU-T Recommendations), guidelines, methodologies, and best practices for IoT, digital twins, and smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C). Its work focuses on accelerating digital transformation in urban and rural areas by addressing IoT-enabled digital services, systems, and applications. This includes developing architectural frameworks, ensuring interoperability, and promoting human-centric approaches in digital health, accessibility, and inclusion.

Between 2022 and 2024, ITU and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) for Digital Agriculture (FG- AI4A), established by ITU-T SG20, explored (1) how emerging technologies including AI and IoT can be leveraged for data acquisition and handling, (2) facilitating modelling from a growing volume of agricultural and geospatial data, and (3) providing communication for the optimisation of agricultural production processes.

United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative

ITU facilitates international discussions on the public policy dimensions of people-centred smart cities, principally through the U4SSC initiative, an initiative supported by 19 UN bodies with the aim of achieving SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). U4SSC drives global collaboration through its thematic groups, which focus on key areas such as digital transformation, digital wellbeing, digital public infrastructure, city platforms, and artificial intelligence for sustainable cities.

ITU standards have provided a basis for the development of Key Performance Indicators for Smart Sustainable Cities. More than 200 cities worldwide have adopted the indicators as part of the collaboration driven by ITU within the framework of the U4SSC initiative. To promote the work of U4SSC, a series of U4SSC Country Hubs has been set up globally including in Vienna, Austria, hosted by the Austrian Economic Centre (AEC), and in Kyebi, Ghana. U4SSC Hubs provide a unique platform at the national and local level to accelerate cooperation between the public and private sectors and help facilitate the digital transformation in cities and communities while enabling technology and knowledge transfer.

Blockchain

New ITU standards for blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) address the requirements of blockchain in next-generation network evolution and the security requirements of blockchain, both in terms of blockchain’s security capabilities and security threats to blockchain.

ITU reports provide potential blockchain adopters with a clear view of the technology and how it could best be applied. Developed by the FG DLT, these reports provide an ‘assessment framework’ to support efforts to understand the strengths and weaknesses of DLT platforms in different use cases. The Group has also produced a high-level DLT architecture – a reference framework – detailing the key elements of a DLT platform. The FG studied high-potential DLT use cases and DLT platforms said to meet the requirements of such use cases. These studies guided the Group’s abstraction of common requirements necessary to describe a DLT architecture and associated assessment criteria. The resulting reports also offer insight into the potential of DLT to support the achievement of the SDGs.

Blockchain and DLT are also key to the work of the Digital Currency Global Initiative, a partnership between ITU and Stanford University to continue the work of the ITU Focus Group on Digital Currency, including Digital Fiat Currency (FG DFC). The Digital Currency Global Initiative provides an open, neutral platform for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and research on applications of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) and other digital currency implementations. The initiative will share case studies of digital currency applications, benchmark best practices, and develop specifications to inform ITU standards.

ITU-T SG3 is studying economic and policy aspects when using distributed ledger technologies such as for the improved management of the Universal Service Fund or to handle accounting.

ITU-T SG5 is studying the environmental efficiency of digital technologies, including blockchain. For example, ITU-T SG5 has developed Recommendation ITU-T L.1317 on guidelines for energy-efficient blockchain systems.

ITU-T SG21 Question 12/16  on multimedia aspects of DLT and e-services and ITU-T SG17 Question 14/17 on DLT security continue the work of the now closed ITU-T Focus Group on Distributed Ledger Technology. Several recommendations and technical papers have been produced, and more are being prepared.

Topics of interest for digital financial services (DFS) being studied by Q22/16 and Q7/17 include digital evidence services, digital invoices, and smart contracts. ITU-T SG20 Question 4/20 on data analytics, sharing, processing, and management, including big data aspects, IoT, and smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C), is developing a set of standards on emerging technologies such as blockchain to support data processing and management (DPM).

Cloud computing

ITU standards provide the requirements and functional architectures of the cloud ecosystem, covering inter- and intra-cloud computing and technologies supporting anything as a service (XaaS). These standards enable consistent end-to-end, multi-cloud management and the monitoring of services across different service providers’ domains and technologies. They were developed in view of the convergence of telecoms and computing technologies that characterise the cloud ecosystem.

Cloud services provide on-demand access to advanced ICT resources, enabling innovators to gain new capabilities without investing in new hardware or software. Cloud concepts are also fundamental to the evolution of ICT networking, helping networks meet the requirements of an increasingly diverse range of ICT applications.

As innovation accelerates in fields such as IMT-2020/5G and IoT, and digital transformation takes hold in every industry sector, the cloud ecosystem will continue to grow in importance for companies large and small, in developing as well as developed countries.

ITU-D SG1 Question 3/1 of the 2018–2021 period focused on the analysis of factors influencing effective access to support cloud computing, as well as strategies, policies, and infrastructure investments to foster the emergence of cloud-computing ecosystems in developing countries, among others. For 2022–2025, this topic will be studied under Question 2/2 ‘Enabling technologies for e-services and applications, including e-health and e-education’.

Emerging technologies

ITU’s range of work on emerging technologies in fields such as AI, metaverse, virtual worlds 5G, IoT, SSC&C, ITS, quantum information technologies, and others have been covered in various other sections.

ITU-T SG5 on Environment, Electromagnetic Fields (EMF), and the Circular Economy is responsible for ICTs related to the environment, energy efficiency, clean energy, and sustainable digitalisation for climate actions. It carries out work to study the environmental efficiency of emerging technologies.

ITU-T SG20 Question 5/20 on the study of terminology and definitions, study and research of emerging digital technologies , serves as a facilitator with the research and innovation community to identify emerging technologies requiring standardisation for the global market and industry.

U4SSC, through its various thematic groups, explores how leveraging emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, blockchain, and digital twin, can help create a sustainable ecosystem and improve the delivery of urban services to improve the quality of life for inhabitants. In this context, U4SSC has published the following reports:

In June 2024, ITU, together with UNICC and Digital Dubai, launched the Global Initiative on Virtual Worlds and AI – Discovering the Citiverse. The Initiative serves as a global platform that aims at fostering open, interoperable, and innovative AI-powered virtual worlds that can be used safely and with confidence by people, businesses, and public services.The UN Virtual Worlds Day is an annual event organised by ITU and other 17 UN entities exploring AI-powered virtual worlds, including the metaverse, to advance the SDGs and the Pact for the Future. The inaugural event held on 14 June 2024, in Geneva, showcased how immersive digital platforms can drive global progress. The second edition will be held on 11-12 June 2025, in Turin, Italy, featuring high-level dialogues, interactive showcases, and collaborative sessions to discuss how virtual technologies can foster sustainability, inclusivity, and digital public infrastructure.

Quantum information technology

Quantum information technology (QIT) improves information processing capability by harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics.  Recent development in QIT has promoted the second quantum revolution and will profoundly impact ICT networks and digital security.

ITU’s standardisation work of QIT helps promote its global development. After the ITU-T Focus Group on Quantum Information Technology for Networks (FG-QIT4N), which provided a collaborative platform for pre-standardisation aspects of QIT for networks and produced nine technical reports, several ITU-T SGs, including SGs 11, 13, and 17 are developing ITU-T Recommendations and Supplements in the Q-, X-, and Y-series of ITU-T Recommendations.

The 2021 webinar series explores innovative QIT applications and their implications on security, classical computing, and ICT networks and the discussion of corresponding roadmaps for quantum networks.

Following the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24), ITU-T study groups (SGs) reviewed and updated their mandates, enhancing the scope of quantum-related standardisation work across multiple groups:

  • ITU-T Study Group 11: To continue studies on network signalling and control architectures for Quantum Key Distribution Networks (QKDN).
  • ITU-T Study Group 13: To continue studies on quantum networks, covering both networking aspects of QKDN and broader quantum network technologies.
  • ITU-T Study Group 15: Introduced studies addressing the management and use of QIT in transport networks, as well as network synchronisation, timing, and deployment requirements for QKDN.
  • ITU-T Study Group 17: To continue leading security-related standardisation for quantum technologies, including QKD and post-quantum cryptography (PQC). WTSA-24 adopted an action recognising the need to promote migration to and utilisation of PQC in telecommunications and ICT networks, reinforcing the role of SG17 in developing necessary recommendations, technical reports, and best practices.

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24) in New Delhi mandated further exploration of post-quantum cryptography and recognised that robust fiber infrastructure (including fibre-to-the-home networks) could be foundational for quantum communication rollouts.

ITU-T currently hosts a suite of 40 quantum technology standards, primarily focused on QKD, covering its network, security, and signalling aspects. An additional 30+ standards are under development.

The Joint Coordination Activity on Quantum Key Distribution Network (JCA-QKDN), which oversees ITU-T’s quantum standardisation efforts and facilitates collaboration with external standards bodies, held a collaborative meeting in Singapore in May 2024, aligning efforts with GSMA and ETSI events. It also advanced the development of a quantum standards database, providing a structured overview of global quantum information technology standards.

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) by Resolution 78/287, adopted on 7 June 2024. ITU plays a key role in the IYQ Steering Committee, guiding its implementation, planning global events, and overseeing related expenditures.

One initiative supporting ITU’s contributions to the International Year of Quantum is Quantum for Good, which explores how quantum technologies can drive global impact. It launched with a high-level side event, ‘Quantum for Good: Frontier Technology for the SDGs’, on 20 September 2024 in New York during the Summit of the Future Action Days, co-organised with UNICC, WEF, and Quantum Delta NL. The follow-up event ‘Quantum for Good: Setting the Stage for the International Year of Quantum’ in The Hague on 20-21 November 2024, deepened discussions on the role of quantum technologies in addressing global challenges, forming thematic sub-working groups (ITU leads the cybersecurity track). The Quantum for Good initiative will continue as a dedicated track during the AI for Good Global Summit (8-11 July 2025), further integrating quantum technologies into discussions on emerging technologies and sustainable development.

A series of other activities will be launched throughout 2025 as part of ITU’s contribution to raising awareness and fostering international collaboration on quantum technologies.

As part of an expanding global push, ITU is coordinating knowledge transfer so that quantum’s early adopters and advanced research hubs can share breakthroughs widely, avoiding a deep ‘quantum divide’. Moreover, initiatives like ‘Quantum for Good’ aim to link quantum technology with AI for beneficial applications—ranging from drug discovery to machine-learning optimisation—while ensuring that quantum advancement remains inclusive.

Network security

In the work of ITU the issue of network security is addressed as ‘ICT security’.

ITU and the WSIS Action Line C5 – Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, bringing different stakeholders together to forge meaningful partnerships to help countries address the risks associated with ICTs. This includes adopting national cybersecurity strategies, facilitating the establishment of national incident response capabilities, developing international security standards, protecting children online, and building capacity.

ITU develops international standards to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs, especially for digital transformation, in the context of an ever-growing attack surface and confronted with an unbalanced threat landscape caused by new and emerging technology development. Topics of growing significance to this work include digital identity infrastructure, cybersecurity management, security aspects of digital financial services, intelligent transport systems, blockchain and distributed ledger technology, and quantum information technologies.

ITU-T SG17 (Security) is the lead SG on developing international standards to enhance confidence, security, and trust in the use of ICTs; facilitating more secure devices, edge, cloud, network infrastructure, services, and applications; and coordinating security-related work across ITU-T SGs. Providing security by ICTs and ensuring security for ICTs are both major study areas for SG17. Other ITU-T SGs, such as ITU-T SG9 (Broadband Cable and TV) and ITU-T SG13 (Future Networks, with Focus on IMT-2020, Cloud Computing and Trusted Network Infrastructures) have contributed to fulfilling the ITU mandate on cybersecurity.

ITU-TSG5 (Environment, EMF, and the Circular Economy) studies the security of ICT systems concerning electromagnetic phenomena (High-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP), High power electromagnetic (HPEM), information leakage).

ITU-T SG11 (Protocols, testing and combating counterfeiting) continues its studies on the implementation of security measures, in particular on the use of digital public-key certificates in the signalling level in order to cope with different types of attacks on existing ICT infrastructure and services (e.g., OTP intercept, calls intercept, spoofing numbers, robocalls, etc.). ITU-T Recommendations (e.g. ITU-T Q.3057, Q.3062, Q.3063) define the signalling architecture and requirements for interconnection between trustable network entities in support of existing and emerging networks. More details are available at https://itu.int/go/SIG-SECURITY.

WR to combating counterfeiting and stolen ICT devices: The issue of counterfeit and stolen ICT devices affects all stakeholders and is becoming a big challenge for the entire ICT industry. ITU, as a specialised agency of the UN on ICTs, is facilitating industry to cope with such issues. Since 2013, SG11 has approved 13 standards and non-normative documents and organised 11 Workshops and related events, whose main aim has been to promote ITU-T SG11’s current activities and find a way forward. More details about ITU-T SG11 activities on combating counterfeiting are available on a dedicated webpage https://itu.int/go/CS-ICT.

ITU-T SG20 Question 6/20 on Security, privacy, trustworthiness, and identification of IoT and smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C), is working on developing recommendations, reports, and guidelines to enhance the security, privacy, trustworthiness, and identification of IoT and smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C).  

In 2008, ITU launched a five-pillared framework called the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) to encourage cooperation with and among various partners in enhancing cybersecurity globally. The cybersecurity programme offers its membership, particularly developing countries, the tools to increase cybersecurity capabilities at the national level in order to enhance security and build confidence and trust in the use of ICTs. The 2022 session of the ITU Council approved guidelines for better utilisation of the GCA framework by ITU.

ITU serves as a neutral and global platform for dialogue around policy actions in the interests of cybersecurity.

ITU issues the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) to shed light on the commitment of ITU member states to cybersecurity at the global level. The index is a trusted reference developed as a multistakeholder effort managed by ITU. In the last iteration of the GCI, 150 member states participated.

Alongside the ITU-T’s development of technical standards to support security  and ITU-R’s establishment of security principles for 3G and 4G networks, ITU also assists in building cybersecurity capacity.

This capacity building work helps countries define cybersecurity strategies, assists the establishment of computer incident response teams (CIRTs), supports the protection of children online, and assists countries in building human capacity relevant to security.

Strategies

ITU assists member states in developing and improving effective national cybersecurity frameworks or strategies. At the national level, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, which requires coordinated action for prevention, preparation, and response on the part of government agencies, authorities, the private sector, and civil society. To ensure a safe, secure, and resilient digital sphere, a comprehensive national framework or strategy is necessary.

CIRTs

Effective mechanisms and institutional structures are necessary at the national level to deal with cyberthreats and incidents reliably. ITU assists member states in establishing and enhancing national CIRTs. In response to the fast-evolving technologies and manifestation of related threats, incident response must be updated and improved continuously.

Building human capacity

  • ITU conducts regional and national cyber drills, assisting member states in improving cybersecurity readiness, protection, and incident response capabilities at the regional and national levels, and strengthening international cooperation among ITU member states against cyberthreats and cyberattacks. To date, ITU has conducted cyber drills involving over 100 countries.
  • ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau organises regional cybersecurity forums across ITU regions, helping build capacity for the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) programmes and facilitating cooperation at the regional and international levels.
  • Through the ITU Academy, ITU offers a number of training courses for professionals in the field of cybersecurity.
  • BitSight provided access to ITU member states for its cybersecurity scoring platform – helping address cybersecurity challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and to support member states’ health infrastructure with timely information on cyber threats.
  • The Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme builds skills of junior women professionals entering the field of cybersecurity.

International cooperation

In its efforts on cybersecurity, ITU works closely with partners from international organisations, the private sector, and academia, strengthened by a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a range of organisations such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Bank, Interpol, World Economic Forum, and several others.

Child safety online

Within the work of ITU, child safety online is addressed as ‘Child online protection’.

As part of its Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA), ITU launched the Child Online Protection (COP) Initiative in 2008, aimed at creating an international collaborative network and promoting the protection of children globally from all kinds of risks and harms related to the online environment, all while empowering children to fully benefit from the opportunities that the internet offers. The initiative focuses on the development of child online protection strategies covering five key areas: legal measures, technical and procedural measures, organisational structures, capacity building, and international cooperation.

Approaching child online safety with a holistic child-rights-based approach, the initiative has recently added to its key objectives the participation of children in policymaking processes related to child online protection as well as the digital skills development for children and their families.

In collaboration with other organisations, ITU has produced four sets of the 2020 Child Online Protection (COP) Guidelines, aimed at children, parents, guardians, and educators, as well as industry and policymakers. The first set of COP Guidelines was produced in 2009. The ITU Council Working Group on Child Protection Online (WG- CP) guides the organisation’s activities in the area of child safety online.

ITU has launched or supported a range of COP responses specific to COVID-19, including:

ITU is working to disseminate Sango’s messages (COP mascot launched in 2020) to develop relevant content and raise awareness of COP.

Access

The need for sustained efforts to expand internet access at a global level and bring more people online has been outlined in several resolutions adopted by ITU bodies. The organisation is actively contributing to such efforts, mainly through projects targeted at developing countries and focused on aspects such as human and institutional capacity building, education, and digital literacy; the deployment of telecommunications networks and the establishment of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs); the creation of broadband public access points to the internet; and the development and implementation of enabling policies in areas such as universal access. The organisation is also studying access-related issues within its various study groups, and it publishes relevant papers and studies. ITU also monitors the progress made by countries in addressing the digital divide, through its periodically updated statistics and studies such as the ICT Facts and Figures and the series of Measuring Digital Development reports, including its analysis of ICT prices. The ITU DataHub brings together a broad range of indicators and statistics for easy consultation and download. The Connect 2030 Agenda envisions specific targets related to internet access; for instance by 2023, 65% of households worldwide were supposed to have access to the internet; by 2023, 70% of individuals worldwide were supposed to be using the internet; and by 2023, internet access was supposed to be 25% more affordable. In 2024, ITU produced a new ‘Facts and Figures: Focus on Small Island Developing States’ report, showing that although 67% of SIDS populations are online—close to the global average—rural 4G coverage lags significantly. An estimated 43% of rural populations in SIDS still have no 4G signal. Under the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, ITU has mobilised $25 billion of pledges targeting connectivity gaps in SIDS.

To close a $1.6 trillion digital infrastructure gap, ITU collaborates with major development finance institutions. The Digital Infrastructure Investment Initiative (DIII) explores innovative financing of broadband networks, data centres, satellite constellations, submarine cables, and 5G/6G expansions—particularly in developing countries. The initiative focuses on: quantifying the financing gap and identifying immediate priorities; addressing structural barriers that deter investors—like fragile regulatory frameworks or limited local markets; and coordinating public-private partnerships and new financing models so that underserved regions can leapfrog into robust connectivity. The DIII ties into the broader Partner2Connect Digital Coalition—an ITU-led movement now boasting billions in pledges to extend connectivity and digital services worldwide.

Access is treated in most meaningful connectivity-related Questions of ITU-D SG1, including:

  • Question 1/1 on strategies and policies for the deployment of broadband in developing countries.
  • Question 2/1 on strategies, policies, regulations, and methods of migration to and adoption of digital technologies for broadcasting, including providing new services for various environments.
  • Question 4/1 on the economic aspects of national telecommunications/ICTs.
  • Question 5/1 on telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas.
  • Question 6/1 on consumer information, protection, and rights.

ITU is the facilitator of WSIS Action Line С2 – Information and communication infrastructure.

Giga: UNICEF-ITU global initiative

Giga is a UNICEF-ITU global initiative to connect every school to the internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice. Access to broadband internet and digital learning is critical to global efforts to transform education to make it more inclusive, equitable, and effective. Yet right now, the ability to leverage digital resources is far from equitably distributed: 1.3 billion children have no access to the internet at home and only around half of the world’s schools are online.  

This digital exclusion particularly affects the poorest children, girls, and those with disabilities. These learners miss out on online resources, the option to learn remotely, and the opportunity to develop digital skills. In 2019, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and ITU joined forces to address this new form of inequality by creating Giga, a unique global partnership with the bold ambition to connect every school in the world to the internet by 2030.  

What Giga does

  • Giga maps schools and their internet access. No one knows how many schools there are in the world (approximately 6-7 million). Giga’s Project Connect map provides a real-time display of access and gaps to guide funders and governments and to enable accountability. Giga has mapped over 2.1 million schools across 140 countries.
  • It creates models for innovative financing. It could cost over $400 billion to connect every unconnected school. Giga is working with a diverse array of partners to develop solutions for affordable, sustainable connectivity and aims to mobilise $5 billion to catalyse investment in vital connectivity infrastructure.
  • Giga supports governments contracting for connectivity. It helps governments design the regulatory frameworks, technology solutions, and competitive procurement processes needed to get schools online. Giga and its partners have connected over 2.4 million students in over 5,800 schools.  

Learn more at giga.global. Please refer to the chapter on Giga.

Capacity development

ITU is heavily involved in capacity development activities, mainly aimed at assisting countries in developing their policy and regulatory frameworks in various digital policy areas, ranging from the deployment or expansion of broadband networks to fighting cybercrime and enhancing cybersecurity. The ITU Academy provides a wide range of general and specialised courses on various aspects related to ICTs. Such courses are delivered online, face-to-face, or in a blended manner, and span a wide variety of topics, from technologies and services to policies and regulations. ITU also develops digital skills at a basic and intermediate level for citizens through its Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) Initiative.

The Digital Regulation Platform is the result of ongoing collaboration between ITU and the World Bank, which started in 2000. Structured by thematic areas, the Digital Regulation Platform aims to provide practical guidance and best practice for policymakers and regulators across the globe concerned with harnessing the benefits of the digital economy and society for their citizens and firms. The content provides an update on the basics of ICT regulation in light of the digital transformation sweeping across sectors, and also includes new regulatory aspects and tools for ICT regulators to consider when making regulatory decisions.

The inclusivity of the ITU standardisation platform is supported by ITU’s Bridging the Standardization (BSG) Programme, as well as regional groups within ITU-T SGs. The BSG hands-on SG effectiveness training builds awareness and understanding of standardisation activities and working methods in highly interactive workshops and webinars, and Guidelines for National Standardization Secretariats (NSS) assist developing countries in developing the practical skills and national procedures required to maximise the effectiveness of their participation. In addition, ongoing enhancements to ITU-T electronic working methods and language support, coupled with fellowship opportunities for experts from developing countries, foster inclusivity in major standards-making meetings. Specific projects, sponsored by voluntary contributions from members, focus on emerging technology issues such as ethics, risks, governance, regulatory and legal aspects of AI/standardisation issues. 

Digital services and applications

The Digital Services and Applications programme offers member states the tools to leverage digital technology and ICT applications to address their most pressing needs and bring real impact to people, with an emphasis on increasing availability and extending services in areas such as digital health, digital agriculture, digital government, and digital learning, as well as cross-sectoral initiatives to accelerate sustainable development such as smart villages.

To effectively harness digital services and applications for socio-economic development, the programme facilitates:

  • development of a national sectoral digital strategy (including toolkits, guidelines, capacity building, action plans, and evaluations);
  • deployment of innovative digital services and applications to improve the delivery of value-added services, leveraging strategic partnerships as catalysts;
  • knowledge and best practice sharing through studies, research, and awareness raising, connecting stakeholders in converging ecosystems; 
  • addressing emerging technology trends – such as big data and AI – by collecting and sharing best practices.

Digital ecosystems

ITU works on helping member states create and mature their digital innovation ecosystems. The Digital Ecosystem Thematic Priority has created a framework to help countries develop appropriate ICT-centric innovation policies, strategies, and programmes; share evidence-based best practices; and implement bankable projects to close the digital innovation gap. Countries are empowered to develop an environment that is conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship, where advances in new technologies become a key driver for the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Connect 2030 Agenda.

ITU assists member states through its events, courses, publications, toolkits, and provision of technical advice. Its Ecosystem Development Projects initiative, for example, provides holistic advisory services including ecosystem diagnosis, risk assessment, good practice transfer, and capacity building. Events include its national and regional innovation forums, which bring ecosystem stakeholders together to equip them with the skills to build their national innovation ecosystems; the ITU Innovation Challenges, which identify the best ICT innovators from around the world and equip them with skills to scale their ideas to truly impact their communities; courses on developing and maturing ecosystems (available at the ITU Academy); and Digital Innovation Profiles, which provide a snapshot of a country’s ecosystem status, allowing them to identify and fill the gaps using ITU tools and expertise.egional Innovation Forums, which bring ecosystem stakeholders together to equip them with the skills to build their national innovation ecosystems; the ITU Innovation Challenges, which identify the best ICT innovators from around the world and equip them with skills to scale their ideas to truly impact their communities; courses on developing and maturing ecosystems (available at the ITU Academy); and Digital Innovation Profiles, which provide a snapshot of a country’s ecosystem status and allowing them to identify and fill the gaps using ITU tools and expertise.

Sustainable development

ITU, as the UN specialised agency for ICTs, continues to support its membership and contribute to the worldwide efforts to advance the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve its SDGs.

The 17 SDGs and their 169 related targets offer a holistic vision for the UN system. The role and contribution of ICTs as essential catalysts to fast-forward achievement of the SDGs is clearly highlighted and has come into focus since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Infrastructure, connectivity, and ICTs have demonstrated their great contribution and potential to accelerate human progress, bridge the digital divides, and develop digital societies.

ITU has a key role to play in realising its main goals of universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation, in contributing to achieving the SDGs. ITU contributes to the achievement of the SDGs with four levels of involvement:

  • ICTs as an enabler: ITU can be seen as a contributor to all SDGs through the benefits that ICTs bring to societies and economies.
  • Focus: SDGs with no specific reference to ICTs but where ITU has demonstrated a clear impact through the benefits ICTs bring to specific sectors and activities (e.g. e-health, digital inclusion, smart cities, e-waste, climate change). These are SDGs 1, 3, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
  • Key focus: SDGs where ITU has a particularly strong impact due to its initiatives, and is the custodian of some indicators. These are SDG 4 (Quality Education), with its Target 4b to ‘… expand globally the number of scholarships, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and ICTs, technical, engineering and scientific programmes…’; and SDG 5 (Gender Equality), Target 5.b on ‘…the use of enabling technology, in particular ICTs, to promote the empowerment of women’. Indicator 5b.1 on the ownership of mobile phones, by sex.
  • Main key focus: SDGs where ITU maximises its contribution, such as SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals). Here, ITU is also the custodian of related Target 9.c on ‘…. ICTs to provide universal and affordable access to the internet…’; and its Indicator 9c.1 on coverage by a mobile network and by technology, as well as Target 17.8 to ‘….enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology’; and its Indicator 17.8.1 about individuals using the internet.

The ITU Connect 2030 Agenda is specifically dedicated to leveraging telecommunications/ICTs, including broadband, for sustainable development. The agenda is built around five goals: growth, inclusiveness, sustainability, innovation, and partnership. In addition, ITU-D works on fostering international cooperation on telecommunications and ICT development issues, and enhancing environmental protection, climate change adaptation, emergency telecommunications, and disaster mitigation and management efforts through telecommunications and ICTs. These and other related issues are explored in reports, guidelines, and recommendations produced by ITU-D SGs. 

Additionally, ITU-T SGs such as ITU-T SG5 on Environment, EMF, and the Circular Economy is the lead SG and develops standards on circular economy and e-waste management, ICTs related to the environment, energy efficiency, clean energy, and sustainable digitalisation for climate actions, which help achieve the SDGs. 

A list of ITU-R publications in response to Resolution ITU-R 61-3 on ‘ITU-R’s contribution in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ is available online.

The ITU strategic plan is aligned with the WSIS Action Lines and SDGs. Since 2015, the WSIS process has been aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure that ICTs play the enabling role in advancing the SDGs.

Inclusive finance

Within the work of ITU, the issues related to inclusive finance are addressed as ‘Digital Financial Services (DFS)’.

ITU has built a substantial programme of work in support of digital financial inclusion. ITU standards for digital finance address the security of telecommunications infrastructure (Signalling System No. 7 (SS7)) vulnerabilities, SIM vulnerabilities and SIM fraud and the security of mobile payments applications, process for managing risks, threats, and vulnerabilities for digital finance service providers, assessing the quality of service of mobile networks to improve reliability and user experience for digital financial services and methodology for auditing the security of mobile payment applications in order to assess their level of security assurance through the DFS Security Lab. They provide for a high quality service and user experience, and safeguard security to build trust in digital finance.

Pursuant to WTSA Resolution 89, ITU has implemented several activities aimed at enhancing the use of ICTs in bridging the financial inclusion gap through the following:

  1. The Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI)
  2. ITU-T study groups and focus groups work on standardisation activities related to digital financial services
  3. The Digital Financial Services Security Lab
  4. Insights on Digital Financial Services during COVID-19 Webinars

The ITU Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (2014–2016), the ITU Focus Group on Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency (2017–2019), and the Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (2017–2021), a four-year programme to advance research in digital finance and accelerate digital financial inclusion in developing countries co-led by ITU, the World Bank Group, and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, with financial support from the Gates Foundation, have been at the heart of the resulting standardisation activities for digital financial inclusion.

Standardisation activities in the ITU-T study groups related to digital financial services include the following:

  1. ITU-T SG3 approved, Recommendation ITU-T D.263, ‘Costs, charges and competition for mobile financial services (MFSs)’ in May 2019. Additionally, the following reports of the Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (FG-DFS) were published as ITU-T SG3 technical reports:
    1. DSTR-DFSECO: Digital financial services – The Digital Financial Services Ecosystem
    2. DSTR-DFSREG: Digital financial services – Regulation in the Digital Financial Services Ecosystem  
    3. DSTR-DFSSNDL: Digital financial services – Impact of Social Networks on Digital Liquidity  
    4. DSTR-DFSCA: Digital financial services – Competition Aspects of DFS  
    5. DSTR-DFSRP: The Regulator’s Perspective on the Right Timing for Inducing Interoperability  
    6. DSTR-DFSPI: Digital financial services – Access to Payment Infrastructures  
    7. DSTR-DFSUAAFR: Digital financial services – Review of DFS User Agreements in Africa: A Consumer Protection Perspective  
    8. DSTR-DFSCP: Digital Financial Services – Commonly Identified Consumer Protection Themes for Digital Financial Services  
    9. DSTR-DFSMR: Digital Financial Services – Main Recommendations
  1. ITU-T SG 12 has developed the following recommendations for quality of service and quality of experience for digital financial services:
    1. Recommendation ITU-T G.1033 highlights important aspects related to quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) that require consideration in the context of digital financial services.
    2. Recommendation ITU-T P.1502 introduces a methodology for testing the quality of experience (QoE) of digital financial services.
    3. Recommendation ITU-T P.1503 Extended methodology for cross-country and inter-operator digital financial services QoE testing

The recommendations are based on the results of the ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services and the FIGI Security, Infrastructure and Trust Working Group.

  1. ITU-T SG 17 has developed the following ITU-T recommendations related to the security of digital financial services based on the reports from the FIGI Security, Infrastructure, and Trust Working Group.
    1. Recommendation ITU-T X.1150 – Security assurance framework for digital financial services  (March 2024)
    2. New recommendations determined at the SG 17 meeting in September 2024:
      1. New Recommendation ITU-T X.1456 (X.sgdfs-us): Security guidelines for digital financial service (DFS) applications based on unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) and subscriber identification module tool kit (STK)
      2. New Recommendation ITU-T X.1284 (X.afotak): Authentication framework  based on one-time authentication key using distributed ledger technology
  2. ITU-T SG11 agreed on the technical reports:
    1. ITU-T QSTR-SS7-DFS (2019): SS7 vulnerabilities and mitigation measures for digital financial services transactions based on the report approved by the FIGI Security, Infrastructure and Trust Working Group
    2. ITU-T QSTR-USSD (2021): Low resource requirement, quantum resistant, encryption of USSD messages for use in financial services

ITU-T SG 11 published recommendations and new work items, which are ongoing on digital financial services, include:

  1. ITU-T Q.3062 (2022): Signalling procedures and protocols for enabling interconnection between trustable network entities in support of existing and emerging networks
  2. ITU-T Q.3063 (2022) : Signalling procedures of calling line identification authentication
  3. Draft Q.TSCA (SG11): Requirements for issuing End-Entity and Certification Authority certificates for enabling trustable signalling interconnection between network entities
  4. Draft E.RAA4Q.TSCA (SG2): Registration authority assignment criteria to issue digital public certificates for use by Q.TSCA

The ITU Digital Financial Services (DFS) Security Lab was set up in 2021 as an outcome of FIGI, with the main objective to collaborate with DFS regulators in emerging economies to adopt the DFS security recommendations (also developed under FIGI) and to provide technical support to DFS regulators in conducting security audits of mobile payment applications used in their country. The DFS Security Lab has organised some 35 DFS Security Clinics attended by over 1,500 participants from emerging economies. The security clinics are aimed at providing an overview of the ITU DFS security recommendations to the regulators from the telecom and financial services regulators, mobile network operators, and DFS providers.

In addition, the knowledge transfer programme of the DFS Security Lab provides technical assistance to regulators in emerging economies to set up the DFS Security Lab in their country, implement the DFS security recommendations including ITU-T X.1150 Recommendation and assist the staff of the regulators to be able to conduct the security audits of mobile payment apps based on the standard methodology of the DFS Security Lab.

The following telecom regulators have so far benefited from technical assistance for knowledge transfer for the DFS Security Lab: Peru, Zimbabwe, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Lucia. The knowledge transfer programme for these countries is ongoing in 2025. In addition, new requests were received from South Sudan, Lesotho, Eswatini, Gabon, and Burkina Faso in 2025. In 2023, the DFS Security Lab developed a cyber resilience self-assessment framework for critical infrastructure for DFS aimed at regulators to conduct evaluation of the level of cyber resilience of critical infrastructure for digital finance. 

In 2020, ITU organised the Insights on Digital Financial Services Webinar Series with the objective of providing insights on the innovative applications of telecommunications services, digital payments, and fintech in addressing COVID-triggered social distancing and lockdown, and sharing lessons learned from governments and DFS stakeholders on the measures they are implementing. Twelve webinars were held between May and December 2020, attracting over 1,000 unique participants from 105 countries. The webinars focused on topics such as digital identity, strong authentication technologies, security of digital financial transactions, handling fraud and scams, tracking digital financial crimes and fraud, digital credit technologies, mitigating telecom infrastructure vulnerabilities for digital finance, and central bank digital currency.

In 2020, ITU and Stanford University launched the Digital Currency Global Initiative (DCGI) to continue the work of the ITU Focus Group on Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency. DCGI provides an open and neutral platform for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and research on the applications of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and other digital currency implementations. 

E-waste

ITU works to develop policies, standards, frameworks, and guidelines for the efficient disposal of e-waste in order to achieve a circular economy. ITU has the mandate to promote awareness of the environmental issues associated with telecommunications/ICT equipment design and encourage energy efficiency and the use of materials in the design and fabrication of telecommunications/ICT equipment that contributes to a clean and safe environment throughout its lifecycle (Res.182 (Rev. Busan, 2014)). 

ITU plays a key role in the UN E-waste Coalition, is a founding partner of the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP), and collaborates with the Circular Electronics Partnership.

ITU-D has been mandated to assist developing countries in undertaking a proper assessment of the size of e-waste and in initiating pilot projects to achieve environmentally sound management of e-waste through e-waste collection, dismantling, refurbishing, and recycling. To this end, the organisation supports countries in developing national policies on e-waste, and works together with industry partners from the public and private sectors to stimulate coordinated actions towards a circular economy model. ITU-D and ITU-T SGs also explore issues related to ICTs and the environment.

ITU-T has been mandated to pursue and strengthen the development of ITU activities in regard to handling and controlling e-waste from telecommunications and information technology equipment and methods of treating it; and to develop recommendations, methodologies, and other publications relating to sustainable management of e-waste resulting from telecommunications/ICT equipment and products, as well as appropriate guidelines on the implementation of these recommendations. As part of this effort, ITU-T promotes circular economy principles to extend the life cycle of ICT products, encourage resource efficiency, and minimise waste generation. ITU-T SG5 on Environment, EMF, and the Circular Economy is the lead ITU-T SG on the circular economy and e-waste management.

ITU-T SG5 has a dedicated Question (Q7/5) on ‘E-waste, circular economy, and sustainable supply chain management’. This Question seeks to address the e-waste challenge by identifying the environmental requirements of digital technologies including IoT, end-user equipment, and ICT infrastructures or installations, based on the circular economy principles and improving the supply chain management in line with SDG 12, target 12.5 to substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse by 2030.

As part of this work, Q7/5 is developing the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a tool designed to enhance transparency and traceability of ICT products by providing key environmental and material data throughout their life cycle, facilitating sustainable resource management and circularity. Additionally, ITU-T contributes to global efforts through its engagement in the Digitalization for Circular Economy (D4CE) initiative, led by the OnePlanet Network, which explores how digital technologies can optimise resource use, improve material flows, and support sustainable business models to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Rights of persons with disabilities

ITU works both to promote globally ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and to make ITU a more accessible organisation for persons with disabilities – Resolution 175 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022).

Globally, ITU has continued conducting technical work in ITU-R, ITU-T, and ITU-D SGs, advancing the use of telecommunications and ICTs for persons with disabilities; and developing resources to support member states in establishing environments that ensure accessible telecommunications/ICTs – work conducted with the participation of persons with disabilities and aligned with the Connect 2030 Agenda. ITU-D advanced regional initiatives linked to ICT accessibility, with projects, training, and events, and provided support to ITU administrations in almost every region, including organising Accessible Americas and Accessible events. More information is available here.

Within the second area of focus, ITU has made progress in implementing its ITU Accessibility Policy for persons with disabilities, with an updated version endorsed by the ITU Council 2021.

ITU-D Study Question 7/1 continues to focus on telecommunications/ICT accessibility to enable inclusive communication, especially for persons with disabilities for 2022–2025, as agreed at WTDC–22.

The year 2021 released SG Question 7/1 report (available free of charge in all UN official languages) with its accompanying video and the focused workshop and webinar confirm the careful attention given to this topic.

ITU-R continues its work in response to Resolution ITU-R 67-2 on ‘Telecommunications/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs’. Further information on the work carried out by the Intersector Rapporteur Group Audiovisual Media Accessibility (IRG-AVA), can be found here.

ITU’s work on accessibility includes regional events, ICT accessibility assessment, and the publication of new resources and handbooks. ITU has developed capacity-building materials to promote the adoption of accessible solutions, including 15 video tutorials on the development and remediation of accessible digital content.

A range of activities is detailed below.

Further regional events are set out below.

  • Accessible Americas: ICT for ALL, Cuba 2021, featured discussions with policymakers and stakeholders on ICT/digital accessibility in the context of COVID-19.
  • Accessible Africa, virtual, 2021. Five online, interactive workshops sought to strengthen the capacity of 175 regional focal points from 42 African countries on ICT/digital accessibility.
  • Accessible Europe: ICT for ALL 2021, virtual, 2021. Over 240 participants from more than 40 countries discussed how to remove barriers to enable the social inclusion of persons with disabilities, through cooperation, programmes, and training.
  • Accessible Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): In 2021, the CIS Region has shown increased interest in ICT accessibility implementation to ensure equal digital empowerment through ICT.

Assessing and monitoring the implementation of ICT accessibility

WSIS Forum 2021: ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Specific Needs

  • WSIS Forum 2021 featured ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Specific Needs, with virtual workshops on innovative technologies, bringing together experts and stakeholders to discuss how to leverage ICTs to help people with blindness and vision impairment and how to provide inclusive education for all – showcasing emerging assistive technologies.

Self-paced online training courses

Other accessibility resources

Events and opportunities to support the global implementation of ICT accessibility

Making ITU a more accessible organisation for persons with disabilities

  • ITU continues to ensure accessibility to persons with disabilities, including staff, delegates, and the general public.
  • To ensure the structure and content of ITU websites, videos, publications, digital documents, and digital information are all digitally accessible, training events were under preparation (held in February 2022).
  • To provide fully accessible ITU events, an invitation to bid for the provision of real-time captioning was completed in November 2021. Proposals for captioning in French, Spanish, and Chinese have been submitted.
  • In 2019, ITU provided captioning across ITU events and major conferences, sign language interpretation at selected ITU-T accessibility meetings and in making ITU websites accessible. ITU has also modified its internal production to generate accessible publications in the six official languages.

COVID-19: Ensuring digital information is accessible to all

Gender rights online

Within the work of ITU, gender rights online is addressed as ‘Gender digital divide‘.

ITU is involved in activities aimed at promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through ICTs.

ITU is the custodian of three gender-related SDG indicators: the proportion of individuals who (1) own a mobile phone; (2) use the internet; and (3) have ICT skills. ITU’s Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2021 shows that, in all regions, the gender internet divide has been narrowing in recent years, and calls for more action on cultural, financial, and skills-related barriers that impede internet uptake among women. ITU has launched several targeted efforts to bridge the gender digital divide and advance the Connect 2030 Agenda. Below are some highlights of ITU’s work on gender.

Together with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations University (UNU), the GSMA, and the International Trade Centre (ITC), ITU has launched the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age with over 100 partners working together to ensure that women are given access, are equipped with skills, and develop the leadership potential to work in the ICT industry. Under this initiative, ITU contributes with the annual flagship event, the EQUALS in Tech Awards. The awards are presented every year to organisations and individuals working to help girls and women gain equal internet access, learn digital skills, and find opportunities in the tech industry. The initiative is dedicated to encouraging girls and young women to consider studies and careers in ICTs.

The African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) was launched in Africa in collaboration with UN Women and the African Union Commission (AUC) with the aim to train and empower girls and young women aged 17 to 20 across Africa to become computer programmers, creators, and designers. The initiative has also been launched in the Americas region with a focus on equipping girls with coding skills and generating interest in the pursuit of ICT careers.

Other activities, such as the Women in Technology Challenge and the EQUALS Women in Tech Network, led by ITU, are targeted at advancing women’s engagement with ICTs for social and economic development.

Through a new global initiative on Women in Digital Business, ITU partners with the ILO and Microsoft Philanthropies to equip women entrepreneurs across Africa, Asia, and Latin America with digital and entrepreneurial skills. The ‘train-the-trainer’ model has reached over 25,000 women, supporting inclusive online business growth. 

ITU WRC-19 also adopted a declaration that promotes gender equality, equity, and parity in the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector.

The Radiocommunication Assembly 2023 (RA-23) adopted Resolution ITU-R 72 on ‘Promoting gender equality and equity and bridging the contribution and participation gap between women and men in ITU-R activities’.

ITU is also a facilitator of WSIS Action Line C4 – Capacity building.

Network of Women (NoW): Encouraging gender balance

Encouraging and tracking gender-balanced representation and nominations of women for key roles strengthens women’s participation in ITU meetings. The aim is to build a community where female delegates can network, share their experience, and promote the participation of women – increasing their visibility, empowering them, and encouraging experienced female delegates to mentor ICT professionals in the digital space.

ITU promotes the active participation of women in ITU events and through the Network of Women (NoW) initiatives in each of its three sectors: ITU-R (radiocommunications), ITU-T (standardisation), and ITU-D (development). These efforts aim to increase women’s participation in technical meetings and leadership roles, with activities such as dedicated global campaigns like NOW4WRC27, NOW4WTSA24 , and initiatives such as NOW4WRC27 Mentoring Programme, the Empowering Women Leaders Mentorship Programme for WTDC-25 in the run-up to key ITU governing conferences.
ITU monitors women’s participation in events and activities through the gender dashboard.

ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin is a member of the Global Board of the International Gender Champions (IGC), a high-level network driving systemic change through concrete actions.

Capacity-building that empowers indigenous communities through technology

Capacity-building training for indigenous communities has empowered indigenous people and communities through technology. The training is tailored to needs and interests and has taken into account self-sustainability aspects and cultural legacy.

The programme has reached 70 indigenous participants throughout the Americas, 21 of whom have completed the full programme – from Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. Thirty per cent of participants are indigenous women.

The course Technical Promoters in Telecommunications and Broadcasting in Indigenous Communities requires one year of study and trains indigenous professionals in maintaining indigenous networks from infrastructure to communication delivery. The module boosts the professional development of professionals and their ability to contribute to their communities’ socio-economic development and self-sustainability.

A course in 2021, on Innovative Communication Tools on How to Develop, Manage and Operate an Indigenous Radio Network, was offered to 141 indigenous participants over two editions. Countries represented included Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Thirty per cent of participants completed all five units of the course, 40.5% of whom were indigenous women.
ITU and UNESCO were developing activities for rollout at the WSIS Forum 2022 as contributions to the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032).

Working for digital inclusion for older people-raising awareness and building resources

For the first time, ITU has addressed digital inclusion for older people by raising awareness on the topic, leveraging the capacity of ITU members and stakeholders, providing policy and strategy guidelines, and developing resources to support global efforts to overcome this socio-economic challenge.

Resources supporting older persons in the digital world.

The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022 (WTISD 2022) was dedicated to the theme: Digital technologies for older persons and healthy ageing.

ITU contributing to UN work

Working for increased youth engagement

The ITU Youth Strategy ensures the participation of youth in ITU in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The strategy is built on three pillars: creating a community of young leaders, bringing young people together to engage with ITU and members, and fostering participation in ITU activities. More than 40 Youth Task Force members across ITU are coordinating efforts to implement the ITU Youth Strategy.

The initiatives detailed below have been implemented as part of the ITU Youth Strategy and as part of its continued commitment to engaging and empowering young people in the digital development agenda.

The Robotics for Good Youth Challenge is a global educational robotics championship that invites students aged 10 to 18  to develop AI and robotics-based solutions for global challenges. In the 2024-2025 edition, participants simulate a disaster response scenario using robotics and compete in a global challenge organised by ITU, with the grand finale taking place at the AI for Good Global Summit 2025. This programme offers a unique entry point into STEM disciplines while fostering the problem-solving and teamwork skills that are critical for the next generation of digital leaders. Over 7,000 participants from twenty countries are taking part in the first edition of the global competition, 35% of whom are from least developed countries.

The AI for Good Youth Zone at the AI for Good Global Summit 2024 hosted practical workshops and hands-on sessions focused on AI and robotics. Bringing together educators, students, and professionals, nine workshops were facilitated by 11 partners over two days, attracting 300 participants, including children and professionals. The Youth Zone provided interactive and collaborative learning experiences, covering topics from AI EdTech robots to disaster robotics and autonomous vehicles. Workshops by EPFL provided hands-on experience with AI, computer vision, and machine learning, demonstrating how smart cars detect and analyse their environment. Overall, the AI for Good Youth Zone provided a dynamic and engaging platform for participants to learn, collaborate, and explore the exciting world of AI and robotics.

The ITU AI/ML Challenge is a flagship collaborative platform that enables students, researchers, and developers to design and test AI models in various real-world use cases, including communication networks, Geospatial AI, and other domains. Through real-world problem statements and open datasets, participants are guided to explore the frontier of machine learning in ICT infrastructure, strengthening their technical capacities while contributing to ITU’s standards development work. In 2024, there were a total of 13 challenge problem statements, and a total of 4,196 participants joined these problem statements, contributing more than 30,000 submissions.

The Young AI Leaders Community is a platform launched during WTSA-24 to foster youth participation and leadership in driving the AI revolution, bringing together young people aged 18-30 who leverage AI to drive positive change in their communities. It provides a platform for sharing knowledge, developing skills, and collaborating. With 89 hubs across 46 countries and over 300 members operating on a voluntary basis, this network fosters engagement in joint AI for Good activities and projects that extend beyond individual hubs. It also promotes regional and cross-regional collaborations, aligning local actions and initiatives with the broader goals of AI for Good.

The AI for Good Innovation Factory’s special edition Meet Young Innovators Revolutionizing Agrifood Systems in the Global South, was convened in partnership with the World Food Forum (WFF) to spotlight entrepreneurial youth using digital innovation to tackle challenges in agriculture and food systems. This pitch competition provided a stage for youth-led startups to pitch their AI-based solutions to a global audience of investors, policymakers, and partners, reinforcing the role of innovation in solving the world’s pressing issues and empowering young people to be active drivers of transformation.

The Metaverse Think-a-Thon 2024, organised by ITU in collaboration with UNICC, FAO, and IAEA, challenged students and recent graduates to design innovative, technology-driven solutions for smart, sustainable cities and communities. Participants developed virtual simulations addressing global challenges in education, disaster preparedness, conflict resolution, and urban sustainability, advancing the UN SDGs.

The 1st UN Citiverse Challenge, launched on 13 February 2025 and co-organised by ITU alongside 16 global partners, invites students and startups to reimagine the future through the citiverse and digital public infrastructure. Focusing on access to public services, sustainability and resilience, and tourism and digital culture, participants are challenged to design bold, innovative solutions that will shape the cities of tomorrow and drive inclusive, technology-driven urban transformation.

Generation Connect Initiative

Generation Connect, launched in 2020, prepared the way for the journey to World Telecommunication Development Conference 2022 and the Generation Connect Global Youth Summit in 2022.

Generation Connect Visionaries Board

The Generation Connect Visionaries Board offers guidance to ITU on its youth-related work. The Board, composed of ITU representatives, eight young leaders, and eight high-level appointees, advises on the Youth Summit and the Youth Strategy.

Road to Addis Series – Digital Inclusion and Youth Events

The ITU Road to Addis series of events has a strong youth component. The event on International Youth Day 2021 saw the participation of youth as equal partners alongside the leaders of today’s digital change, while the Partner2Connect Meeting 2021 launched the Partner2Connect Coalition.

Implementation of the I-CoDI Youth Challenge

In 2020, ITU organised the International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI) Youth Challenge on connecting the unconnected. Winning pitches focused on technology and network development, cybersecurity, digital inclusion, climate change and environment, and capacity building.

Generation Connect Virtual Communities

In 2021, ITU launched the new Generation Connect Virtual communities on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, inviting youth from the regions to join.

ITU: Current co-chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development

In March 2021, ITU was the co-chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) with a one-year mandate. The Network increases the effectiveness of UN work in youth development by strengthening collaboration and exchange across UN entities.

Capacity Building on Meaningful Youth Engagement

Training on Meaningful Youth Engagement for UN staff was delivered to ITU staff in 2020; 174 ITU staff attended, including top management, members of the ITU Youth Task Force, and professional and administrative staff. This training was followed by two Pitch for Youth workshops in 2020, where teams proposed ideas to an ITU jury on youth engagement initiatives.

Collaboration with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth

ITU works with the Office of the Envoy on Youth to align the ITU Youth Strategy with the United Nations Youth Strategy: Youth 2030. ITU has engaged with the UN Youth Envoy in various ways, including the co-creation of the Digital Technology session of the #YouthLead Innovation Festival and collaboration on how online efforts are helping improve children’s online safety.

Additional initiatives

ITU’s work on empowering youth through ICTs includes the Digital Skills for Jobs Campaign and the ITU Digital Skills Toolkit. In 2020, ITU mounted a Youth Engagement Survey to consult on how ITU can best engage. The results of this survey informed the ITU Youth Strategy.

Interdisciplinary approaches

WSIS Process

The WSIS process was initiated by ITU in 1998, and it led the organisation of the 2003 and 2005 summits in coordination with the UN system. In line with its mandate and the WSIS outcome documents, ITU continues to play a key lead coordination role in WSIS implementation and follow-up.

The WSIS Forum represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the ICT for development community. Co-organised by ITU, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitator, the forum has proven to be an efficient mechanism for coordinating multistakeholder implementation activities, exchanging information, creating knowledge, and sharing best practices. It continues to provide assistance in developing multistakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals. The forum provides structured opportunities to network, learn, and participate in multistakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation.

The ITU Contribution to the Implementation of the WSIS Outcomes is an annual comprehensive report on ITU activities in the WSIS context from all three sectors of the organisation (radiocommunications, standardisation, and development sectors) and the General Secretariat on the activities implemented during the respective year. The report provides updates on the tasks carried out by ITU at the operational and policy levels, covering all assigned mandates with reference to the WSIS process.

ITU plays a leading facilitating role in the WSIS implementation process, in collaboration with more than 30 UN agencies in creating an environment for just and equal information and knowledge societies. As per Resolution 1332 (modified 2019), the ITU membership resolved to use the WSIS framework as the foundation through which it helps the world to leverage ICTs in achieving the 2030 Agenda, within its mandate and within the allocated resources in the financial plan and biennial budget, noting the WSIS- SDG Matrix developed by UN agencies. This close interlink between the WSIS Action Lines and the SDGs and targets can serve as an important basis for work on relevant areas outlined in relevant ongoing processes, for example, UN SGs Our Common Agenda, etc.

ITU’s role in the WSIS process, highlighting the varying role along the WSIS Action Lines:

  • ITU is the sole facilitator for three different WSIS Action Lines: C2 (Information and communication infrastructure), C5 (Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs), and C6 (Enabling environment).
  • ITU has also taken the lead role in facilitating WSIS Action Line C4 (Capacity building).
  • ITU contributes to all the remaining WSIS Action Lines facilitated by other WSIS stakeholders.

The WSIS-SDG Matrix developed by UN WSIS Action Line Facilitators serves as the mechanism to map, analyse, and coordinate the implementation of WSIS Action Lines, and more specifically, ICTs as enablers and accelerators of the SDGs. This mapping exercise draws direct links between the WSIS Action Lines and the proposed SDGs to continue strengthening the impact of ICTs for sustainable development. Building on the Matrix, the Agenda and outcomes of the WSIS Forum are clearly linked to WSIS Action lines and the SDGs, highlighting the impact and importance of ICTs for sustainable development.

The WSIS Stocktaking Process provides a register of activities – including projects, programmes, training initiatives, conferences, websites, guidelines, and toolkits – carried out by governments, international organisations, the private sector, civil society, and other entities. To that end, in accordance with paragraph 120 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society adopted by WSIS, ITU has been maintaining the WSIS Stocktaking Database since 2004 as a publicly accessible system providing information on ICT-related initiatives and projects with reference to the 11 WSIS action lines (Geneva Plan of Action). The principal role of the WSIS Stocktaking exercise is to leverage the activities of stakeholders working on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and share knowledge and experience of projects by replicating successful models designed to achieve the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The WSIS Prizes contest was developed in response to requests from WSIS stakeholders to create an effective mechanism for evaluating projects and activities that leverage the power of ICTs to advance sustainable development. Since its inception, WSIS Prizes has attracted more than 350,000 stakeholders. Following the outcomes of the UN General Assembly Overall Review on WSIS (Res. A/70/125) that called for a close alignment between the WSIS process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Res. A/70/1), WSIS Prizes continues to serve as the unique global platform to identify and showcase success stories in the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines and the SDGs.

UNGIS is the UN system’s inter-agency mechanism for advancing policy coherence and programme coordination on matters related to ICTs in support of internationally agreed development goals. Established in 2006 after WSIS, its mandate includes promoting collaboration and partnerships among members of the Chief Executives Board (CEB) to contribute to the achievement of the WSIS goals, providing guidance on issues related to inclusive information and knowledge societies, helping maintain issues related to science and technology at the top of the UN Agenda, and mainstreaming ICT for Development in the mandate of CEB members.

UNGIS remains committed and has contributed to the alignment of the WSIS Action Lines and the SDGs.

The Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development is an international, multistakeholder initiative to improve the availability and quality of ICT data and indicators.

ITU also works in close collaboration with the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and in 2022 announced a first-ever set of targets for universal and meaningful digital connectivity to be achieved by 2030.

The universal meaningful connectivity targets were developed as part of the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and aim to provide concrete benchmarks for sustainable, inclusive global progress in specified action areas, such as (1) Universality, (2) Technology, and (3) Affordability. These 15 aspirational targets are meant to help countries and stakeholders prioritise interventions, monitor progress, evaluate policy effectiveness, and galvanise efforts around achieving universal and meaningful connectivity by 2030. They are also meant as a contribution towards the Global Digital Compact, as proposed in the UN Secretary-General’s report on Our Common Agenda. A first assessment of how the world currently stands in relation to the targets is available on ITU’s website here.

Kaleidoscope academic conferences

Kaleidoscope is the ITU flagship event for academia, which brings together a wide range of views from universities, industry, and research institutions across different fields to identify emerging trends in technologies for a digital and sustainable transformation that can benefit humanity. Selected papers are presented at the conference and published in the Conference Proceedings and IEEE Xplore Digital Library. By viewing technologies through a kaleidoscope, these forward-looking events also seek to identify new topics for ITU’s work. Kaleidoscope 2024 on Innovation and digital transformation for a sustainable world was held in parallel with the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024 (WTSA-24), on 21-23 October, in New Delhi, India. This 15th Kaleidoscope edition also highlighted the role of youth in global standards development and the urgency of connecting the last one-third of the world’s population that is not yet online.

The next edition will be held in Geneva in conjunction with the AI for Good Summit in 2026.

ITU Journal 

The scholarly ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies (ITU J-FET) provides complete coverage of all communications and networking paradigms. ITU J-FETl considers yet-to-be-published papers addressing fundamental and applied research. It shares new techniques and concepts, analyses, and tutorials, as well as learning from experiments and physical and simulated testbeds. It also discusses the implications of the latest research results for policy and regulation, legal frameworks, the economy, and society. This publication builds bridges between disciplines, connects theory with application, and stimulates international dialogue. Its interdisciplinary approach reflects ITU’s comprehensive field of interest and explores the convergence of ICT with other disciplines. 

ITU J-FET is a quarterly publication, free of charge for both readers and authors, which offers a platform to share research on topics of strategic relevance to ITU, such as Internet of Everything​, Terahertz Communications​​, Wireless Communication Systems in Beyond 5G Era​, ​​Internet of Bio-Nano Things for Health Applications, Towards Vehicular Networks in the 6G Era​, ​​Emerging Trends and Applications in Future Communication Networks, ​Integrated and Autonomous Network Management and Control for 6G Time-critical Applications, Digital Continuum and Next Generation Networks, Future of Networking Beyond 2030​, ​Innovative Network Solutions for Future Services, ​​Intelligent Surfaces and their Applications towards Wide-scale Deployment​, ​​​​​​​​AI-driven Security in 5G and beyond, Network Virtualization, Slicing, Orchestration, Fog and Edge Platforms for 5G and 6G Wireless Systems​, ​AI for Accessibility, Metaverse: Communications, Networking and Computing, ​Intelligent Technologies for Future Networking and Distributed Systems, ​Next Generation Computer Communications and Networks, Satellite Constellations and Connectivity from Space​, and AI and Machine Learning Solutions in 5G and Future Networks, and Geospatial AI to Advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Under the umbrella of the ITU Journal, a series of webinars has been launched to feature highly cited academics, CTOs, and industry leaders, sharing their pioneering studies and visions, as well as their impactful life lessons learned over the years that might be useful for students and young researchers starting their career in the ICT field. This special series is designed to expand synergies between academia and industry R&D, placing emphasis on 5G and 6G and increasing network intelligence.​ The recordings are available at the ITU Journal Webinars Series playlist on YouTube.

ITU-Tsinghua University Joint Journal 

The Intelligent and Converged Networks​​ (ICN) Journal focuses on the latest developments in communication technology. ICN is co-published by Tsinghua University Press (TUP) and ITU. The journal draws its name from the accelerating convergence of different fields of communication technology and the growing influence of AI and machine learning. An open-access quarterly publication, ICN was launched in 2020. All issues can be downloaded for free at the journal’s online library and on IEEE Xplore.  The Journal is indexed in the following databases: Ei Compendex, Scopus, DOAJ, and Inspec.

Digital tools

Conferencing technologies

  • Various platforms used for online meetings: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and ITU’s MyMeetings platform.
  • The value of ITU-T’s advanced electronic working environment was highlighted in 2020. Virtual meetings and electronic working methods have come to form the principal platform for ITU standardisation work as part of the global response to COVID-19. ITU members engaged in standard development are making optimal use of ITU’s personalised MyWorkspace platform and associated services and tools (e.g. MyMeetings).

Social media channels

Facebook @ITU

Flickr @ITU pictures

Instagram @ituofficial

LinkedIn @International Telecommunication Union

Podcast @ITUPodcasts

TikTok @itu

X @ITU

YouTube @itutelecommunication

International Electrotechnical Commission

The IEC is the world leader in preparing international standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies. A global, not-for-profit membership organisation, the IEC provides a neutral and independent institutional framework to around 170 countries, coordinating the work of some 30,000 experts. We administer four IEC Conformity Assessment Systems, representing the largest working multilateral agreement based on the one-time testing of products globally. The members of each system certify that devices, systems, installations, services, and people perform as required.

IEC international standards represent a global consensus of state-of-the-art know-how and expertise. Together with conformity assessment, they are foundational for international trade.

IEC standards incorporate the needs of many stakeholders in every participating country and form the basis for testing and certification. Experts come from both developed and developing countries. Each member country and all its stakeholders represented through the IEC National Committees have one vote and a say in what goes into an IEC international standard.

Our work is used to verify the safety, performance, and interoperability of electric and electronic devices and systems such as mobile phones, refrigerators, office and medical equipment, or electricity generation. It also helps accelerate digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), or virtual reality applications, protects information technology (IT) and critical infrastructure systems from cyberattacks and increases the safety of people and the environment.

Digital activities 

The IEC works to ensure that its activities have a global reach to meet all the challenges of digital transformation worldwide. The organisation covers an array of digital policy issues. IEC international standards and conformity assessment play a crucial role in shaping global AI and digital policies by providing a structured, collaborative, and consensus-driven framework that addresses technical, ethical, and governance challenges.

Digital policy issues

Artificial intelligence

AI applications are driving digital transformation across diverse industries, including energy, healthcare, smart manufacturing, transport, and other strategic sectors that rely on IEC Standards and Conformity Assessment Systems. AI technologies allow insights and analytics that go far beyond the capabilities of legacy analytic systems.

For example, the digital transformation of the grid enables increased automation, making it more efficient and able to seamlessly integrate fluctuating renewable energy sources. IEC standards pave the way for the use of a variety of digital technologies relating to intelligent energy. They deal with issues such as the integration of renewable energies into the electrical network and increased automation.

A joint IEC and ISO technical committee on AI, JTC1/SC 42, brings together technology experts, as well as ethicists, lawyers, social scientists, and others to develop generic and foundational standards (horizontal standards). IEC experts focus on sector-specific needs (vertical standards) and conformity assessment. The committee currently has 41 published standards and 48 under development, covering areas including data quality, trustworthiness, bias, explainability, functional safety, and risks in generative AI systems.

JTC 1/SC 42 addresses concerns about the use and application of AI technologies. Governance standards in AI and the big data analytics business process framework address how the technologies can be governed and overseen from a management perspective. International standards in the areas of trustworthiness, ethics, and societal concerns will ensure responsible deployment.

IEC also participates in the World Standards Cooperation (WSC), a high-level collaboration with ISO and ITU. Under the WSC, the AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards (AMAS) initiative works to protect the integrity of information and foster trust in the digital ecosystem through robust technical standards. The 2025 International AI Standards Summit in Seoul produced a joint statement by IEC, ISO, and ITU committing to incorporate socio-technical dimensions in standards development, strengthen multistakeholder participation, and enhance public-private collaboration on AI capacity building.

Quantum computing

The joint IEC and ISO technical committee for quantum technologies, IEC/ISO JTC 3, is working on standards for all aspects of quantum, including computing, metrology, sources, detectors, communications and fundamental quantum technologies.

Infrastructure

The IEC develops standards for many of the technologies that support digital transformation. Fibre optic cables, sensors, semiconductors, cloud and edge computing are examples.

Cloud computing

The joint ISO/IEC technical committee prepares standards for cloud computing, including distributed platforms and edge devices. The standards cover key requirements relating to data storage and recovery.

Network security and critical infrastructure

The IEC develops cybersecurity standards and conformity assessment for IT and operational technology (OT). Cybersecurity is often understood only in terms of IT, which leaves critical infrastructure, such as power utilities, transport systems, manufacturing plants and hospitals, vulnerable to attacks.

Digital tools

The IEC has developed a number of online tools and services designed to help everyone with their daily activities.

Find out more
IEC website
IEC news and blog
IEC e-tech

Social media channels

LinkedIn @IECStandards

Facebook @InternationalElectrotechnicalCommission

YouTube @IECstandards

International Labour Organization

The ILO is the UN agency for the world of work. It was founded on the conviction that universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based on social justice.

The ILO brings together governments, employers, and workers from its 187 member states in a human-centred approach to the future of work based on decent employment creation, rights at work, social protection, and social dialogue.

The ILO’s tripartite membership drafts, adopts, and monitors the implementation of international labour standards on key world of work issues – ILO Conventions and Recommendations.

The ILO undertakes research and data collection across the range of world of work topics. It publishes flagship reports and a wide range of publications and working papers. Its globally renowned set of statistical databases is maintained and updated with nationally sourced labour market data.

The ILO manages a wide range of development cooperation projects in all regions of the world. Realised in partnership with donor countries and organisations, these projects aim to create the conditions for the delivery of the ILO’s decent work agenda.

Three initiatives are central to the ILO’s current work: the establishment of a global coalition to promote social justice, advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, and its four priority action programmes. The latter focuses on the transition from the informal to the formal economy, just transitions towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies, decent work in supply chains, and decent work in crises and post-crisis situations.

Digital activities

As the ILO covers the full scope of the world of work, digital issues are present across the organisation’s work. The ILO addresses digitalisation through a wide range of topics including digital labour platforms, digital skills knowledge, employability, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, algorithmic management and data governance – and more broadly, the future of work. The ILO Observatory on AI and Work in the Digital Economy showcases the Office’s work in these areas. 

The ILO also tracks the effects of digitalisation on specific work sectors, for instance, the postal and telecommunication services sector.

Digital policy issues

Access to data

The ILO has long been a leading resource for policymakers, researchers, and other users of data on the labour markets and all aspects of the world of work. ILOSTAT (a portal to its comprehensive labour statistics) and the ILO Knowledge Portal (offering access to country information and data on labour laws, standards, policies, and statistics) make real-time data available to users around the world. The World Employment and Social Outlook Data Finder provides customised datasets on request for measures such as the global labour force, unemployment, and employment by sector. The ILO also has the Development Cooperation Dashboard with data on labour-related policy areas and the organisation’s field projects, funding, and expenditures. All materials published by the ILO are collected and freely available in Labordoc, the organisation’s digital repository. The ILO’s new Research Repository allows users to easily access our knowledge products by topic and author.

The ILO maintains the World Social Protection Database, the leading global source of in-depth country-level statistics on social protection systems. This database includes key indicators used by policymakers, officials of international organisations, and researchers, and is used for the United Nations’ SDG monitoring. The ILO collects data through the Social Security Inquiry, an administrative survey submitted to governments that dates back to the 1940s. In 2020, the ILO launched the Social Security Inquiry online platform to improve the data compilation process globally.

The ILO also maintains the Employment Policy Gateway, which serves as a comprehensive repository of national employment policy documentation from around the world. As of mid-2024, the Gateway contained 75 national employment policy documents, with 24 undergoing revision at the time of data extraction. The Gateway includes pre-processed variables to facilitate cross-country comparisons of employment policies.

Future of work

The future of work has been a key unifying digital issue in the ILO’s activities for many years. In 2015, the ILO Director-General presented a report to the International Labour Conference proposing a special initiative on the future of work. Since that time, much of the research undertaken by the ILO and many of the published reports have fallen under this rubric. In 2019, the ILO established the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work as part of our Future of Work Initiative. The Commission was composed of representatives from government, civil society, academia, and business and worker representatives.

The Commission published a landmark report, Work for a brighter future, that called for a human-centred agenda for the future of work and explored the impacts of technological progress in the fields of AI and robotics and on issues such as the gender labour gap and the automation of work. That same year, the ILO issued the ILO Centenary Declaration, which advocated ‘full and productive employment and decent work’ in the context of the digital transformation of work, including platform work. Examining the future of work in its myriad implications remains a primary focus for the organisation to this day.

The ILO has established the ’Global Coalition for Social Justice’ initiative that brings together international bodies and stakeholders to promote coordinated responses at national, regional and global levels. The Coalition aims to implement a human-centred approach to ensure social justice is recognised as key to sustainable global recovery.

In 2024, the ILO co-authored a report with the United Nations titled ‘Mind the AI Divide: Shaping a Global Perspective on the Future of Work’, which addresses the uneven adoption of AI globally and its implications for equity, fairness, and social justice. The report highlights how disparities in digital infrastructure, technology access, education, and training are deepening existing inequalities. The ILO is concerned about an emerging ‘AI ivide’ between high-income nations and low/medium-income countries, particularly in Africa, and advocates for concerted action to foster international cooperation to support developing countries in AI adoption.

The ILO has established the ‘Observatory on Artificial Intelligence and Work in the Digital Economy’, which serves as the leading international knowledge hub on world-of-work dimensions of AI and the digital economy. Launched on 25 September 2024, the Observatory aims to support governments and social partners in understanding and managing the digital transformation of work. The Observatory focuses on four key areas: artificial intelligence, algorithmic management, digital labour platforms, workers’ personal data and digital skills and AI.

The ILO-led AI for Good webinars on AI and work (with ITU) have involved some of the leading thinkers and experts in this area, including the most recent Nobel Prize winner, Prof. Daron Acemoglu.

Automation and AI

The ILO is paying close attention to how automation and AI are changing the labour markets and the ways we work. We have examined the impacts of automation in many publications, for instance, Robotics and Reshoring, Automation and its Employment Effects: A Literature Review of Automotive and Garment Sectors, and the research brief, Who Moves and Who Stays? Recent work has focused on generative AI’s labour impacts, including Generative AI and Jobs: A Global Analysis of Potential Effects on Job Quantity and Quality and Artificial Intelligence in Human Resource Management: A Challenge for the Human-centred Agenda?, as well as a joint ILO–OECD compendium of best practices for human-centred AI in the world of work (2026). AI has been the topic of recent editions of the ILO’s Future of Work Podcast series.

At the governance level, the use of automated systems by digital labour platforms is on the agenda of the International Labour Conference in 2025 and 2026, as part of deliberations on a Draft Convention concerning decent work in the platform economy. The draft Convention includes provisions requiring platforms to inform workers about the use of automated decision-making systems and to ensure human review of decisions affecting their employment. The 114th session of the ILC (June 2026) is expected to adopt the Convention and accompanying Recommendation.

Digital labour platforms and algorhitmic management

A key focus of the ILO research is the effects of digitalisation on labour market evolution and new forms of work. The organisation has been closely tracking the implications of digital labour platforms and algorithmic management for decent work. 

The ILO has published some essential references on these new subjects, including the World Employment and Social Outlook report on digital labour platforms. Most other ILO studies also reflect digital issues. For example, recent Global Employment Trends for Youth reports cover inequalities in youth labour markets arising from digital transformation, as well as investment in young people’s skills.

The ILO is working on instruments related to digital platform workers, including developing definitions for terms like ‘digital labour platform’, ‘digital platform worker’, and ‘remuneration’ in the context of digital platforms. The ILO is preparing for a discussion on ‘Realizing decent work in the platform economy’ as the fifth item on the agenda for the 113th Session of the International Labour Conference in 2025.

The ILO is conducting research on the ‘human-in-the-loop’ model in AI systems and AI supply chains, examining how invisible workers power automated systems that are often presented as fully automated. ILO researchers have studied how AI-enabled business models rely on workers with decent work deficits, particularly crowdworkers on digital labour platforms that support AI systems. A survey of these workers revealed that many are highly educated with bachelor’s or postgraduate degrees, often in STEM fields, yet primarily employed in routine data work that does not use their specialised knowledge, with median earnings in developing countries of about USD 2 per hour.

Sustainable development

The ILO is playing a pivotal role in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, most specifically sustainable development goal (SDG) 8 (decent work and economic growth). The ILO is one of the main actors supporting the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions initiative, the UN system’s collective response for addressing the multiple challenges that threaten to erase development progress. The Global Accelerator aims to direct investments to help create at least 400 million decent jobs, primarily in the green, digital, and care economies, and to extend social protection coverage to the over 4 billion people currently excluded. The ILO has also created the Decent Work for Sustainable Development (DW4SD) Resource Platform,  which maps the interplay between sustainable development and decent work. The platform provides guidance and working resources to ILO staff, development partners, UN country teams, and other stakeholders. A recent ILO report, Transformative Change and SDG 8, outlines an integrated policy approach that countries can follow to achieve SDG 8.

Capacity development

Capacity development is another digital-related issue at the core of the ILO’s activities. As part of our skills, knowledge, and employability initiatives, the ILO helps governments develop education and training systems to take advantage of new educational technologies and give greater attention to digital skills. We support enterprises and employers in making investments to expand education and training programmes, and workers in proactively upgrading their skills or acquiring new ones.

Examples of the many resources the ILO has produced are Digital Employment Diagnostic Guidelines, Digitalization of National TVET and Skills Systems and Digitalise Your Business: Digital Strategies for Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. These and many more resources are available from the ILO’s Skills and Lifelong Learning knowledge-sharing platform.

The International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) offers a range of training programmes, master classes and specialised courses that focus on AI implications and applications in the workplace, public policy, and development cooperation. Key training activities include a new master’s degree on technology and public policy with the Politecnico di Torino and an AI Forum. ITCILO also partners with the UN Innovation Network to share practices and approaches to capacity building in these areas. 

Together with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ILO has developed the SKILL-UP Programme, which assists developing countries in building capacity and improving their digital skills systems, as well as the Skills Innovation Facility. The Facility focuses on identifying and testing innovative ideas and solutions to address current and future skills challenges. In addition, the ILO’s Skills Innovation Network provides a platform for innovators to collaborate and share experiences on developing innovations for skills development.

The ILO also has a Helpdesk for Business on International Labour Standards that provides assistance to businesses on how to align their business operations with labour standards.

Privacy and data protection

In regard to privacy and data protection, the ILO has published a set of principles on the protection of workers’ personal data, which explores trends, principles, and good practices related to the protection of personal data.

The International Training Centre, established by the ILO, provides online courses on a variety of labour issues. The ILO also organises webinars and uses a number of social media accounts.

Digital tools

The following digital tools are available:

Social media channels

Facebook @ILO

Flickr @ilopictures

Instagram @iloinfo

LinkedIn @/international-labour-organization-ilo

TikTok @ilo

X @ilo

YouTube @ilotv

International Committee of the Red Cross

Established in 1863, the ICRC is an independent international humanitarian organisation headquartered in Geneva. It defends and promotes the respect of international humanitarian law (IHL) and is dedicated to protecting the lives and dignity of victims of war and to providing assistance. Along these lines, it cooperates with governments, the private sector, and other entities affected by international and internal armed conflict and violence.

Together with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and 192 individual national societies, the ICRC makes up the so-called International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Digital activities

Digitalisation is increasingly present in the context of armed conflict and violence. On one hand, affected populations are in demand for digital tools, which humanitarian organisations need to provide in a responsible manner. On the other hand, states use cyber operations as part of warfare with humans affected by the consequences of such operations and other digital risks. To this end, humanitarian organisations also use digital tools to improve their operations. The ICRC addresses the implications of technology, which are multifold and range from data protection for humanitarian actions to the application of IHL to cyber operations in armed conflict. We host expert and intergovernmental discussions and have developed a number of (digital) tools to help improve awareness and understanding of IHL and relevant standards. The ICRC cooperates with other organisations on digital policy issues.

Digital policy issues

Artificial intelligence

The ICRC explores the impact of AI tools in armed conflict and the broader use of AI in the humanitarian sector. In Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Armed Conflict: A Human-Centred Approach (2019, revised 2021), the ICRC argues that any new technology of warfare must be capable of being used in compliance with existing rules of international humanitarian law. The document highlights the particular concern posed by autonomous weapon systems (AWS), given that humans may not be able to control such weapons or the resulting use of force, and that AI-controlled AWS would exacerbate these risks. The question has been further explored in Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics: Technical Aspects of Human Control (2019) and Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Computation and Artificial Intelligence in Military Decision-Making (2024), among others.

The ICRC calls for a human-centred approach to AI in armed conflict that preserves human judgement, and has urged states to adopt new binding rules with clear prohibitions and restrictions on AWS. In October 2023, the ICRC President and the UN Secretary-General issued a joint call for states to launch negotiations on a new legally binding instrument on AWS. In 2024, the ICRC published its policy on AI, providing guidance on the responsible exploration, deployment, and management of AI in support of its humanitarian work, and a resolution on protecting civilians from the human cost of ICT activities during armed conflict was adopted at the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Cyber operations during armed conflict

The use of cyber operations during armed conflict is a reality today and is likely to increase in future. Through bilateral confidential dialogue, expert discussions, participation in intergovernmental processes, and constant monitoring and analysis, the ICRC is raising awareness of the potential human cost of cyber operations and the application of IHL to cyber operations during armed conflict. Our efforts on this matter date back over two decades. Ever since, the ICRC has held the view that IHL limits cyber operations during armed conflict just as it limits the use of any other weapon, means and methods of warfare in an armed conflict, whether new or old.

Over the years, the ICRC has been actively involved in global policy discussions on cyber-related issues, including those held within the UN (various Groups of Governmental Experts (GGEs) and the Open-Ended Working Groups (OEWGs)). In addition, we convene regional consultations among government experts on how IHL applies to cyber operations, and global expert meetings, such as the potential human cost of cyber operations and avoiding civilian harm from military cyber operations during armed conflicts. Our legal views on how IHL applies to cyber operations during armed conflict are found in a 2019 position paper that was sent to all UN member states in the context of the different UN-mandated processes on information and communications technology (ICT) security. The ICRC explores innovative solutions, such as a digital emblem, to protect medical and humanitarian missions in cyberspace. 

Recently we have focused on non-state actors such as civilians and technological companies getting more and more involved in cyber operations. We first issued three documents. The first focuses on the growing trend of civilians at large getting involved in digital operations and the related risks. The second focuses on when might digital tech companies become targetable in war. And last and more specifically on hacking, we published a paper called 8 Rules for “Civilian Hackers” During War, and 4 Obligations for States to Restrain Them. 

‘Protection’ in the digital age

The ICRC deals with privacy and data protection within its mandate and context of IHL. In this Atlas, following the Digital Watch Observatory taxonomy, privacy and data protection are part of the human rights basket.

Without undermining the positive impact technology can bring in conflict, including enhancing access to life-saving information and potentially minimising collateral damage, protection work must consider the risks in the digital age. In other words, it must encompass the protection of the rights of people when their lives intersect with the digital sphere. This question remains under-regarded and a blog post tries to shed light on this grey area. 

The ICRC puts a special emphasis on the impact of misinformation and disinformation as they can increase people’s exposure to risk and vulnerabilities. For example, if displaced people in need of humanitarian assistance are given intentionally misleading information about life-saving services and resources, they can be misdirected away from help and towards harm.

Hate speech, meanwhile, contributes directly or indirectly to endangering civilian populations’ safety or dignity. For example, when online hate speech calls for violence against a minority group, it can contribute to psychological and social harm through harassment, defamation, and intimidation. 

These issues have been tackled in a document we published in 2021 called Harmful Information.

Misinformation and disinformation can also impact humanitarian organisations’ ability to operate in certain areas, potentially leaving the needs of people affected by armed conflict or other violence unmet. When false and manipulated information spreads, it can erode trust within communities and damage the reputation of humanitarian operations.

For the ICRC, whose work is founded on trust, the spread of disinformation, especially where tensions are high, could quickly lead to humanitarian personnel being unable to leave their offices, distribute live-saving assistance, visit detainees, or bring news to people who have lost contact with a family member.

Ultimately, it is important also to note that information operations have limits under IHL!

Outer space

Space systems have been employed for military purposes since the dawn of the space era. As the role of these systems in military operations during armed conflicts increases, so too does the likelihood of their being targeted, with a significant risk of harm to civilians and civilian objects on Earth and in space. This is because technology enabled by space systems permeates most aspects of civilian life, making the potential consequences of attacks on space systems a matter of humanitarian concern. Find out more in this blog called War, Law and Outer Space: Pathways to Reduce the Human Cost of Military Space Operations.

Privacy and data protection

The ICRC plays an active role in regard to privacy and data protection in the context of humanitarian action. It has a data protection framework compliant with international data protection standards that aims to protect individuals from a humanitarian standpoint. The framework consists of ICRC rules on personal data protection, which were revised in 2020 in response to the rapid development of digital technologies, while supervisory and control mechanisms are overseen by an independent data protection commission and a data protection officer.  In 2019, the ICRC spearheaded the adoption of a resolution on Restoring Family Links While Respecting Privacy, Including as it Relates to Personal Data Protection at the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. In 2022, we pushed for the adoption of a resolution on Safeguarding Humanitarian Data at the Council of Delegates of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Despite the wide range of data sources employed and dealt with by the ICRC, specific attention is dedicated to biometric data, which is often used in forensics and the restoration of family links. To manage this highly sensitive information and to ensure the responsible deployment of new technologies (including new biometric identification techniques), the ICRC has adopted a Biometrics Policy, which sets out the roles and responsibilities of the ICRC and defines the legitimate bases and specified purposes for the processing of biometric data. 

Data protection is also addressed by the ICRC Handbook on Data Protection in Humanitarian Action. The Handbook provides suggestions as to how current data protection principles apply to humanitarian organisations and builds on existing regulations, working procedures, and practices. The second edition specifically provides guidance on the technical aspects of data protection by design and by default and covers technological security measures. In addition, through dedicated chapters, it addresses the potential and risks of digital technology such as blockchain, AI, digital identity, and connectivity for data protection in humanitarian action.

The ICRC has argued in favour of the digitalisation of the Geneva Conventions and on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of these very treaties and additional protocols, released an IHL digital app. The app provides access to over 75 treaties including the Geneva Conventions, and allows users to read through the content and familiarise themselves with the text. The ICRC has a number of databases on IHL, including its customary IHL database and the ICRC national implementation database.  

Digital tools

Research and development

In 2022, the ICRC opened a Delegation for Cyberspace in Luxembourg, which serves as a safe and secure space to do due diligence research and develop and test solutions and ideas to prepare the ground for the support, protection, and deployment of digital services to affected people on a global scale. It will also further explore what it means to be a digital stakeholder in a manner compatible with its mandate; operational modalities; and the principles of neutrality, independence, and impartiality.

Resources

The ICRC’s Law and Policy blog provides a large number of short pieces on cyber operations, featuring tech expert, legal, and policy perspectives. 

Online learning is also used by the ICRC to promote the implementation of IHL. In 2019, we launched an e-learning course entitled Introduction to International Humanitarian Law aimed at non-legal practitioners, policymakers, and other professionals who are interested in the basics of IHL. Other online courses are available through the ICRC training centre as well as e-briefings which are available in the e-briefing library. 

The ICRC maintains an online training centre and an app with all ICRC publications in English and French. 

Social media channels

Facebook @ICRC

Instagram @ICRC

LinkedIn @ICRC

TikTok @ICRC

X @ICRC

YouTube @ICRC

Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator

A Swiss foundation with global reach and private-public partnership working from Geneva, GESDA was launched in September 2019 to develop and promote anticipatory science and diplomacy for greater impact and multilateral effectiveness. 

GESDA was established to explore how future science breakthroughs can most efficiently be translated and used as tools for the benefit of humanity. GESDA interlinks the digital revolution with other disruptive fields of science and technology, as well as with the diplomatic world.

GESDA was created as a global independent foundation and public partnership in 2019, for an initial start-up phase of three years. In March 2022, the founders – the Swiss Federal Council and the Canton of Geneva, with the City of Geneva  – decided to prolong the Foundation for 10 years.

The ultimate objective remains to strengthen the contribution of Switzerland to multilateralism as the host country of the UN in Geneva.

GESDA’s work is guided by three fundamental questions:

  • Who are we, as humans? What does it mean to be human in the era of robots, gene editing, and augmented reality?
  • How are we all going to live together? How can technologies reduce inequality and foster inclusive development?
  • How can we ensure the well-being of humankind and the sustainable future of our planet? How can we supply the world’s population with the necessary food and energy and regenerate our planet?

GESDA’s headquarters are located at the Campus Biotech in Geneva.

Digital activities

Advanced computational tools, such as AI and high-performance computing, are reshaping all fields of science.

GESDA’s specificity is that it focuses on ‘science anticipation’. Its ambition is to comprehend future digital disruptions and their implications for other fields of science, geopolitics, and mankind.

In 2025, the GESDA Foundation has given priority to two new areas: 

  1. The systematic promotion of International Geneva worldwide through the extension of activities linked to its current initiatives, in particular the Geneva Public Portal to Anticipation, which welcomed visitors to the Swiss Pavilion for the duration of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. In all, GESDA organised major activities in 16 countries, including two in the Americas, three in Africa, eight in Asia and the Middle East, as well as three in Europe. 
  2. The preparation of new initiatives similar to the Open Quantum Institute with a view to their gradual launch from July 2026 in some of the other emerging fields covered by the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar, for instance, neuro-augmentation, eco-augmentation, space, synthetic biology, or the future of peace and war.

Digital policy issues

Capacity development

GESDA brings together an outstanding community of academic, diplomatic, and impact leaders to reflect and act on how to use the future to build the present. Its work is structured around the following flagship instruments:

  1. GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®

The GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar® is a new tool for multilateralism, informed discussions, and concerted action. It is a single point of entry to catch up with the unprecedented pace of science and technology. Providing a factual basis for eye-opening reflections on the impacts of future scientific discoveries on people, society, and the planet(s), this interactive, evolving instrument is updated once every year.

The GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar® provides a single-entry point for all communities of practice interested in becoming early adopters of scientific advances, whether they are scientists, political authorities, diplomats working in embassies or international organisations, economic actors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), or citizens from anywhere in the world. 

The GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar® provides an overview of the emerging trends in five major fields of science and technology: 

  1. Advanced AI & Quantum Revolution 
  2. Human Augmentation
  3. Eco-Regeneration and Geoengineering 
  4. Science & Diplomacy 
  5. Knowledge Foundations

This digital platform – updated continuously and released in paper copy on an annual basis – maps impactful emerging topics currently researched in science laboratories across the world and anticipated breakthroughs at 5, 10, and 25 years. It provides descriptions of over 300 breakthrough predictions relevant to the global community. The GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar® is a collective effort of 2,100 scientists around the world who are building the Radar community within the GESDA Academic Forum, chaired by Professor Michael Hengartner, the President of the ETH Board and a member of the GESDA Board of Directors. 

The 2024 GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar presents a dynamic landscape of scientific possibilities and challenges. It introduces several significant developments in the work of GESDA. Alongside engaging with the scientific community to capture the latest advancements, the Radar now includes new scientific topics such as robotics, embodied intelligence, behavioural science, digital security, and archaeology. The methodology behind science anticipation has also been refined, focusing on exploring uncertain future scientific trajectories and their transformative effects on both science and society, as well as promoting multilateral action.more difficult to construct long-term solutions: the debates have begun and are creating a hurried atmosphere.

Highlights of the 2024 Radar edition
1. Eco-augmentation: A new platform in the Radar, examining deliberate and strategic interactions with nature to enhance ecosystems. Advances in synthetic biology, stem cell biology, ecosystem sensing, and AI are enabling eco-augmentation—manipulating ecosystems to restore or enhance their functions and increase their resilience. However, our understanding of ecosystems is still limited, and interventions must be carefully designed to avoid unintended consequences.

2. Philosophical lens on eco-augmentation: A panel of philosophers convened by GESDA reflects on how eco-augmentation may change our understanding of humanity’s responsibility toward nature in an era of exponential technological growth.

3. Geopolitical lens: With the collaboration of the GCSP and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), the geopolitical impact of AI on peace, war, and security is examined. Emerging technologies will shape military and security capabilities, necessitating discussions around their peaceful deployment.

4. Science lens: Examines how scientific breakthroughs may transform the practice of research itself. For instance, AI’s impact on research methodologies, the breakdown of scientific disciplines, and the advent of automated laboratories may drastically change how science is conducted.

Top 8 anticipated scientific trends

1. Revolution in computing: Advances in AI and unconventional computing approaches are reshaping expectations of what computers can do. Neuromorphic machines, quantum computing, and photonic computing could bring about revolutionary changes in computational power, with applications in scientific discovery and industry within the next few years.

2. Expanding consciousness, healthspan, and lifespan: Technologies that modulate consciousness and cognition, like pharmaceutical interventions and electrical stimulation, are advancing. These innovations may allow us to probe mental states, improve brain function, and restore lost neural functions. Moreover, developments in genetic modification, including epigenome editing and metagenomics, are enabling the extension of healthspan and lifespan through precise biological modifications.

3. Eco-augmentation — reshaping the environment: The concept of eco-augmentation involves intentional interventions in ecosystems to improve their sustainability and resilience. Technologies such as synthetic biology and AI are helping shape ecosystems, but interventions must be carefully controlled due to the complexity of natural systems and the risks of unintended consequences. Advances in ocean science and space-based technologies also require careful attention for peaceful management.

4. Datafication of society: The role of digital technology in shaping societies, particularly through AI and quantum computing, is becoming more prominent. As digital technologies like biometrics and AI-powered bots redefine interactions and privacy, new challenges arise in securing data, ensuring trust, and managing digital identities. Moreover, behavioural science uses granular data to understand and address issues like conflict and extremism.

5. Synthetic biology and transformative technologies: Synthetic biology offers transformative potential by allowing for precise genetic modifications and the creation of entirely new organisms. While applications in medicine are already emerging, synthetic biology could also provide sustainable materials, foods, and energy sources. However, ethical concerns and the regulation of these powerful technologies are crucial. These advances extend to archaeology, with molecular-level analysis of archaeological remains offering new insights into our ancestors, the environment, and ancient societies.

6. AI and its role in society: The development of AI and its ability to revolutionise diverse sectors continues to accelerate. AI’s potential to transform industries and influence geopolitics is immense. However, as AI systems evolve, so do the ethical and social implications that need to be carefully considered to ensure that they benefit society.

7. Quantum computing: Although still in its nascent stages, quantum computing promises to revolutionise the way information is processed using quantum mechanics. Quantum systems could solve complex problems that are currently impossible for traditional computers, with applications ranging from materials science to cryptography.

8. Future of research: The role of AI in scientific research is growing, changing how data is analysed, and enabling new avenues of discovery. Future research will involve larger interdisciplinary collaborations and greater reliance on intelligent data mining and automated laboratories.

For three days every year in October, the GESDA Foundation gathers representatives of communities of practice interested in discussing and using the emerging scientific trends depicted in the Radar. This Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipation Summit is where the new annual edition of the Radar is officially presented and released. The Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipation Summit accelerates the science diplomacy nexus. Bringing science to the table of multilateralism, it engages diplomacy leaders to examine the impact of future breakthroughs on people, society, and the planet, as well as their implications for future global governance and geopolitics.

For example, the possible development of ‘conscious’ machines requires us to reflect on our purported uniqueness as humans, and which properties we may wish to actively preserve as the sole remit of human beings. Additionally, the group of philosophers considers how emerging digital technologies can impact fundamental aspects of society, from trust and privacy to democracy and justice. It also addresses the challenges posed by climate engineering technologies and how we perceive our control over nature in the face of environmental disruptions. 

2. GESDA Solution Accelerator

GESDA’s instrument to co-construct science diplomacy solutions with relevant transdisciplinary and cross-community task forces. 

GESDA structures its anticipation, acceleration, and translation work across five thematic platforms addressing potential future science and technology advances, as well as their related challenges:

  • Quantum revolution and advanced AI, with, for instance, the challenge of privacy.
  • Human augmentation, with, for instance, the challenge of advanced gene editing or neuroenhancement.
  • Eco-regeneration and geo-engineering,  with, for instance, the challenges of synthetic biology, decarbonisation, and regenerative agriculture.
  • Science and diplomacy, with, for instance, the challenge of future world geopolitics, including multilateral conflict modelling, forecasting, and prevention.
  • Knowledge foundations with, for instance, the challenge of the future of work and labour, including rising inequalities and inclusive growth.

GESDA Villars Anticipation Workshops

In the spring of 2024, GESDA hosted the second Villars Anticipation Workshop focused on eco-augmentation. This workshop followed the inaugural one on neuro-augmentation in 2023. Planetarised Humanity was the title of the third Villars Anticipation Workshop held in March 2025. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, emerging technologies such as AI, digital platforms, and virtual reality are reshaping human identity, social relations, and governance structures. This transformation was at the heart of the third Villars Anticipation Workshop, organised by GESDA.

These workshops have cemented themselves as vital platforms for transdisciplinary, multinational science anticipation. 

Digital tools

Conferencing technologies

Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipation Summit (annual event in October) – all sessions accessible online.

Science and Diplomacy Week (annual event in May) – most sessions accessible online.

GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar (provides a platform for online contributions).

GESDA regularly contributes to relevant global meetings across the world.

Social media channels

LinkedIn @gesda-global

X @GESDAglobal

Flickr GESDA – Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator

Geneva Centre for Security Policy

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation governed by a 55-member State Foundation Council serving a global community of individuals and organisations. Our mission is to advance peace, security, and international cooperation. We provide the knowledge, skills and network for 360° effective and inclusive decision-making.

The GCSP believes that effective and forward-thinking leaders and organisations need to build a broad picture of what is happening in an increasingly connected world. We unravel the intricacies of geopolitics and help leaders develop new skills and the agility to lead in times of tumultuous change. The GCSP creates an inclusive environment for their global community from 174 nations and across sectors that come together to exchange ideas and develop sustainable solutions for a more peaceful future. Building Peace Together through Education, Dialogue, Policy, Creativity, and Community since 1995.

The GCSP provides analysis that covers several digital topics, including cybersecurity and transformative technologies. Its executive education is offered online and in blended formats. In response to COVID-19, the GCSP launched a series of webinars titled Global Crisis, GlobalRisk and Global Consequences.

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Digital activities

The GCSP provides analysis that covers several digital topics, including cybersecurity and transformative technologies. Its executive education is offered online and in blended formats. In response to COVID-19, the GCSP launched a series of webinars titled Global Crisis, GlobalRisk and Global Consequences.

Digital policy issues

Artificial intelligence

As part of its Transformative Technologies cluster, the GCSP looks at artificial intelligence (AI) and several ‘disruptive technologies’; the term refers to synthetic biology, neuro-morphic chips, big data, quantum computing, 3D and 4D printing, brain-computer interfaces, hypersonic technology, and cognitive enhancement. In particular, the GCSP focuses on the dual-use character of these technologies, their potential use in warfare and the future of warfare, as well as the existing legal provisions among warfare and humanitarian rules in relation to such technologies. Overall, activities as part of this cluster aim to alert policymakers to both the challenges and opportunities associated with these technologies. These aims are also reflected in associated educational activities, such as the course on Transformative Technologies and the Future of Geopolitics.

As part of its Global risk and resilience cluster (GRRC), the GCSP has positioned itself as a thought leader on risks at the nexus of geopolitics and technology. To that purpose, it particularly monitors, analyses, and interprets the impact that emerging technologies such as AI, synthetic biology, neuroscience, quantum computing, and nanotechnologies will have on international politics, geopolitics, warfare, and conflicts. In addition to identifying emerging risks and future trends that will impact international security and warfare, the GRRC also promotes new responses that can be brought to deal with these emerging risks, notably through the concept of resilience.

The GCSP hosts ‘Geneva Security Debates’, which include discussions on AI topics, including a specific debate titled ‘How AI will transform the world: The need for a new strategic compass’. Through these debates, the GCSP engages with the global governance discourse around AI regulation, addressing concepts of ‘safe AI’ and ‘responsible AI’ while examining AI not just as a technological issue but as a strategic priority for nations and an element of potential power competition.

The GCSP is involved in the ‘Normandy P5 Initiative on nuclear risk reduction’, which they co-convene with the Strategic Foresight Group. This initiative, inspired by the Normandy Manifesto for World Peace issued in June 2019, engages with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council on nuclear risk reduction. Since 2021, the GCSP has held multiple experts’ roundtables in Caen, Normandy and Geneva, Switzerland. In December 2023, the GCSP held a roundtable in Geneva to discuss the nexus between AI and nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3). The GCSP has decided to focus its work in 2024 on the AI/NC3 nexus, with support from the Future of Life Institute and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The GCSP is publishing detailed research on AI in the context of international humanitarian law (IHL) and the law of targeting. This research examines how AI technologies influence international law, particularly focusing on the evolution of IHL based on technological developments. The GCSP is analysing the intersection of AI and military applications, specifically in targeting processes, and producing content that examines the ‘mechanisation’ and ‘objectivisation’ of legal principles through AI technology.

Looking at the Edge: Understanding the Frontiers of Geopolitical Risk

Cybersecurity

The GCSP tackles cybersecurity issues through education and training activities, as well as policy analysis and events. It also provides a platform for dialogue and exchanges on cyber challenges among cyber experts from the public, private, and civil society sectors. The training and education activities cover areas such as cybersecurity strategy formulation, international law relating to cyber issues, cyber diplomacy, and broader capacity-building initiatives (e.g. workshops and student challenges). Policy papers published by the GCSP focus on the nature of cybersecurity, developing norms in the digital era, international legal analyses, and developing holistic solutions. The flagship course is Cyber Security in the Context of International Security; other bespoke courses cater to public and governmental staff and private and non-governmental employees. The GCSP’s flagship annual cybersecurity event is the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge. In partnership with the Atlantic Council, this strategy and policy competition pits over 200 students from around the world in a strategy and policy competition. Teams are judged by experts, high-level policymakers, thought leaders from industry and the public sector (including NATO and the EU), and government representatives. The challenge normally takes place at the GCSP headquarters in Geneva, but in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 competition took place entirely online.

The GCSP has a specific ‘Global Cyber and Security Policy’ topic area with the tagline ‘Think Cyber, Act Global’. They offer comprehensive expertise in advisory, training, crisis management, and security policy related to cyber issues. The GCSP Cyber specifically focuses on enhancing awareness of threats, facilitating risk management, and aiding in the development of a cyber strategy aligned with organisational goals. They recognise cybersecurity as vital for multiple sectors: governments, private and public sectors, academia, NGOs, and civil society.

The GCSP offers comprehensive cyber-related services, including cyber crisis management and strategic advisory. Their cyber crisis management training focuses on equipping boards, executives, and teams with practical knowledge for risk mitigation, including components on cyber situational awareness and business continuity management. The GCSP conducts cyber simulation exercises to give teams hands-on experience responding to cyber incidents and offers strategic advisory services that include vulnerability assessments and practical security solutions.

The GCSP Cyber is described as a ‘dialogue hub’ that convenes and participates in high-level discussions with international organisations and partners. The organisation conducts continuous monitoring of the global cyber landscape and contributes to the development of national and international cyber policies. The GCSP researches offensive operations in cyberspace for cybersecurity purposes, with the goal of informing deterrence and defence strategies.

The GCSP is involved in a joint Sino-European Expert Working Group on the Application of International Law in Cyberspace (WG IL) alongside the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), the EU Cyber Direct, and Xiamen University. This working group provides a platform for exchange between European and Chinese legal experts on international law in cyberspace. The GCSP has published reports titled ‘Countermeasures in Cyberspace’ and ‘Jurisdiction in Cyberspace’ as part of this collaborative research and dialogue project. The European side of these reports was sponsored by the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs.

Capacity development

Many of the GCSP’s activities fall into the category of capacity development activities. The GCSP offers courses and other educational and training programmes related to the internet and digital policy, such as cybersecurity, transformative technologies, and strategic foresight.

In addition to capacity building through its executive education programmes, the GCSP leverages its considerable intellectual and networking resources (i.e. its fellows and alumni) to engage with communities worldwide and foster trust between regions. The GCSP’s cybersecurity dialogues aim to remove barriers to communication and encourage the uptake of the opportunities today’s digital landscape has to offer.

In partnership with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the GCSP convenes the Track 1.5 dialogue process to ensure there is as much communication as possible between parties that are often in conflict with one another. This process provides a platform and a mechanism for the exchange of ideas to build consensus on topics as diverse as international norms, agreement on legal paradigms, and regional socio-economic development.

Several other events organised by the GCSP also have a capacity development focus; one example is the annual Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, a student competition in international cybersecurity strategy and policy. The challenge was held entirely online in 2022 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the publications produced by the organisation can help inform various stakeholders about the challenges and concerns in the area of cyber governance.

The GCSP offers online courses, webinars, and an online dialogue series.ries.

Social media channels

Facebook @thegcsp

Instagram @thegcsp

LinkedIn @thegcsp

Podcasts

X @TheGCSP

YouTube @Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

The Geneva Academy is a joint centre of the University of Geneva and the Geneva Graduate Institute. It provides continuing education, carries out research and policy studies, and organises training courses and expert meetings. It concentrates on branches of international law that relate to armed conflict, protracted violence, and the protection of human rights. The Geneva Academy is also home of the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) – a neutral and dynamic forum of interaction in Geneva for all stakeholders in the field of human rights – experts, practitioners, diplomats and civil society – to debate topical issues and challenges related to the functioning of the global human rights system.

Digital activities

Are new means and methods of warfare compatible with existing international humanitarian law (IHL) rules? What challenges do big data and artificial intelligence (AI) pose to human rights? How can we ensure the right to privacy and protection of the private sphere in times of war and peace?

New technologies, digitalisation, and big data are reshaping our societies and the way they are organised. While technological advancements present tremendous opportunities and promises, the rapid developments in AI, automation, and robotics raise a series of questions about their impact in times of peace and war. The Geneva Academy’s research in this domain explores whether these new developments are compatible with existing rules and whether IHL and human rights law continue to provide the level of protection they are meant to ensure.

Its three Advanced Master’s programmes and training courses also train tomorrow’s leaders and decision makers in the IHL and human rights legal frameworks relevant to digital activities, including the law of weaponry and new military technologies.

Its Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) facilitates exchanges and discussions among various stakeholders – experts, practitioners, diplomats, and civil society – around digitalisation and human rights to provide policy advice on how to harness potential and mitigate danger in this rapidly changing field.

The Geneva Academy’s public events and expert meetings provide a critical and scholarly forum for experts, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss and debate the impact of digitalisation on human rights and contemporary armed conflicts.

Digital policy issues

New military technologies

New military technologies are transforming the nature of modern warfare, raising a legitimate concern that existing laws and regulations will be outpaced by technological advancement, widening the scope for rights abuses and impunity. Our work in this area aims to assess the impact – and related protection needs – of new military technologies that shape the future digital battlefield in relation to cyberwarfare, cybersecurity, and emerging military applications of AI.

Neurotechnology

The Geneva Academy’s research addresses the human rights implications stemming from neurotechnology development for commercial, non-therapeutic ends. These implications include direct externalities (violation of the rights to privacy, property, freedom from discrimination, etc.) and indirect externalities (spillovers for social cohesion, equality, and intergroup tolerance). Neurotechnology can also be seen as a tool to bolster human rights, including in the areas of education, health, and equality. A further dimension of this work involves corporate regulation and policy development, especially around human rights due diligence.

Artificial intelligence

Advancements in digital technologies have created both opportunities and risks for the promotion, expansion, and application of human rights.  An issue of particular concern is how AI, coupled with internet reliance, has created scope for individuals, non-state groups, and states to use web-based platforms to push malign content for political or violence ends. As these challenges begin to be discussed at the multilateral level, the Geneva Academy’s research aims to empower key stakeholders with a common understanding of the principal risks with a view to strengthening the international human rights framework and crafting effective regulation.

AI also plays a vital role in advancing human rights by improving access to justice, healthcare, and education. Implementing ethical AI practices can help prevent discrimination, ensure transparency, and safeguard privacy. Additionally, AI can be used to monitor human rights abuses and promote accountability. Via the GHRP, we are exploring the various ways in which AI can support the implementation of human rights, developing various working papers, workshops and events on this matter.

Digital tools

Data governance

The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts (RULAC) is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed conflict under IHL. RULAC currently monitors more than 100 conflicts involving at least 55 states and more than 70 armed non-state actors. It includes new developments and fundamental changes that may affect their classification.

In and Around War(s) podcast

The Geneva Academy’s In and Around War(s) podcast focuses on contemporary legal issues related to wars. Each episode discusses related topical issues, including data protection in war and warfare in cyberspace.

Directory of digital human rights tracking tools and databases

The Academy’s GHRP has a dedicated space on their website for digital tracking tools and databases, which focuses on human rights. This initiative provides a directory that consists of a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. Furthermore, in 2024 the project published a briefing which explores the current trends in digital tracking tools.

Online learning

The Geneva Academy’s online part-time Executive Master – Master of Advanced Studies in International Law in Armed Conflict, along with its online short courses and GHRP training courses, enables practitioners to enhance their legal expertise regardless of their location.

In particular linked to ITU’s AI Skills Coalition, the GHRP develops a practical training course for human rights practitioners on the effective and ethical use of AI and digital tracking tools. In-depth knowledge on the functioning of the UN human rights mechanism is paired with technical knowledge on AI solutions to enhance implementation and monitoring of human rights obligations.

Facilitating exchanges and discussions

The Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP), hosted by the Geneva Academy, provides a neutral and dynamic forum of interaction for all stakeholders in the field of human rights to debate topical issues and challenges related to the functioning of the Geneva-based human rights system. 

In this context, the GHRP supports the ‘digital uplift’ of the UN’s human rights system, piloting digital solutions to facilitate the work of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies.

Social media channels

LinkedIn @Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Instagram @geneva_academy

Bluesky: @genevaacademy.bsky.social

Facebook @GenevaAcademyIHLandHR

YouTube @Geneva_Academy

Geneva Science-Policy Interface

The Geneva Science-Policy Interface (GSPI) is an independent platform based at the University of Geneva, dedicated to fostering engagement between the research community and policy professionals from Geneva-based international organisations. Its mission is to promote science-informed solutions to complex global challenges addressed in multilateral spaces. 

The GSPI seeks to increase the capacity of Geneva-based international institutions to tackle complex, multidimensional policy issues through increased access to scientific expertise. It also works to advance the professionalisation and recognition of the science-policy field of practice in Geneva and beyond.

Its activities focus on brokering collaborations, creating learning opportunities and generating new insights into science-policy practices. 

Key programmes include the Impact Collaboration Programme (ICP), an annual call providing new opportunities for science-policy initiatives through small grants, network mobilisation, and expert guidance. 

The GSPI also develops resources and training programmes for scientists, Geneva-based policy professionals, and knowledge brokers seeking to engage more effectively in science-informed policymaking.

Hosted at the University of Geneva, the GSPI is also supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and backed by a network of leading research institutions in Switzerland and Europe.

Digital activities

As a bridge between science, policy, and implementation actors, the GSPI addresses a wide range of digital challenges. With data at the core of evidence-based policymaking, many of its activities explore digitalisation and the use of digital tools across key domains such as health, migration, development, and the environment.

Digital policy issues

Artificial intelligence

The MapMaker project, a collaboration between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zurich), has enabled the development of an online visualisation tool to inform data-driven decision-making on marine biodiversity conservation at the international level.

Digital standards

Together with the Geneva Health Forum (GHF), the GSPI has established a working group including key humanitarian actors to harness knowledge and best practices around the digitisation of clinical guidelines for the management of childhood illness in primary care in low and middle-income countries. In line with the efforts of WHO, and the principles of donor alignment for digital health, the working group has developed recommendations on how digitalisation can improve the management of childhood illness. In September 2021, the results of this work were shared with experts and the public, providing a platform for discussions on the lessons learned and future trends in the field.

Emerging technologies

In 2018, the GSPI organised policy discussions on the use of drones as part of humanitarian action. The conversation centred on the practical use of drones to deliver humanitarian aid and what can be done by stakeholders such as policymakers, the private sector, and NGOs to maximise the opportunities and reduce the risks of such technologies.

At the 2019 Digital Day, together with the University of Geneva, the GSPI organised a discussion exploring what experience and know-how Geneva-based organisations could share to empower and protect users in the context of the digital revolution.

With a number of other partners, the GSPI co-organised a discussion at the 2019 WSIS Forum on aerial data produced by drones and satellites in the context of aid and development. The session explored the interplay between international organisations, NGOs, and scientists and how they can work together to help monitor refugee settlements, provide emergency response in case of natural disasters, and scale agriculture programmes.

Data governance

The REDEHOPE project of the University of Geneva and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has led to the development of an online diagnostic tool to help countries identify and visualise issues in their housing data ecology, and access appropriate datasets to formulate more robust, evidence-based housing policies at the country level.

Sustainable development

In 2020–2021, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention (BRS) secretariat benefited from the support of ETH Zurich to develop an online platform to identify and signal the need for evidence and information to the scientific community in the field of chemical and waste management.

Another project addressed the hurdles facing policy actors in accessing and making sense of data in migration research. The project partners (the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Graduate Institute) developed an interactive digital toolkit for policy officials to support them in leveraging migration research for evidence-based policymaking. The toolkit, based on IOM’s flagship publication, the World Migration Report, was launched in June 2022.

ICP 2021 brought support to the development of interactive analytical tools providing information about all UN sanctions to inform both humanitarian practitioners and sanction policy actors on practical ways to safeguard principled humanitarian action in areas under a sanction regime. This project is a collaboration between the Graduate Institute and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

In 2022, the collaboration between ETH Zurich and IOM sought to bring more effective policy expertise in migration management to address migrants’ needs and increase social cohesion between migrant and local communities. The collaboration developed a toolbox to be used by IOM and its partners to facilitate the use of the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) Integration Index, a survey tool for governments, nonprofits, and researchers to measure the integration of immigrants around the world.

In 2024-2025, the GSPI is supporting a new project titled ‘Shaping environmental policy in the pan-European region applying foresight methodologies’, which aims to increase the anticipatory capacity of UNECE and its member states to build coherence among future policies and help set priorities for the environmental policies in the pan-European region.

Human rights principles

The GSPI has supported the collaboration between the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and OHCHR’s B-Tech project. Some of the new fast-evolving technologies, such as cloud computing, AI, facial recognition technologies, and the internet of things (IoT), can have profoundly disruptive effects on sociopolitical systems and pose significant human rights challenges. This initiative provided authoritative guidance and resources for implementing the UNGPs in the technology space and placing international human rights law (IHRL) at the centre of regulatory and policy frameworks. Aimed at policymakers, the technology sector, and all those working on AI regulation, the policy research carried out in this project (see the resulting Working Paper, 2021) brought fresh insights into how current initiatives on the regulation of AI technologies could incorporate the protection and respect for human rights. The paper also called on states to adopt a ‘smart mix’ of mandatory and voluntary measures to support their implementation, and how this applies to the AI sector.

Social media channels

LinkedIn @genevaspi

Twitter @GenevaSPI

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva Graduate Institute)

The Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva Graduate Institute) is an institution of research and higher education at the postgraduate level dedicated to the study of world affairs, with a particular emphasis on the cross-cutting fields of international relations and development issues.

Through its core activities, the Institute promotes international cooperation and contributes to the progress of developing societies. More broadly, it endeavours to develop creative thinking on the major challenges of our time, foster global responsibility, and advance respect for diversity.

By intensely engaging with international organisations, NGOs, governments, and multinational companies, the Institute participates in global discussions and prepares future policymakers to lead tomorrow’s world.

In 2022, the Institute launched a new Competence Hub on digital technologies. The Tech Hub brings together a diversity of internal and external expertise to explore technologies from a human-centred and human-biotype-centred perspective. The focus will be the exploration of current and future technological innovations from a social science perspective, with an interest in the socio-political, governance, and geopolitical consequences of the current technological revolution. It will progressively structure different kinds of activities as well as welcome and foster research projects.

This transdisciplinary and horizontal initiative enables the Institute to forge and express its own unique voice on the digital turn and its consequences. It has indeed a particular role to play in the exploration of all those questions that need a transdisciplinary social science and humanities perspective and are by nature profoundly inter-transnational. The reality is that the Institute is already producing research and knowledge on those questions and diffusing them through teaching and events.

Digital activities

As part of its main strategy, the Institute seeks to develop digitally driven innovation in teaching and research, as well as IT services. At the same time, as a research institution focusing on global challenges and their impacts, the digital turn has become one of its fundamental and policy-oriented research areas.

In terms of research, a growing number of researchers and PhD candidates analyse the impact of digitalisation on international relations and development issues. A few examples of research topics are cybersecurity, hybrid threats and warfare, surveillance technologies, internet governance, digital diplomacy, digital health, digital rights, digital trust, digital economy, the future of work, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI and humanitarian law, and AI and peace negotiations, among others. The Institute has also developed expertise in using digital technologies as new research methods, including computational social scientific methods and big data analytics.

In terms of teaching, its Master’s, PhD, and executive education courses are increasingly focused on the effects of digitalisation on society and the economy, and more generally, the global system. Some examples of courses are Digital Approaches to Conflict Prevention, Digital Innovation in Nature Conservation, Internet, Technology and International Law, Introduction to Digital Social Science Research, Technology, Society and Decision-making, The Politics of Digital Design, AI and Politics, Internet Governance and Economics, Technology and Development, and Digital Diplomacy and Power Relations on Cyberspace. Digital skills workshops are also organised for students to provide them with basic digital competence for their future professional or academic life, including big data analysis, introduction to programming with R and Python, and data analysis in various contexts.

Over the years, the Institute has developed a performing IT infrastructure with secured data storage space and digital platforms (e.g. Campus, Moodle, TurntIn, Zoom, MyHR, Salesforces, Converis) to provide seamless services as well as dematerialised/paperless processes (e.g. student applications, course registration) for students, staff, and professors.

The Institute has developed digital tools (e.g. app for students, responsive website) and used digital services (e.g. social media, Facebook, Google ads) for many years in its student recruitment and communication campaigns.

Digital tools are also part of the pedagogical methods to improve learning. Flipped classrooms, MOOCs, SPOCs, and podcasts, to name a few, are used by professors in Master’s and PhD programmes, as well as in executive education. The Institute also supports professors in developing pedagogical skills and in using digital tools. Workshops are offered to all faculty members at the end of the summer to prepare them for hybrid teaching and the use of new technological tools in the classroom.

The Institute also organises workshops, seminars, film screenings, and other events on the digital turn, ranging from the digital divide and the governance and regulatory aspects of data to cybersecurity.

Digital policy issues

Some of the Institute’s prominent research initiatives are listed under the respective digital policy issues sections.

Artificial intelligence

Conflict and peacebuilding

The faculty carries out a number of digital policy-related research projects, some of which focus on AI in particular. For example, the project titled Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) and War Crimes: Who is to Bear Responsibility? aims to clarify whether and to what extent the requirements for ascribing criminal responsibility for the commission of an act – and in particular, the key concepts of culpability theories – can be applied to the use of LAWS in combat operations. This analysis will serve to identify lacunae and inconsistencies in the current legal framework in the face of the advent of military robotics.

This project explores how the increasing digitalisation of peace processes affects international peace building efforts that take place in a global environment characterised by friction between liberal and authoritarian approaches. To make sense of these dynamics, the project draws on the concept of apomediation, to suggest that solutions to conflict are no longer simply supplied by human agents, but through a complex entanglement of human-machine networks.

The Intrepid Project aims to develop a general understanding of how policy announcements by state agencies are interpreted by journalists in ways that send signals, indicate intent, and otherwise provoke economic and political reactions. Machine learning (ML) techniques and the semantic and syntactic properties of announcement texts are then used to develop models of the announcement interpretation process.

Global Health

A number of projects carried out by the Institute’s members address the relationship between digital technologies and health. For instance, the Modelling Early Risk Indicators to Anticipate Malnutrition (MERIAM) project uses computer models to test and scale up cost effective means to improve the prediction and monitoring of undernutrition in difficult contexts.

The Institute hosted the new Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) (new HealthAI) directed by former Ambassador of India and Visiting Lecturer at the Institute Amandeep Gill. I-DAIR aims to create a platform to promote responsible and inclusive AI research and digital technology development for health. This platform is supported by the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA).

The project Governing Health Futures 2030: Growing up in a Digital World, hosted at the Global Health Centre (GHC), explores how to ensure that digital development helps improve the health and well-being of all, and especially among children and young people. It focuses on examining integrative policies for digital health, AI, and universal health coverage to support the attainment of the third sustainable development goal (SDG).

Interdisciplinary approaches

Questions about the potential impact of the internet are now routinely raised in relation to political events and elections in most places. The project on the Digital Infrastructuring of Democracy asks how the digital infrastructuring of democracy unfolds through regulatory and political processes, with a heuristic focus on both its transnational dimension and its specific reverberations in democracies of the Global South. The project concentrates on one thematic controversy related to each aspect of infrastructure: the accountability of algorithms for code, data protection for content, and encryption for circulation.

Taking stock of the centrality of AI in society and in the citizen-government relation, this project hosted at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy seeks to engage with youth in Switzerland to explore the future role of AI in democracy through storytelling and narrative foresight. It will give a voice to the citizens of tomorrow and collaborate with art schools to design participatory AI art.

The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy at the Geneva Graduate Institute is running the ‘Stories of the Future’ project, an Agora project supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation that aims to foster knowledge and literacy about AI in Switzerland. The project has conducted nearly 150 workshops in schools across Switzerland, where approximately 80 students wrote stories set in 2050 about a world permeated by AI. The project also organised a fictitious trial of AI in Zurich and during Democracy Week in Geneva, exploring AI’s impact on democratic processes.
The Centre is also collaborating with the Kofi Annan Foundation on a project titled ‘Understanding the Links Between Multilateralism and Democracy to Tackle Global Challenges More Effectively,’ which included a roundtable mentioned above, focused on AI.

Future of work

Focusing on the Global South, the project African Futures: Digital Labor and Blockchain Technology strengthened empirical knowledge on changing trends in employment in the region by way of a two-pronged approach to the increasingly interconnected global division of labour: (1) App-based work mediated by online service platforms and (2) the use of blockchain technology in mining sites for ethical sourcing, traceability, and proof of origin.

The emergence of AI and digitally mediated work represents a fundamental challenge for most developing economies. Coupled with jobless economic growth, rising human productivity, and the exponential increase of the available labour pool, few jobs can be said to be safe from automated labour. This project examines the impact of digital work and automation in the Global South, from blockchain technology to ride-sharing apps, to inform debates on automation, computerisation and non-standard forms of work.

Inclusive finance

Projects carried out by the Institute’s members also address the role of digital technologies in enhancing financial inclusion. The project Effects of Digital Economy on Banking and Finance studies digital innovations and how fintech extends financial services to firms and households, and improves credit allocation using loan-account level data, comparing fintech and traditional banking.

Digital tools

  • Digital collections that allow free access to historical documents, texts, and photographs on international relations from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
  • Two free online courses (MOOCs) on globalisation and global governance.
  • Podcasts showcasing professors’ and guests’ expertise (What matters today, In conversation with, Parlons en).
  • Podcasts are also integrated into the curricula of several international history and interdisciplinary Master’s courses to encourage students to use social network platforms to popularise their findings.

The Institute has a facility called ‘The Fab’, which hosts events such as book launches on AI and technology topics.

The Centre for Digital Humanities and Multilateralism (CDHM) is involved in digitisation projects, including work on the archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and research on digital archival practices.

Social media channels

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European Organization for Nuclear Research

CERN is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading laboratories for particle physics. At CERN, physicists and engineers probe the fundamental structure of matter that makes up our universe. To do this, they use the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments – particle accelerators and detectors. Technologies developed at CERN go on to have a significant impact through their applications in wider society.

Digital activities

CERN has had an important role in the history of computing and networks. The World Wide Web (WWW) was invented at CERN by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists at universities and institutes around the world.

Grid computing, the precursor of modern cloud computing, was also developed at CERN with partners across a worldwide community and with funding from the European Commission. Today, the Organisation carries out pioneering activities in the areas of cybersecurity, big data processing, long-term data preservation, deep learning (DL) and artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum technologies.

Digital policy issues

Artificial intelligence

AI-related projects are developed and referred to as part of the CERN openlab activities.

Through CERN openlab, European Commission-funded projects and collaborations with other international organisations, CERN collaborates with leading information and communications technology (ICT) companies and research institutes. The R&D projects carried out through different public-private partnerships address topics related to ultra-fast data acquisition, accelerated computing platforms, data storage architectures, computer provisioning and management, networks and communication, deep learning and data analytics, and quantum technologies. CERN researchers use Machine Learning techniques as part of their efforts to maximise the discovery potential and optimise resource usage. ML and DL are used, for instance, to improve the performance of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments in areas such as particle detection and managing computing resources. Going one step further, at the intersection of AI and quantum computing, the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative is exploring the feasibility of using quantum algorithms to track the particles produced by collisions in the LHC, and is working on developing quantum algorithms to help optimise how data is distributed for storage in the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG). The CERN Quantum Technology Initiative (QTI) activities, launched in 2020 to shape CERN’s role in the next quantum revolution. In 2024, CERN launched the Open Quantum Institute, a three-year pilot programme that will help unleash the full power of quantum computing for the benefit of all.

  • CERN openlab: a public-private partnership in which CERN collaborates with ICT companies and other research organisations to accelerate the development of cutting-edge solutions for the research community, including ML.
  • CERN QTI: a comprehensive R&D, academic, and knowledge-sharing initiative to exploit the quantum advantage for high-energy physics and beyond. Given CERN’s increasing ITC and computing demands, as well as the significant national and international interests in quantum-technology activities, it aims to provide dedicated mechanisms for the exchange of both knowledge and innovation.
  • CERN OQI: Following a successful one-year incubation period led by the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), the three-year CERN-based pilot was launched in March 2024. Proposed, designed, and incubated through GESDA, in collaboration with some 180 experts from all over the world, the OQI is a multilateral science diplomacy initiative, uniting academia, technology companies, the private sector, the diplomatic community, philanthropy organisations, and global citizens in a joint effort towards more open and inclusive quantum computing. By facilitating equal access to cutting-edge nascent technologies and serving as the societal arm of QTI, the OQI seeks to accelerate the potential of quantum computing for all society and to support the development of concrete quantum solutions aimed at achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Next Generation Triggers: The Next Generation Triggers project, or NextGen, started in January 2024 as a collaboration between CERN (the Experimental Physics, Theoretical Physics and Information Technology Departments) and the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The key objective of the five-year NextGen project is to get more physics information out of the HL-LHC data. The hope is to uncover as-yet-unseen phenomena by more efficiently selecting interesting physics events while rejecting background noise. Scientists will make use of neural network optimisation, quantum-inspired algorithms, high-performance computing and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) techniques to improve the theoretical modelling and optimise their tools in the search for ultra-rare events.

Cloud computing

Within its work, CERN refers to ‘cloud computing’ as ‘distributed computing.

The scale and complexity of data from the LHC, the world’s largest particle accelerator, is unprecedented. This data needs to be stored, easily retrieved, and analysed by physicists worldwide. This requires massive storage facilities, global networking, immense computing power, and funding. CERN initially did not have the computing or financial resources to crunch all of the data on-site, so in 2002 it turned to grid computing to share the burden with computer centres around the world. The WLCG builds on the ideas of grid technology initially proposed by Ian Foster and Carl Kesselman in 1999. The WLCG relies on a distributed computing infrastructure, as data from the collisions of protons or heavy ions is distributed via the internet for processing at data centres worldwide. The approach of using virtual machines was a precursor to the same paradigm used today in cloud computing. Today, CERN is developing new grid and cloud technologies in particular for large-scale AI deployment. It is expected that CERN’s further developments in the field of data processing will continue to influence digital technologies.

CERN has two data centres – one in Meyrin and a second one in Prévessin. The average amount of collision data recorded on disk by the LHC experiments is currently a little under 3 petabytes (PB) per day, which is almost equal to what was recorded in one month during Run 1. 

All data produced at CERN still passes through the Meyrin Data Centre, which is the only facility connected to all experimental sites via ultra-fast optical fibre networks. 

The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) consists of around 170 centres distributed across 40 countries. IN 2025, the WLCG celebrates its first 20 years.

Telecommunication infrastructure

Within its work, CERN refers to ‘telecommunication infrastructure’ as ‘network infrastructure’.

In the 1970s, CERN developed CERNET, a lab-wide network to access mainframe computers in its data centre. This pioneering network eventually led to CERN becoming an early European adopter of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for use in connecting systems on site. In 1989, CERN opened its first external TCP/IP connections and by 1990, CERN had become the largest internet site in Europe and was ready to host the first WWW server. Nowadays, in addition to the WLCG and its distributed computing infrastructure, CERN is also the host of the CERN Internet eXchange Point (CIXP), which optimises CERN’s internet connectivity and is also open to interested internet service providers (ISPs).

Through the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative, CERN is actively working to deliver more precise frequency signals from national metrology institutes to CERN experiments and beyond, and to improve the reliability of future quantum networks.

Digital standards

Within its work, CERN addresses ‘web standards’ as ‘open science’.

Ever since releasing the World Wide Web software under an open-source model in 1994, CERN has been a pioneer in the open-source field, supporting open-source hardware (with the CERN Open Hardware Licence), open access (with the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics SCOAP3) and open data (with the CERN Open Data Portal). Several CERN technologies are being developed with open science in mind, such as Indico, InvenioRDM, REANA, and Zenodo. Open-source software, such as CERNBox, CERN Tape Archive (CTA), EOS, File Transfer Service (FTS), GeantIV, ROOT, RUCIO, and Service for Web-Based Analysis (SWAN), has been developed to handle, distribute, and analyse the huge volumes of data generated by the LHC experiments and are also made available to the wider society.

Digital tools

Data governance

Within its work, CERN refers to ‘data governance’ as ‘data preservation’.

CERN manages vast amounts of data; not only scientific data, but also data in more common formats such as webpages, images and videos, documents, and more. For instance, the CERN Data Centre processes on average one petabyte (one million gigabytes) of data per day. As such, the organisation notes that it faces the challenge of preserving its digital memory. CERN also points to the fact that many of the tools that are used to preserve data generated by the LHC and other scientific projects are also suitable for preserving other types of data and are made available to wider society.

The CERN Open Data Policy for scientific experiments at the LHC is essential to make scientific research more reproducible, accessible, and collaborative. It reflects the values enshrined in the CERN Convention for more than 60 years and reaffirmed in the European Strategy for Particle Physics (2020), aiming at empowering the LHC experiments to adopt a consistent approach towards openness and preservation of experimental data (applying FAIR standards to better share and reuse data).

EOSC Future is an EU-funded project contributing to the establishment of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) to provide a Web of FAIR Data and Services for science in Europe. The implementation of EOSC is based on the long-term process of alignment and coordination pursued by the Commission since 2015.

CERN joined the recently formed EOSC Association in 2020. The EOSC Association is the legal entity established to govern EOSC and has since grown to more than 250 members and observers.

Social media channels

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LinkedIn @cern

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