The debate is a part of the European Year of Skills 2023, focused on skills policies. The panel, moderated by the Culture and Education Committee Chairperson, MEP Sabine Verheyen, will discuss the digital skills initiatives in schools. The panel aims to reflect on how different levels of governance across Europe can work together to help the youth develop future STEM careers, guide teachers, and raise the bar for digital skills in the European education system.
The UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) will kick off the IIPP 2023 Festival with the first talk on ‘The Entrepreneurial State 2.0. – Rethinking the State in the 21st Century’. The Entrepreneurial State 2.0 Festival is imagined as a public platform for global leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to rethink the state in the 21st century. Between April and June 2023, the Festival will address topics such as: • digital infrastructures for state innovation • changing the narrative and reshaping the global economy • govern finance • build both long-term capacity and dynamic capabilities • challenges facing developing countries; and more. This talk will address the use of the internet and online public sector services for citizens and the challenges for the state in providing them. The talk will be held from 18:00 to 19:30 (BST); in-situ and online attendance is free, but registration is mandatory.
The ITU, ITC-ILO meeting on April 17, 2023 intends to address pressing issues in the global education ecosystem spawned from recent advancements in AI technology. Experts from the two organisations will address, in general, the impact of AI technologies on the learning environment and policymakers alike, as well as the implications of these technologies on education as a result of their use in areas such as exam monitoring, faculty lectures transcriptions, student success analysis, teacher administrative tasks and real time feedback to student questions. Anticipated fallouts to be discussed include the added workload for teachers in ensuring that they and their learners are proficient with such tools, and the use and storage of personal intent data by the providers of AI technologies and others within the education ecology. The experts will frame the discussion through the lens of the global south in light of the existing digital skills gap and connectivity challenges as they seek to build solutions in the Edtech arena.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) will host the webinar “A user-centric approach of smart digital identity by ETSI” on 20 April 2023 at 5:00 p.m. CEST. The event will introduce the model developed by the ETSI User group that (i) puts the user at the centre of their data by creating a user-centric digital clone for smart identities, (ii) is application independent, and (iii) provides users with complete control over their personal data and preferences.
During the online seminar, the ETSI User Group will showcase their efforts and the Proof of Concept (POC), which combines a user-centric informational model with AI tools, such as artificial neural networks, to improve user profiling.
Registration for the upcoming webinar on 20 April can be made here.
How does the Safe Online initiative support the development of evidence-based solutions to make the internet safe for children?
During this webinar, Serena Tommasino from the Safe Online Initiative at the End Violence Partnership will highlight the importance of evidence generation to inform prevention, response and cross-sectoral efforts from the Safe Online $71 million investment portfolio with impact in more than 80 countries globally.
This includes sharing the key findings from the large-scale research project Disrupting Harm, implemented in 13 countries in Africa and Asia between 2019-2022 and currently ongoing in 11 additional countries between 2022-2025 that will be showcased by Daniel Kardefelt-Winther from UNICEF Innocenti. The session will demonstrate ways that data and evidence can inform policy change and tech industry practices.
The UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, ADNOC and Masdar are organising a conference called UAE Climate Tech on May 10th and 11th, 2023. The conference is being held in response to the pressing need for large-scale decarbonization and climate action while supporting social and economic growth. It will feature various technology, innovation, and investment opportunities. More than 100 companies will display their technologies, such as carbon capture, AI, robotics, digitalisation, hydrogen, alternative fuels, and low-carbon energy solutions. Further information about the event programme can be found here.
The report ‘2050 Electronic and Electrical Waste Outlook in West Asia’ provides an overview of the electronic waste (e-waste) problem in West Asia and proposes a stepwise plan to help countries manage it in an environmentally friendly way. It identifies that 99.9% of e-waste equipment in the West Asia region is currently unmanaged or mismanaged. E-waste is either disposed of in landfills or handled by the informal sector, resulting in significant health and environmental consequences.
The report introduces two scenarios, the Business as Usual (BaU) and Circular Economy (CE), to project long-term e-waste outcomes in West Asia by 2050. If current practices continue (BaU scenario), the amount of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market (POM) in the region will double, as will the amount of e-waste generated by 2050, mostly coming from low- and middle-income countries. However, if a circular economy (CE) scenario is implemented, there could be a 33% reduction in EEE POM and a 14% reduction in e-waste generated compared to the BaU scenario.
In conclusion, the report recommends that substantial investments be made in e-waste management infrastructure, appropriate legislation be developed, strong long-term binding targets be established, and consumer awareness of the issue be raised throughout the West Asia region to unlock the benefits of the CE scenario.
The Global Digital Regulatory Outlook 2023 assesses the progress of regulations in 193 countries worldwide, providing valuable insights for regulators and policy-makers seeking to understand and shape the regulatory landscape to harness the benefits of digital transformation. It discusses the importance of agile and iterative policy implementation for digital transformation, identifies five tensions in policy and regulatory models, and highlights nine regulatory issues that need attention of regulators, including Internet, cybersecurity, AI, regulatory sandboxes, among others.
The report also suggests five strategies to will drive digital transformation and introduces a unified framework for evaluating the readiness of national policy, legal and governance frameworks for digital transformation, assisting national ICT regulators in making evidence-based decisions. The analysis is based on ITU’s set of benchmarks and evidence-informed frameworks.
Germany is planning to ban Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network due to national security concerns. However, this move could interfere with the rollout of 5G services in China.
The Chinese embassy expressed strong dissatisfaction towards Germany’s reported plans to ban Huawei and ZTE from the country’s 5G network.
The German government is accused of generalizing the concept of national security and abusing state power, in violation of economic laws and fair competition principles.
Western security officials claimed that Huawei and ZTE represent potential threats to national security due to their close ties with Beijing.
Germany passed legislation in 2021 to increase security standards for its 5G networks without implementing an outright ban on Chinese firms.
Huawei currently supplies nearly 60% of base stations and 5G services infrastructure in Germany.
China claims that the ban would interfere with the rollout of 5G services in the country, urging Germany to listen to rational voices within its own borders.
