ITU Telecom World 2014

The ITU Telecom World meeting, which is this year taking place in Doha, Qatar on 7-10 December 2014, is an annual event taking place in a different geographical location each year. The event is organised by ITU Telecom, part of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency responsible for ICT-related issues.

The global ICT sector is increasingly impacted by key trends and exponential developments in technology, science, media, business and society. Under the theme Future in Focus, ITU Telecom World 2014 will cast a broad spotlight on the trends, experiences and devices that are expected to enter the mainstream over the next 5-7 years.

Leadership Summit
Launching the debate will be an exclusive Leadership Summit on the future, open to Leaders at ITU Telecom World 2014. The Leadership Summit will provide an exciting, immersive look into future trends, with a highly interactive, powerful programme extending far beyond the ‘consumption’ of key issues to focus instead on a full and interactive ‘experience.’ The Summit will equip top level decision makers from government and industry with a full awareness and understanding of the developments that will be driving the ICT sector, guiding them in their future decision making. The Summit will include key topics such as:

• Internet governance
• Privacy and data security
• Human machine interfaces
• Artificial intelligence
• The Internet of Things

Forum Debates
Interactive panel sessions, keynotes, high-level debates, workshops and showfloor sessions will delve deeper into the future trends transcending the ICT industry, with in-depth focus on 3 main scenarios.

> Disruption
The internet has brought about a major disruption within the music and film industries and is currently disrupting other media. Will the telecoms sector suffer further disruption or will it succeed in disrupting other industries such as broadcast? Telecom businesses are already converging with new or previously separate sectors such as social media, mobile money and online video content. What are some of the other disruptive scenarios going forward?

> Cross-sector Partnerships
Within key verticals, traditional ICT and other sectors have already converged. These include crucial applications such as smart cities, with a focus on smart grids and the different networking aspects and M2M components which underpin these types of applications worldwide. Debates will explore the different regional approaches and the opportunities involving partnering with other sectors, moving beyond the traditional infrastructure-focus and ‘silo-ed’ business models. Intelligent transport systems will also be a major area of discussion, as advanced applications such as automated driving and telematics continue to grow as cars become increasingly connected, creating further partnership opportunities across the industry.

> The Intelligent Future
Sessions will explore the promise offered by trends and developments such as the Internet of Things, advances in artificial intelligence and the deployment of intelligent software and machines, big data-
centric applications and innovative business models.

Within each of these 3 areas, discussions will explore different tracks focusing on regulatory and policy issues; business models, services and applications; and enabling tools, techniques and technologies. Debates will help guide and inform participants in their future decision making and direction, be it in terms of innovation, policy, regulatory direction, company strategy or technology focus. Combining perspectives from the government side together with contrasting industry viewpoints will guarantee a broad-reaching debate on all of these issues.

Download the event brochure, and visit the event website for more details.