Technology, policy experts to convene at IEEE’s Global Conference on Cyberspace pre-event

NEW DELHI: Technical professional organization, IEEE has announced the event titled, Internet Inclusion: Advancing Solutions—India, hosted by the IEEE Internet Initiative, which will take place on the 6^th of October at the ITC Maurya, New Delhi. It is a pre-event leading up to the Global Conference on Cyberspace 2017 (GCCS) on November 23-24, 2017 in New Delhi.

GCCS promotes an inclusive Cyberspace with a focus on policies and frameworks for inclusivity, sustainability, development, security, safety and freedom, technology, and partnerships for upholding digital democracy, maximizing collaboration for strengthening security and safety, and advocating dialogue for digital diplomacy.

At its October 6^th event, IEEE will host two by-invitation sessions, including a morning roundtable discussion among high-level government officials from the Monitoring Committee of “Digital India” and various agencies enabling the initiative, described as “a flagship program of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.”

Among the topics to be addressed are defining and fulfilling the promise of internet inclusion; expansion of knowledge networks through digital inclusion; digital inclusion’s impact on business, development organizations, governments and citizens; policy responses to security threats and privacy concerns; and opportunities for making digital innovation more inclusive and scalable.

“‘Digital India’ aligns closely with the IEEE Internet Initiative’s global efforts to advance solutions for internet inclusion,” said IEEE Internet Initiative Vice-chair Deepak Maheshwari. “By coalescing around India’s particular challenges, including affordability, digital literacy, security and privacy, we are building out collaborative platforms and working groups that will further India’s progress in its digital transformation. Because ‘Digital India’ envelops so many agencies and public/private partnerships, it provides a valuable model for multi-stakeholder innovation that can be shared through IEEE in other geographies.”

The post lunch workshop is expected to bring together leaders from business, NGOs and government bodies, among others, to discuss the issues of internet inclusion from such perspectives as innovative business models and financing, public access and community networks, energy and connectivity, the gender divide, and digital literacy in the context of what are the needed consensus-driven outputs that can advance ideas and hasten the development, adoption and use of solutions. In the working session, invitees will identify internet inclusion challenges, prioritize them and identify potential solutions and next steps to address them.