Introductory remarks
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 Markus Reubi, Co-chair UNECE RFSD 2023 and Delegate of the Federal Council for the 2030 Agenda, Switzerland. Since 2003, Mr. Reubi has served the Swiss Confederation, responsible for setting up the Swiss Business Hub in Canada and served as the Deputy Head of Mission in Tokyo, implementing Switzerland's foreign policy strategy with a focus on peace, prosperity, sustainability, and digitalization.
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 Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava , Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau , ITU. Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava took office as Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023. With more than 30 years in telecommunications, including over 20 years in ITU's Development Sector, Dr Zavazava has promoted and implemented impactful information and communication technology projects around the world. Prior to his election as BDT Director, he served as ITU's Chief of Partnerships for Digital Development, overseeing development-related projects, strategic partnerships, and resource mobilization between 2019 and 2022, while launching new initiatives that have boosted the engagement of industry, private-sector, and academia members in ITU's work. From 2010 until 2019, he was Chief of the Projects and Knowledge Management, responsible for ITU's project portfolio, statistics, capacity building, and emergency telecommunications activities, as well as coordinating special assistance to least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS). Previously, as ITU's Chief of Projects and Initiatives, he oversaw development projects focused on gender, youth, and people with special needs, along with capacity building, emergency telecommunications, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and e-waste management. Earlier, Dr Zavazava headed the Republic of Zimbabwe's Government Telecommunications Agency and served as a senior diplomat. Dr Zavazava holds a PhD in Multilateral Trade from Business School Lausanne (Switzerland), and a Master of Laws degree in Telecommunications and Information Technology from the University of Strathclyde (UK), as well as a Master's in International Relations from Webster University (US), and an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe. He also holds a Bachelor's in Business Administration and diplomas in Telecommunications and Systems Engineering.
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 Filipe Domingis Freires Lúcio brings more than 25 of experience in senior leadership positions at national and international levels in the areas of operational meteorology, research, international cooperation and resources mobilization to the WMO Member Services and Development department. At national level, Mr. Lúcio served as the Director of the National Institute of Meteorology of Mozambique (INAM) and Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the WMO from 1999 to 2007. In that capacity, he implemented institutional reforms that allowed INAM to renew its workforce through the recruitment of qualified staff, to modernize by enhancing technical and operational capabilities and to improve service delivery by introducing a user-driven approach. He successfully advocated to heighten the visibility of and political support for Institute. Under his tenor, INAM became a recognized source of early warning services for disaster risk reduction and of scientific information to support planning and development decision-making. At the international level, Mr. Lúcio joined the WMO in 2007 as Senior Scientific Officer in the Disaster Risk Reduction Programme. He then became the Director of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) when it was create in 2014 to coordinate activities to enable enhanced production, availability, dissemination and application of tailored climate services in support of decision-making in climate sensitive sector. In 2020, he became the Director of the Regional Strategy Office in the WMO Member Services and Development department and remained there until is appointment. Mr. Lúcio has published various peer reviewed articles and co-authored the development of the Science Plan for Integrated Research on Disaster Risk: Addressing the challenge of natural and human-induced environmental hazards, Natural and human-induced hazards and disasters in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Climate Research Agenda for Development in Africa (CR4D). Mr. Lúcio holds a Master of Science in Applied and Agricultural Meteorology from the University of Reading, United Kingdom. None of his accomplishments would have been achieved without the loving support of his wife and children – he is a proud father.
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Building block 1: Universal access to internet connectivity
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Moderator
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 Jaroslaw K. Ponder, is the Head of the Office for Europe at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), representing ITU in Europe and directing actions, projects, initiatives and experts' groups targeting 46 countries of the Europe Region. His portfolio includes Regional Initiatives for Europe, designed by the European Member States and focusing on the ICT Infrastructure, Digitization, Digital Inclusion, Accessibility, Innovation and Cybersecurity. Mr. Ponder has managed numerous projects, activities and initiatives at national, regional and international levels. He has taken lead roles in many international conferences and summits concerning ICT innovation and development of ICT ecosystem, information society, and advancements of digital economy worldwide, while setting strategies and ensuring their timely implementation. During his professional career, Mr. Ponder has held official positions in the public sector and has been a leading contributor to legislative projects, which influenced public policy. Mr. Ponder has working for ITU since 2004 holding diverse positions in the General Secretariat, Telecommunication Development Bureau, and Regional Presence, addressing the complexity of information society development and digital transformation at national, regional, international level, including United Nations level. Mr. Ponder was appointed Head of ITU Office for Europe in 2017. For several years, Mr. Ponder has managed ITU's work in the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, establishing the annual WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes, WSIS Stocktaking, and others. In his current role, Mr. Ponder has established several formal coordination mechanisms facilitating the work of UN agencies in advancing digital transformation at the national and regional level.
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Keynote speakers
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 Alia El-Yassir was appointed as UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia in September 2018 and in this capacity also serves as UN Women Representative to Turkey. She has been working on gender equality and women's empowerment within the United Nations system since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. She has extensive experience of working as UN Women Representative at country level managing normative, coordination and operational work within complex contexts that span the development, humanitarian and political continuum. She has also served at HQ level supporting UN Women's global programmatic work. In her country, regional and global roles, she has built strong partnerships with and among diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the rights of women and girls. Before joining the UN system, Ms. El-Yassir worked as a teacher and developed educational media for children, in addition to volunteering with a number of women's and human rights non-governmental organizations. Alia El-Yassir holds a BSc degree in Biology (with a specialization in Ecology) from McGill University and a MSc degree in Desert Studies (with a specialization in Gender Studies) from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
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 Gevorg Mantashyan, Deputy Minister, High-Tech Ministry of Armenia, holds a BA in Economics and MA in Management, Yerevan State University; PhD in Economics, Moscow State University. Has accumulated valuable practical skills by working in the financial industries of Armenia, Russia and etc. Currently he is the First Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia, responsible for digitalization, cybersecurity policy and international strategic economic relations. Gevorg was team leader and senior key-expert for the European Union Delegation to Republic of Armenia. He was special assistant to the Minister in charge of Industry and Agroindustrial Complex of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Before he was a Senior Development Strategy Expert for the office of the Prime-Minister of Armenia, where he was in charge to create new Transformational Strategy of Armenia. Previously was special advisor on Development Strategy of the Head of the State Revenue Committee of Republic of Armenia and the Development Strategy Expert at the Center for Strategic Initiatives of the Government of Armenia. He was SDG Liaison for the first in the world National SDG Innovation Lab, which was shared initiative of UNDP and Government of Armenia, later on this example more than 70 other national Labs were opened around the world. His scientific interests: "Macroeconomics; AI and GovTech; Institutional Economy, Governance; and etc.". Work in Progress: "Measuring Economic Impact of AI on Political and Economic Institution". He is a Climate Reality Leader and member of Impact Hub Yerevan. He mentors social entrepreneurs to help them achieve their enterprise goals and reach expected impact. Interests: reading and the Olympic Games.
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Roundtable speakers
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 Olga Tumuruc is Director of the Electronic Government Agency. She holds the position of director of the EGA starting with September 1st, 2021. Previously, she occupied the position of the Head of the Data Exchange and Interoperability Service at the eGovernment Agency, with the mission of coordinating issues related to legal issues regarding data exchange and interoperability, as an essential component of the process of modernization and digitization of public services. Olga Tumuruc has extensive legal experience in the public and private sectors. She is firmly convinced that any problem can be solved if there is a systemic approach and a motivated and involved team.
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 Mr Lukasz Rózycki – Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the UN Office at Geneva since August 2021.
Previously Mr Lukasz Rózycki held various positions related to multilateral diplomacy and the United Nations. Before joining Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2011, Mr Rózycki worked for International Security Policy Department at Ministry of Defence, where he was in charge of disarmament and non-proliferation issues. From 2011 to 2014 he was senior expert at Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Division, Security Policy Department, MFA. In 2011 he was temporarily posted to the Permanent Mission to the UN Office at Geneva as a member of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council Team. Between 2014 and 2019, he served as Second, then First Secretary for migration and humanitarian affairs in the Permanent Mission to the UN Office at Geneva. Back in Warsaw, he was Head of Political Division, UN and Human Rights Department, MFA, being also responsible for UN Security Council Polish Membership Task Force (2019).
Mr Rózycki graduated cum laude from international relations - international security at the University of Warsaw and international relations - global problems at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. He also attended courses at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the NATO School Oberammergau.
Mr Rózycki was born in 1983 in Sanok, Poland. He is married, with two sons.
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In-depth case study
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 Meliha Kovačević , Head of Telecommunications licensing department, Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA). Meliha Kovačević is Head of Telecommunications licensing department at the Communications regulatory agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA). Since joining CRA in 2001, she has been dealing with various regulatory issues, including introduction of liberalization at the market, establishment of licensing regime, adoption and implementation of rules on consumer protection, as well as conduction of market analysis. Mrs. Kovacevic holds B.Sc. of Electrical engineering, from the University of Sarajevo.
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Building block 2: Green and digital - Sustainable digital transformation and digital transformation for sustainability
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Moderator
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 Vanessa Gray is the Head of the Division for Environment and Emergency Telecommunications within the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT). Ms Gray coordinates the Telecommunication Development Bureau's work in the area of Emergency Telecommunications, to develop ICT projects and provide assistance for disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. This includes the development of national emergency telecommunication plans, the deployment of emergency telecommunication equipment to countries hit by disasters, and regional and national capacity building exercises for disaster management. She is also responsible for the organization of the Global Forum on Emergency Telecommunication (GET) and specific ICT for disaster management tools and publications, for example in the area of disruptive technologies, gender, and ICT drills. In the area of the environment, Ms Gray coordinates the BDT's work on developing e-waste policies and monitoring the amount of electronic waste, in particular through the publication of the Global and Regional E-waste Monitors. Her role is to build public-private partnerships, develop projects and strengthen the role of the BDT in terms of e-waste coordination, for example with the E-waste Coalition, the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership, and with the private sector. Prior to this position, Ms Gray was part of the ITU's Data and Statistics Division and contributed to the design and preparation of the Division's analytical publications, including the Measuring the Information Society Report (MISR). She also contributed to and coordinated the analysis of information society developments, organized ICT-related meetings, and delivered national and regional trainings and workshops on ICT statistics to ITU member states. Ms Gray holds a Master's degree in Political Science and Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
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Roundtable speakers
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 Roar Skålin, Director General, Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Acting President of WMO Regional Association VI. Roar Skålin, born 1964, first joined the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway) in 1997 as head of the IT division. In 2000, he became Director of Information Technology. He held this position until 2012, when he moved to the Research Council of Norway. Since 1 January 2017, he has been Director General of MET Norway. Roar Skålin holds an MSc and Dr. Ing. in Mathematics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and an Executive Master of Management from the Norwegian Business School. He started his professional career in 1988 as a research scientist and project manager in applied mathematics and high -performance computing at SINTEF, a Norwegian contract research institute.
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 Umberto Modigliani is the Deputy Director of Forecasts,
collaborating closely with the Department Director, contributing to the
management of the Forecast Department (~100 staff). The department is
responsible for the 24/7 timely production of ECMWF's computer-based forecasts,
forecast quality, software development, liaison with forecast users, user
support, data sales and software licensing. The department also manages the
acquisition, processing and quality control of observations, globally, of the
atmosphere and oceans. The job includes many international engagements.
His work also includes comprehensive reporting on plans and progress to the
formal committees and Council which constitute the ECMWF governance.
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 Hugo André Costa, born and raised in the north of Portugal, has a background in physics by Minho University. His love for space took him to Strasbourg to study a Master in Space Studies at the International Space University and later an MBA at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. He worked at the FCT Space Office as Portuguese representative at ESA, in the space industry both in Space and Ground Segment in Spain and Germany. Before accepting this new challenge, he worked at EUMETSAT in the Copernicus Programme Office. Now serves on the Executive Director of the Portuguese Space Agency where he is delegate at UN-COPUOS, ESA Council and at European Commission.
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 Anne Yvrande-Billon has been appointed Director of Economy, Markets and Digital at Arcep. Doctor of economics from the University of Paris I, Anne Yvrande-Billon was since 2014 vice-president of the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART, previously ARAFER). First lecturer in economics at the University of Paris I, then scientific advisor to the Economic Analysis Council from 2008, Anne Yvrande-Billon joined the Autorité de la concurrence in 2011, to be an economist then Assistant to the Head of the Mergers Department. The President of the National Assembly appointed her Vice-President of the Transport Regulatory Authority on October 31, 2014. Responsible in particular for European affairs at the Authority, she was also appointed President of the office of the network of economic regulators of the OECD (NER) in 2019. From 2017 to 2020, she chairs the Club of Regulators of the Governance and Regulation Chair at Paris Dauphine University. Anne Yvrande-Billon defends the idea of a data-collecting regulator, and promotes “data-driven regulation" or “sunshine regulation". Her appointment as Director of Economy, Markets and Digital took effect on September 1, 2020.
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In-depth case study
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 Andrii Hnap is the CEO and Data Analyst at Waste Ukraine Analytics (WUA). WUA is a platform to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, a B2B marketplace for companies in the field of waste management based on open data, as well as an aggregator of historical data on waste and a tool for creating mandatory data sets for local communities. Since 2021, Andrii is a Smart City Digital Infrastructure Expert in the Khmelnytsky City Green City Action Plan implemented by the EBRD. Moreover, since 2018, Andrii is involved in a Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Project as an Open Data Trainer, conducting training, lectures and workshops on the topic of open data in public administration and services and smart solutions for cities. In 2019, Andrii worked with the Khmelnytsky Municipal Communal Enterprise "KhmelnytskyInfoCenter" as an Open Data Consultant, undertaking the formation of datasets of information to the open data portal Data.gov.ua and Mycity.khm.gov.ua in accordance with the new standards and legislation of Ukraine. He was also consulting staff responsible for the preparation of open data and strategies for data collection and utilization. Andrii graduated from the Khmelnitsky National University with a Master's degree in Business Economics.
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Building block 3: Innovative partnerships toward inclusive and sustainable digital development
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Moderator
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 Natalia Mochu, Regional Director, ITU Regional Office for the CIS. Ms. Natalia Mochu holds bachelor's degree in mathematics and informatics and master's degree in information technology from the State University of Moldova. Before joining the ITU in February 2020, Natalia occupied the post of Senior Manager for Global Stakeholder Engagement for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In 2012-2018 she worked as Deputy Head of Laboratory at the Radio Research and Development Institute (NIIR) in Moscow. From 2006 to 2012 Natalia worked for the Executive Committee of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC), in particular she was the RCC Executive Committee Deputy Director General in 2008-2012. Natalia started her professional career as Specialist of the Ministry of Information Development of the Republic of Moldova in 2002. Natalia participated in ITU high-level conferences and meetings, including ITU Plenipotentiary Conferences, Councils and Sectoral Conferences; contributed to the activities of RCC working bodies, European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, as well as ICANN, RIPE NCC and other relevant organizations.
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Speakers
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 Avtandil Kasradze is a Chairman of Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA), which is assigned to coordinate and mediate an important role in the country in terms of innovation and technology development. He has been the Senior Adviser of the Legal Department at the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia and the Senior Adviser of the Department of Legal Drafting at the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. In addition to the experience in state entities, he has worked as a Senior Legal Analyst Assistant at OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, been a fellow in the Council of Europe (Venice Commission) in Strasbourg, France, and worked as a research assistant at the Academic Department of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University Sweden.In 2014, Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA) was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, which gave a strong push to the expansion of Georgia's innovation ecosystem. It set the stage for the establishment of innovation support institutions all over the country. GITA has a clear mandate for sustainable industrial development: to stimulate innovation, modern technologies, and R&D, facilitate commercialization and usage of R&D; support innovative start-ups and their competitiveness growth, and facilitate cooperation between the representatives of scientists and businesses.
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 Ilias Iakovidis PhD, Adviser, Digital aspect of green transition, European Commission, DG CONNECT. Ilias works on maximising the positive impact of digitalisation on the green transition, in cooperation with several Commission services and external stakeholders and international institutions. He works, on the Digital Product Passport as introduced in the Eco-design for Sustainable Product Regulation and as explored in the EU project CIRPASS. The aim is to accelerate the transition circular economy through digitally enabled sustainable business models (e.g. product as a service). Ilias initiated the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC) whose members have committed to work on science-based methods to estimate the net environmental impact of digital solutions and on guidelines for green digital transformation in different sectors (energy, transport, construction, agriculture, etc). Ilias manages the European Parliament Pilot project that supports the work of EGDC. Before 2017, Ilias has contributed to the EU Agenda of eHealth and ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing for over 20 years. Areas he pioneered include digitally supported Integrated Care, 'Virtual Physiological Human' (Patient Digital Twin)', Personal Health Systems and Electronic Health Records.
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 Maja Tomanic Vidovic, Director of the Slovene Enterprise Fund (SEF), is a strategic leader in the growth and development of entrepreneurship, SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups in Europe, she has a Master's Degree in economics in economic and business finance. She is a person with a high level of responsibility and integrity, a focus on results and responsibilities, a long-term vision person, development- and human-oriented, with a strong ability to work in international and multicultural teams. She has a proven 14 years CEO track record of leading and managing development funds for entrepreneurship with more than 80% of financial sources from EU cohesion and development funds, a strong international network for support policy for the business sector and more than 20 years of successful management of wide support policies with active portfolio (loans, guarantees, venture capital, grants, networking, knowledge and mentoring support) in the amount of EUR 900 million of balance sheet and 16.000 active projects in entrepreneur sector (SMEs, start-ups, scale-ups, deep tech, social companies, industry 4.0, society 5.0, including gender, social and environmental aspects). Priorities of her work are focused on sustainable development projects to promote the development and growth of SMEs, start-ups and fast-growing companies with innovation-oriented instruments, which support industry 4.0, including social screening of projects and long-term sustainable development in specific target groups. She is also a university teaching professional for entrepreneurship and business finance. SPS – Slovenski podjetniški sklad (podjetniskisklad.si)
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Event's facilitator
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