This report, organized around the five pillars of the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA), shows the complementary nature of existing ITU work programmes and facilitates the implementation of BR, TSB and BDT activities in this domain. Related activities are listed under five work areas: (a) Legal Measures; (b) Technical and Procedural Measures; (c) Organizational Structures; (d) Capacity Building; and (e) International Cooperation. The report also includes ITU’s activities in the area of Child Online Protection (COP).
EMERGE initiative
In October 2015, ITU launched the EMERGE Initiative, a new global initiative aimed at reinforcing the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the work of ITU. The initiative is aligned with the Innovation and Partnership Goal of the ITU Strategic Plan for 2016-2019 and the Connect 2020 Agenda. The initiative also aims at implementing several of the provisions of Resolution 198 (Busan, 2014) on empowerment of youth through telecommunication/ICT, and which resolves that ITU should promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and skills development, in order to provide tools for self-empowerment of youth and their satisfactory participation in the digital economy and all aspects of society.
The establishment of the EMERGE initiative followed a six-month consultative process with ITU Member States, Sector Members and Academia, as well as with other relevant organizations working in the promotion of digital entrepreneurship. The goal of this consultative process was to identify synergies with existing activities and to engage relevant stakeholders in the new initiative. Partners in the initiative include organizations such as UNICEF, WITSA, ITC, Seedstars and the Startup Europe initiative from the European Commission, amongst others.
For 2016, the work plan of the new initiative includes the elaboration of a report with recommendations for policy makers on how to promote digital entrepreneurship through public policy, the organization of global and regional events with SMEs and entrepreneurship, and the establishment of a pilot project in ITU to explore new ways in which SMEs can further contribute to the work of the Union.
Internet Issues
A separate report to the Council
(C16/33) summarizes ITU’s activities since Council 2015 related to Plenipotentiary Resolutions 101, 102, 133, and 180. Activities reported include those related to: (a) Internet Protocol (IP) Networks, the development of next generation networks (NGN) and future internet, including policy and regulatory challenges; (b) IPv6; (c) Internet-related public policy issues including the management of domain names and addresses; (d) ENUM; (e) International Internet Connectivity (IIC)/Internet Exchange Points (IXPs); and (f) the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
