Throughout 2016 ITU has continued to support technological small and medium enterprises (tech SMEs) through partnerships and platforms like the EMERGE initiative or ITU Telecom World. This work is aligned with the Innovation and Partnership Goal of the ITU Strategic Plan for 2016-2019 and the Connect 2020 Agenda, and seeks to increase ITU's interaction and positioning with regards to tech startup and SME communities. Through this work ITU produced the following outputs in 2016:

• New publication "A review of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the ICT Sector", produced in collaboration with the members of the EMERGE initiative. This publication explored the role of SMEs in the ICT sector, and made a number of recommendations for ITU and Membership to increase the impact of their work in this area;
  
• New Publication "Trends in tech SMEs and startups support". This publication documented the initiatives undertaken by ministries of ICTs in support of tech SMEs, introducing a number of country experiences from around the world;
  
• ITU Telecom World 2016: The event is gradually becoming a platform to showcase the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems of ITU members. In 2016 the event mobilized close to 100 tech SMEs joined through national pavilions or individual stands, as well as over 20 national and private sector pavilions showcasing innovations in the ICT sector.

Further information on ITU's activities in support of tech SME is available at www.itu.int/entrepreneurship.

Cybersecurity
A separate report to Council (C17/18) summarizes ITU's activities since Council 2016 in relation to Plenipotentiary Resolutions 130, 174, and 179, as well as ITU's role as sole facilitator for WSIS Action Line C5, and other related decisions by the membership. 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. Activities are related inter alia to the work of ITU-R and ITU-T Study Group 17 on Security Standardization; ITU's National CIRT programme and other capacity building initiatives; and ongoing partnerships with other entities. The report also includes ITU's activities in the area of Child Online Protection (COP).

EMERGE initiative
In October 2015, ITU launched the EMERGE Partnership, a network of stakeholders working to support tech SMEs in emerging markets. The partnership is aligned with the Innovation and Partnership Goal of the ITU Strategic Plan for 2016-2019 and the Connect 2020 Agenda, and seeks to increase ITU's interaction and positioning with regards to tech startup and SME communities.

Partners from the network were mobilized to support the following key activities in 2016:

• Emerge Publication: partners and thought-leaders from the network were mobilized to provide inputs to the Emerge Publication which explored the role of SMEs in the ICT sector, and made a number of recommendations for ITU and Membership to increase the impact of their work in this area.
  
• WTISD 2016: speakers and participants were mobilized through the network to support to the overall theme of the day: ICT Entrepreneurship for Social Impact;
  
• ITU Telecom World: the Network was mobilized to provide jury members for the ITU Telecom Awards, as speakers for the Telecom Forum, and to support the dedicated networking activities in the form of the SME dialogues hosted during the event.

Furthermore, ITU representatives were actively involved in the following SME-related events to increase the positioning of ITU with tech SME communities: Seedstars World, an emerging market startup event hosted at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland; Pioneers Festival, an international startup event in Vienna, Austria; and Startup Europe Summit, a European Commission startup event in Berlin, Germany.

Internet Issues
A separate report to the Council (C17/33) summarizes ITU's activities since Council 2016 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).​
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