Our Chair, Mrs Miosotis Rivas Peña, Director-General of the Dominican Republic’s National Statistics Office, distinguished speakers, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome!
It is wonderful to have so many participants taking part, both in person and remotely, at WTIS-24 held under the theme, “From Metrics to Action: Bridging Data Gaps for Universal and Meaningful Connectivity”.
It is a truism that if goals are not measured, they are rarely achieved. So, unless we measure our progress toward universal and meaningful connectivity, that progress will be very slow. It is thus essential that policymakers and other stakeholders demand solid data that provides evidence of whether progress is being made or not.
We must therefore invest resources into producing high-quality data, which generates insights that enable more informed decision-making and consequently demonstrate the value of that data, forming a virtuous circle of better educated users who produce high-quality data.
My remarks this year are different from those of previous years. I want to set the stage by highlighting what to expect at WTIS-24 and provide a summary of our ongoing work. Before us is a rich and exciting programme.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to welcome our keynote speaker, Mr Alan Smith, head of data journalism at the Financial Times. After his speech, I will moderate a high-level panel session on the use of data for decision-making.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the ICT partnership on measuring ICT for development. This is a significant milestone! Congratulations to all the member institutions. Later this afternoon, key members of the partnership will celebrate this milestone as we look ahead to greater things to be born out of this resilient partnership.
Still, about partnerships, I would like to recognize representatives of the European Commission, and to thank the Commission for its generous funding to promote connectivity and advance the measurement agenda. The European Commission recently co-funded with us a valuable project valued at 3 million Euros on Measuring the Universal Meaningful Connectivity.
We’ll also have two interesting sessions on Day 2, during which we will explore the power of big data and AI to enhance the accuracy, efficiency and scope of ICT data collection and analysis.
Ladies and gentlemen, the programme also recognizes the growing importance of measuring the environmental impact of the digital sector, so I’m pleased to say that on the 30th of September I will launch the "Greening Digital Companies 2024" report, a collaborative effort by the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau and the World Benchmarking Alliance.
The report will present a detailed analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use data, revealing that AI and data centres are also fuelling a rise in emissions, but that very few companies are yet fully disclosing their emissions. I must however note that digital companies have the potential to improve climate change monitoring and energy optimisation. WTIS and EGTI can play a key role in facilitating this.
In this regard, we have one session this afternoon, and another during the EGTI meeting that will discuss the development of new indicators to measure the sector’s footprint.
We are fortunate to have one ICT regulator who is leading such efforts and will share some insights. This discussion is timely as we are on the eve of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference to be held in November 2024.
Ladies and gentlemen, I also want to appreciate the ongoing development of new tools and methodologies for bridging data gaps, including new features on the ITU DataHub, such as the advanced data query tool, a new mapping feature and the IDI Dashboard. You may already know that ITU has been a pioneer in the use of mobile phone big data and is helping countries leverage this technology, as you’ll hear from my colleagues this afternoon.
As we implement the EC-ITU funded project, we are running a series of regional workshops on promoting and measuring universal and meaningful connectivity. Two have already been held in the CIS and the Caribbean, with a third due in Doha next week and six more in the next few months.
Now, as you know, WTIS will be followed by the annual meetings of the Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (EGTI) and the Expert Group on ICT Household Indicators (EGH) on Wednesday and Thursday. In this regard, I would like to thank Mr Bernard Banda, Chair of EGTI and Ms. Linah Ngumba, Chair of EGH, for their leadership and commitment to advancing ICT measurement.
Finally, let me urge you all to make the most of this symposium by engaging in discussion and networking. The reception we are hosting for you at the ITU Cafeteria tomorrow evening provides an opportunity for even more networking.
The exchange of ideas is crucial to fostering the innovation needed to bridge data gaps and to move from metrics to actionable insights to drive forward universal and meaningful connectivity.
Thank you!
