The 2020 edition of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum, 6 to 9 April 2020, Geneva, Switzerland, will focus on “Fostering digital transformation and global partnerships: WSIS Action Lines for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.
In 2020, the Forum celebrates 15 years of providing a multi-stakeholder platform to discuss, share experiences, showcase innovation, and foster partnerships in strengthening the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development.
WSIS Forum 2020 is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with more than 30 UN sister organizations.
The Chairman Designate of the Forum is H.E. Mr. Gustavo Montalvo, Minister, Ministry of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic.
WHAT: In addition to interactive high-level dialogues and key policy statements, event highlights will also include the WSIS Prizes ceremony (18 prizes), a ministerial round table, country workshops, thematic workshops, training sessions, knowledge cafés, a photo contest, a Hackathon on Smart Sustainable Cities as well as an exhibition where exhibitors explore and address issues critical to WSIS implementation, through innovative technological ideas, hardware, and applications.
Special Tracks at the WSIS Forum 2020
- ICTs and Sports: discover how technology is taking sports to new heights. The track will focus on two angles: 1) Sports as an enabler of peace and sustainable development; and (2) Gaming and e-Sport.
- ICTs and Youth: youth will offer their insights and propose solutions to harvest the power of ICTs for the benefit of all.
- Extended Reality for SDGs: showcasing innovative applications of extended reality for sustainable development.
- ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Specific Needs: using ICTS to empower people living with disabilities and people with specific needs and promoting equal participation in society.
- ICTs and Older Adults: highlighting the ICT dimension of the silver economy opportunities and the use of ICTs for the aging society. The track will focus on several areas, including healthy aging through remote care and artificial intelligence, age-friendly environments, digital skills of older adults, and more.
- ICTs and Gender mainstreaming: addressing issues related to gender and ICTs, in particular on the digital gender divide.
- Innovation for SDGs: providing a platform for all stakeholders to present success stories and good practices as well as discuss systemic approaches towards building ICT-centric innovation ecosystems accelerating digital transformation and facilitating the achievement of SDGs.
The WSIS Forum is the only UN-system event of its kind, where both program and agenda are entirely crowdsourced during an open consultation process. The process aims at ensuring a participatory and inclusive spirit of the forum and actively engages governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, the technical community and intergovernmental organizations. The Forum enables on-site, as well as virtual participation from all over the world to engage with high-level representatives of the wider WSIS Stakeholder community, including ministers and deputies, ambassadors, as well as leaders from the private sector, academia, and civil society.
WHEN: 6-9 April 2020 (Hackathon on Smart Sustainable Cities: 5 April 2020)
WHERE: ITU Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland
WHO: More than 3000 on-site and 1000 remote participants from 85 countries. Over 500 high-level leaders from 150+ countries, including government ministers and experts, civil society leaders, academics, business leaders, the tech community, non-governmental and international organizations.
Note: All media must be accredited, registered and hold an event badge to enter ITU headquarters. UN-accredited media will be pre-registered and simply need to pick up their event badge at the entrance.
Foreign media requiring a visa to enter Switzerland should submit their request for accreditation and registration as soon as possible to receive their confirmation letter.
