Following the announcement on the launch of the ITU International Center of Digital Innovation at the Telecom Development Advisory Group meeting held on 2-5 June, and the special TDAG web dialogue on 29 June , the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), United Arab Emirates, will convene a special joint web dialogue to provide an update on the design of the ITU Center of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI), which is expected to launch in 2021.
I-CoDI will have the following objectives:
- To help Member States integrate telecommunication/ICT innovation into their national development agendas, and specifically, to deliver on ITU Connect 2030 Goal 4 on innovation and help ITU re-invent the products and services it delivers to Member States as per the strategic objectives of the Union;
- To develop the capacity within ITU to integrate innovation in their day to day activities;
- To provide a service to key ITU constituents (e.g. Sector Members and Academia) to help integrate telecommunication/ICT innovation into their activities.
I-CoDI, whose model will support both physical and virtual interactions, will provide ITU with the foundation necessary to place innovation at the core of its activities.
The web dialogue will also feature the outcomes from the I-CoDI Youth Challenge, where innovation based tools and processes were used in a special workshop style competition to identify innovative and implementable solutions that improve ITU’s communication with Youth.
Innovation is identified as a priority area within the ITU-D Regional Initiatives and as a core objective of the 2017 Buenos Aires Action Plan.