WSIS Forum 2015, Geneva, May 25–29, Remote Participation Online

About | WSIS Forum 2015: The WSIS Forum 2015 represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the [Information and Communications Technology] ‘ICT for development’ community. The WSIS Forum, co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitators (UNDESA, FAO, UNEP, WHO, UN Women, WIPO, WFP, ILO, WMO, UN, ITC, UPU, UNODC, UNICEF and UN Regional Commissions) has proven to be an efficient mechanism for coordination of multistakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices and continues to provide assistance in developing multistakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals. This forum to provide structured opportunities to network, learn and participate in multi-stakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation.

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Information and Communications Technology (ICT): ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications.

WSIS Forum 2015 builds upon the tradition of annual WSIS May meetings, and its format is the result of open consultations with all WSIS Stakeholders. Emerging trends in 11 WSIS Action Lines both in terms of Policy and Technology are produced as an Outcome of WSIS Forum in a multistakeholder environment on an annual basis. The WSIS Forum 2015 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects and Innovations on the Format aims at ensuring the participatory and inclusive spirit of the WSIS Forum 2015 by actively engaging governments, civil society, the private sector and intergovernmental organizations in the preparatory process. The Agenda and Programme of the WSIS Forum will be built on the basis of the official submissions received during the Open Consultation Process.

Confirmed Speakers (pdf)

Remote Participation | WSIS Forum 2015: The WSIS Process has a multi-stakeholder character. WSIS Stakeholders include governments, civil society, private sector, academia and international organizations from all parts of the world. Today, information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide the opportunity for representation and inclusion of all stakeholders in the WSIS events by way of remote participation. In order to facilitate the participation and ensure the inclusion of all WSIS Stakeholders, remote participation has been designed as an integral feature of the WSIS Forum 2015.

WSIS Stakeholders who wish to participate remotely in any of the sessions, can do so via either the Webcast Service or the Adobe Connect platform. The Webcast Service uses Real Networks software to distribute audio and video to remote participants. The media is streamed so the user does not have to wait for files to download and can access video or audio at any point. The Adobe Connect platform will allow remote participants to follow the meeting by seeing video feed from the conference room, hear what is being discussed in English, see presentations/documents under discussion, and chat with the meeting host and other remote participants. Each session will have 10–15 for questions from remote participants.

How to access: To access remote participation, simple find and click on the desired session on the Agenda and select the type of Remote Participation (Webcast or Adobe Connect). A real-time registration form will pop up and remote participants will be asked to complete it before accessing the session. Webcasts are also archived.

Current Date/Time in Geneva:



The What, Why and When of WSIS (English Captioned)- published on May 25, 2015 - What is WSIS, when and why was it started, and what is the annual conference all about? A quick and comprehensible snapshot of the world’s foremost ICT4Development event.

Selection from the Monday, May 25th, Agenda:
Internet of Things (IoT): The Way to Smart Sustainable Cities | WSIS Forum 2015:
"Internet of Things (IoT): The Way to Smart Sustainable Cities -- sponsors: ITU and Partners -- Currently cities account for 50-60% of GHG emissions as well as 75% of the global energy consumption. While cities generously contribute to around 75% of the global GDP, they also generate 50% of the world’s waste. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population is estimated to reside in cities. A sustainable life for the future generations would thus depend on making cities smarter and more sustainable. Internet of Things (IoT) leads a sweeping cultural change as a huge number of machines, devices, sensors, actuators, and other objects become interconnected to each other and to higher-level systems. Due to the enormous amount of variety of connectable devices and automatically collected data entirely new services and features may arise, which are to form the basis of, among others concepts, “Smart Sustainable Cities”. This thematic workshop will discuss the role that Internet of Things (IoT) and emerging technologies such as crowd sourcing and crowd sensing play in building smart sustainable cities worldwide as well as provide several examples of application domains, including deployment of IoT and monitoring. This event will include a set of demonstrations and will present success stories from around the world to expand on the benefits of using IoT in cities while furthering the sustainable development goals." 

Speakers / panellists:
​​​11:00 - 11:10 ​​Opening Ceremony Chaesub Lee, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum ​​
11:10 - 11:30 ​Keynote speeches H.E. Kok Jwee Foo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Singapore United Nations Cristina Bueti, Adviser, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ​​
11:30 - 12:45 Panel Discussion Moderator: Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum; Luis Muñoz, Head of the Network Planning and Mobile Communications, University of Cantabria, Spain; Srdjan Krco, CEO, DunavNET; Amine Mcharek, Management Science School, Korea Advance Institute for Science and Technology
​​12:45 - 13:00 ​Closing Session -- Bilel Jamoussi, Chief of Study Groups, International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum"

Additional note: on Tuesday, May 26th: Opening Policy Statements (11:30-12:30): Mr Fadi Chehade, CEO and President, ICANN


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