This year’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum marked a significant milestone of twenty years of progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, which set the framework for global digital cooperation with a vision to build a multi-stakeholder, people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented information and knowledge society.
2024 IEEE Delegation:
- Tom Coughlin, IEEE 2024 President
- Maike Luiken, Chair of IEEE P7800™ and the IEEE Planet Positive 2030 Initiative
- Antonello Monti of IEEE Region 8 and Director of the Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, E.ON Energy Research Center, RWTH Aachen University
- Karen McCabe, Karen Mulberry, and Constance Weise, IEEE SA professional staff team
- Mariela Machado Fantacchiotti from the IEEE Humanitarian Technology Activities Committee
The IEEE Delegation was actively involved in numerous sessions during the WSIS+20 Forum. Here are some of the highlights:
This year’s WSIS event started with a keynote address by Tom Coughlin as part of the Inaugural High-Level Dialogue, entitled “The WSIS Moon Shot: Celebrating 20 Years and Crystal-Balling the Next 20”. Tom noted that “standards enable technologies to work seamlessly together, ensuring that products and services are reliable, secure, safe, scalable, and efficient. However, with great power comes great responsibility. The journey towards a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future is far from complete; it is here that standards become the foundation for everyone’s efforts.” Tom also said that “as we look to the future and WSIS+30, the role of standards will only grow in importance.” This statement on WSIS+30 became a trending statement that was used and repeated by many other notable speakers during the week.
Next on the agenda was the well-attended IEEE Workshop on AI for Energy Innovation & Sustainability. This session focused on the challenges that the Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) sector is facing with the implementation of emerging technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and how that is impacting the energy system transformation from fossil fuel-based energy sources to sustainable and renewable sources of generation and sustainable energy practices. While the union of AI and renewable energy is important for the clean energy revolution, the workshop noted that there are still many challenges to overcome at the junction of innovation, policy, and environmental stewardship. Success will depend on collaborative approaches and standards development to support the renewable energy transformation.
Karen McCabe facilitated the Leaders Talk X session on Forging Partnerships: Shaping the Digital for Development Landscape. She led a discussion among government officials from Barbados, Somalia, State of Palestine, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and The Commonwealth of The Bahamas on the collaborative role of governments and stakeholders in driving ICTs for development.
IEEE also hosted a Knowledge Café Session on Knowledge Sharing for Sustainable Development where there was an overflow of attendees who participated in an interactive discussion on the creation of a Sustainability Commons platform to facilitate knowledge sharing on climate and sustainability technology and applications. The participants discussed recommendations and ideas that could be used to launch the platform, as well as challenges that will need to be further addressed. Overall, participants agreed on the importance of fostering community engagement in the development of the platform and furthering collaboration for the long-term success of a Sustainability Commons.
During the week of WSIS, the IEEE Booth became the meeting spot for WSIS attendees to connect with the IEEE Delegation to learn more about our standards and sustainability work, and to just stop by for a chat. It was also the place where IEEE, along with Dr. Salma Abbasi, from the eWorldwide Group, and other invited guests announced the launch of Standard IEEE P2089.2™ ‘Terms and Conditions’ for Children’s Online Engagement. This standard builds on the age-appropriate digital services framework (IEEE 2089™), helps to protect the fundamental principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and supports the development of services with acts such as the UK’s Online Safety Act.
Karen McCabe also participated on the panel “Enabling Responsible Development, Deployment & Use of AI & Digital Ecosystems” at the AI Summit for Good, which was held alongside WSIS+20. Panelists discussed the role that standards play in creating the enabling environment and discussed examples of how standards support the AI digital ecosystem.
IEEE’s participation in this year’s WSIS+20 continued to raise awareness of the value of what IEEE has to offer and increased external awareness of IEEEs standards and the work that the organization contributes to the implementation of the SDGs.
