IV INFOPOVERTY WORLD CONFERENCE 29-30 April 2004 PRESS RELEASE In the light of the success of the previous editions of the Infopoverty World Conference, held since 2001, we are glad to announce, together with the other organizing agencies, that the IV Infopoverty World Conference will take place on April 29 and 30 2004 on the subject: FIGHTING POVERTY THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ICT SERVICES FOR DEVELOPMENT As in the past edition, the event will be organized in multiple sessions, working simultaneously in prestigious locations connected by satellite communication, enabling a wide range of original contributions and successful practices to be known in the most important seats. The choice of a broad band connection and high speed connectivity is ineluctable, mainly for developing countries, and the future coming into force of satellite platforms able to cover the entire planet at great quality, will bring forth the problem of the diffusion of services on the ground in locations not provided with electricity and telephone lines. Therefore, in order to provide real and sustainable development, it will be crucial to have innovative and ad hoc services, able to respond to the most important needs with effective and immediate solutions for all users. Improving the quality of life of entire populations, now extremely disadvantaged, is an aim that can be achieved with new technologies. ICT’s don’t bring food nor water, but they can effectively teach how to obtain them, activating initiatives – in small villages as well as in wide communities – developed by International Agencies of the UN system as well as other international organizations and in synergy with local authorities and the civil society. Those ICT services for development are not yet into place, and the Conference aims at making them well known and accelerating their implementation on a wider scale in programs that should be both immediately effective and using state-of-the-art technologies. It should be made clear that most of the times those innovative products – developed for rich market economies – are not properly used, and transformed into gadgets or seemingly useless applications, as designers and men of marketing have difficulties in understanding the needs of other communities and cultures living in different parts of the planet. On the contrary, when well developed, ICT’s have proved to be very effective, and the spectacular growth in the use of mobile communication in developing countries in Africa and Asia shows how investing in products for developing countries could be a good deal also for major companies. If globalisation means new markets, it also means new demand of unheard of needs for the traditional area of developed countries, which risk deflation and decline having almost saturated many parts of the markets A new vision able to mobilise traditional productive structures – now in recession – towards the satisfaction of the multiple needs of the world population currently secluded from development (more than 5 billion people), will be an important factor in reviving the entire world economy. Giving publicity to wider strategies than those of current marketing – often oriented to declining sectors – is one of the goals of the conference that, with the contributions of the protagonists of the digital revolution, aims at overcoming the many barriers that hinder an effective development. Making less fortunate people be part of the Information Society is a goal in itself, but it is also instrumental in benefiting the most active business stakeholders, in the same fashion as during the industrial revolution, when the huddles masses of Western Europe and Northern America (9/10 of the population) took part in the development process and – thanks to the first enlightened businesspeople – funded the present rich and democratic Western society. In this particular moment, the Conference in itself can be regarded as a development tool: the various working groups operating in the different seats of the Conference are elaborating on the ground the ideas and best practices that will be discussed during the event, so that the arrival of Internet 2 and broad band satellite communication and on the ground connectivity kits can constitute a real turning point both economic-wise and scientific-wise avoiding the risk of making the present bright technological discoveries pale applications, while, on the contrary they should be used to promote the most fundamental values of humankind: human rights and the right for all to live a dignified, peaceful and fruitful life. * ***** *

with the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic
and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers

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