Global-ICT 2006 (23)

Theme: Digital lifelines - building the digital world

Connect-World, from its beginning, has dedicated itself to discussing the impact of ICT upon people, regions and societies throughout the world Global Visionaries, Global Visions 2006 edition will commemorate the ITU Telecom World 2006 event, which will take place in Hong Kong from 4th to 8th December. The theme for Telecom World 2006 is Living the digital world. The event will explore how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is changing our lives and how the interaction between equipment, services and applications providers is changing how society is structured and how it works.

The theme of the Connect-World Global Visionaries, Global Visions 2006 edition, complementing the Telecom World 2006 theme, will be Digital lifelines — building the digital world.

Issue by issue, for the last ten years, Connect-World has documented digital lifestyles. The daily routine of living in a digital world is quite different in trendy Tokyo, London, New York or along the beaches of Rio de Janeiro than it is in rural areas around the world, in city slums or in the least developed regions of each continent. What digital technology signifies in each of these regions is vastly different. In one city, a mobile phone is a teenager's passport to social acceptance, a credit card, a TV, a way to invite friends to a party. In other parts of the world, even the simplest mobile device is a family's lifeline — the promise of a brighter future. This issue of Connect-World will be devoted to the building of the digital world, in all its guises. World leaders, decision makers and thinkers from government industry and international institutions will be asked to share their visions of the digital world — how to build and shape it, and how to create a lifeline for those who need it most.