The DSF will present its innovative financing mechanism to the World Congress on Information Technology – WCIT 2008 – which will bring together the private sector, governments and civil society.

he biennial WCIT Congress, organised this year by the Malaysian government (from 18 to 22 May 2008), is the main global forum of the ICT industry. With the theme “The Global Impact of Information and Communications Technology”, the event will bring together leaders in business, government and academia from over 80 countries, to debate the key role of ICTs in economics and development.

As a member of the Steering Committee of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN-GAID), which is an official partner of the WCIT, the DSF will bring the issue of financing digital solidarity – and more specifically, the application of the 1% digital solidarity principle – to the attention of the participant companies, whose share of the global ICT market is estimated to be more than 90%.

The UN-GAID enables discussion between the private sector, governments and civil society. This will offer ICT industry leaders an opportunity to express their point of view on the DSF financing mechanism and its application. Beyond the debate about the best way of spreading the benefits of ICTs worldwide, businesses will be invited to think about the challenge of insolvent markets in the least developed countries.

The DSF is working on the assumption that businesses will need to access new ICT markets in regions with strong growth potential, which are currently overlooked by the private sector. Through its innovative financing mechanism – the 1% digital solidarity contribution – the DSF proposes a simple and effective solution to enable insolvent markets to take part in the information society. This approach is perfectly in keeping with the objectives of the 2008 WCIT Congress and the conclusions of the debate are expected to highlight the “social responsibility” of businesses in financing digital solidarity.

 

 

For more information, see:

www.wcit2008.org or www.un-gaid.org