By The Global Innovation Forum held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has identified key ways to help close the “digital innovation gap.”
The suggested approaches, focusing on critical factors from expanding collaboration to attracting investment, are meant to spur sustainable economic growth and find solutions to pressing societal challenges through accelerated, and localized, technology innovation.
“No one can be left lagging behind due to a lack of access to digital tools and resources,” said H.E. Myriam Spiteri Debono, President of Malta, who opened the Forum. “It is pertinent that access to information technology and digital tools should be made available to everyone, everywhere.”
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, progress is unevenly distributed, leading to a pronounced gap in digital innovation capacity among different countries and regions around the world.
The three-day Global Innovation Forum, held in Valletta, Malta, emphasized the importance of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and capacity building to bridge the innovation gap and advance socio-economic development.
“Digital innovation is a driving force behind economic progress, sustainable development and solving societal challenges,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “The Global Innovation Forum has helped identify how we can close the digital innovation gap to ensure that people and planet benefit from the transformative power of technology.”
Organized by ITU, the UN agency for digital technologies, the Global Innovation Forum strengthened global and regional partnerships for inclusive and sustainable digital development.
“It is an honor that ITU has chosen Malta to host the Global Innovation Forum; it is a testament to how far we have come as a nation in establishing ourselves at the forefront of digital innovation,” said H.E. Silvio Schembri, Minister for Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects and Chair of the 2024 ITU Global Innovation Forum. “It highlights not only our commitment to advancing cutting-edge technologies but also our vision for a digital future that is both inclusive and prosperous. Through events like this, Malta reaffirms its dedication to fostering an ecosystem where innovation and collaboration thrive, and every citizen can benefit from the opportunities it brings.”
“At the Global Innovation Forum, leaders, policy-makers and innovators have collaborated to share ground-breaking ideas and actionable strategies to foster digital innovation,” said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.
“The Forum served as a platform to shape transformative policy ideas, share best practices in supporting startups and small business growth, nurture innovative digital clusters and connect them to global innovation networks. I would like to thank the Government of Malta, a champion of digital transformation through innovation, for hosting this flagship event and I am pleased that consultations on the development of a report on the Malta’s innovation landscape began at the event.”
The second meeting of the Digital Innovation Board of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development, held during the Forum, endorsed the establishment of an Expert Network. This collaborative community will conduct foresight studies around trends, research readiness, open technology innovation, entrepreneurship and SME growth, policy experimentation, and ecosystem initiatives acceleration.
