What are the best Mobile applications

Via MoMo

Date
Monday June 8, 2009 (not the 1st Monday of the month as  Whit Monday is a holiday). Registration required before June 1st! 18:00 (program begins at 18:30) to 21:00. Invited participants include telecoms industry, development organizations, academia and research. This is a free event but participation is limited to room capacity.

Location
 International Telecommunication Union, Room K2, Place des Nations, Geneva

Topic
More than 3 billion people have access to basic mobile telephony, with 48% living close or below the poverty line.  What are the applications that bring the best opportunities for economic and social development ? They help users find employment, advertise services, receive market prices, transfer money and pay for goods. To provide access to basic communications they can rent phones, chargers, and sell pre-paid cards. If you’re interested in how mobile phones, used socially, are changing the face of the planet - and in particular developing countries - then join us and discuss you experiences, ideas and knowledge.

Confirmed Speakers

  • Houlin Zhao - Vice Secretary General of the ITU, welcome and introduction. FMr. Houlin Zhao recently served as Director of ITU’s the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. He was also responsible for partnerships between Member States, Sector Members, other standards development organizations and helped bridge the standardization gap between the developing and developed countries. Until 1986, Houlin Zhao worked as an engineer in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China.
  • Lilia Perez-Chavolla, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. Dr. Lilia Perez-Cavolla is an analyst at the Strategy and Policy Unit of the International Telecommunication Union. s. Pérez-Chavolla has authored and co-authored research in the areas of communication indicators in developing countries and digital opportunities.
  • Ken Banks, founder kiwanja.net. Since 2003, many  local, national and international non-profit organisations in 40 countries have benefited from kiwanja initiatives, including FrontlineSMS and nGOmobile.
  • Jean-Frédéric Wagen HES-SO,  Fribourg will presenting a new initiative for exchanging goods and services among mobile communities in Africa.
  • Frank West, Medair. The Medair organization has 15 years of experience in bringing life-saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas, and other crises by working alongside the most vulnerable, in different climates and terrains around the world. They will comment on the use of mobile communications for their work.
  • Francesco Pisano, Unosat : The UN operational satellite applications program, implemented in co-operation with the CERN and delivers satellite solutions to relief organizations helping communities exposed to poverty, hazards and risk, or affected by humanitarian and other crises. They will discuss how mobile communications could complement their work.
  • Stéphane Koch , Owner, intelligentzia.net and  President of ISOC Geneva.  Stéphane is a consultant in Information technologies, with expertise in competitive intelligence, security and privacy. He is an active speaker, lecturer, and conference organizer. He holds a postgraduate degree from HES Geneva.
  • Rosa Delgado, Internet Society, SIG development. Rosa Delgado has been Director of Internet new  at SITA. Previously she worked as expert for UNDP and ITU to assist telecoms organizations regarding policies and deployment of internet services in Honduras, India, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Earlier she worked for UN on designing Web services for humanitarian co-ordination.
  • Other presentations are welcome and will be announced at the workshop.