The Academic Forum is the main academic activity of the Andicom Congress it takes place at the Getsemaní Auditorium located on the second floor of the Conventions Center.

In order to ensure the high academic level and relevance of program conferences in this Forum, the Academic Committee designs content requirements according to technology and market trends as well as nationally and internationally relevant issues and business aspects affecting telecommunications sector development. Once the Academic Program has been designed, CINTEL invites prestigious, nationally and internationally recognized experts to participate with papers. The main topics to be addressed at the Congress are focused on “ For a digitally inclusive society”.

Thematic Andicom'2007: For a digitally included society

“For a digitally included society” this is the slogan that the Centro de Investigación de las Telecomunicaciones –CINTEL has defined to identify the core thematic of the XXII Andean and XIII National Telecommunications Congress -Andicom´2007 that will be carried out in the Convention Center in Cartagena de Indias next October 24 - 26.

The Central Academic Forum carried out in the framework of the Congress becomes a space where high-level lecturers will address the topic of Digital Inclusion with lectures that show experiences, strategies and public and private alliances of countries and regions, including Colombia, where projects that have been successful in the search of a digitally included society, are presented.

As digital technologies are introduced in daily tasks such as education, business, personal correspondence, search for information and research, they provide support to people to lead more productive lifestyles. At the same time, those that are not skilled and knowledgeable about Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) or who have less opportunity to use them, become individuals with more difficulties to participate of the economy and of a society that increasingly supports itself on technology.

This is why it is so important that each one of these individuals see themselves digitally included, because this is the only way in which their productivity and their capacity to generate successful business in this new society will be potentiated.

This is a task that governments should lead and that requires the support of companies that make up the ICT industry, through the implementation of technological solutions in agreement with each country’s market and strategy to reach a digitally included society.

ICT in benefit of the society

The international community is committed with the impulse to develop ICT awareness and knowledge among the people of the nations and to promote its broader use. With the aim of minimizing the appearance of potential technological gaps and seeking for the consolidation of a digitally included society, efforts should be made to implement policies and measures associated to an appropriate regulation that facilitates an efficient ICT-based service provision. In the framework of Andicom'2007, this commitment will become apparent in the Panel called “Policies of World Organizations regards a Digitally Included Society”, with the participation of organizations like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Organization of American States OAS-CITEL, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (BM), among other.

In this regards, it is necessary to bear in mind that the ICT rate of adoption will depend on a number of factors that include: awareness regarding the new technology, capacity to acquire it, adaptability of this technology to potential markets and the motivation to use technology as it is disseminated. In all these aspects it is necessary to generate a favorable atmosphere where Information and Communications Technologies can be easily adopted by the community. Debates will take place in Andicom'2007 with the participation of operators and regulation entities where aspects such as market, strategy and regulation that influence connectivity and development dynamics of applications adjusted to the realities of our counties will be analyzed.

From the technological point of view, interesting challenges arise to allow a society that traditionally has not had access to ICT, become digitally included. These challenges have to do with infrastructure deployment to the most remote areas where an important number of potential users are waiting to have the opportunity to enter into the digital world.

To make such deployment more reliable and effective, the implementation of technologies such as next generation networks (NGN) that allow greater flexibility for services provision and for their robustness regarding information quality and security becomes of vital importance. Mobile and wireless technologies, Internet access and broadband also constitute themselves as technologies that will provide digital access to all the communities and the rendering of services to satisfy the communities’ needs.

The topic of Digital Inclusion has been present in governments and private corporations’ public agendas. A case to highlight is South Korea, whose development in the ICT sector is considered as an unprecedented revolution, due to the take off it had in such a short period of time.

This is why Andicom'2007 has the honor of having South Korea as Guest Country. Dynamic Korea, a domestic brand of that country, will bring all the experience of government and technological entities that are avant-guard in ICT, with the purpose of potentiating this sector’s development by means of exchanging and transferring know how, experiences and technology.