- Feb 2023
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arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
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2017: ESA announces its astronauts will train along Chinese one, with the overall goal of having European sent to China's space station. Jan 2023: ESA: "For the moment we have neither the budgetary nor the political, let’s say, green light or intention to engage in a second space station—that is participating on the Chinese space station"
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www.science.org www.science.org
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Until now, most scientists have said that outer space is 100 kilometers away.
Earth atmosphere - space boundary (Karman line): was thought to be at 100 km. Now scientists say it may be 20 km closer.
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qz.com qz.com
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A country’s sovereign airspace theoretically extends to the (disputed) boundary with space.
state sovereignty in space
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The benefits include higher resolution imagery: World View’s investor presentation claims sensor resolutions of 3 to 5 centimeters per pixel, compared to the 50 cm per pixel resolution that is top of line in space-based Earth observation. The balloons also offer more persistent monitoring by floating above one location for weeks at a time, whereas Earth observation satellites can typically gather data a few times a day at most. World View already has a partnership with Maxar, a leading satellite firm with an extensive remote-sensing business.
High-altitude ballons vs Earth observations satellites
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qz.com qz.com
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Axiom, a space company that flies passengers to the International Space Station and is developing its own space station, said this week that most of the demand for passenger services is coming from governments without their own space programs, not tourists with deep pockets.
Axiom - private company flying passengers to ISS. Also building own space station.
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But the dream of space fanatics is a proper nuclear rocket, one using a fission reactor to run an engine two to three times more powerful than any motor dependent on combusting fossil fuels. Launched into space on a conventional rocket, it could shorten trips to Mars or give the Space Force unprecedented maneuverability. Last week, NASA and DARPA, the US military’s advanced tech lab, announced a collaborative project called DRACO to build and test exactly such a vehicle.
towards a 'nuclear space rocket'
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Deep space missions regularly rely on nuclear power, using the heat emitted by radioactive substances to generate electricity without an atom-splitting chain reaction. NASA’s Perseverance rover, currently exploring the surface of Mars, is powered by one of these devices.
Deep space missions relying on nuclear power
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OpenAI announced they've "trained a classifier to distinguish between text written by a human and text written by AIs from a variety of providers". Saying it is not 'fully reliable": correctly identifies 26% of AI-written text (true positives) as “likely AI-written,” while incorrectly labeling human-written text as AI-written 9% of the time (false positives).
||JovanNj|| ||Jovan||
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- Jan 2023
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qz.com qz.com
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Asteroid miners prepare for launch. AstroForge, which wants to pluck platinum-group metals from near-Earth objects, plans to launch a payload in April that will demonstrate the ability to mine metals in space. The company also expects to launch another spacecraft onboard Intuitive Machines’ lunar mission later this year that will fly to a target asteroid and assess its viability for future mining.
Asteroid mining missions (private) to launch in 2023.
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www.bmz.de www.bmz.de
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Germany's new strategy for Africa (just launched).
A few points on digital:
- Digital transformation among the focus areas for development cooperation (although in the same basket with employment, fair trade, and migration)
- Support for AfCFTA
- Mobilise investment in digital infra
- Support for the digital economy. Specifically, support for: enhancing economic and political frameworks; creating digital markets; enabling secure, universal internet access and bridging digital divides; fostering legal standards and data privacy regulations.
- stimulate the creation of ICT jobs
- Support the digitalisation of healthcare
- Supporting women's economic participation, including through providing training for women with a special focus on digital expertise.
- Supporting the digitalisation of the public sector and the use of digital tech to strengthen political participation
Update published on DW and Diplo:
||mwendenATdiplomacy.edu|| FYI
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training for women, with a special focus on digital expertise.
Supporting women's economic participation, including through providing training for women with a special focus on digital expertise.
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The focus is to be increasingly on software solutions (digital health),
Support the digitalisation of healthcare
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stimulating the creation of jobs offering decent working conditions. It fo-cuses in particular on the promising industries of the future, such as information and communica-tion technologies (ICT),
stimulating the creation of ICT jobs
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Support digitalisation of the African economyThe BMZ aims to effectively support the rapidly developing digital economy, for example through the Make-IT in Africa initiative, the establishment of digicentres and activities to assist African initiatives including the Smart Africa Alliance. It helps African partner countries to enhance the economic and political framework for digital transformation, to create digital markets, provide secure, universal internet access and bridge the “digital divide” within the population. It is also fostering legal standards and data privacy regulations, for example through Team Europe Initiatives such as the African European Digital Innovation Bridge Network and the EU-AU Data Flagship
Support for the digital economy. Specifically, support for: enhancing economic and political frameworks; creating digital markets; enabling secure, universal internet access and bridging digital divides; fostering legal standards and data privacy regulations.
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digital infrastructure and health infrastructure, the BMZ aims to mobilise invest-ment –
Mobile investment in digital infra
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Support the AfCFTA and ensure trade agreements are pro-development
Support for AfCFTA
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www.whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov
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TITLE: US government launches Digital Transformation with Africa
TEXT: The US government has launched a Digital Transformation with Africa (DTA) initiative dedicated to 'expand[ing] digital access and literacy and strengthen[ing] digital enabling environments across the continent'. The USA plans to dedicate over US$350 million to this initiative, which is expected to support the implementation of both the African Union's Digital Transformation Strategy and the US Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa. DTA's objectives revolve around three pillars:
- Digital economy and infrastructure: (a) expanding access to an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet; (b) expanding access to key enabling digital technologies, platforms, and services and scale the African technology and innovation ecosystem; (c) facilitating investment, trade, and partnerships in Africa’s digital economy.
- Human capital development: (a) facilitating inclusive access to digital skills and literacy, particularly for youth and women; (b) fostering inclusive participation in the digital economy; (c) strengthening the capacity of public sector employees to deliver digital services.
- Digital enabling environment: (a) strengthening the capacities of authorities and regulators to develop, implement, and enforce sound policies and regulations; (b) supporting policies and regulations that promote competition, innovation, and investment; (c) promoting governance that strengthens and sustains an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure digital ecosystem.
Date: 14 December 2022
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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That seems likely to change in the next few weeks, when an uncrewed lander becomes the first commercial vehicle to touch down on the Moon
private sector making its way into Moon missions/exploration
- 1 JP and 2 US private-led missions underway or planned
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The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, space law’s foundational text, is showing its age. It dates back to the era when only governments had access to space. And it states that no claims of sovereignty can be made, on the Moon or elsewhere. Efforts to update the treaty to establish rules around resource extraction have run into the lunar regolith. America has refused to sign the Moon Agreement, adopted by 18 countries in 1984, whereas China and Russia have rejected America’s latest proposal, the Artemis accords of 2020.
existing governance frameworks for moon/space resource exploration; fragmentation
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Of 178 successful missions in 2022, 90 were by companies (in many cases subcontracted by governments), and of those 61 were by one firm, SpaceX.
overview of orbit launches in 2022
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qz.com qz.com
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growing support for a ban on anti-satellite weapons tests as one sign of progress, but that effort came after a series of particularly messy orbital tests, and can be seen as an effort to limit Chinese and Russian weapons development.
To look into: ban on anti-satellite weapons tests
||sorina||
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global governance: Rules for space traffic management, protocols for space debris mitigation and removal, and norms for economic activity in space, from resource extraction to property rights.
Space governance areas
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techcrunch.com techcrunch.com
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OpenAI is developing a tool for “statistically watermarking the outputs of a text [AI system].” Whenever a system — say, ChatGPT — generates text, the tool would embed an “unnoticeable secret signal” indicating where the text came from.
OpenAI apparently working on a tool to watermark AI-generated content and make it 'easier to spot'.
||JovanNj||||Jovan||
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he expressed the belief that, if OpenAI can demonstrate that watermarking works and doesn’t impact the quality of the generated text, it has the potential to become an industry standard.Not everyone agrees. As Devadas points out, the tool needs a key, meaning it can’t be completely open source — potentially limiting its adoption to organizations that agree to partner with OpenAI. (If the key were to be made public, anyone could deduce the pattern behind the watermarks, defeating their purpose.)But it might not be so far-fetched. A representative for Quora said the company would be interested in using such a system, and it likely wouldn’t be the only one.
potential standard
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“If [it] becomes a free-for-all, then a lot of the safety measures do become harder, and might even be impossible, at least without government regulation,”
how regulation comes into play
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Unaffiliated academics and industry experts, however, shared mixed opinions.
Potential challenges/shortcomings of the tool
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OpenAI’s watermarking tool acts like a “wrapper” over existing text-generating systems, Aaronson said during the lecture, leveraging a cryptographic function running at the server level to “pseudorandomly” select the next token. In theory, text generated by the system would still look random to you or I, but anyone possessing the “key” to the cryptographic function would be able to uncover a watermark.
What the watermark tool would be.
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“We want it to be much harder to take [an AI system’s] output and pass it off as if it came from a human,” Aaronson said in his remarks. “This could be helpful for preventing academic plagiarism, obviously, but also, for example, mass generation of propaganda — you know, spamming every blog with seemingly on-topic comments supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine without even a building full of trolls in Moscow. Or impersonating someone’s writing style in order to incriminate them.”
why the tool is developed
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Alongside funding for military jets and naval warships, the new $857.9 billion US defense spending bill includes a program to fund musical exchanges around the globe. Dubbed the PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act, the legislation funds US State Department cultural exchange projects that encourage artistic collaboration across borders.
Music diplomacy in the US defence spending bill.
||JovanK||
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- Dec 2022
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www.nature.com www.nature.com
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People using the stimulator and their physicians could no longer access the proprietary software needed to recalibrate the device and maintain its effectiveness.
Key question: What happens with neurotech and the people using them when the companies behind the tech are no longer?
Issues: access to software, battery drain, ...
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qz.com qz.com
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has readers fretting about space debris and traffic management. Given the attention to the problem, it’s unfair to say that this will sneak up on us, but the lack of urgency around addressing space safety might leave us with a nasty surprise. The leak in the Soyuz spacecraft at the ISS, likely caused by a micrometeroid impact, may be a warning for congested space lanes to come. It’s a champagne problem, in the sense that space junk worries us because of the growing value of space activity. But as I will ruefully attest on Jan. 1, champagne problems can still hurt.
Not enough focus on space debris and traffic management.
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Robots are headed for the moon en masse: Attempted landings from companies including Japan’s iSpace, Intuitive Machines (two different missions!), Astrobotic, plus robots built by space agencies in Japan, India, and Russia.
The moon in focus in 2023, for both space agencies and private actors.
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China’s new space station will be complete, and western researchers have already started signing up to collaborate there. Will we see a non-Chinese astronaut visit?
China's space station coming up in 2023. To watch as a potential are of cooperation/diplomacy.
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Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine, for example, has been a debacle, but it put an incredible spotlight everything changing in space. One of Russia’s first acts of war was hacking satellite communications networks, while SpaceX’s Starlink network became a vital tool for Ukrainian resistance. The public, along with intelligence agencies and militaries, relied on satellite data to understand and prosecute the fighting. Drones and missiles that rely on satellite navigation and communications have become central to the conflict. AdvertisementIt’s not the first “space war”—the 1990 Gulf War typically gets that distinction—but never before have space assets been so front and center.
Interesting framing of the Ukraine war as a 'space war'. ||JovanK||
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Title: Nigeria and Rwanda sign Artemis Accords
Content: Nigeria and Rwanda signed the Artemis Accords, becoming the first two African countries to adhere to the a set of nonbinding commitments to facilitate the peaceful and safe exploration of outer space.
The Artemis Accords, signed by 23 countries up to December 2022, outlines a series of principles, guidelines, and best practices to o enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space. Intended to apply to civil space activities conducted by the civil space agencies of each signatory countries, the principles cover issues such as peaceful purposes, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, deconfliction of activities, protection of space heritage, and mitigation of orbital debris, including spacecraft disposal.
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- Oct 2022
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www.nato.int www.nato.int
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TITLE: NATO establishes review board to govern responsible use of AI
CONTENT: NATO has established a Review Board to govern the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data across the organisation. The decision was taken at the meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence which took place in Brussels on 12–13 October 2022. The Data and Artificial Intelligence Review Board (DARB) will work on developing a user-friendly responsible AI certification standard to help align new AI and data projects with NATO's Principles of Responsible Use. The board is also expected to act as a platform allowing the exchange of views and best practices to help create quality controls, mitigate risks, and adopt trustworthy and interoperable AI systems. NATO member states will designate one national nominee to serve on the DARB. Nominees could come from governmental entities, academia, the private sector, or civil society.
TECHNOLOGY: AI
DATE: 13 October 2022
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www.s-cica.org www.s-cica.org
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internationally agreed legal framework
Hint to the work on a UN cybercrime convention
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Promoting open, secure, peacefuland cooperative ICT environment
Reference to 'open'.
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unctad.org unctad.org
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ECOWAS Programme on the Promotion of Digital Skills and Digital Entrepreneurship for Youth
ECOWAS - capacity development programme
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The legal framework as provided by ECOWAS to regulate electronic transactions
ECOWAS legal framework for electronic transactions
- data protection
- electronic transactions
- cybercrime
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qz.com qz.com
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seven nations onboard with a moratorium on destructive tests of anti-satellite weapons
To look into: Moratorium in destructive tests of anti-satellite weapons (now with 7 countries on board). ||sorina||
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he FCC adopted new rules for defunct satellites.
To look into: FCC rules for defunct satellites. ||sorina||
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Firefly gets to orbit. The company has put satellites on orbit with the first launch of its Alpha rocket.
Firefly - new player in the satellites sphere
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ViaSat merges with Inmarsat
To cover: ViaSat and Inmarsat merging -> stronger competition in this space?
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the first Russian astronaut to depart from the US since the days of the Space Shuttle
Still some RU-US cooperation in space.
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when NASA announced that it would study the feasibility of a privately led and funded mission that would use a Dragon to boost the Hubble space telescope to a higher altitude, thus extending the operational life of the flagship observatory
NASA looking into possibly funding a private-led mission to use a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to boots Hubble to a higher altitude (for an expanded operational life).
A new level of #PPP in space.
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eurohpc-ju.europa.eu eurohpc-ju.europa.eu
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TITLE: Six countries selected to host future European quantum computers
CONTENT: The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JC) had announced the the selection of six sites across the EU to host and operate the first EuroHPC quantum computers: Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain. The quantum computing systems to be developed within these sites are to be made available to European users (scientific communities, industry, the public sector, etc.) mainly for research and development purposes.
For background, the EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity launched in 2018 to enable the EU and countries participating in the EuroHPC to coordinate efforts and resources towards developing supercomputing facilities in the EU.
TECHNOLOGY: Emerging technologies
TREND: Quantum computing
Date: 4 October 2022
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www.whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov
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TITLE: US White House publishes Blueprint for an AI Bill or Rights
CONTENT: The US White House, through the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has issued a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights to guide the development, deployment, and use of automated systems. The blueprint outlines five key principles and is accompanied by a framework to help incorporate the protections into policy and practice.
The five principles are:
- Safe and effective systems: Users should be protected from unsafe and ineffective systems.
- Algorithmic discrimination protection: Users should not face discrimination by algorithms and systems should be used and designed in an equitable way.
- Data privacy. Users should be protected from abusive data practices via built-in protections and should have agency over how data about them is used.
- Notice and explanation: Users should know that an automated system is being used and understand how and why it contributes to outcomes that impact them.
- Human alternatives, consideration, and fallback: Users should be able to opt out, where appropriate, and have access to a person who can quickly consider and remedy problems they encounter.
Within the scope of the blueprint are automated systems that have the potential to meaningfully impact the public's rights, opportunities, or access to critical resources or services.
It is important to note that the blueprint does not have a regulatory character, and is meant to serve as a guide.
TOPICS: AI
TRENDS: AI governmental initiatives
DATE: 4 October
COUNTRY: USA
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measures taken to realize the vision set forward in this framework should be proportionate with the extent and nature of the harm, or risk of harm, to people’s rights, opportunities, and access.
proportionality
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a two-part test to determine what systems are in scope. This framework applies to (1) automated systems that (2) have the potential to meaningfully impact the American public’s rights, opportunities, or access to critical resources or services
applicability
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Automated systems should be developed with consultation from diverse communities, stakeholders, and domain experts to identify concerns, risks, and potential impacts of the system
Hoe feasible this actually is?
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this framework is accompanied by From Principles to Practice—a handbook for anyone seeking to incorporate these protections into policy and practice, including detailed steps toward actualizing these principles in the technological design process
framework to help put principles into practice
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five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence. The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights is a guide for a society that protects all people from these threats—and uses technologies in ways that reinforce our highest values.
Blueprint includes 5 principles. Aimed to serve as a guide.
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www.itu.int www.itu.int
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ICTs for the environment
Q6/2: ICTs for environment
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option of telecommunications/ICTs and improving digital skills
Q5/2: Adoption of telecom and improving digital skills
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e-health and e-education
Q2/2: e-health and e-education
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tudy Group Questions
SG Qs
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Fostering telecommunication/ICT-centric entrepreneurshipand digital innovation ecosystems for sustainable digital development
Res...: Fostering telecom/ICT-centric entrepreneurship and digital innovation ecosystems
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he ITU Partner2Connect Digital Coalition
Res...: ITU Partner2Connect digital coalition
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Connecting every school to the Internet and every young person to information and communication technology services
Res...: Connecting every school
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ESOLUTION WGPLEN/1 (Kigali, 2022)Digitaltransformation for sustainable development
Res...: Digital transformation for sustainable dev
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RESOLUTION 85(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Facilitating the Internet of Things and smart sustainable cities and communities for global development
Res 85: Facilitating IoT and smart sustainable cities and communities for global development
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RESOLUTION 76(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Promoting information and communication technologiesamong young women and men for socialand economic empowerment
Res 76: Promoting ICTs among young women and men for social and economic empowerment
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RESOLUTION 67(Rev. Kigali, 2022)The role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector in child online protection
Res 67: Role of ITU-D in child online protection
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RESOLUTION66(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Information and communication technology, environment, climate change and circular economy
Res 66: ICT, environment, climate change and circular economy
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RESOLUTION 58(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Telecommunication/information and communication technology accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs
Res 58: Telecom/ICTs accessibility
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RESOLUTION55(Rev.Kigali, 2022)Mainstreaming a gender perspective1in ITU to enhance women's empowerment through telecommunications/ICTs
Res 55: Mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU to enhance women's empowerment through telecom/ICTs
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RESOLUTION 46(Rev.Kigali, 2022)Assistance toindigenouspeoples and communities through information and communication technologies
Res 46: Assistance to indigenous people and communities
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RESOLUTION45(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including countering and combating spam
Res 45: Mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including countering and combating spam
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RESOLUTION 40(Rev.Kigali, 2022)Group on capacity-building initiatives
Res 40: Group on capacity-building initiatives
CD
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RESOLUTION 37(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Bridging the digital divide
Res 37: Bridging the DD
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RESOLUTION 34(Rev. Kigali, 2022)The role of telecommunications/information and communication technology in disaster preparedness, early warning, rescue, mitigation, relief and response
Res 34: The role of telecom/ICT in disaster preparedness, early warning, rescue, mitigation, relief and response
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RESOLUTION 15(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Applied research and transfer of technolo
Res15: transfer of tech
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RESOLUTION 11(Rev.Kigali, 2022)Telecommunication/information and communication technology services in rural, isolated and poorly served areas
Res 11: Telecom/ICT services in rural, isolated and poorly served areas
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RESOLUTION 5(Rev. Kigali, 2022)Enhanced participation by developing countries1in the activities of the Union
Res 2: Enhanced participation by developing countries in ITU activities
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Resolutions
Resolutions
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REGIONAL INITIATIVES
Overview of regional initiatives
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Implementation of ITU-D Priorities
PKI for implementing ITU-D priorities
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Affordable Connectivity
Kigali AP: ITU-D priorities: affordable connectivity, digital transformation, enabling policy and regulatory environ, resource mobilisation and international cooperation, inclusive and secure telecom/ICTs for sustainable development
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Promoting international cooperation and partnership among ITU membership and development-oriented stakeholders for achieving sustainable development using telecommunication/ICT-centric digital technologies.
Kigali Decl: international coop, partnerships with 'development-oriented SH'
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Providing support to and cooperating with developing countries, LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS in addressingtheir constraints for accessing digital-centric new and emerging telecommunication/ICT technologies and services and for the integration thereof into different sectors, such as government services, agriculture, education, health, finance, transport, etc
Kigali Decl: support for developing countries
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Promoting sound, open, transparent, collaborative and future-proof policy and regulatory decisions with a view to facilitating digital transformation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We will implement innovative strategies and policy/regulatory initiatives to bridge the widening digital divides by enabling universal, secure and affordable broadband connectivity and promoting increased digital inclusion, while enhancing confidence and security in the use of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services. As such, we will develop and implement policy/regulatory frameworks to help ensure infrastructure resiliency, interoperability and protection of data, as well as increase broadband uptake. Besides, we will adopt effective plans to develop and enhance digital capacities and skills that are required in the online world, without which the digital divides will continue to widen
Kigali Decl: good governance? DD, cybersec, infra, digital capacities and skills
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bold and innovative national plans and recovery strategies for ensuring governance, business, education and social-life continuity. This includes providing the necessary platforms and networks for essential activities such as teleworking, e-commerce, remote learning, telemedicine and digital financial services, while paying special attention to the needs of women and girls, persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, the elderly and children, and at the same time preparing the ground for future developments in the post-COVID-19 era
Kigali Decl: governance?
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We are also fully committed to tackling environmental and climate-change issues, notably in implementing telecommunication/ICT tools to mitigate the impact of climate change and addressing the impact of telecommunications/ICTs on the environment, in collaboration with users, the private sector, policy-makers and regulators
Kigali Decl: environment and climate change
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Accelerating the expansion and use of efficient and up-to-date digital infrastructures, services and applications for building and further developing the digital economy,including mobilization of financial resources for providing universal, secure and affordable broadband connectivity to the unconnected as soon as possible. This will also include promoting investments in broadband infrastructure deployment, adoption and acces
Kigali Decl: investments in BB infra; access
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Digital inclusionis a necessity, and insufficient digital capacity and lack of digital skills are core barriers to digital transformation and the digital economy. The demand for digitally skilled workers will increase with the accelerated move towards digital transformation. While many jobs have been and will be lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation and the digital economy can nurture new ICT-centric jobs. Education and capacity building for youth, and their access to digital skills and tools, are essential for youth engagement in shaping the digital future
Kigali Decl: digital inclusion, skills, education, capacity building
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We recognize that available, affordable, dependable and accessible ICTs when leveraged through adequate digital skills can provide powerful drivers for development and are instrumental in timely, inclusive and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Capacity building/development in different ICT areas, including spectrum management, remains a challenge
Kigali Decl: access, skills and capacity development
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build confidence, trust and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs
Kigali Decl: cybersec
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Another first for WTDC-22 is the Network of Women (NoW)
Gender: First meet-up of Network of Women
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The Kigali conference revised Resolution 55 on mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU to enhance women’s empowerment through telecommunications/ICTs to encourage Member States to have gender parity in their delegations to ITU-D activities to help solve the issue of under representation of women
Gender: Revision of Res 55
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SeveralpledgesweremadedirectlyinsupportofITUprojects,including
Pledges by govs and development agencies (GIZ, UK, UAE...)
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Thefirst-everITUPartner2Connect (P2C) Digital DevelopmentRoundtablewas heldon7-9June2022asanintegralpartofWTDC-22.Atthetimeofthiswriting(13June2022),374pledges had been announced, representinganestimatedvalueofUSD24.5billion.Thedriveforuniversalandmeaningfulconnectivityrepresentedinthesepledgesisexpectedtobenefitbillionsofpeoplearoundtheworld,especiallyindevelopingcountries.
Partner2Connect roundtable and Digital Coalition
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Regions
Interesting that North Africa scores as the least expensive region when it comes to the average costs of 1GB of mobile data. But the ranking is solely based on the costs, without measuring what that cost means relative to incomes within regions.
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Common sense is different from intelligence in that it is usually something innate and natural to humans that helps them navigate daily life, and cannot really be taught.
common sense vs intelligence
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thenextweb.com thenextweb.com
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Synthetic data, however it is produced, offers a number of very concrete advantages over using real world data.
advantages of synthetic data
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There are a couple of ways this synthetic data generation happens
How synthetic data is produced.
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- Sep 2022
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www.eeas.europa.eu www.eeas.europa.eu
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TITLE: 54 countries outline support for human-centric approach at the core of standardisation and connectivity
CONTENT: In a joint statement delivered during the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference, 54 countries endeavoured to promote 'a human rights-based approach to the whole life cycle of telecommunication/ICT technologies – including design, development, deployment, use and disposal - as part of a human-centric vision of the digital transformation, including in international standard-setting processes'. The countries encouraged the ITU to work with other standard development organisations to develop international technical standards are consistent with exiting international frameworks on human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also called on the organisation to intensify efforts to make its procedures more transparent and accessible, including to organisations active on human rights aspects of telecommunications/ICTs. Among the signatory countries were the 27 EU member states, Australia, Canada, Ghana, Chile, Japan, Rwanda, Switzerland, the UK, and others.
TOPICS: digital standards, human rights principles
DATE: 26 September 2022
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TITLE: GSMA, IBM, and Vodafone launch Post-Quantum Telco Network Taskforce
CONTENT: GSMA, IBM, and Vodafone have launched a Post-Quantum Telco Network Taskforce to contribute to the definition of policies, regulations, and business processes for the protection of telecommunication in the context of advanced quantum computing. According to GSMA, the taskforce will help define requirements, identify dependencies, and create the roadmap to implement quantum-safe networking, mitigating the risks associated with future, more-powerful quantum computers. Activities to be undertaken by the taskforce will focus on three areas: (a) strategy: integrating quantum-safe capabilities into telecom network operators’ technology, business processes; and security; (b) standardisation: identifying the needs and common alignments for the integration of quantum-safe capabilities into existing telecom networks; and (c) policy: advising on public policy, regulation, and compliance matters.
TOPICS: Telecom infra, emerging tech
TRENDS: Quantum
DATE: 28 September 2022
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- Jul 2022
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Title: DeepMind uses AI to predict the structure of almost all proteins. Text: DeepMind, in partnership with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute, has released predicted structures for nearly all catalogued proteins known to science. The announcement comes a year after the two partners released and open-sourced AlphaFold – an artificial intelligence (AI) system used to predict the 3D structure of a protein – and created the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database to share this scientific knowledge with the researchers. The database now contains over 200 million predicted protein structures, covering plants, bacteria, animals, and other organisms. It is expected to help researchers advance work on issues such as neglected diseases, food insecurity, and sustainability.
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data.consilium.europa.eu data.consilium.europa.eu
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he upcoming establishment of an EU office in San Francisco
EU embracing tech diplomacy
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stakeholders from business, academia and civil society
In the IG space, this listing of stakeholders would also include the technical community.
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countries of strategic importance or that have a high level of vulnerability
Interesting formulation. Does this refer to Africa? What else?
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- Apr 2022
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www.nbr.org www.nbr.org
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In support of this goal,
Hmm... So a proposal at the ITU is supporting the issuance of a national standard?
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competing to control international data,
Interestingly phrased ('control international data').
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onceived of as agents of geopolitical influence or means to control critical, strategic resources
Neither has CN been the one starting this trend…
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- Mar 2022
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www.pch.net www.pch.net
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multistakeholder deliberation u
I still have a hard time imagining how this MSH mechanism would function...
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appropriate scope of sanctions
'appropriate' by whose standards?
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- Feb 2022
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It might be a smart gamble—a new variant, the climate crisis, or a nuclear apocalypse might force us all indoors again—but it is, to put it dramatically, a bet against humankind
Nicely put: metaverse as 'a bet against humankind'.
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- Jan 2022
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c2pa.org c2pa.org
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released version 1.0 of its technical specification for digital provenance
New industry standard for digital provenance of content. Can help address deepfakes.
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the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA)
Another industry consortia working on standards and specifications: C2PA focused on content provenance and authenticity.
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Annotators
URL
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news.mit.edu news.mit.edu
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the MIT team’s new qubit appears to be extremely robust, able to maintain a superposition between two vibrational states, even in the midst of environmental noise, for up to 10 seconds.
robustness as a key characteristic of the new qubit
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Where a classical bit in today’s computers carries out a series of logical operations starting from one of either two states, 0 or 1, a qubit can exist in a superposition of both states. While in this delicate in-between state, a qubit should be able to simultaneously communicate with many other qubits and process multiple streams of information at a time, to quickly solve problems that would take classical computers years to process.
clear explanation of superposition
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MIT physicists have discovered a new quantum bit, or “qubit,” in the form of vibrating pairs of atoms known as fermions.
New qubit in vibrating pairs of atoms - fermions.
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www.theregister.com www.theregister.com
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Entanglement forging could markedly expand the computational power of quantum systems
advantage of entanglement forging: expand the computational power of quantum systems (and using less qubits)
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Entanglement forging, it turns out, involves the use of a classical computer to capture quantum correlations and effectively split the problem in half, making it possible to separate the 10 spin-orbitals of the into two groups of five that could be processed separately. This doubles the size of the system that can be simulated on quantum hardware.
"entanglement forging" - combining quantum and classical "resources"
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spectrum.ieee.org spectrum.ieee.org
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there is nothing preventing a vendor from “complementing" a standardized interface with additional proprietary techniques.
explains the point above on interoperability
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thenextweb.com thenextweb.com
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Unfortunately, the long and short of it is usually: the more qubits you have the more errors you get. The new research hopes to alleviate that by creating a new way to handle qubit operations, thus allowing gate-based quantum computer systems to scale.
what all this means
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each team was able to build a distinct, silicon-based, two-qubit quantum computing system capable of operating with greater than 99% accuracy
silicon-based, two-qubit quantum computing system able to operate with >99% accuracy
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