It is not surprising that in today's world, digital business is emerging as a big business and is increasing with each passing year. The clearest evidence for this is at the macro-economic level, where the contribution of ICTs to the general economy has grown rapidly, regardless of falling prices. In 2005, The ICT market was worth more than $3 tn worldwide.

The forum at the expo provided a chance to discover how, what, when, and why the latest ICTs are going to affect our lives. Divided into three separate domains-digital lifestyle, digital ecosystems, and digital society-the forum took a 360° approach of technology in every sphere. The digital ecosystems focused on the supply side of the industry and on the development of efficient business models whereas the digital society looked at the challenges for stakeholders in maintaining a transparent regulatory environment to build an information society. Hot topics included mobile, wireless, broadband, convergence, next-generation networks, multiple play, on-demand services, user-generated content and personalized services.

In conjunction with the Forum, ITU organized a one-day event on "Countering Spam Cooperation Agenda". Key international and regional organizations participated in the event to discuss greater collaborative efforts to combat spam and related threats as presently spam contribute around 90% of email messages.

Another interesting aspect of Telecom World was the Youth Forum where 240 young people from 131 countries converged and developed mentor relationships with senior members of the ICT sector-government officials, industry executives, technology leaders, content providers and strategists.

Innovation was certainly the buzzword in the Digital Life Theatre (DLT), a dedicated stage where futuristic visions of the digital world were presented. The themes explored at the DLT included mobile TV, creating a superior customer experience, digital networking, future communication, optimizing user experience, and creating, sharing, and distributing content. The winners of Digital Life are Ericsson (digital life at home), Motorola (digital life at the office), Lucent Technologies (digital Life in the media of entertainment), and Teldata (digital life in society).

Despite stiff competition where six countries had applied to host the world event in 2009, two withdrew their offer during the process. Among the four finalists-Birmingham (National Exhibition Center), Dubai (Jebel Ali Exhibition Center), Geneva (Palexpo), and Paris Nord (le Parc des Expositions)-Geneva won the race for hosting the event. ITU has awarded World 2009 to Geneva in recognition and acknowledgement of the positive commitments made in their offer.

Pravin Prashant in Hong Kong
pravinp@cybermedia.co.in