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2023 Summit Program

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    Summit Schedule
    4th December 2023 – All Times Malaysian
    8:30AM to 9:00AMRegistration/Breakfast
    9:00AM to 9:15AMOpening Remarks from CTU Co-chairs – Ashutosh Dutta & Sudhir Dixit
    9:15AM to 9:35AMKeynote 1 – Benoit Pelletier (VmWare) & Bernard Duval (Mitacs)
    9:35 AM to 9:50 AMInvited Talk 1 – Mariela Machado Fantacchiotti (IEEE HTB) – Lessons learned on digital tech for impact & the role of IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board
    9:50 AM to 10:40 AMPanel 1 – Infrastructure, Connectivity & Global Challenges
    Moderator – Anwar Faizd
    Panelists – Alexandra Tyers-Chowdhury, Yeo Khee Xiong, Kamal Hisham Kamaruddin, and Muhammad Ramlee Kamarudin
    10:40 AM to 11:00 AMCoffee Break 1
    11:00 AM to 11:15 AMInvited Talk 2 – Sumei Sun (Institute for Infocomm Research) – From 5G to 6G: Toward Ubiquitous and Sustainable Digitalization
    11:15 AM to 11:55 AMCTU Challenge Winners (10 Mins Each)

    Best Overall Proof of Concept – Carlos Oba
    Best Overall Concept Only – Kimmie Weeks
    Best Overall Gender Inclusion – Lusambya Milemo
    Best Overall Gender Inclusion #2 & 2nd Place Community Enablement Proof of Concept- Joaquin Wray
    11:55 AM to 12:45 PMPanel 2 – Envisioned Business Models & Emerging Technologies and Applications for CTU
    Moderator – Periklis Chatzimisios
    Panelists – Narendra Mangra, Jishnu Aravindakshan, Dr Navaneethan Arjuman and Karim Rifai Burneo
    12:45 PM to 1:00 PMLightning Talks (5 Mins Each)
    Michael Brough (M2Catalyst)
    Ellie Joo (Taara GoogleX)
    Dr.Ishkandar Baharin (IEEE ENT)
    1:00 PM to 2:00 PMLUNCH BREAK
    2:00 PM to 2:05 PMLightning Talks (5 Mins Each)
    Dr Navaneethan Arjuman
    2:05 PM to 2:55 PMCTU Challenge Winners – 1st Place Winners (8 Mins Each)

    1st Place Proof of Concept Business Models – Grant McNulty
    1st Place Proof of Concept Community Enablement – Minh Ngo
    1st Place Proof of Concept Technology Applications – Gonzalo Yrigoyen
    1st Place Concept Only Business Models – Jeremiah Madhol Ater
    1st Place Concept Only Community Enablement – Augustina Okpechi
    1st Place Concept Only Technology Applications & Best Overall From Canada – Kim Khoa Nguyen
    2:55 PM to 3:15 PMKeynote 2 – Adrian Wan (Internet Society)
    3:15 PM to 3:30 PMCTU Challenge Winners – 1st Place Winners (8 Mins Each)

    1st Place Concept Only Technology Applications – Navrati Saxena
    Best Gender Inclusion Runner Up – George Musumba
    3:30 PM to 4:00 PMCoffee Break 2
    4:00 PM to 4:20 PMCTU Challenge Winners – 2nd Place Winners (5 Mins Each)


    2nd Place Proof of Concept Business Models – Tao Zhou
    2nd Place Proof of Concept Technology Applications – Soraya Fouladi
    2nd Place Concept Only Business Models & Special Prize Gender Inclusion – Oleg Missikoff
    2nd Place Concept Only Community Enablement – Abhimanyu Pandey
    4:20 PM to 5:10 PMPanel 3 – Policy & Regulatory Issues / Standards: Opportunities & Challenges
    Moderator – Fawzi Behmann
    Panelists – Abdul Karim Abdul Razak, RangaRao Venkatesha Prasad, Henri Nyakarundi and Ivan Seskar
    5:10 PM to 5:25 PMInvited Talk 3 – Ellisha Heppner (APNIC)
    5:25 PM to 5:45 PMKeynote 3 – Steven Rynecki (USAID)
    5.45PM to 6.00pmClosing Remarks from CTU Co-chairs – Ashutosh Dutta & Sudhir Dixit

    2023 IEEE Connecting the
    Unconnected Summit

    Closing the gender digital divide

    The 2023 IEEE Connecting the Unconnected Summit will be the first in-person instance of our event! Please plan to join us on 4 December 2023 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as we co-locate the CTU Summit with IEEE Globecom, one of the IEEE Communications Society’s flagship conferences dedicated to driving innovation in nearly every aspect of communications.

    While we will provide options for remote registration and viewing for those who cannot travel, our goal is to convene as many in-person participants as possible to encourage networking, inspiration and knowledge sharing in a way that only physical events can.

    The speaker and attendee list will feature innovators, regulators, multinational companies, standards-setting bodies, and nonprofits dedicated to Internet connectivity and inclusion. As with prior versions of the event, attendees can expect a robust program of keynotes, invited talks, panels, and presentations from winners of the IEEE Connecting the Unconnected Challenge.

    CTU 2023 Theme:
    Closing the gender digital divide

    Persistent gender-based inequalities in how women access, integrate with, and are empowered by digital technology have profound effects on their lives. As countries continue to digitize, the ongoing exclusion of women from online spaces will widen economic and gender inequality, which will limit inclusive sustainable development. For women who have managed to secure access to digital technology, a new set of challenges and harms await them online: harassment and hate speech; poor-quality services; exploitative business practices; algorithmic bias; data abuses; fraud; and technology-facilitated gender-based violence. 

    Closing the gender digital divide will require local solutions that address the persistent social norms and barriers preventing low-income women and girls from using technology to improve their lives and do so in a safe and secure manner. Solvers working at the local level often struggle to find flexible, right-sized funding that can enable their work without being overly burdensome to manage. For this reason, IEEE has partnered with USAID to focus the 2023 CTU Challenge and Summit on supporting hyper-local solutions targeted to the unique needs of women, girls, and other traditionally marginalized populations. 

    For background information, please read USAID’s Gender Digital Divide Primer.