
The WFEO Committee on Engineering for Information & Communication” (WFEO-CIC) has set its objectives in the area of technological evolutions, in order to identify suitable technologies for sustainable development, especially in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Bali Action Plan. The CIC is hosted by the Institution of Engineers India (IEI) for the present term of 4 years, which will end in November 2023.
WFEO-CIC, a Standing Technical Committee of WFEO grossly dedicated to the field of “Information and Communication”, has the responsibility to push forward “ICT for Development” as its guiding line. The main duty of WFEO-CIC to help lead forward Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in order for it to be applied globally, and focuses on developing countries where narrowing the gap has become essential.
The CIC has the responsibility for fulfilling the tasks allocated by WFEO in accordance with the WSIS/WSSD Solutions and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Vision
As a Standing Technical Committee of WFEO grossly dedicated to the field of “Information and Communication”, WFEO-CIC has the responsibility to push forward “ICT for Development” as its guiding line.
The resolutions of WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development) and WSIS (World Summit on Information Society) have been the major embodiment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are also the major goals for the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the early decades of 21st Century.
“ICT for Development” has been commonly accepted as an important theme for implementing both the WSSD and WSIS resolutions and an organization named Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) has been set up by the United Nations.
Strategic and Action Plan
WFEO-CIC intends to provide continuity to the excellent work taken up by the outgoing Host and shall further strive for performing the following tasks as part of its activities during the First Year of its four-year term in India.
WFEO-CIC shall further strive for performing the following activities, which are quite relevant to the present-day international requirements, as part of the Committee’s Four-year Strategic Plan duly linked to overall WFEO Action Plan, during the rest of its first term :
-
- Analyzing worldwide accomplishments in using research data and ICTs and in developing open knowledge environments to reduce the digital research divide;
- Assessing future objectives and strategies of possible partnering agencies having common interests in the field, with special attention to post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and the ICSU’s Future Earth Research Programme in the developing countries;
- Developing detailed mechanism for implementation of the Principles of Preservation of and Open Access to Research Data in Developing Countries;
- Support to the activities of International Center of South-South Cooperation on Science, Technology and Innovation (ISTIC), UNESCO;
- Active collaboration and support to the ICT-related activities of Agreement societies of IEI;
- The implementation of a sustainable, world-wide Information Society and minimization of the digital gap between developed and developing countries;
- In accordance with the WSIS / WSSD Solutions and the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) :
- Making efforts to spread the knowledge concerning ICT so that more and more people, engineers in particular, understand why and how ICT can help in transferring the industrial / agricultural societies into information society.
- Trying to make contributions to the Internet governance led by IGF, a global platform set up by the United Nations in 2006, so that the Internet can be more trustable, more securable, more peaceful, and more constructive to human beings.
- Making efforts to address important issues raised in the 2012 WSIS Forum and other relevant issues, the following being given special emphasis :
- ICT for Sustainable Development
- ICT Skills and Careers
- ICT Innovation in Emerging Economies
- Information Technologies for Smart Cities
- ICTs for Inclusive Growth
- Women and Girls in ICTs
- ICT in Quality of Engineering Education including MOOCS
- e-Governance for Engineering Organizations
- Cyber Security and Mitigation System
- Big Data Analytics
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- ICT for Healthcare