Highlights from the five-day training programme on digital transformation
On 1 – 5 July 2024, the first-ever International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Academy summer school was held at UNU-MERIT, titled ‘Catalysing the Digital Future: Digital transformation for sustainability’. This is the latest in a series of training activities that our Capacity Development Office has organised together with ITU, after UNU-MERIT officially became an ITU Academy Training Centre last year. The summer school was created at the request of ITU and supported by the EU Commission’s Global Gateway initiative.
The five-day training course, designed under the academic leadership of UNU-MERIT’s Associate Professor Dr. Lili Wang (with support from ITU’s project manager Angel Draev), attracted 20 participants from 19 countries, including Uganda, Maldives, Kyrgyzstan and Jordan, to name a few. The participants were all active in the broader field of digitalisation, and came from telecomms agencies, ministries, academia, regulators and the private sector.
Participants of the ITU/UNU-MERIT summer school, together with the organising team, teaching staff and UNU-MERIT’s Interim Director Clemens Kool.
The teaching programme covered four key thematic areas, each headed by different experts from UNU-MERIT:
- Digital emerging technologies and digital transformation (Lili Wang)
- Sustainable agriculture and digital farming (Jeremias Lachman)
- AI and sustainability (Lili Wang)
- Digital transformation and e-waste management (Maria Tomai)
Each day included a lecture, and one or two interactive sessions that sparked debate and peer learning.
Associate Professor Dr. Lili Wang at the school’s closing ceremony.
Throughout the week, a Digital Solution Exercise was implemented, guided by Praachi Kumar (PhD fellow at UNU-MERIT) and Mindel van de Laar (Head of UNU-MERIT’s Capacity Development Office). Upon arrival, participants were invited to design a poster around a relevant issue connected to digital transformation from within their national context. Each day, the content of the sessions was translated by the participants to key learnings that related to the individual issues they had chosen. During coffee breaks and designated sessions, participants were invited to review one another’s work, and to offer feedback and suggestions on how to develop their ideas further. On the last day, the participants pitched their posters and suggested solutions to the teaching staff and peers in a friendly competition, and the four selected top performers (Eduardo Alencar, Elif Selenay, Jhendra Samodra and Ronald Delgado) all received special recognition in the summer school’s closing ceremony. One of the winners, Eduardo Alencar (ANATEL / CEADI Brazil) shared: “The Digital Solution Exercise with the posters was particularly practical, and I was delighted to receive the award for the best pitch presentation among so many outstanding colleagues!”
Besides gaining new thematic knowledge, a major benefit of the week was the networking element among participants. During meals and a set of social events (including wine-tasting, a boat tour and city walk), all participants connected and informally shared their ideas and concerns related to their work in the field of digitalisation. As participant Rohit Mirpuri from Panama phrased it: “The best part was learning from diverse professionals worldwide who brought fresh ideas and innovative approaches to these challenges.”
UNU-MERIT’s Josh Tendai (left) receiving well-deserved recognition for their excellent coordination of the five-day programme from ITU’s project manager Angel Draev (right).
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Photos: H. Pijpers / UNU-MERIT | Maastricht University
