The conference "Digital Inclusion: Accelerating Global Participation & Access through "Open" ICT Standards" opened in Rio de Janeiro just before the second Internet Governance Forum.

The conference in Rio is one of the Standards Edge conferences aimed at providing a forum that brings together decision makers from across geographical and industrial boundaries to discuss how the digital world can evolve with the help of a strengthened ICT standardization system. The speaker expertise featured in this conference series provides an opportunity to learn about key topics around standardization. More importantly, the conferences facilitate collaboration among those not likely to meet in their everyday lives.

The Rio conference is highly interactive, it examines how open standardization can enable all stakeholders to participate in the benefits and governance of the digital world. It is driven by the following global changes:

• Developing economies are predicted to contribute 50% to the growth in world trade by 2030
• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for the majority of businesses in regions such as Europe and South America
• Consumers will come to rely more heavily on the digital world for jobs, government services, education, and healthcare

Expert panelists participate in four areas:

• Digital Inclusion and Literacy through Open Standards
• Increasing Accessibility to Government Services and Social Programs through Open Standards
• Balanced Representation in ICT Standardization
• International Market Influence

The conference agenda is available at http://www.thebolingroup.com/digitalinclusion/agenda.html.

IIS Chairman Yuri Hohlov and General Director Tatiana Ershova attend the conference.