ROLE OF INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATIONS IN SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT:
OUR EXPERIENCE
Sandro M. Radicella
Aeronomy and Radiopropagation
Laboratory
 Technological innovation

Technological innovation is essential for human

development.
From the printing press to the computer,
people have devised tools for facilitating
learning and communication.
Technology is not inherently good or bad, the
outcome depends on how it is used.
 Information and communications
technology
 Information and communications technology
(ICT) involves innovations in microelectronics,
computing (hardware and software), telecom-
munications and opto-electronics —micro-
processors,semiconductors, fibre optics.
 These innovations enable the processing and storage of
enormous amounts of information,along with rapid
distribution of information through communication
networks.
 The role of ICT
 It is accepted that telecommunication is a basic
infrastructure necessary for economic and social
development of a country.
 This is even becoming more strong than ever as
information related economic activities are growing.
 Information and communications technology may be
described as the support of the central nervous system
of complex societies, transmitting and processing
information and commands among the various parts of
such societies.
 Internet plays a fundamental function in ICT role
 Benefits from ICT
Information and communications technology carries on high promise both
in human and economic terms.
Benefits could be obtained in:
 Education

 Job training

 Health care

 Food security

 Environment management

 Government efficiency

And specifically in Science and Technology:

 Speed up dissemination of scientific results world-wide through

scientific knowledge sharing and exchange

 Allows to set up of Virtual Labs for communications and remote

instrument control
 Rapid evolution of ICT
 Predictions indicate the doubling of computing power
every 18 –24 months and the doubling of
communications power every 6 months.
months Both are
accompanied by huge reductions in costs and massive
increases in speed and quantity.
 In 2001 more information can be sent over
a single cable in a second than in 1997 was sent
over the entire Internet in a month.
Trends of ICT
Internet growth in developing and
emerging countries
 The digital devide
The distribution of Internet users
show uneven distribution in the
world.
Connecting a major portion of the
population is a challenge in
developing regions .
Limitations are the outdated public
telephone network and the
arbitrary high cost of the services.
To beat this problem, solutions
based on the most advanced
techniques but with accessible costs
have to be devised. Radio
technology represents in many
cases the solution.
The Internet users distribution
Hope for the future
 ICT and collaborative research
and innovation
 Thanks to ICT scientific research and innovation —the
original networked communication between
universities that allowed the birth of the
Internet —is increasingly collaborative between
institutions and countries.
 From 1995 –97, scientists in the United States
coauthored articles with scientists from 173 other
countries;scientists in Brazil with 114,in Kenya with
81,in Algeria 59.13
A Premise for Action at the
Abdus Salam ICTP
The growth of the ICT poses the challenge of providing
developing countries with an adequate way to be linked
with the rest of the world to avoid the risk of being cut out
from main stream of information flow.

The academic community is the obvious starting point for

these efforts that will permeate to the rest of society.

It is recognized that the underlying problem is the lack of

sufficient well qualified human resources able to handle
the new systems and technologies.
 The action at the Centre
• This premise motivated the Abdus Salam ICTP to
carry out Intensive Training Activities for
participants from developing countries and to
establish a Programme of Training and System
Development on Networking and
Radiocommunications with the collaboration of the
United Nations University.
University
• Both radio technology and computer networking
have been used to help building up the ability of
academic institutions in developing countries to
access ICT
 Training Activities
(milestones)
• 1989 -1st
- College on Theoretical and Experimental Radiopropagation Physics
( first of a series of biannual Colleges on the same topic)

• 1991-2nd
1991 College on Theoretical and Experimental Radiopropagation Physics
( with scientific and financial support from URSI)

• 1993-3rd
1993 College on Theoretical and Experimental Radiopropagation Physics
( first with financial support from URSI and ITU/BDT)

• 1993 to 1996-
1996 Activities cosponsored with ITU/BDT

• 1997-
1997 ICTP-URSI-ITU/BDT Workshop on the use of Radio for digital
communications in developing countries

• 1998-
1998 1st ICTP-URSI-ITU/BDT School on the use of Radio for digital
communications in developing countries ( its 5th yearly edition in 2002)
 The new Programme

The objective of the Programme of Training and

System Development on Networking and
Radiocommunications was to provide technical
assistance and training to academic and scientific
institutions in developing countries requesting help to
establish small area computer networks and their
connection to the Internet, either directly or through
national networks.
 Main Projects in Africa
1. Pilot project: computer network for education and research at the Obafemi
Awolowo University of Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Successfully completed by June 1996, with
the use of spread spectrum radio technology.
2. Intensive Training, in Trieste, with support of the World Bank, of 26 academic
network managers and 16 network engineers representing 26 Nigerian Universities,
December 1996.
3. Follow up training activity for the NUNet of Nigeria in Ile-Ife and Abuja, Nigeria, 6 -
27 October 1997. Staff from all the 40 Nigerian Universities were trained in
computer networking with the use of radio links.
4. Workshop on the use of Radio for Computer Networking at the University of Cape
Coast, Ghana, 31 August - 11 September 1998. Supported also by the United
Nations University (UNU) , the University of Cape Coast (UCC), and other local
organisations. A basic Radiocommunications Training Laboratory has been
implemented at the University of Cape Coast for this purpose.
5. Training Activity on Networking and Radiocommunications in Trieste,14
September- 4 December 1998,supported also by the United Nations University .
Participants were 14 scientists from Nigeria (7), Morocco (3), Angola (1), Senegal (1),
Cote d’Ivoire (1), Romania (1).
 Projects in Romania
1. Pilot project for the establishment of a full Internet Connectivity
between the National Institute for Material Physics located at the
Magurele Physics Platform and the node of the Polytechnic University of
Bucharest, Romania , successfully carried out during July 1997.
2. Seminar on Networking and Radiocommunication carried out in
Bucharest,Romania, 13-17 December 1999, co-Organized with the
University of Bucharest (CREDIS) and financed by the World Bank.
 Other activities

Since 2000 the group has been involved in

Training Activities and Technical Advise in the
use of radio for computer networking in Benin,
Peru, Romania, Sudan and Venezuela.
The group created also the S&T Collaborium
Initiative.
Thank you for your attention