Session Report

Report of 30th Session (24-25 APRIL 2018, ROME)

The 30th session of the ICT Network was hosted by the World Food Programme in Rome between 24 and 25 April, 2018. In total there were 50 participants, 9 of which connected remotely. This was the Network's third meeting in Rome (2004 and 2010) and the first time WFP has hosted the ICT Network. Many of the items on the agenda spoke to the challenges and possibilities before the UN system as a whole and highlighted the need to effectively and securely incorporate frontier technologies and adopt innovations to further both collective and individual aims. In summary, the meeting included a discussion on the outcomes of the seventh cybersecurity symposium; a demonstration from Microsoft on their new collaboration platform, Teams; insight into emerging technology trends from Gartner Group; a futuristic analysis of the AI landscape by Mr. Stephen Ibaraki; knowledge sharing items on tactical topics, including the implementation of identity federation on O365; a discussion regarding cloud strategy; and an update from the EOSG on the development of a UN system strategy on new technologies.