Seven drivers can help close the digital innovation gap to boost prosperity and well-being globally
By Sonia Meetes, Cyber Era NG Special Correspondent, Switzerland
The Global Innovation Forum held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) between 28 and 30 October has identified key ways to help close the “digital innovation gap.”
The suggested approaches, focusing on critical factors from expanding collaboration to attracting investment, are meant to spur sustainable economic growth and find solutions to pressing societal challenges through accelerated, and localized, technology innovation.
“No one can be left lagging behind due to a lack of access to digital tools and resources,” said President of Malta, H.E. Myriam Spiteri Debono who opened the Forum. “It is pertinent that access to information technology and digital tools should be made available to everyone, everywhere.”
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, progress is unevenly distributed, leading to a pronounced gap in digital innovation capacity among different countries and regions around the world.
The three-day Global Innovation Forum, held in Valletta, Malta, emphasized the importance of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and capacity building to bridge the innovation gap and advance socio-economic development.
“Digital innovation is a driving force behind economic progress, sustainable development and solving societal challenges,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “The Global Innovation Forum has helped identify how we can close the digital innovation gap to ensure that people and planet benefit from the transformative power of technology.”
How to boost digital innovation
The event brought together nearly 500 participants, including 27 Ministers and Deputy Ministers, along with other high-level officials from government, the private sector and the United Nations system. Participants came from 64 countries.
Forum participants identified several key drivers that can help countries champion digital innovation:
- Projects that attract investment and leverage cross-sector collaboration.
- South-South and triangular cooperation in the area of open technology innovation.
- Building innovation capabilities within communities to envision and shape people’s future.
- Fostering youth resilience and ecosystems supportive to local entrepreneurship.
- Agile, anticipatory and cross-sectoral polices aligned with the evolving digital landscape.
- Availability of entrepreneurship networking opportunities and readiness for growth funding that enable startups and small-medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Establishment of an Expert Network by the Digital Innovation Board of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development.
Organized by ITU, the UN agency for digital technologies, the Global Innovation Forum strengthened global and regional partnerships for inclusive and sustainable digital development.
Malta’s Ministry for Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects hosted the discussions.
“It is an honour that ITU has chosen Malta to host the Global Innovation Forum; it is a testament to how far we have come as a nation in establishing ourselves at the forefront of digital innovation,” said Minister for Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects and Chair of the 2024 ITU Global Innovation Forum H.E. Silvio Schembri. “It highlights not only our commitment to advancing cutting-edge technologies but also our vision for a digital future that is both inclusive and prosperous. Through events like this, Malta reaffirms its dedication to fostering an ecosystem where innovation and collaboration thrive, and every citizen can benefit from the opportunities it brings.”
“At the Global Innovation Forum, leaders, policy-makers and innovators have collaborated to share ground-breaking ideas and actionable strategies to foster digital innovation,” said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. “The Forum served as a platform to shape transformative policy ideas, share best practices in supporting startups and small business growth, nurture innovative digital clusters and connect them to global innovation networks. I would like to thank the Government of Malta, a champion of digital transformation through innovation, for hosting this flagship event and I am pleased that consultations on the development of a report on the Malta’s innovation landscape began at the event.”
Digital Innovation Board
The second meeting of the Digital Innovation Board of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development, held during the Forum, endorsed the establishment of an Expert Network. This collaborative community will conduct foresight studies around trends, research readiness, open technology innovation, entrepreneurship and SME growth, policy experimentation, and ecosystem initiatives acceleration.
The foresight study series will be part of the inputs to the next ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 17 to 28 November 2025.
The Board comprises representatives from governments, private sector, civil society, academia, and the technical community. See the Board’s composition.
Awards for innovative start-ups
Three digital start-ups received the Global Innovation Forum Award in recognition of their efforts to advance digital innovation in their communities and beyond.
The award winners are:
Mais Taha, MTiPX (Malta), in the Digital Changemaker category for driving local change and addressing community challenges through innovation;
MACRA, Muuni Fund, ICT Research and Innovation Fund (Malawi), in the Ecosystem Practice category for fostering entrepreneurship and building supportive ecosystems for innovation;
Dr. Teddy Nalwanji, Bulamu Bridge AI Technologies (Uganda), in the OpenTech4Impact category for leveraging open-source solutions to address pressing social, environmental, and economic issues.
CAICT, SMEs Integration Innovation Platform (China) also received special recognition.
