Page 5 - SAMENA Trends - August 2019

EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS

Materializing the Digital Agenda

The world - all of us - need to come together innovation-led sustainability across economic
to build a better, sustainable future that sectors, which are ready to benefit from
benefits everyone, including the 49% still not advanced communications technologies, and
connected. A specialized focus on promoting contributions in which can be readily made
and physically enabling digitization could help by the large human resource that exists in the
create such a future. region. In the age intelligent connectivity and
autonomous learning, artificial intelligence is a
Taking inspiration from the Digital Agenda game-changer for all economic sectors. Given
for Europe (DAE), which is just one of seven our region’s focus on 5G, and to define revenue-
flagship initiatives launched under the Europe rich use-cases for 5G, it is important that we
2020 ten-year strategy proposed by the look at some immediately implementation use
European Commission nearly a decade ago cases for AI as well. It will require intra and
for advancing the economy of the European inter-sector collaboration and coordination,
Union, we can enable the SA-ME-NA region and expertise to translate theory into reality. Bocar A. BA
Chief Executive Officer &
to achieve a smart, sustainable, inclusive, Board Member
and digitally-driven economy, founded on Over a a decade ago, Administrations adopted SAMENA Telecommunications
coordination and collaboration in accelerating a first set of principles to move forward in the Council
digitization. As with DAE, the ultimate aim digital, Internet-driven world. This has made
of any digital agenda should be to harness it possible to identify emerging topics and
modern technologies, including the latest catalyzing co-operation among the relevant
wireless broadband and allied innovations, to stakeholders. Now in 2019, entering 2020,
allow the region to achieve socio-economic we are in need for rethinking on many fronts
growth through the creation of jobs, raising and take into account a myriad of new and
standards of living, and improving both lives emerging challenges, including those linked
and business environments. directly to use-cases of 5G. New ecosystems
and new participants have emerged, and a new
The impact of digitization, having been voiced genre of complexities and sustainability issues
by SAMENA Council for several years now, have surfaced - not to mention changing (or
spans a multitude issues, benefits, challenges, some may say, receding) world economic
and growth prospects. At the SA-ME-NA dynamics.
regional level, digitization has been on the rise
as is evident from a diverse series of national Implementing a well-defined digital agenda
ICT visions and tangible actions by policy- requires strengthening cooperation and better
makers and regulatory authorities of the region. coordination on digital governance systems.
Such national ICT visions have directly also Fulfillment of digital agenda also requires that
created a path forward for the adoption and underlying obvious, and not so obvious, gaps
expansion of the 5G ecosystem. At the global are also pinpointed and addressed so that
level, however, we many need to consider better trust and stability prevails throughout; from
ways to define priorities, implement strategies, identification of processes and mechanisms
and to ensure effective cooperation between to implementation strategies, which should
the relevant stakeholders. This is where clarity be based the best-practice principles of
in the digital agenda comes into play. consensus-seeking, inclusiveness, co-
operation, encouraging innovation where it
There is an ever growing need to introduce truly matters, and aligning priorities.
more intelligence, efficiency, creativity, and

5 AUGUST 2019