APCICT aims to assist the countries of the Asia-Pacific region in achieving the internationally agreed development goals and, ultimately, in reducing poverty through creating an enabling environment for countries to access information and knowledge of IT, which is vital for socioeconomic development, as Mr. Siva Thampi, Chief, Information, Communication and Space Technology Division and Acting Director, APCICT, recently pointed out in his inaugural speech.
The establishment of a new ICT training center like APCICT is very timely for the least developed and island developing countries of Asia and the Pacific in terms of IT development, the newly inaugurated Mr. Thampi, Acting Director of APCICT, noted in a special interview with The Korea IT Times, adding that Korea can share its prowess and advanced technology with them, as a regional and global IT power.
IT development's polarization in Asia Pacific
In conjunction with this, Thampi first of all noted that there is a polarization in the Asia-Pacific region countries in terms of the imbalance in IT development.
In fact, as Thampi pointed out, the Asian and Pacific region presents the greatest contrast among countries in the areas of ICT development and application, saying, "While certain countries in the region are global leaders like South Korea and India in some areas of ICT development, some are still struggling to provide basic telecommunications infrastructure to their citizens, as is being seen in the least underdeveloped countries in terms of IT development."
Thampi continued, "Also, many regional countries lack skilled human resources to use ICT," adding that in the knowledgebased society, countries need to access the right information at the right time to participate and reap the benefits of globalization." In a nutshell, APCICT is to promote the use of ICT for socio-economic development by increasing digital opportunities within the overall framework of the work program of the Information, Communication and Space Technology Division (ICSTD) of UNESCAP. By virtue of such needs, the center will offer 6~8 courses to about 120 persons annually, according to the staffs involved in its training courses.
Each course will invite 15~20 persons for training sessions varying from a week to 4~5 weeks, depending upon the type of course. APCICT staffs involved in its training courses explained that all expenses will be covered by the center and especially, participants will have an opportunity to visit ICT-associated research institutes or labs to experience the state-of-the-art technology and attends lectures.
In addition to local experts from universities and research institutions, experts from international organizations and the private sector will be invited to provide their knowledge and expertise, Thampi explained regarding the training center's operating plan.
It is said that all curricula will be developed in close consultation with domestic and international experts including professors, policymakers and technicians, plus a periodic evaluation to be conducted in order to improve the program.
Thampi also added that training research and advisory services on ICT human resources development will be conducted and provided. Training and advisory programs are supported by analytical research related to human resources development in ICT, including ICT trends, training needs assessment in the region, good practices on human resources development and training methods to make the training program demand-driven and up-to-date with the latest ICT technology and training methodology.
Korea's fragile software industry
With regard to the strong and weak point of the Korean IT industries from an outsider's perspective like Thampi, who arrived in Korea just recently, the Acting Director advises that in order for the Korean IT industry to develop one notch higher, it needs to pursue balanced-development, pointing out that Korea is strong in the hardware field, but shows its fragility in the software segment.
In view of this, he said that it is desirable that Korea refers to India's experience, in which the country is flourishing as a software power globally, for instance by setting up many call centers to help deal with labor problems, etc. for multinational corporations with excellent language skills. As regards the Korean government's ambitious u-IT839 strategy, Thampi added, "We want to share such a vision, adding that in particular, in connection with Korean government's DMB or WiBro spread efforts globally, Asia Pacific regional countries also would very welcome Korea's such attempts.
About the significance of the establishment of APCICT, Mr. Thampi summarized once again: "The widening global digital divide has drawn much attention from the international community. The Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000 and the outcome of the Millennium Summit in 2005 regarded ICT as an important means for sustainable development."
In that regard, he underscored that APCICT's activity is significant in the coming months and years, referring to the fact that the Tokyo Declaration also urged regional and global cooperation for bridging the digital divide.
In addition, the Acting Director commented: "The Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) also emphasized the importance of individual as well as institutional capacitybuilding and urged the United Nations and its specialized agencies to promote international and regional cooperation in related fields."
In a nutshell, he concluded: "The center aims to create an ICT-ready environment through capacity building programs such as ICT training, training consulting and research like outlined below."
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