27 April 2016 – The IFIP World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) 2016 has received a global response to its Call for Papers with presenters from 23 different countries submitting papers for consideration.

With a focus on progressing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), WITFOR 2016 brings together hundreds of senior policy-makers, ICT experts, representatives of NGOs and GOs, researchers and private sector organizations to devise ways to use ICT to solve the problems of developing nations.

To be held in San Jose, Costa Rica from 12-14 September, 2016, WITFOR 2016 has taken the theme “ICT for Promoting Human Development and Protecting the Environment”.

Local Organising Chair, Gabriela Marin, said almost half of the papers came from Latin America, a further 25 per cent from Europe, around 10 per cent each from North America and Asia and the remainder was split between Africa and Oceania.

“We’ve had a strong showing from Costa Rican authors who are interested in presenting their ideas for solving local development challenges, with further support from other Latin American nations,” she said.

Ms Marin said around two thirds of papers are from developing nations while the remainder are from developed countries.  “By bringing together experts from both developed and developing nations, WITFOR 2016 offers a powerful platform for international cooperation and the sharing of ideas and solutions to common problems.”

Ms Marin also said that the number of authors per paper is relatively low, suggesting that most research groups are small and that there is room to invite collaborators from abroad.  “We hope that WITFOR 2016 may become the natural setting to foster the creation of international and interdisciplinary research groups,” she concluded.

Authors of accepted papers will be notified the first week of May, with the program due to be finalised later that month.

For more information about WITFOR 2016, visit http://www.witfor2016.org

ENDS

About IFIP

IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing, is the global professional federation of societies and associations for people working in Information and Communications Technologies and Sciences. Established under the auspices of UNESCO in 1960 and recognised by the United Nations, IFIP represents ICT professional associations from more than 50 countries and regions with a total membership of over half a million. It also brings together more than 3,500 scientists from industry and academia, organising them into over 100 Working Groups and 13 Technical Committees to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing. Based in Austria, IFIP organises and supports over 100 conferences each year, fostering the distribution of research and knowledge to academics and industry practitioners alike.


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