2016 ICT4D Conference

Mobile phones have radically impacted people's lives all across the globe. Over half of the world's population uses a mobile service. In fact, the wider network coverage, along with the improvement of the quality of service has contributed to a higher mobile use, which has eventually impacted economic growth in both developed and emerging countries. By 2020, 80% of all mobile phones will be in emerging markets where impact in people’s lives goes a step further. Since mobile is a leapfrogging technology for a vast majority of people in emerging markets, it is their only connected tool. It offers them the opportunity to access educational content, increase their income, live healthier lives, and set higher standards of living.

The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator is a Mobile for Development programme with three main objectives:
Ensuring mobile operators' assets are more accessible to innovators to attract the most relevant innovations,
Funding innovators through an Innovation Fund to stimulate new products and services that leverage mobile technology for socio-economic impact in a commercially sustainable manner,
Facilitating operator-innovator partnerships to help innovative services reach scale.

After introducing the programme, this interactive session will focus on answering 3 main questions:
Why should start-ups/social enterprises collaborate?
What can mobile operators bring to the table?
How can start-ups/social enterprises and mobile operators partner effectively?