Have your say! The meetings are free and open to anyone interested or working in mobile applications, but participants must register first. The focus group discussions will be held:
- In Tbilisi, Georgia on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM at the World Bank country office (5A, Ist Drive Chavchavadze Ave., Tbilisi 380 079). To take part, please register online at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/865985185
- In Kiev, Ukraine on Thursday, October 07, 2010 from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM at the World Bank country office (1, Dniprovskiy Uzviz , 2nd Floor, 01010 Kiev). To take part, please register online at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/866253989
The mobile applications labs are a key part of the multi-year program Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy. The €12.9 million program of Finland, Nokia and infoDev focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of emerging market SMEs in information and communication technologies (ICT) and agribusiness. The mobile application laboratories will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in this emerging field. The labs will offer training and accreditation, certification, a competition for ideas, replication and scaling up of successful ideas, mentoring of developers and act as a repository for knowledge of application case studies. The labs will be complemented by social networking to help identify promising new applications.
The sessions will bring together mobile applications developers, mobile operators and other stakeholders for a brainstorming of ideas surrounding the creation of the lab. The sessions will be animated by Tim Kelly, Lead ICT Policy Specialist at infoDev. The aim is to seek inputs from participants on a series of questions, including:
- Does the ECA region need a mobile application laboratory?
- What services should it provide?
- Where should it be located?
- What existing initiatives are currently being implemented in this field?
- Which applications are likely to prove successful in the ECA region?
- Which partners should be involved in the lab activities?
- What would be the measure of success?
For more information about the infoDev- Finland - Nokia partnership program, please visit: /en/Topic.28.html
For more information about the focus groups, contact Tim Kelly at tkelly@worldbank.org
Please register online at:
- http://www.eventbrite.com/event/865985185 (Tbilisi, Georgia on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM)
- http://www.eventbrite.com/event/866253989 (Kiev, Ukraine on Thursday, October 07, 2010 from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM)