"Information summit's main success was idea sharing"

Read the full SciDev.Net article about the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) co-sponsored by UNESCO and ITU.

"The summit's best outcomes were that the 20,000 delegates broadly agreed that information and communication technologies are vital to development, and that they embraced new ideas for bridging the digital divide.

"Although the summit has not fully resolved any of the "knotty issues" up for discussion, writes Jain (Indian journalist Amit Jain, writing for BBC Online), it has 'enabled the various sectors striving to bridge the digital divide to find ways to collaborate'.

Jain concludes that, 'the most effective exchange of ideas doesn't necessarily take place in lofty academic discussions, it's the chance encounters … that may lead to the most creative outcomes.'