ITU Kaleidoscope Conference 2014

​ITU Kaleidoscope conference, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, 3-5 June 2014

Living in a converged world - impossible without standards? is the sixth in a series of peer-reviewed academic conferences organized by ITU that bring together a wide range of views from universities, industry and research institutions. The aim of Kaleidoscope conferences is to identify emerging developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and, in particular, areas in need of international standards to support the development of successful products and services.

Given the belief that future technologies should be designed to enhance quality of life, Kaleidoscope 2014 will highlight the need for future standards for ICT services and applications to take into account aspects of socio-economic, cultural, ethical, legal and sustainable-development policy. The event will also pinpoint aspects to increase the inclusivity of the Information Society; addressing the demands of people with disabilities, and the need for standards to be accessible to people of different countries and languages.

Recognizing the steadily growing role of ICT in other social and economic sectors and the resulting challenges for global standards makers, ITU has begun forming partnerships with organizations not traditionally part of the ICT ecosystem in the interests of developing global standards tailored to new ICT-enabled services in other industry sectors.

Kaleidoscope 2014 will explore this new paradigm, looking at how the standards can bring these different worlds together and evolve in line with ensuing industrial and technological convergence.