ORGANIZACION DE LOS ESTADOS AMERICANOS
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
Comisión Interamericana de Telecomunicaciones
Inter-American Telecommunication Commission
XXI MEETING OF PERMANENT CONSULTATIVE
COMMITTEE I: TELECOMMUNICATIONS/
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES
September 11 to 14, 2012
San Salvador, El Salvador
OEA/Ser.L/XVII.4.1
CCP.I-TIC/doc. XXXX/12
26 July 2012
Original: English
FOR THE WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION ASSEMBLY 2012 (WTSA-12):
PROPOSED NEW RESOLUTION
Stimulating further participation of academia, universities and
their associated research establishments in the work of ITU-T 1
(Item on the Agenda: X.X.X)
(Document submitted by the delegation of Brazil )
1
Note of the Secretariat : Document received after August 11, 2012. Extension of deadline ad referendum of
the decision of the XXI meeting of this Committee.
CITEL, 1889 F ST. NW., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006, U.S.A.
TEL: +1 202 458 3004 FAX: +1 202 458 6854 e-mail: citel@oas.org
Web page: http://citel.oas.org
Considering that the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2012 (WTSA-12) has
been already scheduled to take place from 20 to 29 November 2012, in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates;
Considering that the Americas Region WTSA-12 Preparatory Meeting was held on September
2012, in San Salvador, El Salvador, aiming at coordinating the views of the region on issues
considered to be of particular relevance for consolidation and presentation as regional proposals
at the WTSA-12;
Considering that the Brazilian Administration presented at the Americas Region WTSA-12
Preparatory Meeting some preliminary views, identifying appropriate actions and references for
the review of Resolutions approved by the WTSA-08;
The Brazilian Administration hereby presents its contribution for proposes a new Resolution
with the objective of further promoting the participation of the academic community from ITU’s
Member States.
1
Introduction
The participation of Academia on the activities of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization
Sector (ITU-T) has been shown to be fairly effective and advantageous for both sides. ITU-T can
count on motivated professors and students that are avid to further develop their research work
and the Academia, in its turn, has the opportunity to exchange experiences with worldwide
experts and keep itself updated with the latest technology trends in telecommunications.
The Brazilian Administration believes that the academic environment is a conducive space for
research development on matters under discussion in ITU-T and sees in the Academia
participation an opportunity to leverage the development of telecommunication and information
technology sector.
Moreover, academic research on telecommunications should always take into consideration the
standards and regulations already established by ITU-T, since it should be harmonized with
technology development around the world, besides being responsive to market’s needs.
However, academic participation in ITU-T is frequently hampered due to the production
requirements imposed by R&D funding agencies of the Member States, especially in developing
countries. Those agencies usually demand researchers’ time and effort on many productivity
items that do not value contributions to international standardization bodies in their mechanisms
to evaluate the scientific production of a researcher or institution.
This contribution proposes mechanisms to increase visibility of significant contribution to the
development of standards, which could make standards development count towards the
production objectives required of academia.
2
Background
CITEL, 1889 F ST. NW., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006, U.S.A.
TEL: +1 202 458 3004 FAX: +1 202 458 6854 e-mail: citel@oas.org
Web page: http://citel.oas.org
ITU has been encouraging and easing Academia membership, seeking to set up a broader forum
for discussions on established and innovative technologies. In this sense, ITU has already
introduced a new membership category for Academia, Universities and Associated Research
Establishments.
In this sense, by Resolution 71 (Johannesburg, 2008), ITU resolved to instruct the Director of the
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau to explore and recommend various mechanisms,
such as the use of voluntary financial and in-kind contributions, to encourage cooperation
between ITU-T and academia, universities and their associated research establishments, as well
as any possible additional modalities to facilitate their greater participation in the work of the
Sector and to invite the ITU Council to consider the admission of academic institutions,
universities and their associated research establishments in the work of ITU-T as Sector
Members or Associates, at a reduced level of financial contribution, particularly academic
institutions of developing countries.
Nevertheless, even though there are more than 45 academia members in ITU today, effective
Academia participation in ITU-T is still low, considering the total number of contributions from
all membership categories.
On the other hand, productivity of academic researchers is constantly evaluated for many
purposes, which include the assessment of undergraduate and graduate programs of their
institutions, the approval of their project proposals by funding agencies and their career
progression.
This production evaluation, which usually takes the form of scoring items that include books,
papers and patents published, courses taught, thesis advisor roles, and research projects
accomplished, usually does not take into consideration the authorship of contributions to ITU-T
nor the editorship of study group deliverables such as Recommendations, Supplements and
Technical Papers.
This way, the effort applied to write and present contributions to ITU-T does not count towards
grants and career progression for Academia members, which may be obliged to prioritize other
activities in order to meet the requirements imposed for the evolution on their careers.
Further incentive mechanisms are therefore necessary to make key standardization processes
such as contribution and editorship more attractive to Academia members.
3
Proposal
Brazil proposes a new Resolution with the objective of further promoting the participation of the
academic community from ITU’s Member States.
In Brazilian Administration’s opinion, ITU should act closely to its Member States and their
respective agencies that formulate public policies in the areas of education, science & technology
and industry & commerce, in order to:
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Highlight the importance of contributions to and editorship of ITU’s standardization
documents;
Highlight that contributions and documents go through intense revision and discussion in a
forum composed of experts from telecommunication leading companies and institutions;
Request their consideration for the inclusion of contributions and editorships in their list for
R&D productivity analysis.
Moreover, the Brazilian Administration suggests that ITU-T modify the publication procedures
for its standardization documents, including Recommendations, by acknowledging somewhere in
each document detailed information about its editorship and main contributors, so that the
needed identification is kept for the purpose of productivity analysis.
In this sense, the Brazilian Administration proposes the following new Resolution:
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DRAFT RESOLUTION
Stimulating further participation of academia, universities and their associated research
establishments in the work of ITU-T
(Dubai, 2012)
The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (Dubai, 2012),
considering
a)
that ITU’s Standardization Sector (ITU-T) has been encouraging and easing the
membership of Academia, Universities and associated research establishments, seeking to set up
a broader forum for discussions on established and innovative technologies;
b)
that the participation of Academia, Universities and associated research establishments in
ITU-T is still low, considering the total number of contributions from all sectors;
c)
that the productivity of professionals from Academia, Universities and associated
research establishments is constantly evaluated for many purposes, which includes the
assessment of undergraduate and graduate programs of their institutions, the approval of their
project proposals by funding agencies and their career progression;
d)
that, in general, the productivity evaluation of professionals from Academia, Universities
and associated research establishments takes the form of scoring items that include books, papers
and patents published, courses taught, thesis advisor roles and research projects accomplished;
e)
and that neither the authorship of contributions to ITU-T documents nor the editorship of
recommendations and technical papers are considered for the productivity evaluation of
professionals from Academia, Universities and associated research establishments.
resolves to instruct the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
1
to promote the value of active participation by Academia members into the ITU
standardization activities by acting closely with its Member States and their respective agencies
that formulate public policies in the areas of education, science & technology, and industry &
commerce, in order to i) highlight the importance of contributions to and editorship of ITU’s
study group deliverables; ii) highlight that contributions and documents go through intense
revision and discussion in a forum composed of experts from telecommunication leading
companies and institutions; and iii) request their consideration for the inclusion of participation
in to the contributory process and editorships in their list of eligible activities for R&D
productivity analysis.
2
to include in the layout of Recommendations and other ITU-T publications, a clear
acknowledgement of the significant contributors to the development of such publications (e.g.
editorship, authorship of significant contributions, etc.).
3
to define, in consultation with the ITU membership and Academia, objective criteria that
will guide study groups in identifying such significant contributions.
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