e-Government:
ICT Applications Section has identified e-government as one of its priority areas of work. Through e-government, better services can be offered to citizens and constituencies as a means for increased transparency and improved efficiency and to empower citizens towards an improved participation in the policy making process. It supports the secretariat's efforts in capacity building in this application. More…

e-Business: The Plan of Action of the first phase of WSIS identified e-commerce/e-business as one of the cross-sectoral priority programmes. E-business is a powerful tool for enhancing productivity, increasing efficiency and improving the quality of the goods and services provided by both the public and private sectors, and enabling gender equality. In addition, it can facilitate and promote international trade and investment, thus contributing to the economic and social development of the Asia-Pacific region. The ICT Applications Section promotes the development of an enabling environment for e-business through the identification of good practices, success factors, and key issues. More…

Rural ICT Services: Appropriate delivery of ICT services to the rural population through Community e-Centres can provide opportunities to access information, communicate with others, conduct business, and participate in public activities. This can lead to improved knowledge and productivity necessary for long-term social and economic growth and sustainable development which in turn bridge the digital divide and alleviate poverty. ICT Applications Section has been implementing various technical cooperation projects related to rural ICT services, in collaboration with other international organizations such as Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and the private sector. More…

e-Learning: The Tokyo Declaration in 2003 of the Asia-Pacific preparatory conference for the WSIS calls for the promotion of the application of ICT for learning and knowledge sharing in the region. While the formal education system per se provides access to knowledge, its reach has been limited in disadvantaged parts of many developing countries, due to economic and human resource constraints and other factors. Interactive e-learning services network seem to be a promising tool in ensuring both cost-effectiveness and the minimum human resource requirements. More…

Knowledge Management: As the world moves into an increasingly globalised knowledge-based society, organizations and governments need to share knowledge through knowledge management. Knowledge management is a powerful way to increase productivity and connectivity. A key driver/catalyst of knowledge management is ICT. Due to resource constraints, many developing countries have difficulty in investing in effective ICT tools for knowledge management. There are various viable alternatives. The Section seeks to explore and conduct activities that benefit the developing countries in adopting cost-effective alternative ICT tools such as Open Source Software.