UN teams up with academics to accelerate emerging tech trends
09 September 2025
Image: International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
The United Nations’ agency for digital technologies is collaborating with academia to gain insights into upcoming technology shifts.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is strengthening its collaboration with the academic community, engaging a group of professors, scholars and researchers to gather insights on emerging technology trends worldwide.
The new Academic Advisory Body on Emerging Technologies will feed timely research into the organisation’s work enabling global communications.
Additionally, the 26-member group should boost long-standing collaboration between ITU and the global academic community.
ITU – the United Nations’ agency for digital technologies – relies on academic insights to keep ahead of accelerating innovation. The last ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) recognised the value of consultations with academia, with the ITU Journal and various other activities supporting this aim.
The latest initiative is the new Academic Advisory Body, which brings together leading experts from different world regions to examine how emerging technologies can best serve society.
“By convening top academic minds, ITU is reinforcing its commitment to fostering technology research and innovation across the globe,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin.
“This new initiative will help us anticipate technological shifts, understand their societal impact, and ensure that emerging technologies serve the greater good.”
Enhancing ITU’s strategic foresight
The Academic Advisory Body is set to produce informative policy briefs and forward-looking analyses on the evolving role and impact of innovation.
Diverse regional perspectives, combined with a multidisciplinary approach, aim to reflect both the global realities and the varied local contexts that shape future technology usage.
“Together, we are shaping a future where innovation is inclusive, responsible, and aligned with global needs,” Bogdan-Martin said.
ITU invited the initial 26 advisory body members based on their expertise, contributions, and impact in the field of emerging technologies. All of them hold current academic positions or are affiliated with leading universities and research institutes.
The group represents a broad and balanced range of disciplines, combining policy and law acumen with specialist expertise on artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies, space sciences, and other growing fields related to ITU’s work to enable global communications.
Members will serve for an initial two-year term.