1. Cities in the digital, innovation and knowledge age 1.1 A journey that began in 2005
The Second World Summit on the Information Society The II World Summit of Local Authorities on the Information Society held in November 2005 in Bilbao, was part of an overall reflection process on the Information Society led by the UN, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which arose from the belief that the use of New Information and Communication Technologies is a universal right that should be available to everyone.
The importance of this World Summit lies in the fact that, for the first time in UN history, the private sector and civil society, including local authorities, were allowed to participate in a World Summit, where until recently only states could participate. The Bilbao Summit enabled us to establish the position of Local Authorities in a Declaration and a Plan of Action that were subsequently presented at the conclusion of the second phase of the "World Summit on the Information Society" (Tunis, 16‐18 November 2005), to share experiences and knowledge and to demonstrate the central role that can be played by Local Authorities to bring the Information Society to all people. The Bilbao Summit was also supported by the UN through UNITAR, and by a range of organisations, such as United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Citynet, eris@, CALRE, Global Cities Dialogue, FLACMA, the European Commission, the Committee of the Regions, the Digital Solidarity Fund, etc.
The Bilbao World Summit sought to overcome the "digital divide" with the support of local authorities, who best know the needs of the their citizens. During the Summit, more than 2,000 local authorities met to define a common strategy on the Information Society and to work for full access to the information society in their cities and regions.
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