Building the Infrastructure
Currently, one of the most widely used indicators to appreciate the development level of a certain country is the capability of its citizens to be connected and access the Internet. 10 years ago they said that the difference between rich countries and poor countries will be defined in a near future by the capability of its citizens to access information. This prediction was underestimating because the current development of Information Technology and Communications, the second generation of Web and the network application permit people facilities and services unimaginable some years ago that can improve their knowledge, heath, business and, in one word, their quality of live.
But, once again, the level of implementation and use of these new technologies is not homogeneous because they depend on the network infrastructure of each country or area. This inequality is evident not only among different countries but also in regions or areas of a same country and it contributes to increase the differences between their inhabitants because the opportunities of some of them are evidently much less.
If the development of the Information Society follows the current trend and there is not effort to reduce the digital gap improving and promoting connectiveness, the social and cultural differences between people will still continue and increase.
In this context and following the statements in the Vilnius (2003) and Gaborone (2005) declarations the Commission Building the Infrastructure has selected a set of Projects and Cases of Study that can efficiently contribute to build the network communications infrastructure in developing countries and consequently giving the opportunity to reduce the digital gap, making much easier to their citizens the advantages of the Information Society.
In the Commission we have also paid attention to those researchers from developing countries working abroad or in their own universities that are fully aware of the importance of this concern and study and do research into new technologies to build low cost network infrastructures.
Finally, the experience of governments, other countries and distinguish researchers are a great value for our purpose.