Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), is participating in the First Virtual Meeting of the Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Natural Disaster Management (FG AI4NDM), organized by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T), on March 16-17. The meeting is preceded by the Virtual Workshop on AI for Natural Disaster Management, on March 15.
FG-AI4NDM capitalizes on the growing interest and novelty of AI in the field of natural disaster management to help lay the groundwork for best practices in the use of AI for assisting with data collection and handling, improving modeling across spatiotemporal scales, and providing effective communication. To achieve these objectives, FG-AI4NDM will develop a community of engaged stakeholders and experts and build on past progress made by ITU in this domain.
In addition, the Focus Group will produce a roadmap for AI activities for natural disaster management, establish a roster of stakeholders and experts, host workshops and meetings, and prepare technical reports and educational material that highlight best practices and set out possible future directions for this emerging area of study.
The objectives of the First Meeting include discussion on priority action areas and the expected impact of the work; appointment of FG-AI4NDM management, including vice-chairs; agreement on an FG-AI4NDM roadmap of expected deliverables, timelines, scopes, and editors, and assignment of responsibilities to the various subgroups; agreement on FG-AI4NDM future meeting plans, including frequency of meetings; and review of written contributions and initial development of the scope of deliverables.
Founded in 1865, ITU is the leading UN agency for ICT, with 191 Member States and more than 700 sector members and associates. ITU role is to enable the global growth and sustained development of ICT.