Pilot Projects

These projects were proposed by the G7 around several themes with the aim of demonstrating the potential of the Information Society and stimulate its deployment. There were eleven projects in the following areas:

1. Global Inventory
2. Global Interoperability for Broadband Networks
3. Cross-Cultural Training and Education
4. Electronic Libraries
5. Electronic Museums and Galleries
6. Environment and Natural Resources Management
7. Global Emergency Management
8. Global Healthcare Applications
9. Government Online
10. Global Marketplace for SMEs
11. Maritime Information Systems

The developing world wanted to extend and augment these projects. The South Africans proposed five specific projects:

1. Multi-Purpose Community Centres
2. Centres of Excellence, Expertise & Resources
3. Open and efficient government
4. IT National Qualifications Framework
5. Multi-media Archive for Vernacular Culture

There was much debate on this amongst the developing countries and eventually a list of themes was distilled. These were accepted by the developing countries but not accepted by the conference.