Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) has officially begun discussions on "expanding digital inclusiveness" to contribute to communities in developing countries.

JBNU was selected last October for the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) competitive program titled "Post-COVID-19 Era: Global Crisis Response Through Research Partnerships with Developing Countries." It is conducting a research project on the "Development and Application of the K-Better Digital Inclusiveness Indicator." Through this project, JBNU is seeking ways to expand digital inclusiveness for marginalized groups in Central Asia.

As a first step, a team led by Professors Ji-yeon Park and Bo-ram Shin (Division of International Humanities and Social Sciences) organized an international conference on June 20 and 21 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The event, held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, was convened together with Uzbekistan's British Management University and the Cambridge University Central Asia Forum and focused on expanding digital inclusiveness for marginalized groups in Central Asia.

The conference featured heated expert discussions on the current state of digital transformation in Central Asia and the need to expand digital inclusiveness. Seven experts presented papers, including Pomoshchnikov, Director of the Central Asia Office, UN ESCAP; Abdullaev, Head of the Central Asia Economic Cooperation Program, ADB; and Saxona, Professor, Cambridge University. They assessed that, although the level of information and communication technology in the Central Asian region remains low, the need for digital transformation has surged rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussants agreed that the success of digital transformation across political, economic, social, and cultural domains can directly affect national development in developing countries of Central Asia. They emphasized that achieving successful digital transformation requires seeking diverse cooperative relationships for capacity building.

On the second day, under the theme of development in the digital era, seven presenters including Shadmanov, researcher at the Digital Economy Research Center; Levinskaya, Professor at British Management University; and Orazagaliyev, Professor at Nazabayev University, discussed sustainable development in the digital era as expected by civil society.

Speakers emphasized that expanding digital inclusiveness in Central Asia should converge toward development that enables more people to access better digital services, with particular attention to inclusion of socially vulnerable populations.

In his congratulatory remarks, Maxsudov, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information and Communication Development of Uzbekistan, stated, "Expanding digital inclusiveness is a very important task in Uzbekistan's national development strategy." Ozog, President of British Management University, also said the discussion on expanding digital inclusiveness is highly timely as research that can contribute to communities in developing countries, thus underscoring the significance of the international conference on Central Asia's digital inclusiveness.

Park Soon-jin, KOICA's Country Director in Uzbekistan, commented, "JBNU's research on expanding digital inclusiveness in Central Asia is a study that can seek qualitative development commensurate with the quantitative expansion of digital ODA."

Professor Bo-ram Shin of the Division of International Humanities and Social Sciences, who planned and managed the academic conference, stated, "Building on this conference, we will concretize ways to contribute to expanding digital inclusiveness for marginalized groups in developing countries by expanding knowledge cooperation and partnerships to improve the quality of digital ODA projects between Central Asia and Korea."