The 2021 (16th) UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held in Katowice of Poland from Dec 6-10 via onsite and online.

During the event, Internet Society of China (ISC) and the CICCST under China Association for Science and Technology, co-organized the Lightning Talk session themed Accelerating Information Accessibility for the Ageing Population, mainly discussed how to empower the ageing group and improve the capacity building of using new technology in nowadays digital and smart era.

Ms. LU ShiYu, Senior Researcher of Tencent Inc. and Ms. LI DuoDuo, PhD candidate in School of Journalism and Communication of Xiamen University were invited to share their insights and observations on the current status of ageing group-related digital divide and challenges faced.

Ms. LU suggested that the science and technology industry should move from ICT adapting to aging to actively helping the elderly, by actively expand the application of science and technology in living communities, homes and related scenes, fully leveraging the energy of scientific and technological innovation.

Ms. LI stressed that technology is the decisive factor of information accessibility development. At the same time, industry standards and national standards are the important prerequisites for the sustainable development of science and technology.

The two speakers agreed that the barrier-free/information accessibility environment needs a systematic construction and joint efforts from all stakeholders, in particular with further policy support from the government sectors and technical innovation from private sectors.

The ISC also introduced some best practice carried out in China. Regrading the Internet infrastructure, the Chinese telecom operators built the world's largest 4G network for easy access to the Internet everywhere. In terms of policy support, the governments release a series of industry guidance, for example, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China had ever released two documents, one called Guidance on Promoting Information Accessibility, another named Implementation Plan to Help the Elderly Solve Problems in Using Smart Technologies, targeting to eliminate the obstacles for the vulnerable groups by reducing the cost, improving the terminal devices, services and application. To response the call, the Internet companies had actively conducted the re-build the websites or APPs to support more functions to realize information accessibility standards, which set by industry associations or standard organizations.