Prof. Traunmüler has worked in the field of Information Systems and applications of information technology in Government for three decades. He is author of 140 publications and editor of numerous books. Within IFIP he was founder and chairman of the working group "Information Systems in Public Administration" (IFIP 8.5) and served as deputy chairman of IFIP Technical Committee 8 "Information Systems". In that function he chaired two Conferences at IFIP World Congresses, so in 1998 "Telecooperation" and in 2002 "e-Business". 2001 Prof. Traunmüller founded the EGOV conference series, the biggest annual conference on e-Government Research and Development. In addition he is one of the authors of the latest e-Government State of the Art Report of the European Commission (Como).

Yuri MISNIKOV
UNDP Regional Advisor for Europe and the CIS
Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD)
Bratislava Regional Centre, Slovakia
He has twelve years of professional and managerial experience in international development cooperation with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at increasingly responsible positions in the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS. Having
joined the UN Office in Belarus in 1993, he served as UNDP National Professional Officer (1992-1997), Assistant Resident Representative (1998-99),and acted as Officer-in-Charge of UNDP office in 1998- 1999.

He helped develop and coordinated implementation of a major Internet development programme in 1996-1999 (jointly with OSI and the government of Belarus). It resulted in the creation of the biggest in Belarus Science and Culture Network UNIBEL, which had a critical impact on the introduction of the Internet in Belarus in the 90s and its use for development of both civil society and the government.

In 1999, was assigned as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Kyrgyzstan (until November 2001).Frequently performed functions of UNDP Resident Representative a.i. and Acting UN Designated Official for Security. In addition, he chaired the UN Thematic Group on HIV/AIDS and led the process of the establishment of the UN House in Kyrgyzstan. In 2000-2001, he led the development of a first National ICT for Development Strategy and was responsible for the organization of a first in Kyrgyzstan’s history national conference – ICT Summit, jointly with many partners and in close cooperation with the government. As a result, ICT became a national development priority of Kyrgyzstan; a National ICT Council chaired by President was established, as the key policy making body; and an ICT Strategy Implementation Action Plan was adopted later in 2002. His contribution to building an information society in Kyrgyzstan was recognized by a high national medal awarded by President Akaev.

In 2002, he assumed functions of Regional ICT-for-Development Advisor for Europe and the CIS at the UNDP Regional Centre in Bratislava, Slovakia. In this capacity, he has been working until present. During this time he has developed UNDP’s strategic regional vision, formulated and implemented various regional and sub-regional initiatives, for example: - in 2002, coordinated organization of a first CIS-wide regional Bishkek-Moscow-1 conference (in cooperation with the government of the Russian Federation and the Kyrgyz Republic, and in collaboration with the Regional Communication Commonwealth; it was an official preparatory regional event for the Geneva meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), with a first ever commonly agreed position on the information society in the CIS region. In November 2004, he 2 assisted in convening a second Bishkek-Moscow conference, organized by the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the Economic Commission for Asia and Pacific; - in 2002, he contributed to the formulation and helped advance afterwards the ‘Electronic South Eastern Europe Agenda Initiative’ – eSEEurope.; it was formally approved by SEE governments in October 2002, Belgrade; led preparations of the first common regional eSEEurope Guidelines on national information society policies and cabinet-level coordination bodies; - since 2002, he led the establishment of an e- Governance Academy (eGA) in Tallinn, Estonia, jointly with Open Society Institute in Budapest and the government of Estonia. Over the past two years eGA has trained to over 300 public sector officials and their counterparts from private sector and civil society in the CIS and South Eastern Europe on two dozens various policy and practice topics of the information society development; - he managed and coordinated inter-country networking and assisted in documenting and transferring innovative knowledge in building the information society and promoting e-governance through project formulation and evaluation; he initiated and issued a comprehensive regional collection of UNDP Best Practices and Know-How in ICTD; he also participated in the preparation of a first in the region Gender and ICT report; - represented UNDP and spoke at many international and national conferences; he participated in the first meeting of the WSIS in Geneva in December 2003 and ran a special workshop on e-governance for the Summit participants, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institute and UNDP Learning Resource Centre; - identified and supported a number of innovative local initiatives such as the use of ICT in wider involving civil society in environmental policy dialogue in Central Asia and Russia (an initiative of UNDP Kazakhstan), and the application of online instruments for effective communication of HIV/AIDS prevention (an initiative of UNDP Romania); - he serves as an independent expert of the European Commission’s Information Society Directorate General in evaluating EU-funded regional projects. Prior to UN service, he held academic posts at the State Urban and Regional Development Institute in Minsk, Belarus, focusing on population studies, regional development, cross-border cooperation, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Holds degree in Human Geography from the Belarusian State University and post-graduate Diploma in Demography obtained from the Moscow State University.

Hezekiel Dlamini
Hezekiel Dlamini is the UNESCO Adviser for Communication and Information based at the UNESCO Office in Accra. He holds a BSc in Maths and Physics and a concurrent Diploma in Education from the University of Swaziland, as well as a Masters in International Business Administration (MIBA) majoring in finance and management information systems from the United States International University, San Diego, USA.

Between 1986-1987, he worked as a lecturer at the Swaziland Institute for Management and Public Administration. In 1988, he joined the Swaziland Telecommunication Corporation as an Engineer. In 1990, he joined UNESCO at its Paris Headquarters and has since held numerous positions in programme management.

His responsibilities include the conceptualization and implementation of UNESCO programmes and projects in the areas of communication and information (including ICTs). He was involved in the establishment of the first UNESCO-supported multipurpose community telecentres in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to set-up UNESCO sponsored community multimedia centres (CMCs) in Africa. He has also contributed to the development of the national ICT policy in Uganda, as well as the introduction of e-governance applications in Lusaka and Zanzibar City Councils. He has co-authored some published UNESCO reports and guidelines on the development of community multimedia centres.