• A Conference (October 14-16th) on the opportunities and challenges of promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and new business creation in developing countries, particularly in ways that harness the creative power of information and communication technologies (ICT) both for traditional and new products and services;
  
  
• A planning and networking Workshop (October 18-19th) for business incubators, incubator associations, and others involved in promoting business incubation and innovation, particularly in developing countries.

The Conference was focused on the broader environment in which incubators function and the sustainability challenges of attracting private sector support for successfully incubated businesses. Placing incubators within the broader 'innovation chain' and the broader context of private sector development and finance, the conference explored the key gaps in access to venture capital and other forms of finance, in policy and regulatory environments, in institutional capacity, that sometimes prevent developing country innovators from taking ideas to market and explore ways to bridge those gaps.

The Workshop was focused on how incubators, both those supported by infoDev and others, can build their capacity, share knowledge and strategies, and mobilize public and private sector support to address these challenges through a global incubator network.

First Global Forum builds upon infoDev's Incubator Initiative, which supports ICT-enabled business incubation in developing countries, and provides the platform for expanding infoDev's Initiative into a global incubator network. The Incubator Initiative is a key component of infoDev's broader focus on 'Scaling up Private Sector-led ICT innovation and services in developing Countries'. Developing countries face considerable challenges in promoting and sustaining innovation and new business creation, and in attracting broader private investment (local and international) to grow ICT-enabled businesses in all sectors of their economies. Through First Global Forum, the launch of a global incubator network and its 'Scaling Up' program, infoDev seeks to help developing countries, and the international donor community, better understand and address these challenges.