Hans Vestberg, CEO of number one infrastructure vendor Ericsson, used his Mobile World Live keynote to outline the importance of technology in enabling the "networked society." In a presentation which was rich with visual concepts of a connected future, Vestberg described progress in the industry in recent years as "mind boggling."

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As telecommunications spread, the line between rich and poor countries gets further blurred. The Vice President of Multimedia & Systems Integration at Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, Sanjay Kaul, predicts that Africa will reach the same connectivity as the rest of the world by 2020.

Ericsson's Chief Technical Officer Håkan Eriksson shares his thoughts on the value of connectivity.

Could technology revolutionize healthcare? According to Jeff Arnold, founder of the health portals Sharecare and WebMD, the medical field has huge potential for improvement. When he imagines the future interaction between a doctor and a patient, he sees a mobile device with medical applications.

Mobility and connectivity are rapidly changing the way we do things. In 2020 Shaping Ideas, we ask 20 of the world’s most forward-thinking people how this will change the world we live in by the year 2020.

This is the live copy, without post production editing as produced by the Events Division of Anticipation, the 67th Worldcon, in Montreal, Canada. Recorded live August 6, 2009.

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A key finding of a report on Regional integration in Africa by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has found that Africa needs to drastically improve its infrastructure to improve regional trade and so improve its competitiveness in world trade.

The recorded seminar focused on how to accelerate trade integration on the continent by reducing behind-the-border trade constraints, expanding access to trade finance, strengthening trade facilitation, and enhancing African voice and capacity for intra-regional and global trade.

In Africa, non-tariff trade barriers raise transaction costs and limit the movement of goods, services, people and capital across borders. To further development, African governments must embrace regional integration, break down these barriers and help Africans trade with each other.

The Southern Africa Trust's Business for Development model aims to build a mutually profitable relationship between business, governments and communities in integrated development in the region. Joining ABN on the essence of this model is Dr Prega Ramsamy, Head of Business for Development Pathfinder at the Southern Africa Trust.