The Commission decided at its recently held tenth session, that the themes for this inter-sessional period will be on:

• Science, technology and engineering for innovation and capacity-building in education and research.
  
  
• Development-oriented policies for socio-economic inclusive information society, including access, infrastructure and an enabling environment.
  
  
• Progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes at the regional and international levels.

The purpose of the Panel is to contribute to a better understanding of the issues and to assist the CSTD in its deliberations at its 12th session, to be held in May 2009.