INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: ISDSC813 Public Disclosure Copy Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 24-May-2012 I. BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country: Lebanon Project ID: P131202 Project Name: LB: Mobile Internet Ecosystem Project (MIEP) (P131202) Task Team Leader: Victor Mulas Estimated Appraisal Date: 00-undefined-0000 Estimated Board Date: 07-Feb-2013 Managing Unit: TWICT Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Sector: Information technology (80%), Telecommunications (20%) Theme: Education for the knowledge economy (70%), e-Services (30%) Financing (In USD Million) Financing Source Amount Borrower 5.00 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 5.00 Total 10.00 Environmental Category: C - Not Required Is this a Repeater project? No B. Project Objectives 14. The project development objective is to increase the number of start-up projects in the ICT sector, raise employment in the ICT sector, and enhance the enabling environment for ICT in Lebanon. (Start-up projects are defined as a mobile internet prototype and a basic business plan ready to be presented to the community of incubators, accelerators and early-stage investors.) Public Disclosure Copy C. Project Description This project will strengthen the nascent mobile internet ecosystem in Lebanon by tackling the barriers and missing links that preclude the rapid development of a mature and internationally competitive industry. These barriers and missing links include: (i) the development and attraction of domestic talent, (ii) synergies and systemic cooperation among industry stakeholders and clustering with complementary industries, (iii) exposure to international innovation networks, and (iv) infrastructure and regulatory hurdles. This project mainly focuses on human capital enhancement, and on enhancement of the ecosystem, complementing and providing content to GoL’s initiatives to aggregate the industry in cities for the technology industry. In addition, the project will promote commercial entrepreneurship in high value-added segments, increasing competitiveness of critical sectors of Lebanese economy, such as creative industry and banking, as well as the development of social entrepreneurship, increasing the participation of the technology community to social initiatives and citizen participation in government services. The Government of Lebanon (GoL) has requested support from the World Bank to develop a project to strengthen the mobile internet ecosystem. The proposed project will consist of three interrelated components addressing: (i) skills development and attraction of talent, (ii) strengthening and growth of the mobile internet industry, and (iii) enhancement of mobile internet enabling environment. In addition, a fourth component will enable effective project management by supporting the PIU. Component 1: Skills development and attraction of talent. (US$3.4 m.) This component addresses the market failures of talent retention and attraction to the domestic mobile internet industry and the skills-gap of university graduates and mobile internet companies’ needs. The component will finance a series of hackathons (e.g., events whereby mobile application competitions are developed), an on-line training course to address mobile internet programming and entrepreneurship skills, a mentorship and international exchange program for entrepreneurs, a university-industry platform providing internships and co-creation of mobile internet projects, and an structured promotion campaign to attract talent and domestic and international attention to the emerging mobile internet industry in Lebanon. A series of three-four (3-4) hackhatons a year targeting both commercial (2) and social/government (1-2) applications will serve to energize and attract the talent pool of developers and graduates to the mobile internet industry. Hackathons have been very successful tools in attracting young and driven talent towards developing mobile applications, including social themes, as the World Bank-organized 2012 global Water Hackathon (one of which locations was Cairo) demonstrated. Hackathons are one-time events that need to be complemented with on-going support for participant entrepreneurs and developers. Hence, prices of hackathons will be focus on incubation of wining projects. In addition, hackathons will serve to identify talented teams that need further training and support to develop their start-up projects. These teams will be eligible (on a merit- based) for a structured training and mentorship program funded by the project. The training and mentorship program will provide an on-line training course addressing the main skills the mobile industry has expressed it requires from the labor force but are not currently provided by Lebanese standard education. These include mobile internet languages (e.g., Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, etc.) programming, basic business and entrepreneurship skills (e.g., business plans, cash flow analysis, pitching, etc.) and vertical industries background (if applicable). In addition, ad hoc mentorship will be provided, with a specific component for women entrepreneurs, to assist teams in the process of developing the start-up projects’ prototype and business plan. Participating teams will compete to Public Disclosure Copy enter into the international exchange program, which will select a reduced number of teams based on merit to experience technology entrepreneurship and networking in lead international locations, such as Silicon Valley in the United States or Europe. The project will partner with specialized organizations and institutions, such as Black Box or Demola, for this inter national exchange program. The training and mentorship program ends with teams presenting their prototypes and business plans to the community of incubators, accelerators and early-stage financing for project funding. In addition, a university-industry platform providing internships and co-creation of mobile internet projects will be developed. The goal of this platform will be to provide hands-on training to students to complement university education with real-life work and project experience. The platform will provide access to any Lebanese university to an internship program with ICT and mobile internet industry (including start-ups, SMEs, large-sized companies and multinational companies) for students that are in the third year of studies. This internship program will aim at providing real industry experience for university students and start creating the culture of internships in university technology studies. For students in the fourth year, this platform will provide a program for teams to participate in the co-creation of prototypes with an industry partner. Students will be required to collaborate in multi-disciplinary teams (e.g., software engineer, business and design) and the project will be part of the academic curriculum. At the end of the year, all teams will participate in a project competition for incubation/financing by the private sector of most- successful projects (i.e., prototype and business plan). Finally, the activities of this component will be complemented by a promotion campaign to raise awareness of the development of the domestic mobile internet industry, raise its profile and public perception and attract talent from graduates and entrepreneurs. Later on in the implementation, as the industry matures, this promotion campaign will also target the regional and international audience to promote Lebanon as a favorable business location for mobile internet. Component 2: Strengthening and growth of mobile internet industry. (US$3.8 m.) This component addresses the market failure of the ecosystem stakeholders’ synergies and systemic cooperation needed for industry growth and innovation. The component will finance the creation and partial sustainability during the project of an institution to manage the mobile internet industry hub, the creation of industry clusters with other vertical industries (e.g., media, advertising, design, banking, etc.), and the establishment of a living lab and co-creation platform to test mobile internet prototypes and co-develop projects among industry stakeholders (e.g., multinationals and start-ups). Open innovation intermediaries, such as this industry hub, are becoming increasingly common structures tasked to promote cooperation various innovation agents in the development of technology applications and digital services . The industry hub will be a new institution to serve as the industry focal point and coordinate and link the industry stakeholders, which are currently dispersed and uncoordinated. A new institution with a clear mandate will be able to devote all its resources and focus to the implementation of these tasks. Existing institutions have additional mandates, which can conflict and result in loose of focus or dispersion of resources. In addition, a new institution pr ovides a neutral ground for all stakeholders to accept it and collaborate in its activities. Public Disclosure Copy The hub will provide a physic al space for ecosystem stakeholder’s to plan and organize joint activities (e.g., hackathons and training courses) and operate as technology test-bed for applications. Fostering cooperation and synergies, the hub will contribute to the development of networks for industry collaboration and innovation. The hub will coordinate and manage the activities of Component 1. As the industry matures, the Hub will evolve into a Center of Excellence for mobile internet for the region, where its services are offered to entrepreneurs and companies from MENA. The hub will also partner with vertical industries in which Lebanon has a competitive advantage (e.g., media, advertising, design, banking, etc.) to create specific industry hubs, where mobile internet companies and vertical companies interact and cooperate in common projects. These clusters will leverage in existing initiatives, such as the media and arts cluster at local incubator Berytech. Structured cooperation and training programs, including international experts programs, will be developed to strengthen industry collaboration and creation of common prototypes. In addition, the hub will create and host a living lab and co-creation platform where industry and developers and start-ups can create and live-test prototypes, following the model of internationally successful labs, such as the ones at Aalto University and MIT Media Lab. This l iving lab/co- creation platform will be connected to international lab networks, such as the European network of living labs (ENoLL) or infoDev’s MobileLabs network, and will develop project co-creation programs with multinational companies in the mobile internet arena. Component 3: Enhancement of mobile internet enabling environment (US$1.8 m.) This component will finance specific technical assistance to: assess and provide technical options to improve broadband (fixed and wireless) infrastructure, assess policy options for broadband market reform, and develop international best-practices policies and regulations on intellectual property, privacy and data protection and e-commerce, including electronic payments, legal and regulatory framework. These activities are considered priorities for promoting the maturity of the mobile internet industry. To assess and provide technical options to improve broadband infrastructure, an in-depth industry survey assessing demand and supply, and a network asset inventory, will be carried out. Technical options for network management and asset efficiency will be developed. Demand and supply considerations will be taken into account in this analysis. Follow-up technical assistance based on this analysis will be provided for technical network and service improvement. Assistance on sector reform options assessment and implementation will also be provided at the request of MoT. Component 4: Project management (US$800,000.) This component will finance a base-line study of the mobile internet industry in Lebanon for project impact measurement, training for the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) personnel and consultants to support the PIU during the duration of the Project. This component provides base-line indicators to measure project progress and results and strengthens the PIU for an effective management of the Project. D. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) Public Disclosure Copy E. Borrowers Institutional Capacity for Safeguard Policies F. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists on the Team II. SAFEGUARD POLICIES THAT MIGHT APPLY Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 No Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No Forests OP/BP 4.36 No Pest Management OP 4.09 No Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 No Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 No Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No Projects on International Waterways OP/BP No 7.50 Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 No Public Disclosure Copy III. SAFEGUARD PREPARATION PLAN A. Tentative target date for preparing the PAD Stage ISDS: 24-Aug-2012 B. Time frame for launching and completing the safeguard-related studies that may be needed. The specific studies and their timing1 should be specified in the PAD-stage ISDS: NA IV. APPROVALS Task Team Leader: Name: Victor Mulas Approved By: Regional Safeguards Coordinator: Name: Maged Mahmoud Hamed (RSA) Date: 25-May-2012 Sector Manager: Name: Deepak T. Bhatia (SM) Date: 24-May-2012 1 Reminder: The Bank's Disclosure Policy requires that safeguard-related documents be disclosed before appraisal (i) at the InfoShop and (ii) in country, at publicly accessible locations and in a form and language that are accessible to potentially affected persons.