The Third Summit of the Americas - 20-22 April 2001, Québec, Canada - called on member countries to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to build networks, share ideas, and establish more effective partnerships between government and the private sector to enable them to participate more fully in political, social, and economic development.

As one of Canada's contributions to the 2001 summit, ICA was created and provided with seed funding. ICA builds on the success and experience of the Connecting Canadians and Canada's international development and ICT programs. ICA was among the institutions in the Joint Summit Working Group created to provide the necessary support to carry out the mandate of the Summit of the Americas. ICA’s report on this work is available in Achievements of the Summits of the Americas: Institutional Contributions.