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International Academy of CIO (IAC) 2021 Mini Conference

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IAC 2021 Mini Conference “COVID-19, Digital Resilience and Economic Recovery in the Age of AI, Robotics and 5G”

DATE: December 7th & 8th, 2021
TIMES: December 7, 2021 AT 7:30 AM – 1030 AM – Eastern Time (US and Canada)
8:30 PM – 11:30 PM TOKYO TIME
December 8, 2021 AT 7:30 AM – 10:30 AM – Eastern Time (US and Canada)
8:30 PM – 11:30 PM TOKYO TIME

The International Academy of CIO (IAC) 2021 Mini Conference is set for December 7th & 8th, 2021 with timely topics featuring COVID-19, Digital Resilience and Economic Recovery in the Age of AI, Robotics and 5G.   The mini conference will explore technology and country responses to COVID-19, the subsequent and ongoing economic recovery and current industry and supply chain challenges.

The mini conference will also consider new opportunities arising from the development of AI, Robotics and 5G in light of COVID-19 and the economic recovery. The IAC 2021 Mini Conference brings together government, private sector and academia speakers and participants.
Please check back for speakers and agenda.

For more information, please go to: https://iacio.org/iac-2021-mini-conference-december-virtual-international-academy-of-cio Or please contact J.P. Auffret at jauffret@gmu.edu.

About the International Academy of CIO (IAC):
The IAC or International Academy of CIO was founded in 2006 in Japan by co-founders including Japan, USA, Indonesia, Philippines, Switzerland and Thailand. The IAC members, partnerships and alliances now span all regions with economies such as China, Cambodia, Netherlands, India, Korea, Laos, Hong Kong, Macao, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Italy, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The IAC has active participation from more than 50 countries and partners with NGOs and multilateral organizations including APEC, OECD and ITU.

The IAC promotes and facilitates CIO and IT Executive leadership education and education standards; government CIO and IT governance policies and institution building related to CIOs and CIO Councils; and application and innovation of ICT such as mobile, IoT and blockchain in areas including ICT and ageing society, smart cities, and ICT and natural disasters.

The IAC publishes the annual Waseda University – IAC Digital Government Rankings now in its 14th year and the Journal of CIO and Digital Innovation. The IAC also partners with IOS Press on a Global E-Governance book series. In education, the IAC accredits CIO master’s degree programs and provides CIO certificates to graduates as well as directly partnering on training through the Asia CIO University Network on topics including CIO and data science. The IAC hosts an annual conference and partners on conferences and workshops with governments and NGOs such as APECTEL, OECD and U.N. For more information, please go to: www.iacio.org.

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Humphrey Fellow from Togo Performing Research at Mason to Explore Digital Payment Platforms

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“I consider this one year as arguably the most fulfilling time of my life,” says Piyabelan Bouyo, a Humphrey Fellow visiting scholar from Togo who is mentoring under Professor J.P. Auffret from George Mason University’s School of Business and Volegenau School of Engineering’s Center for Assurance Research and Engineering (CARE).

Humphrey Fellow, Piyabelan Bouyo is visiting George Mason University for eight weeks and working with Professor Auffret for her Humphrey Fellowship Professional Affiliation on the topics of Digital Payment Platforms and technology networking policy striving to someday create a digital payments platform for Togo.

Under JP Auffret’s guidance and mentorship, Piyabelan Bouyo’s work with Mason encompasses:

  • Researching business models and technological approaches for digital payments platforms in West and East African countries.
  • Analyzing the opportunities and limitations of Togo’s regulations as part of the roll-out of a new electronic payment system.
  • Researching the highest security integration models in payment transactions.
  • Developing a business plan for a Togo digital payments platform.

Piyabelan is working with JP virtually as part of the Humphrey Fellowship Program which is a Fulbright Program through the U.S. Department of State. The Humphrey Fellowship provides a select group of mid-career professionals from developing countries with ten months of graduate study, professional development and cultural exchange in the U.S.  Fellows are selected based on “potential for leadership and dedication to public service.” Alumni have made contributions in their home countries ranging from serving as government Ministers to starting schools and leading transformative policy initiatives.

Piyabelan continues, “My time here exposed me to the best possible academic environment and has brought me in contact with some of the most extraordinary people that I have ever met, people with diverse backgrounds. Now, I have friends in every continent of the world, and I cannot thank the US State Department enough for giving me this amazing opportunity. Thanks to Mason as well for showing me your superb institution and allowing me to learn so much. I plan to bring back everything to my country.”

The research is urgent because the adoption and use of digital technologies in Togo would improve the efficiency and quality of public services and enhance transparency and accountability. Currently, however, the penetration rate of mobile broadband is 20%, placing Togo in 28th place in sub-Saharan Africa, while 3G and 4G cover only 65% and 10% of the population, respectively.

Prior to visiting Mason and working with Professor Auffret, Piyabelan spent eight  six months with the 2020-2021 Humphrey cohort at Syracuse University for graduate public policy study. Syracuse welcomed Fellows this year from Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo. For 2020 – 2021, there are more than 125 Humphrey fellows from 81 countries. Syracuse University is one of 12 campuses across the country to host Fellows.

In Togo, Piyabelan Bouyo is a technical manager at Mainway, a Togolese company in digital, electrical, and environmental transition. She previously spent 18 years at Togo telecom as Network Switch Manager and Head of Audit and Billing. Her goal is to establish an IT consulting firm to develop a practical framework integrated with Togo’s National Development Plan and U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by incorporating data-driven decision making.

Piyabelan earned a Master of Science in Information and Communication Technology from the Institute National des Postes et Télécommunications, Morocco and Ecole Supérieure Multinationale des Télécommunications, Senegal.

Piyabelan is the eighth Humphrey Scholar Fellow to visit the School of Business and mentored by Professor JP Auffret. Previous Humphrey Scholars that Auffret has hosted were from Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Russia, and Namibia.

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First Annual Local Government Cybersecurity Partnering Awards

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George Mason and the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Partnering Initiative are inviting nominees for the first annual Local Government Cybersecurity Partnering Awards (LGCP Awards).

The Awards program builds upon the Mason – NSF City and County Cybersecurity Partnering research project which includes facilitating and fostering local and state government cybersecurity partnering and collaboration.

The Awards celebrate and honor local governments and local government staff for innovation and excellence in cybersecurity in the categories of:

  • Local Governments 
    • Partnership and Collaboration
    • Policy Innovation
    • Technology Adoption and Application
  • Local Government Staff 
    • Vision and Leadership
    • Lifetime Contribution

Award nominations may be submitted by a local government or local government staff or partners of a nominated organization.

Nominations open on September 15th, 2021 and the nominations deadline is January 31st, 2022.  

Click HERE to submit a nomination for the Mason Local Government Cybersecurity Partnering Awards

Click HERE to join us for the virtual awards celebration on Thursday, March 24th at 7:00 p.m. featuring talks by cybersecurity leaders and highlighting the awardees initiatives and insights.

Please send questions to J.P. Auffret

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George Mason University CyberSecurity Innovation Forum Announces Speakers for September 28 Event

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Please Join us for The George Mason University Cybersecurity Innovation Forum

As with previous events, the Forum will consist of a series of 15-20 minute case study presentations by cybersecurity experts and technology innovators followed by a Q&A.

The focus of the meetings is on cybersecurity innovation including innovation rationale and motivation, technology, metrics, and lessons learned.

We are excited to announce our speakers will be:

  • Heather Dahl, Co-Founder and CEO of Indico.tech
  • Jamil Jaffer, Founder & Executive Director, National Security Institute; Director, National Security Law & Policy Program; Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University

Heather C. Dahl is the co-founder and CEO of Indico.tech. Through her vision and leadership, Indicio has become a global leader in decentralized identity, launching a blockchain-based distributed network on five continents, creating the first implementation of a complete ecosystem for sharing privacy-preserving digital health credentials, which was donated to Linux Foundation Public Health for use by public health agencies across the world, and developing a series of innovations in software to manage identity and data sharing.

For more information: https://indicio.tech/heather-c-dahl-biography/

Jamil Jaffer – Founder & Executive Director, National Security Institute; Director, National Security Law & Policy Program; Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University

Jamil currently serves as Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute and as an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he teaches classes on counterterrorism, intelligence, surveillance, cybersecurity, and other national security matters, as well as a summer course in Padua, Italy with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Jamil is also affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and previously served as a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2016 – 2019.

For more information: https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/fulltime/jaffer_jamil_n

Please RSVP Here – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/george-mason-university-cybersecurity-innovation-forum-registration-166169041075

Follow us on Twitter @MasonCyber for more up-to-date discussions on cybersecurity and innovation.

George Mason University’s (GMU) Volgenau School of Engineering’s CARE and School of Business sponsor the events.

The Cybersecurity Innovation Forum Series is generously supported by Accenture.

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Mason Partner, Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Invents “IfeMask” against COVID-19

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The World Bank sponsored Africa Centre of Excellence, a technology innovation park of the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, is leading the way through the production of Nose Mask, a key Personal Protective Equipment as part of the concerted response against COVID-19. The Obafemi Awolowo University became a partner of Mason in 2017.

The Dean, Faculty of Technology, OAU, Professor Adesola Aderounmu, in a message to TechEconomy.ng, said that ‘The IfeMask’, as code named, is a wholly locally designed, developed and produced nose mask by the World Bank sponsored OAU ICT-Driven Knowledge Park (OAK-Park).

According to Prof. Aderounmu, the immediate past president of the Nigeria Computer Society, “The mask is unique. It draws its uniqueness in its durability, reusability and comfortability. The reinforced rubber material and acrylic painted body makes it possible to be washed and decontaminate after each use. The mask does not change shape on reuse and is comfortable to wear”.

Read the original story from www.techeconomgy.ng.

 

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CARE – SNL Partnership on Messaging’s Social Effects

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Sandia National Laboratories, the engineering science and technology laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, has been collaborating with the Cyber Policy Studies at a the Center for Assurance Research and Engineering (CARE) at George Mason University. The intent is to produce capabilities that enable the U.S. government to better understand and anticipate the effect of various forms of messaging on societies. Specifically, this collaboration is intended to develop a research and development effort that exploits academic studies, along with socio-behavioral, economic, and geopolitical data that is coupled with geopolitical computational models to explore such things as how different types of messaging by state and non-state adversarial groups, can influence various populations. This effort also seeks to better understand how different communication domains can ultimately affect behaviors within various societies. This can be applied to hard security, human security / crisis management, and intelligence domains.

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CIOs and IT Executive Leadership – From Engineering Education to Innovations in ICT and Technology Webinar with Dr. J.P. Auffret

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This article comes from The International Federation of Engineering Education Societies Webinar Series.

The rapid development and adoption of mobiles and Internet have had major impacts on society and ICT is now a key component of national development in healthcare, education, financial services, smart cities and poverty reduction. Newer technologies including AI, robotics and blockchain also will potentially have major ramifications for society. With this increasing role of technology often as part of digital transformation programs, the role of the CIO has increasingly become strategic and governments are undertaking initiatives to strengthen institutional capacity for ICT executive leadership.

The talk reviews the latest innovations in mobiles, robotics, AI, drones and blockchain and other new technologies in the context of the evolution of the role of CIOs and development of CIO institutions. What are current and potential applications, related challenges, possible future development paths, policy considerations and potential societal ramifications? How are the roles of CIO and related CIO institutions developing and adapting to the increasing possibility with greater risk and challenge of technology innovation and adoption? And how are engineering and university education changing to adapt for current and future students as well as to facilitate life long learning for graduates.

Speaker // Dr. J.P. Auffret Co-founder and Vice President International Academy of CIO

J.P. Auffret is co-founder and vice president of the International Academy of CIO. In addition, he is associate director, Center for Assurance Research and Engineering in the Volgenau School of Engineering and director, research partnerships in the School of Business at George Mason University. Auffret’s work and research span a range of applied technology fields including CIO and technology leadership, ICT governance, and cybersecurity leadership and with organizations including APEC, NSF and IBM. In addition, he has worked with World Bank and ITU on mobile and ICT for Development. His experience includes executive positions with MCI and its joint venture with British Telecom, Concert and academic positions with George Mason, Duke University’s Center for International Development and as physicist-in-residence at American University. Auffret earned a B.S. from Duke University where he was an A.B. Duke Scholar, M.B.A. from the University of Virginia and Ph.D. in Physics from American University.

For the webinar, please go here: https://youtu.be/ARudSRBzS0Y

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Call for Papers Open Now for 15th Annual IAC Conference April 2021, at GMU in Arlington, VA, U.S.

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Technology Leadership and Policy in the Age of AI, Blockchain, Robotics and 5G

The 15th International Academy of CIO Annual Conference is being held April 2021 in Arlington, VA U.S.A. and is being held at a time of great technology related opportunity and risk. With AI, Blockchain and 5G, there is opportunity in new product and services and also new industries that bridge time and space and enable greater access and speed in fields as diverse as government, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing.

And there are risks including in the fields of cybersecurity and privacy and also digital divide.

As with previous International Academy of CIO annual conferences, the 15th Annual Conference will address the potential and challenge of new technologies and applications to major world challenges such ICT and natural disasters and major world trends including ageing society and urbanization.

For the 15th Annual Conference, we are inviting research and practitioner papers and innovations related to the conference theme of “Technology Leadership and Policy in the Age of AI, Blockchain and 5G” and encompassing:

• Challenges of ICT innovation, governance and capacity building
• Strengthening leadership and institutions
• Application of new technologies including blockchain and AI
• Associated policy and policy development
• Risks including security, privacy and digital divide.

About the International Academy of CIO (IAC): The IAC or International Academy of CIO was founded in 2006 in Japan by co-founders including Japan, USA, Indonesia, Philippines, Switzerland, and Thailand. The IAC members, partnerships, and alliances now span all regions with economies such as China, Cambodia, Netherlands, India, Korea, Laos, Hong Kong, Macao, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Italy, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The IAC has active participation from more than 50 countries and partners with NGOs and multilateral organizations including APEC, OECD and ITU.

The IAC promotes and facilitates CIO and IT Executive leadership education and education standards; government CIO and IT governance policies and institution building related to CIOs and CIO Councils; and application and innovation of ICT such as mobile, IoT and blockchain in areas including ICT and ageing society, smart cities, and ICT and natural disasters.

The IAC publishes the annual Waseda University – IAC Digital Government Rankings now in its 14th year and the Journal of CIO and Digital Innovation. The IAC also partners with IOS Press on a Global E-Governance book series. In education, the IAC accredits CIO master’s degree programs and provides CIO certificates to graduates as well as directly partnering on training through the Asia CIO University Network on topics including CIO and data science. The IAC hosts an annual conference and partners on conferences and workshops with governments and NGOs such as APECTEL, OECD and U.N. For more information, please go to: www.iacio.org.

About the International Academy of CIO Annual Conference: The IAC Annual Conference brings together government, private sector and academia participants to discuss and exchange ideas and best practices on ICT leadership and governance in light of rapidly changing technology. The conferences are research to practice oriented in that the talks and presentations include both strategy and practice talks and presentations by government leaders, private sector executives and NGO leaders as well as research related talks by academics.
In addition, the conferences focus on major world challenges and opportunities where ICT has the potential to contribute including the two topics of ageing society and natural disasters. The conferences are well attended by speakers and participants from around the world and are highlighted by active host government support and engagement.

Paper Topics and Important Dates:
Papers are invited that contribute to the conference sessions of:
• CIO and Digital Transformation of Economy
• Innovations in Digital Government
• Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and the Digital Future
• Cybersecurity
• Blockchain for Government
• E-Participation.

Submitted papers may refer to four dimensions of innovation, analyzed by clear data driven methods:
• Social and economic context innovations and issues: ageing society, urban transformation, healthcare system challenges, natural disasters, government’s role evolution, industry transformation, policy agendas, emerging business models, etc;
• Citizens’, patients’ and customers’ changing value drivers: empowerment, co-creation, online behavior and expectations, etc;
• Technology development and Management: challenges and ramifications of rapidly developing technologies such as robotics, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence and major challenges such as capacity building, cyber-security, big data.
• CIO new skills and roles: Government CIO, Business CIO, CIO core competences, innovative management.

Application Timelines:
Please submit to: Luca Buccoliero at: luca.buccoliero@unibocconi.it, Elena Bellio at: elena.bellio@unibocconi.it and J.P. Auffret at: jauffret@gmu.edu.

For more IAC Call for Papers Informatino, please go to: https://iacio.org/call-for-paper-open-now-for-14th-iac-annual-conference-sept-19-taipei/.

# # #

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Scaling Local Government Cybersecurity Article Written by Marissa Da Silva on September 26th, 2019

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Scaling Local Government Cybersecurity – Written by Marissa Da Silva on September 26th, 2019

With the increasing reliance upon information technology, cybersecurity is strategic imperative for communities across the United States. Unfortunately, many cities don’t have sufficient budgets or expertise when it comes to addressing the cybersecurity challenge. Jean-Pierre (J.P) Auffret, director, research partnerships, School of Business has partnered with Angelos Stavrou, Professor, Computer Science and Director, Center for Assurance Research and Engineering in the Volgenau School and Virginia and West Virginia state and local governments to collaborate on cybersecurity and foster regional local government cybersecurity partnerships and initiatives.

The background for the National Science Foundation project is that approximately 60% of the U.S. counties have less than 50,000 residents but “nearly all counties play a critical role in the transportation and infrastructure.” Counties own 46% of the U.S. road miles, 38% of the bridges and in addition are involved in the operation of 34% of public airports, 1,943 health departments, 3,041 police and sheriff’s departments, and utility services such as water and electricity. (National Association of Counties). Many cities and counties are increasingly adopting connected technology not just for administration but also for these critical infrastructure electric, water and transportation systems.

Building upon experiences in public health and public safety, cross-jurisdictional sharing of services is a growing strategy used at local levels to address technology related challenges such as tight budgets and limited expertise. The scalable nature of technology operations makes cybersecurity a good candidate for local government collaborations.
The project’s objective is to enhance U.S. local government cybersecurity by fostering and developing institutional capacity, policies and legislation to further local government cybersecurity partnering and governance; and to facilitate cybersecurity partnering among local governments.

The project kicked off with statewide workshops in Virginia and West Virginia with participants including state and local government administrators, IT and cybersecurity leaders. Virginia Secretary of Homeland Security and Public Safety Brian Moran gave an opening talk at the Virginia workshop and West Virginia Chief Technology Officer Josh Spence and Chief Information Security Officer Danielle Cox partnered on the West Virginia workshop. The statewide workshops identified potential areas for local government cybersecurity partnering including on cybersecurity governance, joint staffing, technology procurement and communications. In addition, the workshops, identified institutional barriers to partnering.

“Local governments are increasingly providing digital citizen services and own and operate critical infrastructure, including water and electricity,” says Auffret. “Cybersecurity partnerships amongst local governments can provide the means to scale and share capability and capacity and better address the cybersecurity threat”.

Project initiatives have also included hosting Virginia regional workshops in Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula; Loudoun County, Frederick County, Purcellville and Leesburg; and Roanoke County regions. Project partners in addition to NSF, the Commonwealth of Virginia and West Virginia governments, include the Department of Homeland Security; Virginia local governments of Arlington County, Essex County, Roanoke County, Loudoun County, Caroline County, Frederick County, Town of Purcellville and Town of Leesburg; and Palo Alto Networks.

Examples of local government cybersecurity collaborations resulting from the project include: adapting Arlington County cybersecurity policies for use by other local governments; developing a Cybersecurity Awareness Messages from the CISO pamphlet; contributing to development of a Commonwealth of Virginia local government cybersecurity points of contact list for the Virginia Fusion Center and developing a Readiness Assessment, Roadmap and Toolkit for local government cybersecurity partnering.

The project is going to further expand to Ohio and Pennsylvania in fall 2019.

http://business.gmu.edu/news/1778-scaling-local-government-cybersecurity/

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14th Annual IAC Conference, “Driving Digital Government Transformation by Innovative Technologies,” to be Held in Taiwan on September 25 -27, 2019, hosted by Taiwan National Development Council, Taiwan E-Governance Research Center and the International Academy of CIO

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The International Academy of CIO (IAC) announces the topic of “Driving Digital Government Transformation by Innovative Technologies,” for the 14th Annual IAC Conference to be held on September 25 -27, 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan, hosted by Taiwan National Development Council and Taiwan E-Governance Research Center.

The conference’s speakers will include Dr. Mei-ling Chen, Minister, National Development Council, Taiwan; Dr. Liang-Gee Chen, Minister, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Dr. Yu-hsieh Sung, Deputy Secretary-General, Executive Yuan, Taiwan; and Professor Toshio Obi, Director, APEC eGovernment Research Center, Waseda University and others from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Organizers of the conference believe the IAC Conference is being held at a time of great technology related opportunity and risk. Attending the conference will provide many opportunities in new product and services that enable greater access and speed in fields as diverse as government, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing and as part of broad visions such as Japan’s Society 5.0. And, there are risks including in the fields of cybersecurity and privacy and also digital divide.

As with previous International Academy of CIO (IAC) conferences, the Conference will address the potential and challenge of new technologies and applications to major world challenges such as ICT and natural disasters and major world trends including ageing society and urbanization. The IAC Conference continues to bring together government, private sector and academia participants to discuss and exchange ideas and best practices on ICT leadership and governance in light of rapidly changing technology.

For the conference Agenda and to Register, please go to: https://iac2019.ndc.gov.tw.

About the International Academy of CIO (IAC):
The IAC or International Academy of CIO was founded in 2006 in Japan by co-founders including Japan, USA, Indonesia, Philippines, Switzerland and Thailand. The IAC members, partnerships, and alliances now span all regions with economies such as China, Cambodia, Netherlands, India, Korea, Laos, Hong Kong, Macao, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Italy, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The IAC has active participation from more than 50 countries and partners with NGOs and multilateral organizations including APEC, OECD and ITU.

The IAC promotes and facilitates CIO and IT Executive leadership education and education standards; government CIO and IT governance policies and institution building related to CIOs and CIO Councils; and application and innovation of ICT such as mobile, IoT and blockchain in areas including ICT and ageing society, smart cities, and ICT and natural disasters.

The IAC publishes the annual Waseda University – IAC Digital Government Rankings now in its 14th year and the Journal of CIO and Digital Innovation. The IAC also partners with IOS Press on a Global E-Governance book series. In education, the IAC accredits CIO master’s degree programs and provides CIO certificates to graduates as well as directly partnering on training through the Asia CIO University Network on topics including CIO and data science. The IAC hosts an annual conference and partners on conferences and workshops with governments and NGOs such as APECTEL, OECD and U.N. For more information about IAC, please go to: https://iacio.org.

For more information, please contact current IAC President, J.P. Auffret at jauffret@gmu.edu.