Izumi Aizu is Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for InfoSocinomics, Kumon Center, Tama University in Tokyo and Deputy Director at the Institute for HyperNetwork Society in Oita, Japan. He is also Co-coordinator of the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) since 2010.
At these organizations, he conducts research and advocacy programs on issues such as:
- Global governance including cyber-security and critical Internet resources, at IGF and ICANN
- National ICT policy around Network neutrality and Internet resource management
- Effective use of ICT for disaster management
He promoted the use of PC based network in 1980s and Internet in’90s. In 1997, he founded Asia Network Research in Malaysia, focusing on societal aspects of the Internet, global governance and digital divide. In April 2000, he returned to Tokyo.
He has been actively participating in the ICANN, WSIS, WGIG and IGF activities as a member of civil society. He tried to bring the voices of users at ICANN process: through the Membership Advisory Committee (1998) and AtLarge Advisory Committee (2003-2008). In 2003 he organized the support work for Asian civil society members to participate in the WSIS Tokyo Regional preparatory meeting under the host government request. He is also an active member of Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus since beginning in 2003.
He is also active member of the organizing committee for both Asia Pacific IGF and IGF Japan since 2010. In 2011, after the earthquake in Japan, he proposed to initiate the relief works using ICTs to the devastated areas and founded the Information Support pro bono Platform (iSPP), a not-for-profit organization with some 100 members.
His recent papers include “Beyond Network Neutrality” (Telecommunication Journal of Australia, 2009) and Japan Chapter at Global Information Society Watch (2009, 2010 and 2011).published by Association for Progressive Computing (APC).