Center for Global Communications

IECP, the Intelprise-Enterprise Collaboration Program, is one of GLOCOM's longest running projects. The concept of Intelprise (essentially intellectual industry) was coined by GLOCOM's co-founder and long time Executive Director and Shumpei Kumon to describe a new actor in the information society emerging from the concept of enterprise (company) of industrial society. IECP was created as a forum where Japanese business, academia and NGOs could collaborate and share ideas about emerging information society. IECP is based around an visiting speaker program, and during 12 months from March 2007-2008 IECP organized 27 events.

For the past two years GLOCOM has taught a course "Electronic Media Governance and Policy Issues" for students of IUJ's MBA programs in business administration and e-business. Taught in the Winter Term (January - March), the objective of the course is to introduce and raise understanding of major Internet policy issues, particularly emphasizing the concept of openness as an architectural and operating principle that has enabled the development and success of the Internet. Discussion of shifts in regulatory policy and the international political dialogue about the Internet provide students with an insight into possible future directions of the medium.

The global software industry is facing major challenges brought about by new business trends such as Software as a Service (SaaS), open source and off-shoring. GLOCOM has conducted a series of workshops and research meetings with academics and industry professionals to analyze how these trends will change the market and affect industry. Japan has historically imported more software than it has exported, which with these new global trends now raises concerns about the international competitiveness of the IT and software industry in Japan. Our findings identified problems of industry structure, human resource development and industry policy. This work is ongoing as a collaboration of industry CTOs and academic experts.

Virtual worlds, or metaverse, such as Second Life, There, and PlayStation HOME, have attracted much attention as innovative social, economic and technical communities. The metaverse is beginning to acquire rules for virtual asset management such as the creation and circulation of currencies and means of sharing content. GLOCOM has undertaken a multidisciplinary research initiative on virtual worlds, coordinating workshops and seminars to foresee how they will develop in the coming years from perspectives of economics, political sciences and technology. These activities link with GLOCOM's ongoing work on gaming and the Japanese gaming industry.

The Internet is now used by more than one billion people worldwide and is essential to our economic and social activity and development. It has become more necessary to incorporate the values and interests of all stakeholders in matters of Internet public policy and in decision-making and management of the Internet, while retaining the open and bottom-up frameworks that enabled the development and innovation we have enjoyed to date. GLOCOM has participated in the forefront of Internet Governance activities addressing these concerns such as the IGF and ICANN.

In a few years' time the Japanese information and communication sector will reach a historic turning point. In 2011, transition to digital television broadcasting will be complete and terrestrial analogue television broadcasts will be terminated. In 2010 fibre access is expected to be available to 30 million households and fixed broadband (ADSL, Cable Internet, etc) will be available in all local communities across the nation. These developments are only part of greater change where both broadcasting and communication are converging and will cause a comprehensive revision of the existing regulatory frameworks and business structures for both sectors. Given these anticipated changes, GLOCOM will continue its commitment to research on information communication policy and business.

ICTs are now widely used in education as a tool to aid learning and as a subject of study in their own right. However, it is important to improve the use of ICTs in back-office work such as school management and administration, information disclosure, and business improvement, in addition to teaching ICT as a subject. GLOCOM will continue projects on ICT and education that focus on the student and teacher, but will also begin work addressing the value of ICTs to education boards and local communities based on case studies and other forms of data.