Turin, 2nd April 2012. The Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino is pleased to announce the signing of a partnership agreement with the Internet & Society Lab at Keio University (Tokyo, Japan). The agreement provides for the development of joint research projects, seminars, conferences, courses as well as the exchange of researchers between the two research centers. The signing was preceded by the appointment in June 2011 of prof. Juan Carlos De Martin, co-founder and co-director of the Nexa Center, as Keio Senior Visiting Researcher. Furthermore, in early December 2011 prof. De Martin visited Keio University, giving a lecture to Japanese students and meeting with prof. Jun Murai, director of Internet & Society Lab, as well as Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio.
“The Internet has become a global phenomenon at an unprecedented speed, affecting societies worldwide”, says Professor Jun Murai. “It is now time that the Internet & Society research groups in different parts of the world start strengthening their ties, to create not only a pool of shared research results, but, more importantly, of mutual understanding among researchers living in different political, cultural and economic contexts. This agreement with the Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino is a much welcome step in that direction.”
The agreement with the prestigious private university in Japan follows the signing, in April 2011, of a partnership – after many years of collaboration – with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. As part of the Nexa-Berkman collaboration, prof. De Martin recently spent five months at Harvard as Berkman Center faculty fellow. Also prof. Alessandro Mantelero, faculty fellow at the Nexa Center, is currently spending a month at the Berkman Center. The executive director of Berkman Center, prof. Urs Gasser, sits on the Board of Trustees of the Nexa Center.
"The Berkman Center has been successfully collaborating with our friends in Torino ever since May 2005, when we jointly organized the Torino Harvard Internet Law Program”, says Professor Urs Gasser, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. “Another milestone was undoubtedly the 2010 "University and Cyberspace" international conference. The agreement comes at a moment when there is a clear need to strengthen the ties among Internet & Society centers worldwide, to better address the global challenges and opportunities regarding the Internet and its evolution."
"We are delighted to strengthen our research collaboration with the Berkman Center and with the Keio Internet & Society Laboratory” say prof. Juan Carlos De Martin and prof. Marco Ricolfi, co-founders and co-directors of the Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino-DAUIN.
“A growing network of like-minded researchers based in different parts of world is, in our view, the appropriate way to address the research challenges posed by the Internet, a phenomenon at the same time hyper-global and, for other aspects, very national, if not local. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration in the years to come.”
About the Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino
The Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino-DAUIN is born from the activities of an initially informal multidisciplinar group – with expertise in technology, law and economics – that was formed in Torino in 2003 and that has since evolved conceiving, designing and implementing a number of initiatives: Creative Commons Italia (2003-present), CyberLaw Torino (2004), Harvard Internet Law Program Torino (2005), SeLiLi – free legal advice on open licenses for creators and programmers (2006-present), COMMUNIA, the European Commission-funded thematic network of 50 partners aimed at studying the digital public domain (2007-2011) and LAPSI, the European thematic network on legal aspects of public sector information (2010-2012). The Nexa Center has also been a key player that made possible the launch in May 2010 of one of the first public open data portal in Europe, http://dati.piemonte.it. The Nexa Center collaborates with several entities, among which the Piedmont Regional Government, with which Nexa has been working for years to maximize the positive impact of the Internet on the Piedmont Region.
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About the Internet & Society Laboratory at Keio University
Keio University, founded in 1858 in Tokyo, is considered as the oldest university in Japan and one of the most prestigious. The Keio Research Institute was established as a base for advanced research with the aim of making contributions to 21st Century society through research results. In addition to this, the Institute promotes bi-directional coordination between education and research of Keio University and related activities conducted by businesses, government and academia in Japan and throughout the world. The Internet & Society Laboratory was founded by prof. Jun Murai, one of the pioneers of the Internet in Japan, internationally renowned researcher and advisor of the Japanese Government. Prof. Jun Murai is also Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies . Keio University is one of the three institutions (alongside MIT and ERCIM) hosting the World Wide Web Consortium (w3.org), the Web standardization body founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
About the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University
The Berkman Center for Internter & Society at Harvard University was founded in 1998 to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. It represents a network of faculty, students, fellows, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and virtual architects working to identify and engage with the challenges and opportunities of cyberspace. The Center investigate the real and possible boundaries in cyberspace between open and closed systems of code, of commerce, of governance, and of education, and the relationship of law to each. The executive director of the Berkman Center is prof. Urs Gasser, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nexa Center.
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