New ITU academic collaboration on technology trends

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is strengthening its collaboration with the academic community, engaging a group of professors, scholars and researchers to gather insights on emerging technology trends worldwide.

The new Academic Advisory Body on Emerging Technologies will feed timely research into the organization’s work enabling global communications. Additionally, the 26-member group should boost long-standing collaboration between ITU and the global academic community.

ITU – the United Nations agency for digital technologies – relies on academic insights to keep ahead of accelerating innovation. The last ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) recognized the value of consultations with academia, with the ITU Journal and various other activities supporting this aim.

The latest initiative is the new Academic Advisory Body, which brings together leading experts from different world regions to examine how emerging technologies can best serve society.

“By convening top academic minds, ITU is reinforcing its commitment to fostering technology research and innovation across the globe,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “This new initiative will help us anticipate technological shifts, understand their societal impact, and ensure that emerging technologies serve the greater good.”

Enhancing ITU’s strategic foresight

The Academic Advisory Body is set to produce informative policy briefs and forward-looking analyses on the evolving role and impact of innovation. Diverse regional perspectives, combined with a multidisciplinary approach, aim to reflect both the global realities and the varied local contexts that shape future technology usage.

“Together, we are shaping a future where innovation is inclusive, responsible, and aligned with global needs,” Bogdan-Martin said.

ITU invited the initial 26 advisory body members based on their expertise, contributions, and impact in the field of emerging technologies. All of them hold current academic positions or are affiliated with leading universities and research institutes.

The group represents a broad and balanced range of disciplines, combining policy and law acumen with specialist expertise on artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies, space sciences, and other growing fields related to ITU’s work to enable global communications.

Members will serve for an initial two-year term.

Gathering global insights

These are the members of ITU’s newly-formed Academic Advisory Body: ​​

• James Agajo, Director of Bakarean Centre for Global Governance & Innovation/Head of Wireless Network & Intelligent System Research Group, Federal University of Technology Minna
• Fiona Alexander, Policy Strategist-in-Residence, American University
• Hoda Al Khzaimi, Director of Center of Cyber Security, New York University Abu Dhabi
• Marcio Iorio Aranha, Executive Director of UnB School of Law Center Law and Regulations, the University of Brasilia
• Michael Best, Executive Director of the Institute for People and Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Eleni Diamanti, Senior Researcher /Directrice de Recherche, Paris Centre for Quantum Computing
• Touradj Ebrahimi, Professor, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
• Urs Gasser, Rector of the Hochschule Für Politik (HFP), Technical University of Munich
• Alison Gillwald, Executive Director of Research ICT Africa, University of Cape Town
• Arancha González, Dean of Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po
• Armando Guio Espanol, Affiliate at Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University
• Guifei Jing, Professor, Beihang University
• Jerry John Kponyo, Dean of Quality Assurance & Planning Office, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
• Lam Kwok Yan, Associate Vice President, Nanyang Technological University
• Long Gui-Lu, Vice-President, Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS)
• Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Air and Space Law, Leiden University
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Chancellor, University of Johannesburg
• Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
• Jian-Wei Pan, Director of the CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China
• Robert Pepper, Chair, Advisory Board, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia University, Member, Advisor Board, Quello Center, Michigan State University, Member, Communication Arts Partners (Visitor Board), University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Balaraman Ravindran, Head of the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC-DSAI), Indian Institute of Technology Madras
• Nagla Rizk, Professor of Economics, the American University in Cairo
• Borja Santos, Vice Dean, IE School of Politics, Economics, & Global Affairs
• Urbasi Sinha, Professor, Quantum Information and Computing laboratory/ Raman Research Institute
• Albert Yefimov, Head, Department of Engineering Cybernetics, National University of Science and Technology (MISIS)
• Christopher S. Yoo, Founding Director, Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, University of Pennsylvania