Academia’s long-term approach to research is a major contributor to innovation and has played a significant role in the success of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

ITU initiated its Kaleidoscope series of conferences in 2008 to provide a forum for practitioners and researchers on the standardization of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The ITU academia membership category, established in 2010, gave further impetus to the Kaleidoscope series, and today the conference is an important event on the calendar of the academic community engaged in ICT research. I would like to express my appreciation to ITU for selecting Kyoto University as this year’s host as well as my gratitude for the great volume of work ITU has undertaken to make this event possible.