Author Description

The First Future Internet Symposium was held during September 28–30, 2008 in Vienna, Austria. FIS 2008 provided a forum for leading researchersand pr- titioners to meet and discuss the wide-ranging scienti?c and technical issues related to the design of a new Internet. The sentiment shared in Vienna was that we are at the beginning of something very exciting and challenging and that FIS 2008 has played a role in forming a community to address this. With overa billionusers,today’s Internet is arguablythe most successful- man artifact ever created. The Internet’s physical infrastructure, software, and content now play an integralpart in the lives of everyoneon the planet, whether they interact with it directly or not. Now nearing its?fth decade, the Int- net has shown remarkable resilience and?exibility in the face of ever-increasing numbers of users, data volume, and changing usage patterns, but faces gr- ing challenges in meetings the needs of our knowledge society. Globally, many major initiatives are underway to address the need for more scienti?c research, physical infrastructure investment, better education, and better utilization of the Internet. Japan, the USA and Europe are investing heavily in this area. The EU is shaping around the idea of the Future Internet its research programmes for the Seventh Framework. EU commissioners, national government ministers, industry leadersand researchersmet in Bled, Slovenia during March 31–April2, 2008, to begin developing a vision of a future Internet that will meet Europe’s needs a decade from now, and beyond. Abroadprogrammeofscienti?cresearchisessentialtosupportingtheaimsof the Future Internetinitiative.