About Us
President’s Message
The International Communications Foundation (ICF) and KDDI Engineering and Consulting, Inc. (KEC) have recently merged and made a new start under the name KDDI Foundation. Both organizations were dedicated to the idea of promoting social and economic progress through personal exchanges and the development of global telecommunications. By consolidating their resources, we intend to work more effectively than ever to contribute to the global community. We hope that the new KDDI Foundation will continue to enjoy your generous support.
The ICF was established in 1988. Its primary mission was to support research related to telecommunications. Over the years it provided support for more than 1,300 research projects, and awarded grants totaling 1.63 billion yen. KEC has an even longer history, having been established in 1974. It provided telecommunications consulting services for more than 130 projects worldwide, including 91 projects in developing countries, and accepted more than 5,000 trainees from overseas. The KDDI Foundation has been entrusted with these tangible and intangible assets, developed over many years, and with the network of human resources built up inside and outside Japan through our training programs. By integrating these resources, and developing them organically, we hope to work more effectively with partner organizations to advance the public-interest.
The mission of the Foundation is to contribute to social, economic, and cultural development through telecommunications. But this will not be possible through technology alone. To bridge the digital divide, one of the most urgent problems in a world shaped by ICT, telecommunications infrastructure must be provided and schools established, backed up by commitment and systematic involvement on the part of governments, enterprises, NGOs, and others. To this end, we intend to focus both on training in technology and on strategies for the most effective use of technology, as well as on the cultural grounding to needed to develop such strategies.
We would like to become an organization that makes substantial contributions to desirable development paths throughout the world through active international exchanges and dialogues between representatives from a wide range of fields. We will be grateful for your generous support and guidance.
Yasuhiko Ito
KDDI Foundation, President