1. Starting self-support accounting

  It is an honor to serve as the President of the Communications Society for the coming year.
  The Communications Society has introduced self-supporting operation and accounting this year, ahead of any of the other IEICE Societies. Recognizing that the Transactions and Technical Committees are valuable assets to the Society, we have adopted self-supporting accounting to increase the incentive for members to support the activities of the Editorial Committee of Transactions on Communications and the Technical Committees, and implement, in an expeditious manner, measures that have been adopted on the Society’s own initiative, thereby further enhancing services provided to the Society members.

2. Initiating new activities

  In this fiscal year, as the full-scale adoption of self-supporting accounting starts, we will make new budgetary provision to further revitalize the activities of the Technical Committees and the Editorial Committee, in order to enhance, boldly yet prudently, the quality of services to members, while at the same time strengthening the Society’s financial base.
  This year will also see the start of online publication of the Transactions. We expect that this will make the publication more convenient and economical to produce than before.
  Other new services that will become available to the members this year include the publication of a new Society Magazine, which will feature articles on current hot topics, the compilation of a database of member information, and a member community service to facilitate exchanges between members, in particular members from enterprises and members who have retired from active duties.
  The Communications Society has a large member base from industry, including engineers in enterprises who do not often participate in Conferences or meetings organized by the Technical Committees, or submit papers, but are involved daily in various enterprise activities in the telecommunications field. This broad membership base provides a basis for extensive collaboration between industry and academia. The planned new services are intended to enhance the professionalism of Society members, by strengthening the way in which Society activities assist in the accumulation and passing on of technology, skills, know-how, and the personal or organizational abilities of individual members, a service for which there is an acute need if the Society is to serve as not only an academic but a professional community.

3. Strengthening existing activities

  Since last year, the Communications Society has been managed under the following organizational framework: “the Board of Directors”, who deliberate and make decisions on important matters related to the entire Society, “The Editorial Board”, which is in charge of publishing the Transactions, and “the Council of Technical Committee Representatives”, which is responsible for the operation of the Technical Committees and Conferences. This framework is intended to allow the Board of Directors to focus on strategic issues of the Society, and delegate the responsibility and authority for Transactions and the operation of Technical Committees to the respective teams so that the Society can provide high-quality services for its members in a flexible and timely manner.
  This arrangement will enable us to respond quickly to changes in the environment surrounding telecommunications. Specifically, it will enable us to provide the new services mentioned above, and to reinforce the Society’s international activities, including the establishment of close relationships with IEEE ComSoc, VDE/ITG of Germany, and engineering societies in other Asian countries, and the co-sponsorship of international conferences with these organizations. Furthermore, it will provide us with the flexibility to address new technical fields by forming new Technical Committees, and to increase the opportunities for interdisciplinary studies through collaboration with a variety of external communities.

4. Providing services suitable for the members of the Communications Society

  With a view to providing services suitable for its members, the Communications Society has studied specific issues related to self-supporting accounting, and, over the last couple of years, has initiated a number of reforms based on the results of that study. I was personally involved in the task force studying these issues and was deeply impressed by the dedicated efforts and enthusiasm shown by the members of the task force.
  Although the new services may still be far from perfect, I would greatly appreciate your using them actively and providing feedback, so that together we can cause them develop and grow to provide a solid base for services for members.