The internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2013 that was held in Bali from 21 – 25 October was attended by 20 young professionals / ambassadors from all over the world including one from Indonesia, Teuku Aulia Geumpana, Fulbright Tsunami Relief Initiative program student program alum. The IGF itself is a multistakeholder forum for policy dialogue on Internet governance issues, and brings together intergovernmental organizations, civil society, the private sector, and the technical and academic community. It was earlier established by the World Summit on the Information Society in 2006. Since then, it has become the leading global multi-stakeholder forum on public policy issues related to Internet governance. This year’s IGF theme is “Building Bridges: Enhancing Multistakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development.”

The Internet Society’s IGF Ambassadors Programme is designed to foster participation in multistakeholder processes for a healthy and sustainable Internet ecosystem. Next generation Internet leaders have the opportunity to participate in IGF meetings and lend their unique local and regional experiences to the discussions. First-time Ambassadors are paired with a mentor to help them prepare for the meeting, as well as to serve as an onsite contact. Following IGF, the Ambassadors return to their own communities and apply and share their IGF experiences.

Teuku Aulia Geumpana was identified from an applicant pool of more than 200 highly qualified individuals. The selected 20 Ambassadors have provided important regional perspectives to the dialogue on advancing the open and multistakeholder governance process. In addition, they have gained new insights and connections to enhance their work at other local, regional, and international meetings.

“It is always a great experience to meet different people from different countries with different expertise on internet area; what an honor to be chosen as one of the IGF ambassadors this year,” said Teuku Geumpana. He earned his Master’s degree in Management Information System from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2009. On his return, he works and contributes in the Information Technology development in Indonesia. He is currently an active faculty member at the school of computer science of Binus International University. His research works and interest in the area cloud computing has brought him to achieve several International grants and awards. Research grant from Information Society Innovation Fund, and Azure Educator grant from Microsoft are among the achievements he got this year. “There are so many interesting session and I could not attend all of them, however, I managed to attend several great sessions on the power of internet in disaster and environmental control, cloud computing in emerging economies, cybercrime treaty, privacy vs. freedom of expression and network neutrality. Great positive and constructive discussion among the multistakeholders in this forum and I believe we (Indonesia) have lots to learn from this event on how other countries have governed and applied internet in improving their lives.”

The highlights of his career since 2012 are, among others, Best Employee 2013, Binus International University; Visiting Lecturer on Cloud Computing Course for Global Engineering Week, Chitkara University, India; recipient of Azure Educator Grants 2013 from Microsoft Corp; recipient of International Grants 2013 from Information Society Innovation Fund Asia, Australia; and presenter at International Conference on Engineering and Applied Sciences (ICEAS 2012), China.