The United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST; ;

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Instituto Internacional para Tecnologia de Programação da Universidade das Nações Unidas'') was a

United Nations University The (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare thro ...

Research Training Centre based in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, China.

History

During 1987–1989,

conducted two studies regarding the need for a research and training centre for computing in the developing nations. The studies led to the decision of the Council of the UNU to establish in Macau the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST), which was founded on 12 March 1991 and opened its door in July 1992.https://staff.fnwi.uva.nl/c.a.middelburg/unu-iist.pdf The Macao authorities also supply the institute with its office premises, located in a heritage building Casa Silva Mendes, and subsidize fellow accommodation. As part of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, the institute was to address the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare by international co-operation, research and advanced training in software technology.

Recent history during the 2000–2010 decade

UNU-IIST positions as both a university and an organ of

. Eventually, in 2015, UNU decided to evolve the former IIST into a new Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS).

Administration

The current director of UNU-CS is Dr. Jingbo Huang. ;Former directors * Prof. Michael L. Best (2015–2018) * Prof. Peter Haddawy (2010–2015) * Prof. Mike Reed (2005–2010) * Prof.

Zhou Chaochen Zhou Chaochen (; born 1 November 1937) is a Chinese computer scientist. Zhou was born in Nanhui, Shanghai, China. He studied as an undergraduate at the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics, Peking University (1954–1958) and as a postgra ...

(1997–2002) * Prof.

Dines Bjorner Dines is a name. It can be a surname which is either English or Yiddish, or it can be a Danish given name. Surname Dines is an English surname. Dines is also a Jewish Romanian surname, derived from a woman named Dina. In Yiddish, it means "Dina's ...

(1992–1997)

Center for Electronic Governance

The Center for Electronic Governance at UNU-IIST is an International Center of Excellence on

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

and practice in Electronic Governance. Established in 2007, the center has been built upon the contribution of UNU-IIST to the eMacao Project (2004–2006) and eMacao Program (2007-now), a collaborative initiative to build and utilize a foundation for Electronic Government in Macao SAR. Since 2010, it has become an official programme of UNU-IIST. The mission of the Center for Electronic Governance at UNU-IIST is to support governments in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

in strategic use of

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

to transform the working of public organizations and their relationships with

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

es,

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

research,

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...

and various forms of development –

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

development,

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

development, institutional development and development of

communities of practice A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educati ...

. The Center, since July 2014, became United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV), following the appointment and relocation from Macau to Guimarães of former members of the Center.

Teaching

The Center regularly organizes and conducts schools,

seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...

lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical inform ...

s and

presentation A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...

s for

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

leaders, managers, researchers, educators, etc. on various aspects of Electronic Governance. Various courses and presentation materials from these events are available.

Conferences

The center established in 2007 and since then leads the organization of a series of International Conferences on Electronic Governance
ICEGOV
, with the first four editions in

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Bogota, and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

.ICEGOV2010
/ref>

References

External links

UNU-IIST Website

United Nations University (UNU)

United Nations University Vice-Rectorate in Europe (UNU-ViE)

United Nations University Office in Paris (UNU-OP)

United Nations University Office in New York (UNU-ONY)

Center for Electronic Governance at UNU-IIST

International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance
* Center for Electronic Governance: *
Publications
**Projects: **
Developing Electronic Governance in Afghanistan – Assessment, Strategy, Implementation – EGOV.AF
*** Developing Electronic Governance in Cameroon – Assessment, Strategy, Implementation – EGOV.CM **
Evaluation of Electronic Government Training by EU-China Information Society Project
**
Government Enterprise Architecture Framework
**
Government Information Sharing
**
Knowledge Management for Electronic Governance
**
Capacity Building for Electronic Governance
**
IT Leadership and Coordination
**Research: **
Development Models and Frameworks
**
Assessment, Evaluation and Measurement
**
Strategies, Architectures and Alignment
**
Software Infrastructure and Services
**
Knowledge Management and Leadership
**
International Comparative Studies
{{coord, 22, 11, 45, N, 113, 32, 55.75, E, type:landmark, display=title Educational institutions established in 1992 Computer science departments Formal methods organizations International research institutes Research institutes in China Computer science institutes United Nations organizations based in Asia Universities in Macau

International Institute for Software Technology The United Nations University Institute in Macau, formerly the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST; ; Portuguese: ''Instituto Internacional para Tecnologia de Programação da Universidade das Naç ...

1992 establishments in Macau