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The Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (IOWN Global Forum) has held its 2026 Annual Member Meeting in Sydney, drawing more than 250 delegates from across its 180-plus member organisations to discuss the path from photonics research to operational network infrastructure.
The gathering focused on advancing shared architectural blueprints, integration practices and deployment models designed to move photonics-driven innovation into production environments that work across vendors, sectors and regions.
Aligning infrastructure with AI-era demand
The meeting comes as demand for network capacity continues to accelerate, driven in large part by the computational requirements of AI workloads. The Forum’s members are working to develop next-generation communications infrastructure that can keep pace without locking operators into single-vendor ecosystems.
Dr. Katsuhiko Kawazoe, President and Chairperson of the IOWN Global Forum, framed the Sydney gathering as part of a broader effort to avoid fragmentation in how digital infrastructure evolves.
“It was a privilege to gather with our broad ecosystem of thought leaders in Australia as we work together to shape the future of digital infrastructure,” Kawazoe commented. “We achieve this by aligning efforts early across diverse industries, geographies and value chains; working across infrastructure layers to enable end-to-end performance; and enabling real-world implementation through collaborative use cases and proofs of concept.”
“To meet ever-increasing digital demand, driven by the AI era, our shared focus is on building networks that are faster, more resilient and economically viable, while avoiding fragmentation and single-vendor lock-in,” he added. “This is the only way to drive the greatest value for the global economy, industry and society.”
Industry leaders weigh in
The Forum brought in external voices to discuss the broader landscape shaping digital infrastructure investment.
Jefferson Wang, an IOWN Global Forum Board Member, led a fireside chat with Ani Satchcroft, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Infrastructure Asia-Pacific for Macquarie Asset Management. The pair explored investment trends shaping digital infrastructure across the region.
Rika Nakazawa, Executive Head of Global Strategic Innovation at NTT Data, delivered a keynote address covering responsible innovation, edge-of-space computing and quantum futures.
Public event puts photonics in context
The Forum also hosted FUTURES Sydney, a public-facing event designed to build wider awareness of the IOWN Global Forum’s work.
Presentations included Olivia Shen, Director of the Strategic Technologies Program with the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney, speaking on AI implementation in a competitive global environment.
Giovanni Chiarelli, Chief Technology Officer at TPG Telecom, addressed the demand drivers and technological landscape shaping Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Masayoshi Namba, an Expert at MUFG Bank, outlined the possibilities that all-photonics networks could create for the financial services industry.
A panel discussion on AI infrastructure, security and sovereignty was moderated by The Register’s APAC Editor Simon Sharwood, featuring Shen, Wang and Masahisa Kawashima, IOWN Technology Director at NTT and Chair of the Technology Working Group at the IOWN Global Forum.
Five new members join the Forum
The IOWN Global Forum welcomed five new member organisations during the Sydney meeting.
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They include Adtran, a provider of open, disaggregated networking and communications solutions; Arteria Networks Corporation, a telecommunications and IT infrastructure provider; Baycurrent, a business and IT consulting firm; Dassault Systemes, a software developer specialising in 3D modelling, simulation, information intelligence and collaboration; and TPSCo, a specialised analog semiconductor foundry.
New board directors elected
The Forum announced its 2026 elected directors: Per Beming, Chief Standardisation Officer at Ericsson; Derrick Buckley, Managing Director of Telecoms, Media and Gaming Industries at Microsoft; Dr Rong-Ruey Lee, VP of Telecommunication Laboratories at Chunghwa Telecom; Giovanni Manto, Leader of Strategy and Advanced Optical Technology at Nokia; and Chris Wright, Chief Technology Officer at Red Hat.
The road from research to deployment
The IOWN Global Forum was established in 2020 as a private sector organisation to develop technologies and use cases for next-generation communications infrastructure. Its membership now spans more than 180 organisations working on photonics research and development, distributed computing, use cases and reference designs.
The Sydney meeting underscored the Forum’s shift in emphasis from pure research toward practical deployment, with members working to produce specifications and frameworks that network operators and enterprises can use to build out photonic infrastructure in real-world settings.
For more information, visit the IOWN Global Forum.
Last Updated on April 29, 2026 by Nick Ross
