Koret Graduate Elected Chairman of Israel Internet Association 

Yediot Aharanot reported on November 5 that Dr. Amir Etzioni was elected chairman of the Israel Internet Association.

According to Yediot, Etzioni was elected by unanimous vote of the seven-member board of the Association.

Etzioni held a Koret Fellowship at IASPS for the years 1996-1997, 1997-1998 and 1998-1999. His first assignment as part of the 1996 program was to serve as economic policy research assistant to MK Michael Eitan, focusing on a then-almost-undeveloped project in Israel: the Internet. MK Eitan, aided by Fellow Etzioni, essentially almost single-handedly computerized the Israeli public sector, and through their efforts, allowed the private sector to engage in Internet activity unfettered by the state bureaucracy.

At the conclusion of his Koret Fellowship, IASPS published Etzioni’s research paper on Internet policy as IASPS Policy Studies no. 43; within days after being posted on the IASPS website, the paper was the number 1 item on Google concerning the Internet, the most sought-after paper in the world on the subject.

Last year, Etzioni received his doctorate in economics. He is today a Teaching Fellow in the IASPS Koret Fellowship Program, assisting new Fellows with their research, and a university lecturer in network economics, as well as director of the Government and Army Division of Emet Computers.