Frits Bussemaker, Chair and Founder of the Institute for Accountability for the Digital Age (I4ADA), has won the David O’Leary Award for 2022. 

Mr Bussemaker received the award from IFIP IP3 Chair Moira de Roche and new IFIP President Anthony Wong at IFIP’s General Assembly on 20 September 2022. Frits is the hands-on moderator for all I4ADA dialogues, and is cofounder and vice chair of AI for Good. 

Ms de Roche told the assembly, “We are delighted to present this award to Frits in recognition of his dedication to developing and nurturing communities focused on accountability and ethics. Robin Raskin, who nominated Frits for the award said, “David O’Leary would be proud to have Frits Bussemaker as the recipient of this award”, and I think that says it all.”

She said Frits had developed numerous programs and resources and organised a series of terrific events around entrepreneurship and organisational psychology, not to mention his work with AI for Good. 

“The technology industry needs a catalyst for good change – Frits is a shining and enduring example of such a catalyst!”

In receiving the recognition, Mr Bussemaker shared how over his 30 years working in the international IT industry, he’s seen society shift from ‘command-and-control’ to ‘connect-and-collaborate’. 

“We’re moving from silos to networks enabled by digital technology,” he said. “For the last 20 years, I’ve had the opportunity to use my network or community building experience to help numerous organisations make that transition. And to ensure that digital technology is used for good, eg., addressing the governance of Digital Technology (www.i4ada.org), and supporting the SDGs through AI4Good (ai4good.itu.int),” he said. 

“It is a great honour for me to receive the David O’Leary Award in recognition of my contribution to the development of professionalism in ICT, which for me is focused on community building. It is a motivation to keep on sharing knowledge and supporting organisations to seek what they have in common. Finally, I would like to offer my experience in community building to support IFIP in growing as global community of IT professionals. We need this community today more than ever to go digital in an accountable, safe and inclusive manner.” The award is presented annually and is sponsored by Redds Capital. You can get more information about Frits here, and details about the award here.