The Internet Society Switzerland Chapter (ISOC-CH) is a non-governmental not-for-profit association seated in Zurich, Switzerland, founded in 2012.

ISOC-CH is recognized as chapter of the (global) Internet Society (ISOC), headquartered in Reston, Virginia, USA, and Geneva, Switzerland.

ISOC is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy and specifically is ISOC the organizational home for groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).

Mission statement

ISOC-CH considers itself as part of the international Internet community and therefore also commits itself to the global ISOC statement: “The Internet is for everyone”.

  • Recognizing the constant evolution of technologies, applications and usages in the Internet
  • Recognizing the socio-political, cultural and economical implications and impact of the Internet
  • Recognizing the constant educational and consensus building aspects related to the Internet

ISOC-CH, primarily a technologically oriented body, is dedicated at promoting, researching and developing the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Switzerland, is open to multi-stakeholder membership and is abiding by open, democratic and consensus based principles.

It represents its members’ interest on public policy issues and provides technically-grounded advice on the impact of policy on the Internet generally.
ISOC-CH also participates in the evolution and development of the Internet in a regional and an international collaboration context.

The ISOC Switzerland Chapter should enable the self-organization of its members to contribute personally or via other organizations to the future of the Internet by education of its members about every aspect of the Internet and enable those to make their voices heard in the development of the Internet.

Action Plans

ISOC-CH is mainly concerned with discourses on Internet related matter as well as to promote the usage of the Internet within Switzerland and organizes conferences, congresses and fora to cover these purposes. Topoi in this respect currently (July 2010) are, inter alia, “Cyber-Citizenship”, the “Information Society”, the “Digital Society/Infrastructure”, “Digital Natives”, “Smart Culture/Systems/Growth”, “eCulture”, “Mass Collaboration”, “Digital Politics and Government”, “Internet of Things”, “Next Generation Networks” (NGN), “The Cloud”, “The Immersive Web”, “The Semantic Web” and all actions to empower emerging economies.

ISOC-CH action plans may include:

  • Information sharing in fora, roundtables etc.
  • Education and training initiatives
  • Exchange of experiences
  • Public-private partnerships
  • Consultation activities
  • Building trust and stability in networks
  • Internet and related standards
  • Privacy
  • Social networking
  • New technologies
  • Cooperation, collaboration and mediation with other private, public and civil society sectors