It is with great enthusiasm and much pleasure that have I edited and contributed to the content of this book. It has been an intensely thought provoking experience in engaging with distinguished experts from all over the world who presented papers and participated in discussions at three recent Conferences on e-government, CIO and e-governance. I am impressed at the standard of achievements being accomplished.

I am indeed indebted to my learned colleagues from government ministries, donor aid agencies, the private sector, non government organizations and educational institutions. They have without hesitation, given us their frank and honest insights on the state of e-Governance today. They have shared with us not only their successes but their failures as well and the lessons they have learnt along the way. I also want to thank Federick Amores and Iluminado Aloaina as researchers in my Institute during their stay at Waseda University for their efforts.

Today's senior information executives are confronting a continually growing complex bundle of challenges. These challenges include, changing technology, environmental disasters and of course, the current global financial crisis.

Since 2001, the Waseda University Institute of e-Government has been studying e-Government and the current issues facing Chief Information Officers. The Institute is also involved in the human resource development of Chief Information Officers, the ranking of world e-Government, and the facilitation of regional APEC activities under the guise of the APEC e-Government Research Center. Examples of the Institute's activities include coordinating and facilitating with partner organizations the conferences held in Tokyo and Bangkok. Included in this book will be some of the proceedings from these conferences.

This volume is divided into five (5) parts:

1. The first chapter is about e-Participation. It offers perspectives of citizen involvement in e-Government. Included here are articles on e-municipality.

2. The second chapter discusses national e-government strategies from different countries around the world.

3. Chapter three looks at the innovative CIO; the latest trends and developments.

4. Chapter four consists of articles on ICT in the context of the world economy especially with regard to the recent financial crisis.

5. Finally, chapter five presents the Waseda E-Government Ranking and Country Reports 2010; a unique perspective from Asia on e-Government ranking.

The contributors to the articles in this book came from different backgrounds and nationalities. However, it was interesting to discover that there were common themes which seem to transcend borders as has been the case in past books of this series. I learnt a lot in the process of compiling this book and I trust you will too.