The Kaleidoscope academic conference is ITU"s flagship academic event. Established in 2008, the conference has been welcomed with great enthusiasm by the ICT research community and has matured into one of the highlights of the ITU"s calendar of events. Kaleidoscope"s principal aim is to shed light on information and communication technology (ICT) research at an early stage so as to identify associated standardization needs in the interests of promoting the widespread diffusion of research findings through the development of internationally recognized ITU standards. The sixth edition of the conference, ITU Kaleidoscope 2014, took the theme "Living in a converged world - impossible without standards?". It was tackled from a variety of perspectives in line with the multidisciplinary approach mandated by the all-encompassing nature of technological and industrial convergence. This is the first in a series of four special issues to showcase extended versions of selected Kaleidoscope...