High-level multi-stakeholder event on the Future of the Internet

8:30 – 9:00

Registration and welcome coffee

9:00 – 9:20

Welcome by Ivan Bartoš, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation of the Czech Republic

Opening statement by Roberto Viola, Director General, Directorate-General for Communications networks, Content and Technology, European Commission

9:20-10:20

Panel: Promoting and Safeguarding an inclusive and open digital future: efforts from the EU and beyond

The main aim of this panel will be to present the vision behind the Declaration on the Future of the Internet (DFI) and how DFI partner-countries are trying to operationalise it. It will exemplify how these countries are contributing and leading the way in implementing human rights and principles in the digital age.

It will be an opportunity to listen to high-level political representatives from the EU and from other DFI partner countries to learn how they are contributing to our shared objective of promoting an inclusive and open internet.

Participants:

Roberto Viola, Director General, Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission (in-person)

Hiroshi Yoshida, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (remote)

Tim Wu, Special Advisor on Technology and Competition to the President of the United States (in-person)

Paul Ash, Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, New Zealand (in-person)

Tarja Fernandez - Ambassador for Cyber Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland (in-person)

Moderator:

Fran Burwell, distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council 

10:30-11:30

Multi-stakeholder workshops on how to live up to the DFI vision in practice:

(1) Protecting human rights in the age of online platforms (DFI principle: Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms)

Participants:

Dimi Dimitrov, Wikimedia, Belgium (in-person)

Milan Zubicek, EU Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Google, Belgium (in-person)

Peggy Hicks, OHCHR, Switzerland (remote)

Victor Kapiyo, KICTANet, Kenya (remote)

Mette Finneman, Project lead for the Tech for Democracy initiative, Denmark (in-person)

Vera Zekam, USAID Senior Advisor for Technology and Democracy, United States (in-person)

Brett Solomon, AccessNow, United States (remote)

Moderator:

Prabhat Agarwal, European Commission, DG CONNECT (in-person)

(2) Preventing internet shutdowns and platform-specific restrictions (DFI principle: A global internet)

Participants:

Andrew Sullivan, Internet Society (remote)

Lise Fuhr, ETNO (in-person)

Azadeh Akbari, University of Twente (in-person)

Quinn McKew, Article 19 (in-person)

Yoichi Iida, Japan (remote)

Alexander Komarov, CEO Kyivstar (remote)

Moderator:

Thibaut Kleiner, European Commission, DG CONNECT (in-person)

(3) Promoting digital literacy to close the digital divide (DFI principle: Inclusive and affordable access to the internet)

Participants:

Rebecca Grattan, Avast (in person)

Vladimíra Dvořáková, CTU, Prague (in-person)

Andreas Fibiger, Microsoft Philanthropies (remote)

Marielza Oliveira, UNESCO (in-person)

Amrita Choudhury, CCAOI (remote)

Moderator:

David Ringrose, European External Action Service (in-person)

(4)  Empowering youth to shape their future internet: online practices and governance models (DFI principle: Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance)

Participants:

Bibek Silwal, UN IGF Youth Ambassador 2022 (in-person)

Oksana Prykhodko, NextGen ICANN (remote)

Luke Cavanaugh, ITU Generation Connect (remote)

Marta Musidłowska, Young IGF Poland (remote)

Sofía Celi, IETF (remote)

Anna Krupnik, Young IGF (in-person)

Moderator:

Vallarie Yiega, Kenya Youth Representative IGF (in-person)

During each parallel workshop, the multi-stakeholder community will discuss a key principle at working level, providing local examples and best practices. From each workshop, a multi-stakeholder report will be produced, summarising how the DFI principles can be operationalised in practice.

In parallel

10:30-11:30

Ministerial roundtable: Digital for the common good

Pooling digital resources (data, algorithms/standards, computing power) for the purpose of public policy can help tackle some of the big challenges of our time: healthcare (genomics, fight against cancer, pandemics), climate change (predicting natural disasters), energy, smart cities, smart agriculture, to name a few.

How can the DFI partners establish such ‘government platforms as a service’ and make them accessible as part of the global Internet to other partner countries and stakeholders implementing the DFI principles? The EU will provide the example of the Destination Earth initiative.

Participants:

Roberto Viola, Director General, Directorate-General for Communication networks, Content and Technology, European Commission (in-person)

Petr Očko, Deputy Minister for digitalisation and innovations, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Czech Republic (in-person)

Audrey Tang, Digital Minister, Taiwan (remote)

Peter Harrell, NSC Senior Director, the United States (remote)

Paul Ash, Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, New Zealand (in-person)

Henri Verdier, Digital Ambassador, France (in-person)

11:30-11:45

Family photo

11:30-13:00

Networking lunch

13:00– 13:05

Opening statement: Roberto Viola, Director General, Directorate-General for Communications networks, Content and Technology, European Commission

13:05 –13:45

Scene setter: The challenges of disinformation

This part will give an overview of the main issues related to pro-Russia disinformation surrounding the war in Ukraine focussing in particular on the region of Central-Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, as assessed by fact-checkers, researchers and ministers. The EDMO Taskforce on Ukraine will provide an overview of its key findings, while the regional EDMO hub will present examples of disinformation campaigns in the region. Ministers from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region will describe challenges they face in their respective countries.

Participants:

Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs ,Czech Republic (in-person)

Kristjan Järvan, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology of the Republic of Estonia (in-person)

Claire Wardle, European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) Taskforce on Ukraine (remote)

Karina Stasiuk-Krajewska, Central European Digital Media Observatory (CEDMO), SWPS University (in-person)

Leslie Miller, Vice-President of Government Affairs & Public Policy at YouTube (remote)

13:45-14:55

Panel: Disinformation in Central-Eastern Europe: lessons learned from the war in Ukraine

The panel will provide a forum for discussion between platforms, policy makers, and civil society organisations to discuss platforms policies and measures taken in the region to counter disinformation and how the new co-regulatory framework based on the Code of Practice on Disinformation will allow to fill gaps and address shortcomings.

Participants:

Daniel Braun, Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President of the European Commission, Věra Jourová (in-person)

Peter Erdelyi, LAKMUSZ (in-person)

Theo Bertram, Vice-President for Public Policy, Europe at TikTok (remote)

Dominika Hajdu, Globsec (in-person)

Markus Reinisch, Vice-President Public Policy Europe and Global Economic Policy at Meta (in-person)

Moderator:

Felix Kartte, RESET.tech (in-person)

14:55-15:15

Keynote closing

Jake Sullivan – National Security Advisor to the President of the United States (tbc in-person or remote)

Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency (in-person)

15:15-17:15

Networking drinks