The European Commission and the 2025 Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU are organising a Global Multistakeholder High Level Conference on the governance of Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds, on 31 March and 1 April 2025.
Objectives and expected outcomes
The conference aims at triggering a global discussion on the principles for the global governance of Web 4.0 and virtual worlds feeding into the World Summit on the Information Society 20 years review (WSIS+20).
The event will bring together, from all over the world, high-level policymakers, technologists, academics, and community leaders who will collaboratively propose governance models of virtual worlds. It will focus on policy solutions for an ethical, value-driven shift to Web 4.0. and standardisation issues related to virtual worlds (including internet standards) and its technical management. Alignment of those governance frameworks with the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance will also be a salient topic of discussion.
A conference outcome paper will summarise these initial global reflections on how the governance of Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds should look like from a policy and technical perspective and what are the possible key steps for getting there.
Call for participants statements and contributions
Each conference parallel session (see agenda below) will consist in:
- Short opening remarks from the moderators and subject matter experts, to frame the discussion;
- Several participants statements;
- A general open discussion.
To facilitate informed and productive dialogue during these parallel sessions, participants will have access to background documents prior to the conference. These materials have been developed through extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders, ensuring that diverse perspectives are included in the preparation process. For more information on the steps and methodology underpinning the background documents please consult the project website.
The background documents provide both technical background and prescriptive insights on the governance of Web 4.0, furnishing participants with valuable insights and context to inform their contributions and enhance the overall quality of the discussions. They will be published under background material on this page. Attendees are encouraged to review these documents in advance to fully engage with the subject matter and contribute meaningfully to the conference.
Individuals and organisations interested in sharing their position on the topic, highlighting key areas of agreement or disagreement, are invited to register their willingness to provide participant statements through this survey by the 14th of March 2025. Two minutes will be allocated to each statement.
For logistics reasons, only in person participants will be able to register and deliver participants statements. Individuals and organisations can choose to deliver participants statements in as many parallel sessions as they wish. Online participants are invited to take part in the open discussions, without any requirement to indicate ex ante their willingness to intervene.
Individuals and organisations who will deliver participants statements will be able to share a written input (i.e., transcript of their statement and/or additional considerations) to be made available to all participants through the conference website.
Logistics
The event will take place at the Charlemagne Building, Rue de la Loi 170, Brussels and online. Connection details for online participants will be shared shortly before the start of the conference.
Background
The conference delivers on Action 9 of the European Commission Communication “An EU initiative on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds: a head start in the next technological transition“ which was adopted in 2023. This action requires the European Commission to “engage with existing multi-stakeholder internet governance institutions to design open and interoperable virtual worlds [from Q4 2023]; and support the creation of a technical multi-stakeholder forum to address certain aspects of virtual worlds and Web 4.0 beyond the remit of existing internet governance bodies [from Q1 2024].
Agenda
Day 1
| 09h30 - 10h30 | Welcome coffee |
| 10h30 - 10h45 | Welcome to the conference by European Commission |
| 10h45 - 12h45 |
Keynote speeches from:
High Level Panel: "Internet Governance today and tomorrow – Preparing for the challenges and opportunities of the future web" under the patronage of the Polish Presidency with:
Moderated by Mr. Piotr Kobielski, Deputy Director, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Digital Affairs, Poland |
| 12h45 - 13h00 | A multistakeholder agenda for the future of the internet: presentation of the structure and format of the conference |
| 13h00 - 14h30 | Lunch break |
| 14h30 - 15h30 |
Parallel sessions - Part I
|
| 15h30 - 15h50 | Coffee break |
| 15h50 - 16h50 |
Parallel sessions - Part II
|
| 16h50 - 17h20 |
Fireside chat on industrial perspectives with:
|
| 17h20 - 17h30 | Conclusions of day 1 by Piotr Kobielski, Deputy Director, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Digital Affairs, Poland |
| 19h00-21h00 | Networking Cocktail hosted by the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU |
Day 2
| 09h30 - 09h45 | Welcome and introduction to the second day by Yvo Volman, Director of Directorate G - Data, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology |
| 09h45 - 11h15 |
Parallel sessions - Part III:
|
| 11h15 - 11h45 | Coffee break |
| 11h45 - 13h00 |
Parallel sessions - Part IV:
|
| 13h00 - 14h30 | Lunch break |
| 14h30 - 15h30 | Plenary session on the outcomes of the parallel sessions and discussion of cross-cutting issues |
| 15h30 - 16h00 | Coffee break |
| 16h00 - 16h45 | Closing remarks from Roberto Viola, Director General, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology |
| 16h45 - 17h00 | End of the conference |
Speakers
Keynote speakers
- Mr. Rafal Rosiński, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Digital Affairs, Republic of Poland
- Dr. Imagawa Takuo, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan
High Level Panel speakers
- Kurtis Lindqvist, ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
- 'Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative and member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF) High-Level Leadership Panel
- Olga Cavalli, Co-founder and Director of the South School on Internet Governance (SSIG) and Dean of the National Defense Faculty of Argentina
- Seizo Onoe, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau · International Telecommunication Union
Speakers
- Roberto Viola, Director General, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
- Piotr Kobielski, Deputy Director, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Digital Affairs, Poland
- Isabel De Peuter-Rutten, President, Euromersive
- Matthieu Worm, Distinguished Key Expert, Simulation & Digital Twin, Siemens Research & Pre-Development
Members of the High-Level Committee for Web 4.0 Governance Outcome Document
- Prof. Souichirou Kozuka, Professor of Law at Gakushuin University, and chair of the "Study Group on the Utilization of Metaverse toward the Web3 Era" and the "Study Group on Realizing a Safe and Secure Metaverse", for Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan
- Carol Roach, Undersecretary Government Transformation and Digitalization, Government of Bahamas and IGF MAG Chair
- Dr. Mariette van Huijstee, Coordinator, Rathenau Institut
- Dr. Mirja Kühlewind, Master Researcher at Ericsson Research, member of the Internet Architecture Board
- Dr. Olaf Kolkman, Principal, Internet Technology, Policy and Advocacy, the Internet Society (ISOC)
Master of ceremony
- Katrina Sichel, presenter, former TV producer and campaign director specialising in EU affairs
Parallel sessions moderators
- Egidijus Barcevičius, Research Director, PPMI
- Barbora Kudzmanaite, Research Manager, PPMI
- Rūta Gabaliņa, Research Manager, PPMI
- Omar A. Niamut, Director of Science, TNO
- Tom De Koninck, Senior Consultant, TNO
Background material
To facilitate informed and productive dialogue during the parallel sessions, the following documents have been made available. Attendees are encouraged to review these documents in advance to fully engage with the subject matter and contribute meaningfully to the conference.
- One Future Internet: Multistakeholder Governance for Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds – introductory document detailing the context, objectives and concept of the conference.
Further, based on extensive data collection and stakeholder consultations from the European Commission-funded project, 'A Space for the Metaverse – Virtual World and the Transition to Web 4.0.':
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Background document – providing an analytical overview of the technologies underpinning Web 4.0 and virtual worlds, the main challenges and governance gaps, as well as a detailed account of the stakeholder inputs as the basis for the input document. It draws on extensive review of literature as well as expert interviews, workshops and online consultation.
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Input document based on stakeholder consultations – detailing draft policy and technical principles as well as recommendations, which will be presented and discussed during the conference and guided its structure. The draft principles and recommendations emerged from a bottom-up, open and participatory stakeholder consultation process preceding the conference.
After the conference, the finalised principles and recommendations will serve as a non-binding summary of the discussions. Although the conference seeks consensus, participants are not required to agree on these principles. Instead, the final document will encapsulate both the pre-conference and in-conference dialogues, aiming to inspire broader discussions among stakeholders.
Registrations
You can register to participate in person or online by the 14th of March 2025.
Please note that registrations are not automatically accepted. They need to be confirmed by the conference organisers. You will receive all necessary information by email upon registration.
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