Global Multistakeholder High Level Conference on Governance of Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds

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.

A man interacting with a touch screen, including several icons, implying an interaction with virtual worlds.

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

Download the full agenda.

Day 1

09h30 - 10h30	Welcome coffee
10h30 - 10h45	Welcome to the conference by Thibaut Kleiner, Director, Future Networks, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
10h45 - 12h45	Keynote speeches from: 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: "Internet Governance today and tomorrow – Preparing for the challenges and opportunities of the future web" under the patronage of the Polish Presidency with: Kurtis Lindqvist, ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 'Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director of the Paradigm Initiative and member of the IGF Leadership Panel Olga Cavalli, Dean of the National Defense Faculty, University of the National Defense Argentina and co-founder/academic director of the SSIG South School on Internet Governance Seizo Onoe, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau · International Telecommunication Union 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 Parallel session 1a: Standardisation Organisations - towards a common path for Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds Parallel session 1b: Human rights and trust in the immersive future
15h30 - 15h50	Coffee break
15h50 - 16h50	Parallel sessions - Part II Parallel session 2a: Building secure and resilient virtual worlds and Web 4.0 Parallel session 2b: Ensuring a level playing field in Web 4.0 and virtual worlds
16h50 - 17h20	Fireside chat on industrial perspectives with: Isabel De Peuter-Rutten, President, Euromersive Werner Coomans, technology advisor at Nokia and Bell Labs DMTS Matthieu Worm, Distinguished Key Expert, Simulation & Digital Twin, Siemens Research & Pre-Development
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 Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
09h45 - 11h15	Parallel sessions - Part III: Parallel session 3a: Bridging the digital divides and ensuring accessibility for Web 4.0 and virtual worlds Parallel session 3b: Open, distributed and sustainable internet architecture fit for the future needs
11h15 - 11h45	Coffee break
11h45 - 13h00	Parallel sessions - Part IV: Parallel session 4a: A robust multistakeholder governance for the future internet in the era of Web 4.0 and virtual worlds Parallel session 4b: Evolving internet protocols toward Web 4.0
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
Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Thibaut Kleiner, Director, Future Networks, Director General, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Isabel De Peuter-Rutten, President, Euromersive
Matthieu Worm, Distinguished Key Expert, Simulation & Digital Twin, Siemens Research & Pre-Development
Werner Coomans, technology advisor and Bell Labs DMTS

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

Florence Ranson, event moderator and communications advisor

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.':

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.
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.

Global Multistakeholder High Level Conference on Governance of Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds

Objectives and expected outcomes

Call for participants statements and contributions

Logistics

Background

Agenda

Speakers

Background material

Registrations

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