In Germany, digitization is no longer a topic only interesting to nerds and a handful of quirky politicians - as it was a few years ago. On the contrary, the debate about digitization is one of the central topics of political discussion today. However, the term "digitization" does not even come close to describing the extent of the revolutionary change we are currently experiencing. In addition to the actual (technological) digitization, the global interconnectedness of digital data is an essential feature of these changes. All this is happening at an unprecedented speed, with the result that in many cases we are only able to watch, unable to step in and change the course of new developments.

This situation of radical change frightens many people and often they tend to focus only on the negative aspects of this change. But neither fear and insecurity, nor a naive and careless approach to new developments will help us shape our future. Fear is not a novel reaction to new technologies – especially if they have a revolutionary impact. The invention of letterpress printing, industrialization, the first railway and television are just a few examples. Every single time there were people who predicted the downfall of civilization. The Internet is a great opportunity for mankind and we can influence where we are going. All we have to do is to take action.

To this end, it is necessary to give technological progress as much free rein as possible while at the same time setting up „guardrails“. However, at this point in time we are still lacking a consensus on where these boundaries should be drawn. The digitized society is currently in a kind of "digital puberty". We are testing boundaries and often crossing them. There are no tried-and-accepted rules of conduct yet, and we must still learn that a perceived technological anonymity is not a free ticket for forgetting our good manners. National legislation is only of limited help here. The Internet knows no borders, so we need a global approach in order to find a "common sense": A common understanding of what we want to allow and what not, how to behave and how we can deal peacefully with each other. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) of the United Nations offers a platform for this.

This year, Germany is the host country of the XIV Internet Governance Forum, which will take place from 25. – 29. November 2019 in Berlin. Under the motto "One World. One Net. One Vision", thousands of participants, including representatives of governments, parliamentarians, entrepreneurs, scientists and representatives of civil society from all over the world, are expected to discuss the future and urgent issues of the digitized and networked world for a week. In particular, the importance of cross-border data traffic (data governance), network security and the integration of groups at risk of exclusion (e-Inclusion) will be the main topics. This year, the IGF steering committee has set itself the goal of strengthening the parliamentary aspect of global Internet Governance within the framework of the IGF. This is a great chance for us as parliamentarians and therewith in our role as representatives of the people to address important issues. The President of the German Bundestag, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, and me, as the Chairman of the Bundestag’s Committee on the Digital Agenda, together invited members of parliaments from all over the world to actively join the discussions and the first parliamentary meeting during the IGF.

As this year’s host country, we have the unique opportunity to encourage building lasting relationships between parliamentarians all over the world and promote „German Mut” (engl. Courage) as our core brand in the digitized and interconnected world. In my opinion, it is clear that we can only transfer our democratic values into the digitized and interconnected world using reason and courage. Germany has the potential to do pioneering work here. I advocate that we initiate a digital enlightenment movement – in the tradition of Kant’s ideal - at the political, entrepreneurial, scientific and civil society levels which aims at liberating people from their “selfimposed immaturity”. For this I would like to win supporters from all over the world within the framework of the IGF. Since 2003 I have been following and designing the activities of the IGF. I actively participated in three events: 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya, 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan and 2013 in Bali, Indonesia. My experiences there have immensely broadened my perspective and allowed me to look beyond the German and European horizons. For example, I was able to get to know Arabic, Chinese and African visions of an interconnected world.

The particular importance of the IGF stems from its multi-stakeholder approach which enables a lively discussion on digital policy with experts and interested parties from a wide range of disciplines and countries worldwide. This has allowed me to get to know an incredible variety of viewpoints, ways of thinking and interpretation. I would like to recommend this experience to everyone - it educates and promotes tolerance.