The importance of the Internet Governance Forum multi-stakeholder approach towards Internet Governance, has always been a high priority for the European Parliament.

Indeed, for the European Institutions sustainable governance of the Internet involving all stakeholders is essential to preserve an open and free Internet in which all rights and freedoms that people have offline also apply online, making of the Internet an extremely powerful tool for social and democratic progress worldwide.

The Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the IGF under the overarching theme: “One World. One Net. One Vision” will not be an exception.

Indeed, many are the issues that need to be in the IGF agenda. Clearly while our daily lives and economies become increasingly dependent on “digital”; we also become increasingly exposed to cyber threats, making cybersecurity vital to both our prosperity and economies.

In this regard, particular attention must be paid to the fast evolving cyber threat landscape that accompanies the digital transformation of the World’s economy as the Internet of Things, smart infrastructures, quantum computing, connected cars, digital health and eGovernment applications are massively deployed.

In addition, as the latest development with regards some international vendors has shown, cybersecurity requires essential policies, and global cooperation. No single country, or region, in the World can go about it alone, it is very important to work together with international partners and create initiatives by building a mutual and international consensual regarding an open, interoperable, secure and reliable cyberspace. The IGF is, in this context, a very valuable instrument that we must preserve and cherish.

The added value of the IGF is in any case much larger. Looking at the increased amount of events and articles that have seen the light in the last months, Artificial Intelligence can be considered the latest hot digital topic.

The European Union is currently consolidating its AI strategy. The EU has adopted legislation that will improve data sharing and open up more data for re-use, it has established a regulatory framework that will promote the deployment of the needed infrastructure and now is in the midst of adapting the first pan European digital fund that will help provide Europe with the right capabilities for AI to reach its full potential.

Nevertheless, and although Artificial Intelligence has a purely technological research and innovation component, research on AI must also be undertaken in the social, ethical and liability areas.

For example, from a labour perspective a reskilling revolution is needed. Consequently, every country around the World should: support digital skills and competences in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), entrepreneurship and creativity, modernise their education and training systems and participate in the elaboration a set of AI worldwide ethics guidelines. Once again, the IGF will have an important role to play:

“One World. One Net. One Vision”