www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/nesta-and-city-amsterdam-bring-together-pioneers-european-internet-policy-during-flagship-ngi-policy-summit/
Nesta and the City of Amsterdam bring together pioneers of European internet policy during flagship NGI Policy Summit
Nesta’s latest Next Generation Internet (NGI) event, in partnership with the City of Amsterdam and the European Commission, will see 400+ local, national and international policymakers come together to discuss their vision for the future internet and the practical interventions that might help bring us there. This event forms a key opportunity for the European internet policy community to come together to discuss practical solutions and remedies, rather than just identifying problems.
This event is part of the Next Generation Internet initiative (NGI), the European Commission’s ambitious flagship programme aimed at building a more democratic, resilient, sustainable, trustworthy and inclusive future internet by 2030. With ten years left, the NGI programme is seeking ways to empower policymakers and strengthen innovation ecosystems across five topics:
The NGI Policy Summit will include an array of speakers who are global leaders in digital policy and work towards building a more human-centric future internet.
Speakers include:
Payal Arora - Digital anthropologist and author of “The Next Billion Users”
Anu Bradford - Law professor and author of "The Brussels Effect"
Toomas Hendrik Ilves - Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former President of Estonia (2006-2016)
Eva Kaili - Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen - Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford
Raymond Knops - State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Netherlands
Charlton McIlwain - Media scholar and author of "Black Software"
Touria Meliani - Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam
Pearse O’Donohue - Director for Future Networks at the European Commission
Axel Voss - Member of the European Parliament
The speakers are just one feature of the extensive two-day programme. In addition to more than 40 expert voices, the NGI Policy Summit also features interactive workshops and policy-in-practice sessions that dive deeper into the event’s themes and explore possible futures for the internet.
Pearse O’Donohue, Director for Future Networks at the European Commission comments: “The challenging times we are living in are testing Europe’s readiness to shape the digital transformation in a human-centric fashion. It is an opportunity to build a leading role for the EU in technology and industrial development and devise new business models, in a modernised framework of rules that ensures the uphold of our values of democracy, inclusiveness, security and respect for the privacy of the individuals.
The Next Generation Internet Policy Summit will address the key role of the internet, its core infrastructure, technologies and services, in some of the priority areas of the European Commission in the digital field: sustainability and resilience of the economy and society, the smooth transition to a data economy model that would benefit both our citizens and businesses, and the full uptake of secure, accessible and inclusive digital identity.”
Touria Meliani, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam shares: “To secure an open and inclusive digital future, it is crucial that governments respect the digital rights of their citizens, such as online freedom of expression and privacy of personal data. Cities, being one of the closest democratic institutions to the people, are equipped to share best practices, learn from each other’s challenges and successes, and coordinate common initiatives and actions. That’s why I’m very proud that the City of Amsterdam is host to this European gathering of innovative thinkers.”
Katja Bego, Principal Researcher at Nesta and NGI Forward project lead, says about the event: “While we have become very good at diagnosing the internet’s many ills, we have been less good at coming up with remedies. This conference aims to bring together future-facing policymakers across all layers of governance to discuss concrete interventions and ideas that can help us make the internet more inclusive, resilient and trustworthy, and take shared action.”
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
The Nesta NGI team is available for comment and other written contributions.
For all media enquiries contact:
Sonia Foday, [email protected], 02074382610
About NGI Forward
The Nesta-led NGI Forward project, which leads the organisation of this event, functions as the Next Generation Internet initiative’s policy and strategy arm, and in that capacity helps the Commission come up with an ambitious vision for the future internet, and identify the concrete building blocks- from policy interventions to technology solutions- that could help bring us closer towards this vision.
The NGI Forward project just released its report ‘Internet of Waste’, which discusses the internet’s own environmental footprint in the context of the European Green Deal. In coming weeks, in conjunction with the Policy Summit, the NGI team will also release its key vision paper, which outlines how Europe can chart its own path forward and reemerge as a digital innovation superpower in the post-COVID world. This report can be made available ahead of time on request.
About Nesta
Nesta is a global innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better.
Over 20 years we’ve been tackling the big challenges facing society through research, evidence and policy, practical programmes, making grants and investments, and running experiments. We use these methods to make positive change happen where it matters to everyone, from the frontiers of personalised healthcare to stretched public services and a fast-changing jobs market.
Nesta is based in the UK and supported by a financial endowment. We work with partners around the globe to bring bold ideas to life to change the world for good.
Social media:
The event will be live tweeted using the hashtag #ngisummit
@NGIForward - Project twitter
@NGI4eu - Initiative twitter
