The IGF is being held this year in Kyoto, Japan from October 8th to October 12th.
This year’s event is going to have a very busy schedule. The event organisers received nearly 400 workshop proposals, which is almost double the number from last year.
The overarching theme for this year is “The Internet We Want – Empowering All People”.
So what will the actual schedule have on it?
There’ll be workshops, open forums and “town halls”, lightning talks and “main sessions”. I’ll be honest, even though I’ve attended several IGFs in the past I still am not 100% au fait with some of the terminology they use to describe the different types of sessions. Some of the sessions are more “plenary” while others are more interactive. Bear in mind that the event is run by the UN, so there will always be a certain amount of the bureaucratic pomp around some of it.
The workshop sessions are broken up by themes, including some that are very much “du jour”:
- Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Online Safety
- AI & Emerging Technologies
- Digital Divides & Inclusion
- Global Digital Governance & Cooperation
- Human Rights & Freedoms
- Data Governance & Trust
- Avoiding Internet Fragmentation
- Sustainability & Environment
Based on past experience with IGFs there’s usually quite a strong presence from civil society and governments, though not many people from internet infrastructure companies tend to show up apart from the really big players.
Attending the IGF is free, but registration is mandatory. At present there are just under 1100 people registered, though I suspect that number will be considerably higher by October. Remote participation will be possible, at least in theory, but the timezone difference will make it quite awkward to follow.
If you are heading there in person, the city of Kyoto has plenty of hotels and other options for visitors. Kyoto is a fascinating city and is well worth visiting (I spent a few days there back in 2019 and loved it)
