High-level multi-stakeholder event on the Future of the Internet organized by the European Commission în Prague

A High-level multi-stakeholder event on the Future of the Internet will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, tomorrow, on 2 November 2022.

The event, organised by the European Commission in coordination with the European External Action Service and the Czech Presidency of the to the Council of the European Union, will bring together representatives from the global multi-stakeholder community to promote the overarching DFI (Declaration on the Future of The Internet) partners endorsed vision for an Internet that is open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure. The event will focus on sharing solutions to implement the principles enshrined in the Declaration on the Future of the Internet (DFI).

The DFI, launched on 28 April 2022 and supported by more than 60 partners from across the world, sets out the vision and principles of a trusted Internet that is open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure. The efforts to promote this positive agenda for the future of the Internet have become more relevant in the current geopolitical landscape. In this context, it is ever more important that we step up our actions to make the internet a safe and trusted space for everyone, where the fundamental freedoms and human rights we hold true offline are also protected online.

The Declaration for the Future of the Internet is in line with the rights and principles strongly anchored in the EU and builds on the Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles that the Commission has proposed to co-sign together with the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

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Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said at that moment:

“The Internet has brought humanity together, like never before in history. Today, for the first time, like-minded countries from all over the world are setting out a shared vision for the future of the Internet, to make sure that the values we hold true offline are also protected online, to make the Internet a safe place and trusted space for everyone, and to ensure that the Internet serves our individual freedom. Because the future of the Internet is also the future of democracy, of humankind.”

Disinformation in the region of Central-Eastern Europe, addressed in the event

Against this background, the event will include plenary sessions as well as workshops, where government representatives together with stakeholders will discuss concrete actions to deliver on the internet’s promise of connecting humankind and helping democracies to thrive, as reflected by the principles in the Declaration.

The second bloc of the event will be focused on disinformation. It will show how to translate the DFI principles into concrete actions, with a particular focus on pro-Russia related disinformation in the region of Central-Eastern Europe. During this part, a presentation made by policy makers and experts in the field will provide an overview of the main issues related to disinformation, followed by a high-level panel that will engage policy makers platforms and civil society organisations to discuss how such issues can be addressed through the new co-regulatory framework and the strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation.

The agenda of the event could be accessed here. The event will be livestreamed, to register please email CNECT-FUTURE-INTERNET-EVENT@ec.europa.eu.

NGI – a program that funds solutions in the fields of the DFI

Next Generation Internet is an initiative of the European Commission, which aims to shape the Internet for the future as a powerful, user-centric (Internet of Humans) ecosystem that meets the fundamental needs of the population.

The NGI program is supporting solutions in the fields of the DFI and it funds the best research and innovation projects in the field of the Internet, ultimately addressing the need for a more fair, safe, resilient, sustainable, human-centred and decentralized internet. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion are the backbones of this envisioned future.

So far the NGI has funded more than 600 innovators with inclusive and trust-based complementary technology building blocks including services, applications, decentralized ledger technologies such as blockchain, data portability, AI, machine learning, networking, hardware and open source software.

Projects cover a broad range of subjects from private search, instant messaging and remote working tools with data privacy, health, energy, finance, supply chains, research, knowledge management and responsible media platforms.

Czech NGI-funded projects: https://www.ngi.eu/discover-ngi-solutions/?country=1685

Romanian NGI-funded projects: https://www.ngi.eu/discover-ngi-solutions/?country=1384