Wrap up 2026 day 1
26 May 2026 | 17:15 - 17:30 CEST | Alcide De Gasperi | 
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Consolidated programme 2026
- Isabelle Lois, Vice-Chair of UN CSTD, OFCOM Switzerland |
Video record
Transcript
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Florence Ranson: This should, it is coming back now because if I use that, then you’re going to have in your ears because of my mic. So I’d rather not. So thank you very much, Frances, for moderating this session. And thank you all for your very interesting and very in -depth contribution. And it’s really refreshing to hear different views from what we normally all hear in standard conferences. So that was very interesting and hopefully a building stone for future steps. The time has come to wrap up day one. It has been very intense. It has been very rich. So let’s hear some, maybe some takeaways, but also some paving the way for tomorrow. For another rich and full day.
So to take us through this wrap up session, I’d like to welcome Isabelle Loi from Ofcom in Switzerland. And she’s also the vice chair of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development. Isabelle, please.
Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much hi everyone um i’m Isabelle Lois from the swiss government i work at the federal office of communications and there i focus mostly on internet governance but also on ai governance so i wanted to take a few minutes now to wrap up a bit uh this day and look forward towards tomorrow so it’s really a pleasure to to speak here in front of all of you and today’s discussions have really demonstrated once again the strength of the european internet governance community. It is open it is technically informed it is policy oriented and it’s genuinely multi continues to provide something that is extremely valuable we have a space where government civil society technical community academia youth international organizations but also the private sector can engage, discuss on an equal footing, just like the WSIS vision asked for.
So this model is now more essential than ever. It has become increasingly difficult in this geopolitical context and fragmented world to have genuine discussions and dialogues. And this is why these spaces must be preserved. Today, we had many interesting conversations. And some of the impressions I’m getting today is that Eurodig has really evolved from its beginning. We are no longer just talking about Internet at its core or the governance of Internet at its core, but we are discussing AI governance, platform accountability, cybersecurity, anything, digital sovereignty, democratic resilience, human rights, and we see it with the rich program we had today and the rich program we’ll have tomorrow. And these discussions are continuously more important and really connect with the original WSIS vision, a people -centered and inclusive, a development -oriented information society.
And this is what I’m hoping and I’m seeing today with everyone here. So almost 20 years later, this vision remains central and is really what is bringing the conversation. So today’s program, we talked about supply chain for the future of the Internet. It’s democratic resilience, deepfakes, AI, even quantum. And in the core of that, really Europe’s role in digital environments. And I think this is something that’s highly important. We have discussions at the UN. We have discussions in many international organizations that are looking at the global level. But sometimes it’s important to come together at the regional level and really focus on what we can do together. How are we working on this together? tomorrow we will focus on many different topics we have online harms trust in ai digital sovereignty internet standards and so much more and one of the main topics that i want to bring as a link is uh with this it is the foundation of euridic it’s the foundation of that created uh the igf and this is what is bringing us today to the conversation we will talk tomorrow in in two sessions a bit more about implementation operationalization and the governance architecture of the of the digital space so today we see that the conversation goes not whether digital governance matter but sort of how do we make sure that it’s effectively working um we’ve had in december of last year an agreement on the resolution which is plus 20 renewing sort of this this wish to work together all over the world on digital governance on having inclusive and concrete way forward on how we’re doing it.
And this European dialogue now is the first one after this that is really taking the first step on the implementation. So I’m hoping that the conversations tomorrow will be able to bring in the specific topics we brought today into this overall architecture of governing the digital space. I also wanted to take a minute to talk a little bit about multi -stakeholderism. I know this is a topic that many have close at heart and that many see as absolutely central. Switzerland, the country that I’m representing, absolutely is a champion for it and we try to include it in all of our perspectives. But effective digital governance is nothing without meaningful multi -stakeholder cooperation. We see it at the discussion today, we see it with the different voices we’ve had on the different panels, we see it in the workshops we will have tomorrow, in the work that is being done between these dialogues.
We need everyone’s perspective, we need everyone’s voices to be included. And at the conclusion that we were just listening to, the importance of voices, of youth voices, are extremely important. So this is not just a question of procedure, it’s not just a practical necessity, but it’s something that ensures that the digital space can govern and function. At the same time that we are discussing multistakeholderism, I wanted to address another project that Switzerland is focused on and that I think all of you might be interested in. It’s the Freedom Online Coalition. I don’t know how familiar you are with it. It’s a coalition of about 41 states, a lot of them European. But we also have an advisory network, which has about 30 people sitting on it.
We will have a new cohort starting. And they help us within the coalition to bring forward different issues on digital governance and human rights online. That is the main topic that we’re covering. we are having a consultation session tomorrow um at 1 45 in the sicko man’s halt room so right after lunch if you want to grab something and then come in where we will talk about multi -stakeholderism what is its role today what are we missing what is working what is not working what are the challenges how can we make it better and we want to focus on the european context we are here at eurodig we are thinking about a regional perspective and this is really what we’re doing so we’re having regional consultation all over the world now we’re focusing on europe what is needed here we have this beautiful platform where we discuss what is missing who’s missing who is not in the room how can we make sure that they are included so this is a bit the point that we would like to focus on i hope that you will all attend this is not just for the freedom online coalition but it’s for multi -stakeholderism in general why it’s important why it matters we also have a little booth with an online questionnaire if you want to join it and participate in it, please feel free to look at us there.
But I think this is something that’s really important and that values. We explicitly wanted to be here at Eurodig because this is the one space where everyone meets to talk about digital issues. This is the one space where we are covering topics that are scattered throughout different processes and we can come in at the regional level with all the stakeholders that are needed and come with a conclusion. So we’re hoping that we will hear all of your voices during this consultation tomorrow and that you will be able to bring your perspectives. Maybe a few last points before I leave you to enjoy your evening. On the sort of the wrap between today and tomorrow, WSIS as its core is trying to now be implemented in a new way.
We have this new impetus that I was sharing from the review for 20 years. It is starting to become a bit old, even with this, maybe the newer generations don’t know what it is. I know that when I started, I had no idea what does the information society mean. And I think Eurodig for this is very well named in talking about digital and having that as one of the points. How are we now implementing it effectively? How are we making sure that everyone is included? How are we talking about sovereignty, about the geopolitical context in a way that makes sense for Europe? And I think this is a bit the underlining question that I’ve seen in the sessions today, where we pinpoint the challenges, we try to look for some solutions, but now we have to bring forward these solutions within the mechanisms that exist.
I’m hoping that in the implementation, in using the existing mechanisms, we can bring in a bit more action, a bit more power, and that the conclusions from today and tomorrow will be brought into the global IGF in December, but also will be brought into, I don’t know, UN meetings or any other meetings you’re coming to. The point here is not just to have a dialogue or a discussion, but to bring really these perspectives into what we’re working on in our daily lives. If we have a great conversation about deepfakes today, what are we doing about it tomorrow? And I think this is a bit the point that I wanted to make to all of you today.
And I’m really happy to see the program for tomorrow. I’m really happy to have you invited. Thank you for our consultation or for the booth if you want to participate. I think that is it for me. Thank you so much.
Florence Ranson: thank you very much isabel for a very comprehensive uh wrap -up of the day but also for opening up on to tomorrow all sorts of interesting elements and looking to to look forward to uh in the day two of our event but this is a wrap for today so first of all i’d like to thank you all for your your reactions your contributions your comments your questions thank all of our speakers of course and i’d like to uh thank our audience online we hope that you can join us again tomorrow we look forward to having you with us um you are now all invited if you’re in the room unfortunately for you online uh you cannot join us but you’re now all invited to a drinks reception hosted by jurid just outside uh of the uh of the conference hall I wish you a very, very nice evening.
Enjoy the best of Brussels terraces with this weather. There’s nothing better to do than relax and have a nice evening all together. I’d like to invite you to be back on time tomorrow morning. We have an extremely tight schedule for our sessions tomorrow. You thought today was a tight schedule. Wait until you see tomorrow. So please be on time. Remember that you are registered, so you don’t need to go back through registration, but you still have to go through security tomorrow morning. So make a bit of or keep a bit of leeway for that. And if you could be outside in the hall around five to nine or so, so that we can start at nine sharp.
Have a lovely evening and see you tomorrow. Thank you. Bye bye.