The UN Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation outlined an operational plan, which pursues the objective of optimizing the use of the Internet and digital technologies to achieve the SDGs. More than a year after its launch (June 2020), it could be useful to reflect on what are the results achieved so far.

Par. 93 of the Roadmap indicates the need to leverage an IGF + that is more responsive to the challenges posed by the Internet. <<the Internet Governance Forum must be strengthened, in order to make it more responsive and relevant to current digital issues” as a starting point for building a more effective architecture for digital cooperation.>>
The recent “Our Common Agenda” report published by the Secretary General of the United Nations considers digital cooperation as a key topic and is asking : <<It is time to protect the online space and strengthen its governance. I would urge the Internet Governance Forum to adapt, innovate and reform to support effective governance of the digital commons and keep pace with rapid, realworld developments…..>>
How the IGF is evolving to face the challenges posed by the Roadmap? How could the IGF contribute to enhancing global digital cooperation? What are the innovative elements introduced in the IGF 2021 annual event and, above all, what can still be improved? The session aims to provide a global snapshot of the activities implemented by the "Roadmap for Digital Cooperation" comparing views and perspectives on how IGF could contribute to the improvement of global digital cooperation also through the support of national and regional initiatives (NRIs, etc.) and other IGF activities (DCs, BPFs, PNEs).
 

Biografia relatori

Maria Francesca Spatolisano – Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs - Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)

Maria-Francesca Spatolisano is the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter- Agency Affairs, UN DESA since March 2019. At the beginning of February 2021, she was also appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology in her personal capacity. Ms. Spatolisano has 35 years of experience in public service including extensive senior leadership in multilateral affairs. She has served as the European Union Ambassador to the OECD and UNESCO, Monaco and Andorra. She was a member of the EU Delegation to the United Nations, serving as the Head of its Economic and Trade Section, covering all issues related to trade, development and environmental policies in the Second Committee and ECOSOC; she also represented the EC to the Fifth Committee.
Before joining the UN, she was responsible for International Organizations and Development Dialogue with other Donors in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development Cooperation. In this capacity, she has assured the EU presence and developed EU positions on development policy in several international fora including the United Nations, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, OECD, G-7 and the G-20. Ms. Spatolisano holds a Doctorate in Law from Florence University.

Anriette Esterhuysen - IGF MAG Chair

Anriette Esterhuysen is currently the Chair of the Multistakeholder Advisory Committee of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. She was the executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) - the largest ICT-focused civil society network in the world - from 2000 to 2017. She continues to work with APC as a consultant and convenes the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), a joint initiative of APC, the African Union Commission and Research ICT Africa.  Anriette was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame as a Global Connecter in 2013 for her contributions to expanding access to the internet in Africa. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace and as a member of the board of directors of the .ZA (South Africa) domain name authority, ZADNA.

Chengetai Masango - IGF Secretariat Coordinator

Przemek Typiak  - Rappresentate Governo Polacco

Polish civil servant, for 15 years associated with the government level public administration. Currently, as the Counsellor in the Internet Governance and Digital Dialogue Unit within the Digital Policy Department at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (formerly in the Ministry of Digital Affairs), he is a member of the IGF 2021 Preparatory Team. Previously worked for the Polish telecom regulator (UKE) and the Ministry of Infrastructure. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism and Political Sciences at Warsaw University, specialization in European studies.

Anja Gengo - NRIs Coordinator

Anja Gengo currently works at the United Nations Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), as an associate programme expert and a focal point for the national, regional and youth IGF initiatives. Prior to joining the IGF Secretariat, she worked as an analyst and legal advisor in private legal practice, focused on media and ICT law. She is the co-founder of the Centre for Media Law, where she worked as an Internet policy analyst and programme coordinator.
Ms. Gengo is a 10-year experienced debater, trainer and judge for the Karl Popper and British Parliamentary debate formats with extensive experience from many national, regional and international debate tournaments. She holds a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in International Law, with her academic research focused on the intersections between digital technologies and law. 

She is also an alumni of the Monroe E. Price programme in comparative media law and policy from University of Oxford and Annenberg School of Communication.

Sandra Hoferichter - Segretario Generale EuroDIG

She became involved in Internet governance processes in 2006 by managing projects – such as the European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) – for Medienstadt Leipzig e. V., a German not for profit organization which she is chairing since 2020.

In 2010 Sandra was elected as one out of three European representatives to ICANN’s At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), where she served until November 2016 and later on represented the ALAC at ICANN’s Nominating Committee (NomCom) from 2016 – 2018.

In 2017 she was appointed to EURid’s Strategic Committee, served as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of EURid – the registry for the .eu domain starting in May 2018, and was elected as the Chair of the Board of Directors of EURid in May 2020.

Sandra’s contributions, both to the ICANN community and the efforts within the IGF fora, are dedicated to facilitate a collaboration ground for different stakeholder groups and to develop participation processes that are public, inclusive and transparent.

Sandra holds a degree in Architecture from the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) and worked as a single entrepreneur architect from 1997 – 2011. How she moved from Architecture to Internet Governance you can find out at hoferichter.eu 

Moderatrice

Concettina Cassa - AgID

Concettina Cassa è laureata in Scienze dell’Informazione e lavora nel settore ICT dal 1987. Ha partecipato e coordinato numerosi progetti riguardanti lo sviluppo di progetti ICT e la gestione di infrastrutture di rete
(ITAPAC, Reti Intelligenti, RUPA, SPC, RIPA, ecc.) per il settore privato (Italtel, AT&T Bell Labs, Olivetti Ricerca) e per la Pubblica Amministrazione. Lavora in AgID dal 1999. Dal 2015 ha la responsabilità delle attività Internet Governance. Ha preso parte ai lavori del GAC di ICANN (ICANN 52, ICANN 55 e ICANN 56). Dal 2018 coordina i lavori del Comitato di Programma IGF Italia (Internet Governance Forum) utili all’organizzazione dell’evento annuale. È rappresentante IGF Italia e svolge ruolo di raccordo tra l’iniziativa italiana e la rete degli NRI (National Regional Initiatives, ONU). Dal 2018 al 2020 è stata membro del MAG (Multistakeholder Advisory Group) di IGF globale (ONU) in rappresentanza del governo italiano. Ha proposto e coordina il gruppo di lavoro del MAG sul rafforzamento e la strategia di IGF globale e ha attivato alcuni Best Practice Forum su Intelligenza artificiale, Big Data e IoT. Ha realizzato in Italia due edizioni (2018,2020) del progetto “We, the Internet” con l’obiettivo di coinvolgere i cittadini nel dibattito delle politiche di evoluzione di Internet. È membro del gruppo HLIG (High Level Group on Internet Governance) della Commissione Europea in rappresentanza del governo italiano. Ha partecipato alla task force di AgID su Intelligenza Artificiale. Da luglio 2021 è vicepresidente dell’Associazione IGF Italia.