RIGF 2023: New digital world and digital technologies of the future

The preliminary program of the 13th Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2023) that will take place on April 6-7, 2023 in a hybrid format has been published on the forum’s website.

The forum participants will discuss what role the government should play in the internet governance process and how to maintain the human-centricity of digital technologies, and will learn about the progress on preparations of the Global Digital Compact. They will also consider experience of various countries in ensuring digital sovereignty as well as the possible consequences of Internet fragmentation and approaches to governing the national segment of the internet in Russia. The acute topics of the forum will also include the problem of the influence of the internet on children and adolescents, training personnel for the digital economy, the use of artificial intelligence in the healthcare system, and youth participation in internet governance processes.

The list of key forum speakers includes participants from previous years as well as new faces. On April 6, Lenar Faizutdinov (Dialog autonomous non-profit organization) and Anton Kukanov (Roskachestvo) will speak at the New Digital World: State and Individual section, chaired by Vadim Vinogradov, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The forum business program will continue with the Global Internet and Digital Sovereignty section, whose participants will include Vadim Glushchenko, Russia’s representative in the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the United Nations- sponsored Internet Governance Forum (MAG IGF) and Director General of the autonomous non-profit organization Center for Global IT Cooperation, and Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrei Vorobyov, as well as Vyacheslav Yerokhin (NIIR), Olga Makarova (MTS) and Alexei Yefremov (Kutafin Moscow State Law University). The section moderator is Roman Chukov (Center for Global IT Cooperation).

After a break, the sections Digital Technologies of the Future and Accountability vs. Distrust: How to Fight for Cybersecurity will take place. The participants in the first section include Yelena Suragina (MTS), Yury Vasilyev (Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine of the Moscow Healthcare Department), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Maxim Fyodorov, and others. They will discuss scientific developments, innovations and digital projects that have already been implemented, in various industries and areas such as medicine, education, public administration, and urban infrastructure. Representatives of various platforms will speak about their projects, new opportunities, main tasks, difficulties and prospects for further development. The discussion will touch upon the challenges involved in comprehensive assessment of the impact of digital innovations on the economy and the socio-humanitarian sphere, and issues of regulation and standardization. The final section of the first day of RIGF 2023 will be dedicated to cybersecurity issues.

The second day of the forum will open with the traditional Virtuti Interneti award ceremony and the winner’s speech. The award was established by the Coordination Center in 2020; it is presented to representatives of the internet community, businesspeople, researchers and officials who made a significant contribution to the development of the Runet and the global internet.

The second day’s main trends will be virtual and real worlds and their boundaries, personnel issues of the digital economy, and new digital technologies in medicine. The discussion participants will include Yelizaveta Belyakova, Chair of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment; Youth Digital Rights Commissioner Dmitry Gulyaev; Olga Rubtsova, Rector of the Academy for Innovative Education and Development; Rambler&Co Media Development Director and Lenta.ru Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Todorov; Coordinator of the Strategic Committee of the Big Data Association Gleb Shuklin; Director of MGIMO University’s Center for AI Anna Abramova; Director of Education Development at Yandex Sergei Brazhnik; Alexander Shubin, Deputy Director of the Center for Digital Transformation Team and Leadership Training at RANEPA Higher School of Public Administration (RCT Center), and other experts.

The forum will conclude with the Digital Transformation: The Voice of Youth section, which will be attended by members of the Youth Council of the Coordination Center, graduates of the Summer School on Internet Governance, and participants in other youth projects of the Coordination Center and its partners. The session will present the results of the IGF 2022 youth track, the results of the RIGF special course for youth and the program for youth in the world (ITU, NetMission, IGF, ICANN).

Please join the RIGF 2023 discussions. Participation is free of charge, but registration is required.

General media partner: RIA Novosti

Strategic media partners: TASS, Interfax, Rambler&Co, Lenta.ru, Gazeta.Ru, Izvestiya Information Center, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Media partners: Moskva City News Agency, Regional Information Agency of the Moscow Region (RIAMO), Center for Digital Transformation Team and Leadership Training at RANEPA Higher School of Public Administration (RCT Center), Infox.ru, Pervy Natsionalny (First National), ComNews.ru, D-Russia.ru, Digital-report.ru, ICT-Online.ru, ICT2GO.ru, Mobile Telecommunications, Securitymedia.org, mskIT.ru, ICT.Moscow; Vestnik Svyazi, CONNECT: World of Information Technologies, Pervaya Milya (First Mile), Radio Frequency Spectrum, Modern Information Systems, BIT.Business&Information Technologies, System Administrator, Open Systems publishing house, Smart Internet Foundation, and IP CLUB.