The 12th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 18 to 21 December 2017, on the theme Shape Your Digital Future. The OECD participated in several events and organised three panels.
OECD Open Forum on the Going Digital Project: Making the transformation work for growth and well-being (19 December 2017, 12:20-13:20 CET, Room XI)
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The objective of the Open Forum workshop was to inform stakeholders about the OECD Going Digital project and solicit feedback on the overall scope and activities, with a particular focus on the Going Digital foresight scenarios that will be developed specifically for the project. In particular, we see the IGF as a unique forum to test some of the technology aspects of the scenarios to ensure that they are both plausible and incorporate cutting-edge knowledge about technological developments.
Policy and technology approaches for expanding broadband to rural and remote areas (20 December 2017, 15:00-16:30 CET, Room XXII)
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The purpose of this workshop was to bring together representatives from diverse stakeholder groups to explore the new policy and technology approaches to provide universal and meaningful access to these underserved areas. On policy approaches the workshop will discuss issues such as setting national targets of connectivity, universal service policies, rural infrastructure projects, municipal and community networks, public tenders for competitive bidding and open access policies. On emerging technologies to fill the gaps in broadband services, different technological developments were discussed, including fibre optics, coaxial cable, copper, fixed and mobile wireless, satellites and hybrid approaches. Through an interactive multistakeholder discussion, participants considered the challenges and solutions for connecting rural and remote areas.
See also:
>> The evolving role of satellite networks in rural and remote broadband access
>> OECD broadband statistics
AI: Intelligent machines, smart policies (20 December 2017, 16:40-18:10 CET, Room XI)
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Artificial intelligence stands to help address key global challenges and deliver considerable benefits, but also creates challenges linked, among others, to inequality, privacy, and discrimination. Self-learning algorithms already greet us on our digital devices, influence our purchases, govern our newsfeeds, and will soon drive our cars. As AI exploits data to drive innovation forming a key 21st century source of growth and well-being, the transformative effects of AI are bound to expand further in a wide array of domains. How can we ensure that this technology benefits people widely? If AI and autonomous machines are to play a central role in our everyday lives, what sort of frameworks should guide their design? Important questions grow increasingly important and require the co-operation of all stakeholders.
See also:
>> More OECD work and events on artificial intelligence
>> See more OECD work on Internet governance and contributions to earlier IGF events
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