By Sergi Serra, Projects and Communication, and Anna Higueras, Head of Project at Ideas for Change.

(Originally published in English)

Ideas for Change presented the analysis of the NGI programme from the diversity and inclusion perspective, emphasizing its commitment to diversify, the recipients of funds and the accessibility of NGI tools and resources.

During the 15th and 16th of November, a delegation from Ideas for Change spent two days in Brussels attending the 2023 Next Generation Internet Forum. This two day event brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including policy makers, researchers, academics, innovators, tech professionals, and digital enthusiasts. The NGI Forum served as a crucial platform to address the existing challenges in the construction of an Internet of the future more human centric, and in formulating the right digital policies and support mechanisms to foster the next generation digital commons.

The first day of the event commenced with protocolary remarks from Jennifer Baker, an expert in EU policy, and Roberto Viola, Director-General of the Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content, and Technology of the EU. Following these, Henry Verdier, France's ambassador for digital affairs, delivered an inspirational talk on 'Digital Commons: a pillar for building a European and International digital public space.'

The day featured three plenary sessions, starting with "Towards Digital Commons: Charting the Course for Europe's Digital Future". This panel discussed the opportunities and challenges in the development and maintenance of digital commons in Europe, the current investment schemes at national and European level and the possible avenues for a European approach to stimulate further the existing community of ‘commoners’, exploring opportunities and challenges in developing and maintaining digital commons in Europe.

The second session, "Shaping Digital Identity and Credentials in the Web 4.0 Era", focused on potential synergies between the initiatives to reinforce the adoption of digital identities across Europe and facilitate cross-border services while prioritising inclusion, user protection and privacy. The day concluded with "Open Web Search and Large Language Models and Beyond", delving into the role of web search in the development of Large Language Models and the potential of an European, open and distributed web search model.

The second day began with NGI Impact Stories showcasing exceptional contributions from NGI innovators. Alexandre Garel, in an analysis of Open Food Facts, discussed the challenges and development of Open Data Commons. Daniel Thompson presented Tauri, an open-source community driven to create more secure and energy-efficient applications for all platforms. Pouhiou Lafon, founder of Framasoft introduced PeerTube, a free-libre and federated software that Installed on a server creates a video platform (as a self-hosted alternative to YouTube of Twich), that can be federated in the Ferdiverse. Markus Sabadello presented Danube Tech, a company focused on building bridges that interconnect all decentralized identity networks globally. The interventions concluded with Gäel Duval's presentation of Murena, an open-source mobile operating system committed to providing better data privacy and security for individuals and corporations.

The subsequent plenary sessions included "Securing the Open-Source Frontier: Navigating Supply Chain Risks" and "Decentralised Social Media and Fediverse: from niche to scale”. The first one, explored how open source empowers developers, but also obliges them to be vigilant guardians of the software supply chain and how, balancing the benefits with the risks, security measures are essential to uphold the trust placed in open-source development. The second one, analyzed what advantages the Fediverse (a collection of independently hosted interconnected servers) can count on to grow as well as possible hurdles that need to be overcome to achieve its full potential.

The forum concluded with six workshops, addressing topics such as ActivityPub software, licensing, and copyright information. Notably, Giovanni Maccani, Research Director of Ideas for Change, co-hosted the third workshop, 'The NGI Ecosystem, more than Funding - How to be part of it'. His analysis highlighted NGI's commitment to diversity and inclusivity, emphasizing aspects such as the accessibility of NGI tools, or the need to diversify the existing profiles of innovators with public sector bodies or NGOs, to name a few. The collective discussions and insights from the forum have positioned it as a vital platform for shaping the future of the Internet in Europe.

The forum, which next years’ edition is already being prepared, is part of the EU NGI initiative to shape the development and evolution of the Internet into an Internet of Trust. An Internet that responds to people’s fundamental needs, including trust, security, and inclusion, while reflecting the values and norms all citizens enjoy in Europe.

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