Category: OECD

Jun 22

ISOC@OECD, Day 3: Walid Al-Saqaf on Blockchain; IETF Chair Jari Arkko on Network Convergence

It’s the final day of the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy here in Cancun, Mexico, and there are just two more sessions blocks followed by the Closing Ceremony. Here below is where our attention will be focused today – and to understand the broader questions around why we are here, please read our OECD Ministerial Background Paper.  (All times are local to Cancun – UTC-5.)

You can also view the OECD Ministerial Agenda for a full list of sessions and participants.

9:00-10:45 – Improving Networks and Services through Convergence

In the first session on “Improving Networks and Services through Convergence“, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Chair Jari Arkko is one of the speakers in a session about the convergence of telecommunications and Internet services. The panel is moderated by U.S. Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda and includes communications ministers, regulators, the CEO of AT&T Mexico and a VP from Facebook.  It should be an interesting session given this tension between the older world of telecom and the newer world of the Internet.

Simultaneously, the other active session will be “New Markets and New Jobs in the Digital Economy” and it includes another ITAC organization, the IEEE, represented by their Managing Director, Konstantinos Karachalios.

11:15-13:00 – Skills for a Digital World

In the final session block, Internet Society Board of Trustee Member Walid Al-Saqaf will be a “key intervener” in the panel “Skills for a Digital World“. As Walid notes in a blog post published today, he intends to ask the panel about what policy makers are doing to stay up-to-date on blockchain technology. (Process note: a “key intervener” is a participant who is designated before the event to ask a question of the panel.)

At the same time, the session in the room next door will be on “Tomorrow’s Internet of Things” and includes a wide range of ministers, executives and others. (We would naturally hope that people there will have read our Internet of Things Overview document that outlines some of the key challenges and opportunities we see with the IoT.)

After that, there will be lunch, the Closing Ceremony and the final press conference… and we’re done!

For more information about what we have been doing here at the OECD Ministerial on the Digital Economy, please visit our event page. We will be adding links there to our articles, videos and more.

Throughout the day you can follow our @InternetSociety Twitter account where we will be providing updates using the #OECDdigitalMX hashtag.

Watch this blog, too, for a wrap-up post coming from Constance Bommelaer tomorrow.

Image credit: a photo I took of the “Official Photo of Ministers and Heads of Delegations”. Our Constance Bommelaer is standing at the front left edge. 

The post ISOC@OECD, Day 3: Walid Al-Saqaf on Blockchain; IETF Chair Jari Arkko on Network Convergence appeared first on Internet Society.

Jun 21

ISOC@OECD, Day 2: Kathy Brown’s speech about trust, Hiroshi Esaki speaking about innovation

Today is the first day of the “Ministerial Conference” section of the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy.  Yesterday was for the very successful “Stakeholder Forums” and my colleague Nicolas Seidler wrote about the ITAC Forum that discussed Internet policies, IPv6, IoT, open standards and Collaborative Security.  I also encourage you to read our OECD Ministerial Background Paper to understand why this meeting is so important for Internet Governance.

11:40 am – OECD Stakeholders Armchair Discussion

Our big event today will be the “OECD Stakeholders’ Armchair Discussion”  where our President and CEO Kathy Brown will speak as a member of the Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) about what was discussed in the ITAC Forum yesterday and also about the view from within the technical community about the need to increase trust in the Internet.

The overall session she is in starts at 11:40 am local time (UTC-5, similar to US Central time) although we are told the armchair discussion should start closer to 12:20 pm.  Each of the four stakeholder advisory committees will provide a statement, and Kathy will be speaking on behalf of ITAC.

16:45 – Stimulating Digital Innovation across the Economy

After Kathy’s session there will be a 1.5 hour lunch break and then the parallel track sessions begin.  The OECD Ministerial Agenda outlines the sessions, including:

  • Economic and Social Benefits of Internet Openness
  • Consumer Trust and Market Growth
  •  Stimulating Digital Innovation across the Economy
  • Managing Digital Security and Privacy Risk for Economic and Social Prosperity

While all of the sessions are of interest, our attention will be on the session about “Stimulating Digital Innovation” at 16:45 as ISOC Board of Trustees member Hiroshi Esaki will be one of the speakers on the panel.

We understand that the sessions should be live streamed, but we are uncertain of the exact URL.  We would advise you to visit the OECD live stream page to see what streams are available.

You can also follow our @InternetSociety Twitter account where we will be providing updates using the #OECDdigitalMX hashtag.

Watch this blog, too, as we will be posting several more articles throughout the day!

The post ISOC@OECD, Day 2: Kathy Brown’s speech about trust, Hiroshi Esaki speaking about innovation appeared first on Internet Society.