Significance of the Conference and Its Link to the Swiss IGF
The European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) is the open multistakeholder platform for European exchange on the future of the internet and its governance. Since 2008, EuroDIG has brought together governments, the technical community, civil society, business and academia from across the European continent once a year. The outcomes are captured as so-called “Messages” and fed into the global UN process of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). EuroDIG thus forms the European counterpart to the global IGF, while the Swiss IGF represents its national Swiss expression.
It is important to note: EuroDIG is an independent, institutionally autonomous platform and not an event of the European Union. It changes its host location every year and takes place in a different European city each time. In 2026 it was hosted in Brussels – organised by EURid, the registry for the .eu domain, on the occasion of .eu’s 20th anniversary. The overarching theme was accordingly “European Voices for the Future of the Internet – Celebrating 20 Years of .eu and the Beginning of a New Internet Governance Era”.
For the Swiss IGF, EuroDIG is of direct relevance. We are institutionally embedded in the European process and share key stakeholders and structures with it. This opens up a two-way exchange: European debates grounded in European values – on digital sovereignty, the regulation of artificial intelligence, or online security, for example – feed into the Swiss discussion. Conversely, we can bring Swiss perspectives, actors and stakeholders into the European dialogue. This connection ensures that the national and European levels do not stand isolated side by side, but instead benefit from one another.
Content and Formats: The Multistakeholder Approach as Method
The central impression from these two conference days can be clearly stated: for digital topics, the multistakeholder approach is not a formal gesture but a necessity. This year’s main themes could only be robustly addressed by examining them from a wide range of angles:
- implementation of the WSIS+20 review outcomes,
- European approaches to digital sovereignty,
- the impact of quantum computing on cybersecurity, or
- trustworthy artificial intelligence in public services – with a focus on transparency, accountability and crisis-resilient communication,
- as well as platform engagement to strengthen the digital public sphere.
Already the opening plenary session, titled “Safeguarding European Democracy and its Digital Public Sphere”, made clear that technical, legal and societal perspectives are inseparably linked here, and that one-sidedly reinforcing preconceived opinions within one’s own “bubble” does not move us forward.
Equally convincing was how the format lived up to this ambition. Keynotes were followed by moderated discussions in which politicians and policy experts engaged directly with the technical community and civil society – in genuine exchange rather than in a series of separate, side-by-side panels. In parallel, smaller, focused workshops explored specific questions in depth, for example on technical measures against online harms, the EU AI Act and information integrity, quantum cryptography, or age limits for social media. The key findings of each session were subsequently condensed into “Messages”.
The fact that the 2026 edition took place in Brussels brought regulatory reality and technical feasibility particularly close together this year. It is precisely this constructive dialogue across the boundaries of individual stakeholder groups that the Swiss IGF also strives for – and EuroDIG demonstrates impressively how much value it can generate.
Learnings and Impulses for the Swiss IGF
From Brussels, we take away two concrete impulses for the further development of the Swiss IGF.
First: the strong presence and involvement of young people. Youth voices were visibly and substantially involved. The preceding YOUthDIG specifically prepared young participants, and as part of an intergenerational dialogue they brought their own Messages directly into the main programme. This reinforces a development we are pleased about: this year, too, there will once again be a Swiss Youth IGF (youth.igf.swiss). Involving the next generation at an early stage is essential to the legitimacy and future viability of the dialogue.
Second: interactive formats and audience involvement. EuroDIG thrives on the fact that the audience does not merely listen but actively participates in the discussion – through moderated plenary discussions and, in particular, through parallel workshops that create room for substantive depth and genuine exchange of views. We would like to further strengthen these participatory elements at the Swiss IGF. This includes opening up spatially, for example to be able to offer several parallel workshops and thereby create more room for focused, topic-specific debates.
EuroDIG 2026 has once again confirmed that sustainable internet governance only emerges through committed discussions – across the boundaries of stakeholder groups and across generations. This insight shapes our work on the Swiss IGF.