RIGF 2019: Runet’s past and future

The program of the 10th Russian Internet Governance Forum is still being amended: follow the updates. RIGF 2019 will take place on April 8, 2019 at Lotte Hotel, Moscow. The forum is organized by the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ with support of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media. ICANN, ISOC, RIPE NCC, and the Technical Center of Internet are the forum’s partner. Kaspersky Lab is the cybersecurity partner and TASS is the general information partner.

The 25th anniversary of the Russian ccTLD, .RU, is one of the key internet events this year, which, of course, will become one of the main topics at the RIGF 2019. The forum will be the first in a series of anniversary events that will be held across Russia and will promote .RU and the internet in general. The anniversary year will begin with a ceremony devoted to the cancellation of a postage stamp marking the 25th anniversary of the domain. The stamp will be a limited edition making it a collector’s item for philatelists. The ceremony will be held at RIGF 2019 and will be streamed online.

The forum will start with a plenary session where participants will discuss localization of the global internet governance principles based on the specifics of the region. Andrey Vorobyev (the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ), Olga Cavalli (Argentine Foreign Ministry), Jovan Kurbalija (UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation), Leonid Levin (Russian State Duma), Sergei Petrov (the Internet Development Institute) and Alexei Sokolov (the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media) will be speakers there.

This year, Jovan Kurbalija will present the traditional lecture for the RIGF 2019 participants. Kurbalija wrote An Introduction to Internet Governance, one of the most popular books on internet governance that has been published in many languages in numerous countries for over ten years. Last year the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ published the translated seventh edition for Russian readers. The book was first published in Russia in 2010, especially for the first Russian Internet Governance Forum. In fact, this book was the first reference book on internet governance in Russia: it contains all the necessary information on how the global network operates and what approaches exist to govern it. The author is the world’s recognized expert on the subject and will cover the latest developments in the sphere in his lecture.

After that, there will be four panel discussions on different topics. History of the Internet in Faces will bring together Runet veterans who saw the most important events throughout its history. Their stories show the long road that Runet took from an educational network connecting several universities to a large industry 25 years later: the total share of the digital and mobile economy to the GDP is estimated at five percent.

The RIGF 2019 will not only talk about the history but also about the future of the internet. Famous experts from the most advanced areas of the internet economy will take part in the Next 25 years: The Future of the Internet section and will attempt to outline what the global network will look like in 25 years. Russian and foreign experts, such as Frederic Donck (ISOC), Sergey Plugotarenko (RAEC) and Andrei Yarnykh (Kaspersky Lab) will speak on how the internet will change people’s lives and the economy as well as approaches to education, security and information consumption in the mid-term perspective and give a prognosis for the next years.

A professional discussion on how to improve the education on information technology and safe internet use will take place at the New Experts for Digital Economy section. The list of speakers includes Victoria Bunchuk (Smart Internet Foundation), Irina Galanova (National Agency of Social Initiatives), Alexey Demidov (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration), Olga Rubtsova (Academy of Innovative Education and Development) and Galina Soldatova (Internet Development Foundation).

Providing international information security is another important subject that has already become traditional for the Russian Internet Governance Forum. RIGF 2019 guests and speakers will discuss new information security challenges, share their experience and present new models to fight cyber threats. The section will be moderated by Alexey Semenyaka (RIPE NCC). The discussion will be continued at another event: RIPE NCC Day, which will be held on April 9 at the same venue and unite notable technical experts from Russia, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. RIPE NCC Day will be part of the events held to mark the 25th anniversary of .RU and give network engineers and other experts an opportunity to share experience and discuss possibilities for regional cooperation. The event is open for the public. It is organized with support of the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ.

Registration and details on RIPE NCC Day are available here.

A detailed RIGF 2019 program is available on the forum’s website.

Participation in RIGF 2019 is free but preliminary registration is required.