Kyoto will be visited by representatives of governments, the private sector, the technical community and civil society (including academia) from around the world. It is expected that about 300 sessions on various topics related to the development of the Internet will be organised at the site.
There are seven thematic areas on the basis of which the entire program has been formed this year: Human Rights and Freedoms, Avoiding Internet Fragmentation, Digital Divides and Inclusion, AI and Emerging Technologies, Cybersecurity, Cybercrime and Online Security, Global Digital Governance and Cooperation, as well as Data Governance and Trust.
Russia is represented at the Forum at a high level. On October 8, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Grigory Borisenko held bilateral meetings with UN Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua and Head of the IGF Secretariat Chengetai Masango. During the talks, the Deputy Minister reiterated Russia's readiness to hold the 20th anniversary IGF at a high level in 2025. "We are open to dialogue with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the IGF Secretariat in order to prepare as effectively as possible for this important and responsible international event," Grigory Borisenko said.
The Center for Global IT-Cooperation, along with other Russian organisations, participates in the arrangement of a number of important sessions of the Forum, to which the international expert community has shown great interest. One of them, entitled "Defence agains the DarkWeb Arts: Youth Perspective", will be held on the third official day of the Forum, October 10. It will be devoted to the regulation of the Darknet, as well as how the use of this dark segment of the Internet can be useful for combating cybercrime.
At another session – "Scramble for Internet: you snooze, you lose" – which will take place on October 11, representatives of business, the academic community and the state from different parts of the world will discuss the fragmentation of the Internet in our time and how this can be avoided so that humanity can develop by helping each other.
The Center also arranges two networking sessions on October 9 and 10. One will be devoted to IT education, and the second to the development of metaverses. Youth representatives from different countries will share their opinions on these issues, and will also be able to discuss cooperation with Internet governance forums from other countries.
The Youth Council of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ together with the School of International Information Security (IIS) on the same day held the "AI in Education: the Future Or a Storm In a Teacup" session, the main topic of which was the use of artificial intelligence technologies in educational processes in schools and universities.
Representatives of the Coordination Center Andrey Aleynikov and Pavel Pozdnyakov, as well as members of the Youth Council and the School of IIS Arevik Martirosyan and Vera Terekhova highlighted the pros and cons of using artificial intelligence in education, based on the results of current international research, and conducted a survey among the audience about their opinions on the issues raised during the session.
The creation of the IGF was first put on the agenda at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which was held in two stages: in Geneva in 2003 and later in Tunis in 2005. The final document adopted in Tunisia (Agenda for the Information Society) contained the idea of creating an Internet Governance Forum, a new model for international discussion of the problems of managing the World Wide Web. In July 2006, Kofi Annan, the 7th UN Secretary-General, officially announced the creation of the IGF. It brought together all stakeholders in the discussion of Internet governance issues, regardless of whether they represent governments, business, academic or civil society. On the IGF platform, they can communicate as equals through an open and inclusive dialogue.
