The internet is a driving force for development, a tool for information exchange, learning, business and e-governance which connects millions of people globally.
With the objective of learning, information sharing, and encouraging South Asian regional dialogue, Digital Empowerment Foundation with Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF) is organizing the Digital Citizen Summit 2016 on 11 November 2016 at The Royal Orchid in Bangalore. This will be the first Digital Citizen Summit in India.
The one-day summit aspires to develop strategic partnerships through long-term collaborations between citizens and other stakeholders such as the government, civil society organizations, private sector, and academia.
The event will conclude with the formation of working groups divided in thematic areas. These working groups will work together for the next 6 months to discuss, share and strategise. The event aims to extend this initiative into an annual regional summit to facilitate long term collaboration towards policy advocacy and action on internet rights. It will witness some interesting sessions including keynote speeches, multiple parallel panel discussions, side workshops/panels/presentations, networking opportunities and interactive sessions with the most innovative minds and experts from South Asia.
The inaugural session will be attended by Rajnesh Singh (ISOC), Anja Kovacs, (Internet Democracy Project,India),Asif Saleh (Head of Innovation, BRAC, Bangladesh),Helani Galpaya (LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka),Raheel Khursheed (Twitter, India). Osama Manzar (Digital Empowerment Foundation) will be the moderator for the ceremony.
Some of the panelists for the event includes Chitranganie Mubarak (ICTA, Sri Lanka), Dipendra Manocha (Daisy Forum India), Anita Gurumurthy (IT for Change, India),George Abraham (SCORE Foundation, India),Prasanth Sugathan (SFLC, India),Saikat Dutta (Journalist and Author, India),Deepak Maheshwari (Symantec, India),Arthit Suriyawangkol (Thai Netizen Network, Thailand), Asif Saleh (BRAC, Bangladesh),Jamyang Tashi (QED Consulting Group, Bhutan) and many more.
As a prelude to the summit, DEF had organised a ninety-minute panel discussion that brought together pre-eminent thinkers and academicians working for individual rights in online space, specifically on the topics of access, openness, security, privacy, policy, regulation and ethics. The curtain raiser also formally introduced the summit along with the important milestones towards the final event.
The Digital Citizen Summit 2016 aims to provide a platform to facilitate dialogue and share learning and experiences about individual internet rights. It aspires to develop strategic partnerships through long-term collaborations between citizens and other stakeholders such as the government, civil society organizations, private sector, and academia.
