Agenda

Digital commons – non-rivalrous and non-exclusive resources defined by distributed and communal production, ownership and governance of informational capacities and technologies – have great potential to play a crucial role in making this vision reality. With a big part of free and open-source software, hardware, standards, and data fitting this definition digital commons power a large part of the internet infrastructure and servers and can be considered key components of modern digital infrastructure. This call for a reflection of their impact on the future developments of the internet and key aspects such as security, privacy, and the strategic value of digital commons in building a human-centric and trust-worthy digital future for all that is at the heart of the European Declaration on Digital Principles and rights.

The panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges in the development and maintenance of digital commons in Europe, the current investment schemes at national and European level and the possible avenues for a European approach to stimulate further the existing community of ‘commoners’.

Three European Commission’s flagship initiatives – the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Regulation, reinforced by the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), and the Next Generation Internet (NGI) – have great potential to boost the adoption of digital identities across Europe and to prepare for future implementation. Driven by a common set of values, they aim, among others, to shape a user-centric digital identity and establish an enabling ecosystem for the Web 4.0 era.

The panel will explore whether – and how – the three initiatives could steer technological developments towards social and environmental good, ensuring that digital identity solutions empower and protect users in the EU and across the globe, leading to a safer, more connected, and sustainable world for all.

The invited experts will examine potential synergies between the initiatives to reinforce the adoption of digital identities across Europe and facilitate cross-border services while prioritising inclusion, user protection and privacy. The panel will furthermore explore future evolutions of digital identity, challenges and ways to shape a user-centric digital identity ecosystem for Web 4.0 that would foster trust and confidence in the digital realm globally.

Europe is currently piloting an open and distributed Web search ecosystem to support European Web search solutions. The core of European Web infrastructure is a substantial Open Web Index, hosted and maintained in a distributed manner across a number of European computing centres. The invited speakers will examine the current state and potential of this initiative. They will also reflect on the challenges in setting up such a cooperative undertaking.

The panel will discuss how start-ups and innovators can build and offer their services based on such the European Open Search infrastructure in the future. The panel will in particular address the overall role of web search in the current and future development of Large Language Models and the potential of an open and distributed web search model to train Large Language Models and build diverse public and commercial Web services at scale while remaining in line with European values and jurisdiction.

Including one inspiring speech