From October 8 to 12, 2023, the WIDE Project participated in the 18th Internet Governance Forum (IGF Kyoto 2023) held at the Kyoto International Conference Center, Japan. The IGF is an annual meeting hosted by the United Nations where a wide range of stakeholders engage in dialogue on Internet governance, among several other issues related to the Internet.

In a booth at the IGF Village, WIDE exhibited research and educational activities conducted in cooperation with other countries, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region. Through videos and a globe display, the exhibition emphasized the importance of global collaboration in research and education networks.

In conjunction with this exhibition, WIDE Project, GÉANT (*1) and NORDUnet (*2) co-hosted the IGF2023 Town Hall session “How Submarine Cables Enhance Digital Collaboration.” Speakers and participants discussed the importance of an open, robust, distributed global Internet infrastructure and the submarine cable strategies to support it.

WIDE members also actively participated in discussions on various topics in many of the 300+ sessions held at IGF2023 Kyoto.

We would like to thank everyone who attended, stopped by, and contributed to the exhibition and sessions.

• (*1) GÉANT is the association representing collaboration between European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs).
• (*2) NORDUnet is an international collaboration between the National Research and Education Networks in the Nordic countries.

See Also
IGF Kyoto 2023 by Ministry of Communication, Japan (in Japanese):
https://www.soumu.go.jp/igfkyoto2023/
IGF Kyoto 2023 Official Page (English):
https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2023
IGF 2023 Town Hall #80 “How Submarine Cables Enhance Digital Collaboration” Abstract:
https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2023-town-hall-80-how-submarine-cables-enhance-digital-collaboration