Marking 20 years of the IGF’s global impact

As the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) celebrates its twentieth anniversary, it stands as a vital multistakeholder platform for shaping inclusive, transparent, and collaborative approaches to digital policy. Since its inception, the IGF has brought together a wide range of stakeholders to address the most pressing challenges in Internet governance, and EURid is proud to continue contributing to this important work.

ICANN and the Internet Society (ISOC) issued a new report on how IGF has supported a stable and secure Internet, and why that model is now under strain. This report Footprints of 20 Years of Internet Governance looks back at the IGF’s development since its launch in 2005. The publication highlights how the forum has helped advance global efforts in areas such as community connectivity, Internet exchange points, and multilingual domain names. It shows how the IGF’s non-binding, dialogue-based model has helped build consensus and guide decisions that shape digital infrastructure and governance worldwide.

"Being part of the IGF journey reflects EURid’s long-standing commitment to an open, inclusive, and multilingual Internet," said Regina Fuchsova, EURid's Industry Relations Manager. "The IGF has been instrumental in bringing different perspectives together, and this report shows how collaborative dialogue leads to concrete outcomes and progress. For EURid, this is especially relevant as we continue to promote Universal Acceptance, strengthen online security, empower youth and ensure that people across Europe can access digital identities in their own scripts through .eu, .ею, and .ευ, all this in allignment with the European digital priorities."

IGF 2025 will be held from 23 to 27 June in Norway under the theme “Building Digital Governance Together”. This year’s overarching theme is Building Digital Governance Together and the programme centres around four key sub-themes:

• Digital Trust and Resilience
• Sustainable and Responsible Innovation
• Universal Access and Digital Rights
• Digital Cooperation.

These issues reflect current global concerns, from AI accountability and online safety to ensuring everyone can participate meaningfully in the digital world.

EURid marks this milestone edition of the IGF as a moment to reflect on how far the digital governance community has come, and to refocus on the work still ahead. We congratulate the IGF community for two decades of dialogue and collaboration, and we remain committed to engaging with global partners to support a digital environment that is open, trusted, and accessible to everyone.