The 3-Line Summary
- Slovenia's first national IGF, SloIGF 2016, met on 16 May 2016 at Technology Park Ljubljana, drawing participants from the public, non-governmental, academic and private sectors.
- Three sessions — who governs the Internet (with regional best practice), why true net neutrality matters, and the digital divide — featured ICANN, ISOC, SEEDIG and even Croatia's telecom regulator HAKOM.
- The UN IGF's records note that 'Slovenia national IGF was organized in 2016'; this founding meeting shows how a small country bootstraps national dialogue with help from regional networks.
Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on SloIGF 2016 (Slovenian Internet Governance Forum) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.
Conference at a Glance (from official records)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | SloIGF 2016 (Slovenian Internet Governance Forum) |
| Edition | First edition — the inaugural SloIGF |
| Dates | 16 May 2016 |
| Venue | Technology Park Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| Theme | Regional governance themes |
| Host | Inštitut Digitas and Arnes (Slovenia's academic and research network, operator of Register.si); steering-committee coordinator Dr Dušan Caf |
(See the source list at the end of this article.)
Discussion Digest — from the Session Records
Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.
1. Who Governs the Internet? — Learning from South-East European Practice
Sessions: Session 1, 9:45–11:30 (moderator: Sorina Teleanu, DiploFoundation, Romania)
- Aida Mahmutović (IGF MAG, Bosnia), Andrea Beccalli (ICANN), Davor Šoštarič (IZUM, Slovenia), Désirée Miloshevic (Internet Society) and Dušan Stojičević (SEEDIG, Serbia) shared Internet-governance basics and regional best practice [1][2]
- Barbara Povše Golob (Arnes/Register.si) opened the forum, with a video message from Frédéric Donck of the Internet Society's European bureau [1][2]
2. Why True Net Neutrality Matters
Sessions: Session 2, 12:00–13:30 (moderator: Aleš Špetič, CubeSensors)
- Alja Isaković (CodeCatz), Dušan Caf (Council for Electronic Communications), Jan Žorž (Internet Society), Zdravko Jukić (Croatia's regulator HAKOM) and Prof Žiga Turk (University of Ljubljana) debated net neutrality from regulatory, technical, industry and academic angles [1][2]
- Per dig.watch's record, the forum weighed how neutrality connects to policies at international and regional level, with a cross-border comparison thanks to the Croatian regulator's presence [1][2]
3. The Digital Divide — More Than an Access Gap
Sessions: Session 3, 14:30–16:00 (moderator: Domen Savič, civil society)
- Professors Andrej Brodnik and Tanja Oblak Črnič (University of Ljubljana), publisher Darja Demšar (Beletrina) and CodeWeek ambassador Katja K. Ošljak examined the digital divide from education, publishing and grassroots perspectives [1][2]
- By making the divide a headline theme from year one, SloIGF launched as a forum for social inclusion, not just technology policy [1][2]
Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered
Q. So what did the meeting decide?
A. Nothing binding — it was Slovenia's first national forum where government, academia, business and civil society discussed Internet policy as equals, laying the foundation for annual editions as the country's IGF-affiliated NRI.
Q. Who actually showed up?
A. ICANN and ISOC staff, SEEDIG organisers, Croatia's telecom regulator, university professors and coding-education activists — a strikingly international line-up for a small country's first edition.
Q. Why should I care?
A. Net neutrality and the digital divide remain live issues everywhere, and Slovenia's model — with the academic network and registry operator Arnes backing the secretariat — is a template for sustainable national IGFs.
What Is Slovenia IGF? (for first-time readers)
Slovenia IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.
Why It Matters to You
What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2016 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.
Sources & References
- Slovenian Internet Governance Forum (Slo-IGF16) — DiploFoundation (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Program 2016（第1回SloIGFプログラム） — SloIGF（公式サイト sloigf.si） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- O SloIGF（SloIGFについて） — SloIGF（公式サイト sloigf.si） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Slovenia IGF（NRI記録: "Slovenia national IGF was organized in 2016"） — 国連IGF事務局 (accessed 2026-07-11)
Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.
Related links
- IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
- Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
- Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/
Revision History
Rev. 1 — published 23 June 2016, 09:00 (Article published)
Rev. 2 — updated 17 July 2026, 12:32 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))
— 中澤祐樹
