Youth LACIGF 2023 (8th edition) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 28–30 August 2023 the eighth Youth LACIGF met at the Universidad de Cartagena in Colombia — back in person after four years, and hybrid for the first time: 108 on site, 266 in total from 21 countries, across 25 sessions.
Four tracks framed the agenda: AI and emerging technologies, digital human rights and inclusion, cybersecurity and cybercrime, and data governance. The call for proposals — 'our voice matters for the future of the internet!' — drew over 70 submissions.
Born as a day-before add-on to the LACIGF, the series had grown into a three-day conference on its own dates and in its own city — a milestone in youth-led institutional independence.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on Youth LACIGF 2023 (8th edition) 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	Youth LACIGF 2023 (8th edition)
Edition	8th edition (first in-person meeting in four years; first hybrid format)
Dates	28–30 August 2023
Venue	Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (hybrid)
Theme	Regional governance themes
Participants	108 in-person participants from 14 countries; 266 total including online, from 21 countries of the region; 25 sessions. The call for proposals (ages 18–35) drew over 70 submissions
Host	The Youth LACIGF organising committee — seven coordinators: Pedro Lana (Brazil), Karen Cruz (Costa Rica), Umut Pajaro (Colombia), Denise Leal (Brazil), Germán López (Colombia), João Moreno (Brazil) and Nicolás Fiumarelli (Uruguay) — with the Universidad de Cartagena and Foro Gobernanza as co-organisers

(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. Back in Person, Now Independent — From Pre-Event to a Three-Day Conference

Sessions: The 8th Youth LACIGF as a whole (28–30 August, Universidad de Cartagena)

The first in-person meeting since La Paz 2019 came in a hybrid format: 108 on site and 266 in total, far beyond the in-person era's peak of 77-plus [1][2][4]
No longer a day-before add-on, the forum ran three days on its own dates and in its own city, expanding from a handful of presentations to 25 sessions [1][2][4]
The venue — a public university in the World Heritage city of Cartagena — anchored a co-organising structure with academia and civil society (Foro Gobernanza) [1][2][4]

2. The Four Tracks — From AI to Data Governance

Sessions: Thematic sessions (28–30 August)

"Our voice matters for the future of the internet! (translated from Spanish)"
— The Youth LACIGF organising committee (call for proposals) [1][3]

The four tracks — AI and emerging technologies, digital human rights and inclusion, cybersecurity/cybercrime/online safety, and data governance — met the generative-AI moment head-on [1][3]
The call for proposals for 18-to-35-year-olds drew over 70 submissions, meaning most of the programme was designed by young people themselves [1][3]
Alexia Halvorsen of Argentina's Fundación Vía Libre joined Brazilian and Peruvian experts on a panel on platform regulation and responsibility in cybercrime cases [1][3]

3. Who Held It Up — Layered Support from Academia, the Technical Community and Industry

Sessions: Organisation and sponsorship

A seven-member multinational coordination team (three from Brazil, two from Colombia, one each from Costa Rica and Uruguay) ran the forum with the Universidad de Cartagena and Foro Gobernanza as co-organisers [1][4]
Sponsors spanned governance institutions and industry — ISOC Foundation, Google, IGFSA, ICANN, LACNIC — plus a long list of allied organisations [1][4]
The UN IGF's Youth Track documents continued to count Youth LACIGF among its regional stops, keeping the global connection intact even in its independent form [1][4]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What made this edition a milestone?

A. It graduated from 'pre-event' status: three days in its own city on its own dates, with a record 266 participants and 25 sessions — bringing the reach built online back into a physical room.

Q. What was discussed?

A. Four tracks: AI and emerging tech, digital rights and inclusion, cybersecurity and cybercrime, and data governance — with AI front and centre in the first post-ChatGPT year.

Q. Why should I care?

A. A youth forum filling its programme by open call and standing on layered university-industry-community support is a blueprint for scaling youth-led governance events anywhere.

What Is Youth LACIGF? (for first-time readers)

Youth LACIGF 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 2023 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.