{"id":12998,"date":"2023-06-05T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2023\/06\/05\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview\/"},"modified":"2023-06-05T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T12:00:00","slug":"en-germany-igf-2023-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2023\/06\/05\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"IGF-D 2023 (14th German Internet Governance Forum \/ XIV. Internet Governance Forum Deutschland) \u2014 In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest &#038; 3-Line Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview_thumbnail-2.svg\" alt=\"Germany IGF 2023 \u30d9\u30eb\u30ea\u30f3 \u2014 Thumbnail\"><\/p>\n<h2>The 3-Line Summary<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview_s3-1.svg\" alt=\"Germany IGF 2023 \u30d9\u30eb\u30ea\u30f3 \u2014 3-line summary\"><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The 14th German IGF (IGF-D 2023) met in hybrid form at the Foreign Office&#39;s Konrad-Adenauer-Saal in Berlin on 13 September 2023 \u2014 the first annual meeting with DENIC as secretariat \u2014 to debate AI regulation, cybersecurity and sustainable digitalisation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The centrepiece was an EU AI Act panel initiated by the forum&#39;s youth wing, sharply critical of the &#39;self-classification&#39; loophole for high-risk AI; the distilled outcome, &quot;From Berlin to Kyoto&quot;, went to the UN IGF in Kyoto the following month.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The battle cry that the AI Act &#39;must not become a paper tiger&#39; captured a debate on regulatory effectiveness that reached far beyond Europe, just as countries like Japan were drafting their own AI governance rules.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Welcome \u2014 this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on <strong>IGF-D 2023 (14th German Internet Governance Forum \/ XIV. Internet Governance Forum Deutschland)<\/strong> draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.<\/p>\n<h2>Conference at a Glance (from official records)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview_h2-1.svg\" alt=\"Germany IGF 2023 \u30d9\u30eb\u30ea\u30f3 \u2014 Conference at a glance\"><\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Official name<\/td>\n<td>IGF-D 2023 (14th German Internet Governance Forum \/ XIV. Internet Governance Forum Deutschland)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dates<\/td>\n<td>13 September 2023<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Venue<\/td>\n<td>Konrad-Adenauer-Saal, Federal Foreign Office (Werderscher Markt 1, Berlin), with online participation (hybrid)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Theme<\/td>\n<td>Regional governance themes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host<\/td>\n<td>IGF-D, with DENIC eG (the .de registry) serving as secretariat \u2014 its first year in that role<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Outcome<\/td>\n<td>Outcome document &quot;From Berlin to Kyoto \u2014 Messages from the Internet Governance Forum Germany&quot;, delivered to the UN IGF in Kyoto (October 2023)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>(See the source list at the end of this article.)<\/p>\n<h2>Discussion Digest \u2014 from the Session Records<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview_minutes-1.svg\" alt=\"Germany IGF 2023 \u30d9\u30eb\u30ea\u30f3 \u2014 Discussion map\"><\/p>\n<p>Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.<\/p>\n<h3>1. AI Regulation \u2014 &quot;Don&#39;t Let the AI Act Become a Paper Tiger&quot;<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Panel on AI quality standards as catalysts for digital innovation in Germany and the EU (initiated by the Y-IGF; moderated by Julia Kloiber, Superrr Lab)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matthias Spielkamp (AlgorithmWatch) flagged the loophole of corporate &#39;self-classification&#39; in high-risk areas \u2014 already opposed by 118 European civil-society organisations \u2014 and argued the AI Act must not degenerate into a &#39;paper tiger&#39; but be used to safeguard human rights in AI development inside and outside Europe (the outcome document states: &quot;We must be careful that the AI Act does not become a paper tiger&quot;) [3][2]<\/li>\n<li>Linda Schwarz (German Informatics Society) demanded more diverse participation in standardisation bodies often dominated by economic interests; Alexandra Wudel (FemAI) stressed identifying and progressively dismantling sources of discrimination; Rosanna Fanni (CEPS) called for education and broader participation, especially for young people [3][2]<\/li>\n<li>Markus Beckedahl (founder of netzpolitik.org) demanded institutional funding for public-interest actors and far-reaching promotion of open source and open data [3][2]<\/li>\n<li>The Messages concluded: &#39;it is not systems and data that determine the design of AI systems, but people \u2014 inclusion and diversity must be taken into account from the very beginning&#39;, and regulation &#39;must not be too concrete in order to remain flexible&#39; [3][2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. Cybersecurity \u2014 Norm-Building amid Geo-strategic Conflict<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Panel on cybersecurity amid geo-strategic conflicts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notwithstanding rising international tensions, decreased trust between states and the war in Ukraine, the Messages call on governments and non-state stakeholders to support global cyber-security negotiations &#39;in a constructive spirit&#39;, with the UN OEWG focusing on implementing the eleven norms agreed by the UN GGE in 2015 [2][3]<\/li>\n<li>The UN cybercrime convention should focus on &#39;core crimes in cyberspace&#39; and include adequate protection of individual rights \u2014 data protection and freedom of expression \u2014 under the rule of law: &#39;human rights and security must not be played off against each other&#39; [2][3]<\/li>\n<li>&#39;The killing of humans must not be left to robots&#39;: negotiations on internet-based autonomous weapons systems should be accelerated and brought to a conclusion [2][3]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. Sustainable Digitalisation \u2014 Sustainability by Design<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Workshop &quot;How do sustainability and the digital economy go together?&quot;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Messages demand a systematic, independently measured assessment of digitalisation&#39;s environmental impact across the entire life cycle, with results made publicly accessible; environmental sustainability must weigh as heavily as economics and performance in design (Sustainability by Design), and the most ecological mode of use should be the default setting for consumer technologies (Sustainability by Default) [2][3]<\/li>\n<li>The circular economy was framed as central to reducing political dependence on countries holding large critical raw-material reserves, with funding for applied circular-economy research &#39;key&#39; \u2014 promising new growth and jobs for the German economy as well as environmental gains [2][3]<\/li>\n<li>On the social pillar: accountable AI manufacturers and early-childhood digital education, equitable access for older people, children and structurally discriminated groups, and support for victims of digital violence were major concerns [2][3]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. Youth Participation \u2014 When the Eve Event Sets the Main Agenda<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Y-IGF pre-event (12 September, Wikimedia Deutschland) and the main-day AI Act panel<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>At the eve workshop some 25 young people debated the three sustainability pillars \u2014 ecological (Verena M\u00fcller, TU Munich), social (Carolin Henze, German Informatics Society) and economic (Dirk Krischenowski, dotBerlin, on growing rare-earth dependence) \u2014 and carried demands such as universal informatics education and systematic device recycling into the main event [3][2][1]<\/li>\n<li>The main event&#39;s flagship AI Act panel was itself instigated by the Y-IGF, and the Messages call for &#39;effective youth participation in political decision-making processes on the use and regulation of artificial intelligence \u2014 especially in foreign policy and international forums&#39; [3][2][1]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5. The Multistakeholder Model \u2014 DENIC&#39;s First Year as Secretariat and the Road to Kyoto<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Opening session (Peter Koch, DENIC; Cyber Ambassador Regine Grienberger, Foreign Office; Irina Soeffky, Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport; and others)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DENIC, the .de registry, ran the IGF-D secretariat for the first time, with Peter Koch opening the forum; Cyber Ambassador Regine Grienberger (Foreign Office) and Irina Soeffky (Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport) repeatedly stressed the multistakeholder approach, cross-sector dialogue and above all the inclusion of civil society [3][4][2]<\/li>\n<li>Tobias B. Bacherle MP (Alliance 90\/The Greens) advocated stronger NGO and civil-society participation in internet-governance processes and better (financial) resourcing of the IGF [3][4][2]<\/li>\n<li>The forum was marked by a clear commitment to the multistakeholder model, and its distilled conclusions travelled to the UN IGF in Kyoto that October as &#39;From Berlin to Kyoto&#39; [3][4][2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Three-Minute Short Talk \u2014 Your Questions Answered<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q. So what did it decide?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Nothing formally \u2014 it&#39;s a dialogue forum where government, business, civil society and academia meet as equals. But its conclusions were distilled into &#39;From Berlin to Kyoto&#39; and handed to the UN IGF in Kyoto the following month.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. Most contentious point?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. The EU AI Act. A loophole letting companies self-classify whether their AI is high-risk \u2014 opposed by 118 European civil-society organisations \u2014 dominated the debate, under the rallying cry that the Act must not become a paper tiger.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. Why should I care?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. The AI Act was the world&#39;s first comprehensive AI law, and the effectiveness-versus-flexibility debate rehearsed here is the same one every country now faces when writing its own AI rules.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is Germany IGF? (for first-time readers)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-germany-igf-2023-overview_h1-1.svg\" alt=\"Germany IGF 2023 \u30d9\u30eb\u30ea\u30f3 \u2014 About Germany IGF\"><\/p>\n<p>Germany IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.<\/p>\n<h2>Why It Matters to You<\/h2>\n<p>What was discussed here becomes <strong>the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years<\/strong>. The principles confirmed at the 2023 meeting are the foundation of the &quot;next rules&quot; for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources &amp; References<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/domain-recht.de\/domain-events\/sonstige-events\/berlin-das-deutsche-internet-governance-forum-findet-am-13-09-2023-statt-69070.html\">Berlin \u2013 Das Deutsche Internet Governance Forum findet am 13.09.2023 statt<\/a> \u2014 domain-recht.de (accessed 2026-07-16)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/igf-d.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/From-Berlin-to-Kyoto.pdf\">From Berlin to Kyoto \u2014 Messages from the Internet Governance Forum Germany, 13th September 2023 (PDF)<\/a> \u2014 IGF-D (accessed 2026-07-16)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gi.de\/meldung\/igf-d2023\">Alle an einem Tisch: GI-Vertreterinnen beim Internet Governance Forum Deutschland<\/a> \u2014 Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Informatik e.V.\uff08\u30c9\u30a4\u30c4\u60c5\u5831\u5b66\u4f1a\u30fb\u53c2\u52a0\u5831\u544a\uff09 (accessed 2026-07-16)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.denic.de\/kontakte-knupfen-sichtbar-werden-ein-jahr-igf-d-sekretariat-unter-der-leitung-von-denic\/\">Kontakte kn\u00fcpfen, sichtbar werden: Ein Jahr IGF-D-Sekretariat unter der Leitung von DENIC<\/a> \u2014 DENIC eG\uff08\u516c\u5f0f\u30d6\u30ed\u30b0\uff09 (accessed 2026-07-16)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/igf-d.de\/downloads\/\">Downloads\uff08Messages\u30fb\u5831\u544a\u66f8\u4e00\u89a7\uff09<\/a> \u2014 IGF-D (accessed 2026-07-16)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Related links<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IGF official (NRI list): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives\">https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Japan IGF: <a href=\"https:\/\/japanigf.jp\/\">https:\/\/japanigf.jp\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Yuki Nakazawa&#39;s blog: <a href=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/category\/igf\/\">https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/category\/igf\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Revision History<\/h2>\n<p>Rev. 1 \u2014 published 5 June 2023, 14:00 (Article published)<\/p>\n<p>Rev. 2 \u2014 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))<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 \u4e2d\u6fa4\u7950\u6a39<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 14th German IGF (IGF-D 2023) met in hybrid form at the Foreign Office&#8217;s Konrad-Adenauer-Saal in Berlin on 13 September 2023 \u2014 the first <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,72,3,11],"tags":[163,161,160,2440,162,164],"class_list":["post-12998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eurodig","category-germany-igf","category-igf","category-regional-igf","tag-3-line-summary","tag-deep-dive","tag-english","tag-germanyigf2023","tag-minutes-digest","tag-sourced"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}