« Is Switzerland losing its status as a leader in digital governance? » 

The Geneva press club and Geneva Solutions are pleased to invite you to a debate with :

• Dr. Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP)
• Grégoire Barbey, journalist, Le Temps
• Francesca Bosco, Chief Strategy Officer, CyberPeace institute
• Ambassador Thomas Schneider, Director of International Relations, Swiss Federal Office of Communication (OFCOM)
• Kasmira Jefford, editor-in-chief, Geneva Solutions

To participate, please register below using the following links :

Geneva, the birthplace of the World Wide Web and once a beacon to digital governance, is seeing its light grow dim. Faced with stiff global competition, budgetary constraints in the aftermath of Covid, and geopolitical tensions, the multilateral capital is struggling to maintain its position in the field. 

Last month, the Internet Society decided to give up its offices in Geneva after a thirty-year presence in the city, in one warning sign of NGOs facing a high cost of living and a lack of funding. Geneva has also missed out on new opportunities. In 2022, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) picked Luxembourg for a new office dedicated to cyberspace.

Grégoire Barbey, journalist for Le Temps, will discuss his recent investigation with three digital governance experts forecasting what’s next for international Geneva and host country Switzerland. Dr Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), will contribute his insights into the challenges and future of digital governance in Geneva. Is Switzerland falling asleep at the wheel of digital governance? Do the country’s authorities still have the political will  and ambitions for this international digital Geneva? The panel will be moderated by Geneva Solutions’ editor-in-chief Kasmira Jefford.