About the Series

The 2025-2026 online seminar series on the future of human-centred Digital Governance is hosted by the Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment (GIDE), in collaboration with MyData, the Global Solutions Initiative (GSI), and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). The overarching theme of the seminar series is building a digital economy that serves human welfare. The seminar amplifies leading analysis of the emerging state of digital governance. 

We showcase how leading policymakers, innovative companies and practitioners are addressing human disempowerment within the digital economy. Topics include human-centred data processing practices, the influence of geopolitical competition, and answers to current calls for deregulation. Speakers include policymakers, companies and practitioners, rights advocates, regulators, NGOs and multilateral organisations. The seminar series will run every first and third Thursday of each month. Insight is incorporated into ongoing policy advocacy processes led by the GIDE and its collaborators.

Over the past decade, governments have increasingly focused on digital governance frameworks. Governance aimed to empower individuals in the digital economy through better control over personal data, online safety, and monopoly control. An initial rough consensus on artificial intelligence (AI) norms was achieved in late 2023. 

However, in 2025, a second wave of digital governance fragmentation is driven by geopolitical competition and concerns over economic productivity. This phase spans export controls, national strategy shifts, and deregulation pushes, especially in the U.S. Several governments and regional bodies have emphasised the need for greater digital sovereignty, tighter control over digital infrastructure, and the development of region-specific governance frameworks. 

Despite regulatory developments, systemic failures within the digital ecosystem remain largely unresolved. Huge data aggregators are still largely decoupled from transparency and accountability, and digital consumers are still not active participants in the digital economy. The digital barter between consumers and data aggregators has only strengthened, and data collection has grown exponentially with the massive growth of generative AI. These issues are similar in both faster and slower adopting countries.

Failures can manifest in many ways: from data breaches, the impact technology has on citizens’ engagement with public institutions, and the exploitation of the most vulnerable members of our societies, to name just a few. Even with the first round of regulatory intervention, enforcement agencies struggle with the scale and complexity of the challenges posed by large data aggregators.

The fragmentation of digital governance raises urgent questions about the future of global digital rules and the risk of diverging governance paths. It is therefore necessary to examine how digital ecosystems, across all stages of development, can be designed or adapted to actively protect and empower citizens. 

Purpose

Organised by the Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment (GIDE) in collaboration with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), MyData Global, and the Global Solutions Initiative (GSI), the series examines how to translate principles into policy and practice.

Format

• Duration: 60–75 minutes per session
• Schedule: First and third Thursday of each month
• Time: 1 PM UTC
• Online, interactive seminar

What to Expect in Each Episode

• Keynotes and discussions with global experts and practitioners
• Case studies on digital rights, AI governance, and fair digital markets
• Interactive Q&A with participants
• Access to a diverse, international community of digital governance professionals