On Monday, October 23, the official opening ceremony of the 78th ICANN Meeting took place in the German city of Hamburg. This is the final meeting of the year, which coincides with ICANN's 25th anniversary: the official date of its establishment is September 30, 1998. And naturally, the theme of the anniversary was central to many of the speeches of the ceremony participants.
“It is an honor for me to be present at this landmark event,” Tripti Sinha, Chairman of the Board of the Corporation, in her speech said. “ICANN's 25th Anniversary further demonstrates our unwavering commitment to the stakeholder engagement and dialogue that is key to the continued growth and stability of the global Internet.”
Acting ICANN SVP Sally Costerton in her speech pointed out that the corporation's anniversary is an opportunity not only to remember the outstanding achievements of the past 25 years, but also to try to look into the future. “Our work together here should bring us closer to our goal: a secure, stable and unified global Internet,” she said.
Federal Minister of Digital Affairs and Transport of the German Government, Dr. Volker Wissing, emphasized from the conference platform that the world needs digital policies that promote prosperity, democracy and resilience in digital societies. He added that Germany is working to create such a policy, and that in this work the exchange of information with all stakeholders and, above all, ICANN is extremely important.
State Secretary for Cultural Affairs for city of Hamburg Jana Schiedek, noted the critical role of ICANN in the development of digital technologies. “The rapid progress of the Internet requires infrastructure, and ICANN is making a critical contribution to supporting it,” she said. Ms. Schiedek also said that the conference's host city, Hamburg, has been ranked number one on Germany's smart cities list four times in the last five years, and that the city's digital transformation would not have been possible without ICANN's efforts. “We are excited and proud to host ICANN 78,” she concluded her remarks.
Oliver J. Süme, Chairman of the Board of the German Internet Industry Association, also spoke about the importance of ICANN's role. “The domain industry is a key player in the ecosystem of the entire digital infrastructure, although it is not always visible to users. And ICANN 78 is an opportunity to make it visible and show its importance for all digitalization processes,” he said. And Andreas Musielak, a member of the board of the DENIC registry, which manages the German national domain .DE, touched upon the topic of new challenges facing the domain industry in his speech. “We see how the domain world is changing. In the past, the main focus was on technical issues. But the main challenges of the future are legal challenges, he emphasized. “And in addition to ensuring the stability and security of the Internet, we as the domain industry have a responsibility to ensure free and unfettered access to the Internet, unfettered by any legal framework.”
ICANN 78 will run until October 26th. Earlier, the German side reported that at least 3,000 people planned to attend the conference events. In addition, a significant number of participants will join the conference online.
