European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) is a Pan-European multi-stakeholder forum focused on Internet Governance. It is a regional sub-forum of the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It is an annual meeting with open participation and changing locations across European countries. Participants come from the private sector, governments, civil society, academia, and the technical community. Notable participating institutions are the European Commission and the Council of Europe.
Mission and history
EuroDIG held its first meeting on 20–21 October 2008 and was initiated by Internet enthusiasts from all stakeholder groups who shared the same vision of a space where all stakeholders from all across Europe could meet and discuss Internet governance issues. The Council of Europe was among the institutions which supported this idea from the beginning and offered to host the first meeting in the Palais de l'Europe in Strasbourg, the headquarters of the Council of Europe.
One goal of EuroDIG is to feed in European views into the global IGF, but even more it aims to reach out to all concerned groups and facilitated an inclusive debate about the governance of the internet by encouraging cooperation to solve problems and find best practices.
Organizational structure and finance
Administration and planning
The central administration of EuroDIG is its secretariat, which is responsible for coordinating the organization. The secretariat is composed of 3-4 individuals working part time as of 2022. Long-term and financial planning as well administrative oversight lies with the Multi-stakeholder Board, whose seven members are elected by the General Assembly, except the Secretary General, who is always part of the board. Members of the Board have to be so-called Core Members and are elected for up to three years. The Members should come from different stakeholder groups so that each group is represented and no group dominates the board. The General Assembly is composed of the members of the organization, though only Core Members can vote. Core Members are Founding and Full Members. All Full Members have to be accepted by the Core Members.
The annual meetings are planned in an open process in which everyone can suggest topics and participate. The program is made based on submitted topics and publicly discussed in a planning meeting, usually at the beginning of the year. The details for each session are assigned an Org Team, which organizes the session. The planning process is facilitated by the secretariat in assisting Org Teams.
Funding and institutional partners
EuroDIG is financed through donations, for the most part by corporations and institutions, but also individuals have an opportunity to support via fundraising tool. Another form of support EuroDIG receives is in the form of hosting the in-person events and providing equipment and resources needed for those, which is usually done by a partnering institution or city.
The institutional partners of EuroDIG are:
Council of Europe
European Commission
European Regional At-Large Organization (EURALO) European Broadcasting Union (EBU) European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) Geneva Internet Platform Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Internet Society (ISOC) Federal Office of Communications of Switzerland (OFCOM) Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC)
Besides the above mentioned Institutional Partners donations are received from e.g. EURid, Google, SIDN, nic.at, denic, Centr, .fr, SWITCH, VERISIGN, UNINETT Norid, as well as the Internet Society Foundation, UNU-CRIS, RNIDS and, in a smaller amount, regional companies and private donors.