On June 23-27, 2025, REMIT project was prominently represented at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2025, held in Lillestrøm, Norway. Several REMIT researchers participated in the global conference, contributing to key discussions on digital governance – and engaged on core themes of REMIT’s research agenda.
A key contribution by a number of the project’s researchers took place during a REMIT panel at the Annual Symposium of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet), which focused on the evolving state of multilateralism in technology governance. The panel, chaired by Trisha Meyer (VUB) and with commentary from Olga Kyryliuk (member of the IGF’s 2023–2025 Multistakeholder Advisory Group), featured three papers developed within REMIT.
“The United States, China and Strategic Technologies: Domestic Coalitions, Foreign Policy and Multilateral Cooperation” by REMIT coordinator Roberta Haar (Maastricht University) examined advocacy coalitions in the United States with regard to technology governance. Dennis Redeker (University of Bremen) and Mariëlle Wijermars (Maastricht University) presented “Digital Constitutionalism in Global Digital Governance: Identifying Actor-Principle Networks between 321 Digital Bills of Rights”, co-authored with Nicola Palladino (University of Salerno). The presentation mapped global discourse coalitions by tracing normative alignments in digital bills of rights over three decades, offering a novel data-driven perspective on contested principles in global digital governance. “Tomorrow Never Dies: How ‘Emerging Technologies’ Shape Cybersecurity Futures” by Apolline Rolland (Virtual Routes) analyzed how forward-looking security narratives influence multilateral digital policy agendas (co-authored with James Shires, also Virtual Routes).
Together, the panel underscored REMIT’s contribution to understanding the transformation of multilateral institutions and narratives in the governance of digital and emerging technologies.
In another IGF session, Dennis Redeker, Mariëlle Wijermars, and Kiho Oshima (University of Bremen) introduced the updated interactive database of the Digital Constitutionalism Network. The newly revised tool, whose underlying dataset has been partly funded through REMIT and recently been published, allows users to explore and compare 321 digital governance texts, so-called digital bills of rights.
Both sessions have been well received by the multistakeholder audience of the IGF and the researchers present were able to receive positive and constructive feedback from experts and policymakers from the EU and other countries to consider for the future work of REMIT. At the IGF, the project’s researchers were also able to meet up with two members of the REMIT Supervisory Board – Luca Belli and Anriette Esterhuysen!
The 2025 IGF marked its 20th anniversary with more than 4,000 participants, including representatives from governments, civil society, academia, the private sector, and international organizations. Central themes included preparations for the WSIS+20 review, the implementation of the UN Global Digital Compact (adopted in 2024), and efforts toward human rights-based governance of digital services and AI systems. The event also saw new actors entering the IGF arena – most notably, TikTok sent its first-ever delegation, and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt spoke on AI’s impact on the creative industries.
REMIT’s contributions to IGF 2025 reaffirm the project‘s commitment to evidence-based, inclusive, and rights-respecting digital governance frameworks in Europe and globally.
Watch REMIT’s panel in full below!