Events and Highlights

Events and Highlights

In 2022, the Policy, Law & Regulations Division organised 40 virtual and hybrid events, either in the eco Capital Office premises or in external locations. A total of 1,637 participants took part in the 2022 events.

The events of the Policy, Law & Regulations division are primarily aimed at political representatives and interested stakeholders from the political arena in Berlin and Brussels, as well as eco member companies. The eco Association’s target group includes federal ministers, state secretaries, spokespersons on Internet policy from parliamentary groups, members of the German Bundestag and their colleagues, and representatives of the ministries and federal states.

In accordance with tradition, the year 2022 also began with the hybrid New Year’s reception in Berlin in the form of the eco netTALK. Multiple additional events took place in 2022, such as the roundtables in Berlin and Brussels, netTALKs, Alliance Talks and other well-known formats such as Policy Talks and Policy Breakfasts. An excerpt of the division’s event highlights is set out below:

eco annual kick-off netTALK #1 in Berlin

At the first eco netTALK 2022, eco Chair Oliver Süme spoke with the German Federal Minister of Digital Affairs, Volker Wissing, about opportunities, goals and challenges in the nationwide expansion of digital infrastructures and fibre optic rollout. “Digitalisation cannot succeed without infrastructures”, said Wissing at the hybrid event, which was livestreamed from the VW Drive Studio Unter den Linden in Berlin. “We have set ourselves a high target”, Wissing said on the Tuesday evening, specifying their goal to develop a Gigabit Strategy before the end of the first quarter.

In his keynote speech, Wissing stated that digitalisation was an important priority topic: “What’s blatantly clear is that Germany has no chance to become more progressive and modern if we don’t take advantage of digitalisation opportunities”, said the Federal Minister of Digital Affairs. To make this happen, he emphasised the need for all-round digital awakening and more political momentum. As Wissing noted, digitalisation offers great potential for tackling urgent challenges such as climate change.

Tabea Roessner, Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee, also joined the netTALK online. In the interview, Roessner spoke about the potential that digitalisation offers for the more efficient use of electricity. The Green Party MP also addressed the pressing issues of bolstering IT security and international solutions for online law enforcement. Roessner also gave an outlook on the work and topics of the Digital Affairs Committee.

Internet Policy Forum 2022

DIGITAL AGENDA RELOADED – How can digital politics embark on an era of sustainable prosperity and growth?

We were finally able to meet up again in person! Altogether, we got to welcome around 100 guests to our Internet Policy Forum 2022 on 26 April in the atrium of the Deutsche Bank in Berlin. The speakers were all high-ranking representatives from every German federal ministry involved in digital policy. These included Markus Richter (German Federal Ministry of the Interior), Franziska Brantner (German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action), Jens Brandenburg (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) and Benjamin Brake (German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport)

At the Internet Policy Forum, the joint panels covered four topics, entitled Digitalisation & Sustainability, Digital Education & Research, Shaping the Digital Dawn and Digital Security & Digital Sovereignty. For each of these topics, platforms of exchange took place between policymakers and the industry. In addition to the eco Board, representatives from the event sponsors – Huawei, Leaseweb and the Vodafone Institute – also participated in the joint panels.

As a follow-on to our New Year’s reception with the German Federal Minister of Digital Affairs, Volker Wissing, the Internet Policy Forum in the second quarter was a further successful 2022 eco event: one where we were able to present the interests and concerns of the Internet industry to federal politicians and further emphasise the pressing need of holistic digital transformation.