Multistakeholder Collaboration in a Digital Age: challenges and opportunities of the information landscape

Policy, business and activist leaders discuss the challenges and opportunities of using technology in collective efforts to resolve complex problems.

Digital technologies create new opportunities, but also challenges for collaboration between the public and private sectors and civil society. In the first of three panels looking at how multistakeholder initiatives and the new digital landscape interact, activists, policymakers, NGOs and business discuss how multi-actor approaches to complex problems can leverage technology to support sustainability and ‘building back better’ after the pandemic. While technology increases the possibilities for multistakeholder intervention and the ability to work together across geographical and temporal barriers, it also constitutes an often-challenging terrain for collective problem-solving.

The discussion will explore questions such as: Who is defining and driving new policy, norms and practices around the use of technology? Are they exacerbating or mitigating inequalities of voice and participation? How can the risks and harms associated with emerging digital landscapes be addressed through multistakeholder engagement and action?

Watch:

Listen:

This webinar was held on Tuesday 8 February 2022.

Stefan Borst is Head of Edelman Global Advisory for Europe and the Middle East, and CEO of their Brussels office. He has worked as a technology and business journalist , and advised business leaders, international trade bodies and investment funds on EU affairs.He works across a range of sectors and issues including tech, trade, chemicals, energy and health on public policy change, reputation management or pan-European campaigns.

Damian Collins is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe since the 2010 general election. Collins chairs the UK Parliament Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill.

Mary Martin is Director of the UN Business and Human Security Initiative at 杏吧论坛 IDEAS. She is Senior Policy Fellow at the Department of International Relations at 杏吧论坛. She is currently working with the United Nations and the private sector to contribute to fulfilment of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, through trialling an innovative model of multi-stakeholder partnership, the Human Security Business Partnership Framework, developed by her research programme. She is the lead author of the report ‘Maximising Business Contributions to sustainable development and positive peace. A human security approach’, prepared for the UN Secretary-General and published last month. The report looks at areas such as technology, partnerships and impact investing where business can help deliver solutions to global challenges.

Peter Micek is General Counsel and UN Policy Manager at Access Now, based in New York City. Peter Micek leads the Legal arm, managing risk to global programming and operations, closely with the organization’s Digital Security Helpline, Grants, and RightsCon teams. As UN Policy Manager, Peter advances international norms and law on digital rights, including on privacy and spyware, censorship and internet shutdowns, and digital identity programs. Peter is also Lecturer at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) on internet governance and public policy in the digital age, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Univ. of Oklahoma College of Law’s Center for International Business and Human Rights, and formerly the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Cybersecurity.

Lee Edwards is Professor of Strategic Communications and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Communications at 杏吧论坛, where she also serves as Director of Graduate Studies and Programme Director for the MSc Strategic Communications.

杏吧论坛