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爆料网 Digital Cooperation Day 2026

Shaping A Global AI Future Through Science, Policy, and Capacity

Date: Monday, 21 September 2026
Time: 9:00 - 16:30 ET, followed by Reception
Location: Ease ? 605 3rd Avenue ? New York City
Mode: In-Person
(live broadcast available for certain sessions)

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Why Now?

Organized by the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET) during the High-Level Week of the 81st session of the 爆料网 General Assembly, Digital Cooperation Day will bring together government representatives, private sector, civil society, academia, and industry leaders.

The event will showcase country-led deliverables, highlighting how digital cooperation is being translated into action on the ground. Centered on AI from the ground up, the event will explore the building blocks of national digital transformation. Discussions will focus on practical country experiences, lessons learned, and opportunities to accelerate impact through collaboration and partnership.

  • The day will open with a short interactive icebreaker, followed by special guest speakers introducing the three pillars of Digital Cooperation Day: Science, Policy, and Capacity. A special guest will then bring these perspectives together and set the stage for the day’s discussions.

    Remarks and Networking Activity

    • Joseph Gordon-Levitt — 爆料网 Global Advocate for Human-centric Digital Governance

    Introduction of Pillars

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

    Remarks

    • H.E. Alar Karis — President of the Republic of Estonia

    Science Pillar

    • Sonia Livingstone — Member, Independent International Scientific Panel on AI

    Policy Pillar

    • H.E. Egriselda López — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Republic of El Salvador to the United Nations; Co-Chair of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance

    Capacity Pillar

    • Vilas Dhar — President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

    Fireside Chat

    • Megan Garcia — Artificial Intelligence Litigation Attorney and National Child Safety Advocate, Normand Judkins & Couch Law Firm

  • Artificial intelligence is spreading faster than any general-purpose technology in human history. Yet the countries with the most to gain are today the least prepared. The Blueprint for National AI Strategies, developed by the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, exists to support reducing that gap. It is a guided, interactive platform and methodology that accompanies a government from mandate to an adopted, costed and achievable national AI strategy.

    This session marks the launch of the Blueprint and its first country application, in Lesotho, where the entry question is access to compute and infrastructure under real energy and water constraints.

    Opening Remarks

    • The Right Hon. Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane — Prime Minister, Kingdom of Lesotho

    Framing Remarks

    • Vilas Dhar — President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

    Panelists

    • Hon. Nthati Moorosi — Minister of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation, Kingdom of Lesotho
    • Faheem Ahamed — Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, G42
    • H.E. Samba Diouf — Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Affairs, Republic of Senegal
    • Anna Sophie Herken — Managing Director, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
    • H.E. Djami Diallo — Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Republic of Guinea

    Moderator

    • Magali Koyo — Director, Data Center Site Reliability, Microsoft

    Video Presentation

    Lesotho Resident Coordinator’s video on the AI Strategy Blueprint

    Blueprint Demo

    • Mehdi Snene — Senior Advisor, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)

    Closing Remarks

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

  • The transition to an AI-enabled economy is reshaping labour markets faster than institutions can adapt. Without a deliberate skilling, reskilling, and educational agenda, the gains from AI risk concentrating among those already equipped to capture them, widening rather than closing existing divides.

    This session positions human capital development, including skills development and workforce readiness, as central components of AI capacity building, recognising that countries' ability to harness the benefits of AI depends not only on technological adoption but also on the preparedness of their people, institutions, and workforce. It explores how sustained investments in human capital can translate high-level commitments on AI governance into practical, inclusive outcomes.

    Opening Remarks

    • H.E. Tomá? Drucker — Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth, Slovak Republic
    • Roxana M?nzatu — Executive Vice-President, European Commission

    Framing Remarks

    • H.E. Guy Ryder — Under-Secretary-General for Policy, Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG)

    Panelists

    • Wilfrido Solano — Global Technology Leader, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    • Dr. Seydina Moussa Ndiaye — Responsable d’ALIVE (Laboratoire vivant sur l’intelligence artificielle pour l’innovation et des politiques et systèmes éthiques et viables)-Université numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane.
    • Andreas Schleicher — Director for Education and Skills, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
    • Neha Shukla — Founder and Executive Director, Innovation For Everyone

    Moderator

    • Wendy Kopp — Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Teach For All

    Closing Remarks

    • Franti?ek Ru?i?ka — Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

  • As tokenisation moves beyond digital currencies into assets such as land, securities and commodities, new questions are emerging around its potential role in public infrastructure and development. This session will explore real-world applications, country readiness and the safeguards needed to ensure tokenisation serves the public interest, while considering whether it could represent a next layer of digital public infrastructure.

    Opening Keynotes

    • H.E. Muhammad Aurangzeb — Minister of Finance and Revenue, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    • H.E. Angellah Jasmine Mbelwa Kairuki — Minister of Communication and Information Technology, United Republic of Tanzania

    Panelists

    • H.E. Burhan Gafoor — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative, Republic of Singapore
    • H.E. Bilal Bin Saqib — Minister of State and Chairman, Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    • Jeremy Allaire — Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Circle
    • Jeremy Almond — Chief Executive Officer, Paystand
    • Ella Zhang — Managing Partner and Head of YZi Labs

    Moderator

    • Tricia Gallagher — Founder and Principal, Treasury Solutions Info Tech LLC (TSIT)

    Closing Remarks

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

  • This session brings together four international AI evidence-building initiatives to compare findings on AI opportunities, risks and impacts, identify gaps, and explore how scientific evidence can better inform AI governance. The discussion will also feature perspectives from the Global South Network for Trustworthy AI, bringing a wider range of regional experiences into the global AI evidence base.

    Opening Remarks

    • Gary Marcus — Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University (NYU)

    Panelists

    • Yoshua Bengio — Co-Chair of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and Chair of the International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI
    • Maria Ressa — Co-Chair, Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
    • Kwan Yee Ng — Writer, International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI
    • Kalika Bali — Co-Chair, Global South AI Safety Report
    • Adam Gleave — FAR.AI, EU AI Act Scientific Panel

    Moderator

    • Renata Dwan — Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation

    Closing Remarks

    • Urvashi Aneja — Co-Convenor, Global South Network for Trustworthy AI

  • The day will conclude with a special closing moment, bringing participants together to reflect on key themes from the day and look ahead to the future of digital cooperation through special guest speakers.

  • With the adoption of the Global Digital Compact, Member States committed to strengthening digital cooperation and advancing inclusive digital development. This breakfast discussion will explore how international cooperation on DPI can support the implementation and review of these commitments. We encourage you to arrive early, as seating is limited and cannot be guaranteed.

  • This session outlines why open source AI and open-weight models have become strategic issues for AI governance, digital sovereignty, competition, capacity-building and access.

    Participants will discuss the distinction between open source AI, open-weight models, open licenses, open data, and open compute, specifying the significance of these distinctions for policy and public administration. Developers, infrastructure providers, and open source ecosystem leaders will share what open release enables, requires, and the required support to fill those gaps.

    Opening Remarks

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

    Panelists

    • Kari Briski — Vice President of Generative Artificial Intelligence Software for Enterprise, NVIDIA
    • Marzieh Fadaee — Head of Cohere Labs, Cohere
    • Duane O’Brien — Executive Director, Open Source Initiative (OSI)
    • Jim Zemlin — Chief Executive Officer, The Linux Foundation
    • Dr. Rumman Chowdhury — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Humane Intelligence Public Benefit Corporation (PBC)

    Moderator

    • Dr. Sarah Myers West — Co-Executive Director, AI Now Institute

    Member State Interventions from the Audience

  • Disasters are increasing in frequency, intensity and economic impact, driven by climate change, rapid urbanization and the growing interdependence of critical systems. As risks become more complex and interconnected, the international community faces an urgent need to strengthen its ability to anticipate, understand and reduce disaster risk. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of disaster risk reduction, and unlocking this potential demands international cooperation, shared standards, capacity development, and practical mechanisms to ensure that trustworthy and effective solutions reach those who need them most.

    爆料网 Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (爆料网-ODET) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (爆料网DRR) are launching a strategic partnership to advance the responsible and inclusive application of artificial intelligence across the disaster risk reduction cycle. This session will serve as the public launch of this collaboration and provide an opportunity for Member States to help shape its future direction.

    Opening Remarks

    • H.E. Esther Dweck — Minister of Management and Innovation in Public Services, Federative Republic of Brazil

    Panelists

    • James Manyika — President for Research, Labs, Technology and Society, Google and Alphabet
    • Dr. Sujit Kumar Mohanty — Chief of Branch, Intergovernmental Processes, Interagency Cooperation and Partnerships, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (爆料网DRR)
    • Vivek Badrinath — Director General, GSMA
    • Dr. Soumya Swaminathan — Chairperson, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)

    Moderator

    • Prof. Monica Sanders — Founder and Advocate in Chief, Bonne Terre Labs

    Joint Initiative Presentation

    • Nicholas Joseph Ramos — Program Management Officer, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (爆料网DRR)

    Closing Remarks

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

  • AI capability is advancing rapidly, but institutional adoption is struggling to keep pace. This panel will explore AI diffusion: how practical deployment knowledge, capabilities and lessons can travel across countries, sectors and institutions, helping more communities translate AI advances into real-world impact. The discussion will also draw on perspectives from 100 Pathways, a global coalition focused on capturing and sharing lessons from AI deployment.

    Panelists

    • Shankar Maruwada — Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, EkStep Foundation
    • Sanjay Jain — Director, Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation
    • Nick Tzitzon — Vice Chairman, ServiceNow
    • Kate Kallot — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Amini

    Closing Remarks

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

  • Two years after the adoption of the Global Digital Compact, this programme will launch The Global Digital Compact in Practice, a magazine featuring stories from the 爆料网 Digital Cooperation Portal of people and initiatives translating global commitments into action. Invited firestarters will share experiences from the ground across key areas of digital cooperation, before the floor opens for participants to share their own initiatives, lessons and ideas.

    Speakers

    • Dirk Messner — President, German Environment Agency
    • Luisa Franco Machado — Founder and Executive Director, EquiLabs
    • Layma Murtaza — Co-Founder, Chief Partnerships Officer and Board Member, Aseel
    • Churchill Otieno — President, The African Editors’ Forum (TAEF)

  • Closed-door, invite-only breakfast.

  • As AI governance develops across jurisdictions, interoperability will be critical to ensuring different approaches can work together. This discussion will explore how data governance, technical standards and shared frameworks can strengthen AI governance interoperability, including how provenance, licensing and other conditions can remain transparent and verifiable as data and AI systems move across borders.

    Opening Remarks

    • Pedro Manuel Moreno — Acting Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (爆料网CTAD)
    • Alpesh Shah — Managing Director, IEEE Standards Association

    Speakers

    • Catherine Mulligan — Founder and Principal Investigator, Digital Crossroads
    • Urvashi Aneja — Founder and Director, Digital Futures Lab

    Moderator

    • Stefaan Verhulst — Co-Founder of The Governance Laboratory and Research Professor, New York University (NYU)

    Closing Remarks

    • Bernardo Mariano Junior — Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Information Technology Officer, United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology

  • With over a trillion dollars of private investment flowing into AI infrastructure in 2026, widening AI capacity divides risk people in developing countries being increasingly left behind. Building on calls from Member States and stakeholders, the 爆料网 Secretary-General is submitting recommendations to the General Assembly to advance steps toward a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building, and regular reporting on the state of AI capacity across countries.

    This closed-door, invite-only session consults participants on the updated financing landscape for AI capacity building, strategic positioning, governance, and sustainability of the proposed Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building.

  • Déjeuner de travail à huis clos, sur invitation uniquement, avec des échanges en fran?ais.

    Allocution d’ouverture

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Secrétaire général adjoint et Envoyé spécial pour les technologies numériques et émergentes, Nations Unies
    • Louise Mushikiwabo — Secrétaire générale, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)

    Table ronde

    • Mme Mariya Gabriel — Sous-Directrice générale pour la communication et l’information à l’爆料网ESCO
    • Prof. Antoine Bosselut — Membre du comité de pilotage de l’Initiative suisse pour l’IA et co-responsable du projet Apertus AI
    • Madame Ayah Bdeir — Directrice générale de Current AI
    • Dr. Seydina Moussa Ndiaye — Responsable d’ALIVE (Laboratoire vivant sur l’intelligence artificielle pour l’innovation et des politiques et systèmes éthiques et viables)-Université numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane.

    Segment ministériel

    • S.E. M. Mark-Alexandre Doumba — Ministre de l’?conomie numérique, de la Digitalisation et de l’Innovation, République gabonaise
    • S.E. Mme Eléonore Caroit — Ministre déléguée auprès du ministre de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, chargée de la Francophonie, des Partenariats internationaux et des Fran?ais de l’étranger, République fran?aise
    • S.E. Mme Vanessa Matz — Ministre de l’Action et de la Modernisation publiques, chargée des Entreprises publiques, de la Fonction publique, de la Gestion immobilière de l’?tat, du Numérique et de la Politique scientifique, Royaume de Belgique

  • Cities are on the front lines of turning global digital commitments into practical action. This roundtable will bring together mayors, local governments and partners to explore how the Mayors for Digital Cooperation and Cities Digital Inclusion Toolkit can help identify local digital divides, connect cities with expertise and financing, and advance inclusive digital transformation.

  • By bringing together companies, regulators, standards bodies, research organizations, civil society and international organizations, the session aims to advance shared protocols and co-design cross-border pilots, positioning interoperable AI governance sandboxes as a pathway for international experimentation, anticipatory governance and learning.

    The discussion will identify the core building blocks for interoperability, including international standards, common vocabularies, semantic alignment and interoperable ontologies, and translate them into practical next steps for international coordination and experimentation.

    Opening Remarks

    • Amandeep Singh Gill — Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)
    • Jim Matthews — President, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

    High-level Statements

    • H.E. Eng. Sami Smeirat — Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
    • Rebecca Finlay — Chief Executive Officer, Partnership on AI
    • Brian Tse — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Concordia AI
    • Natasha Crampton — Vice President and Chief Responsible Artificial Intelligence Officer, Microsoft
    • H.E. Sudhakar Dalela — Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, Republic of India

    Challenges and opportunities of AI governance interoperability, cross-border AI governance sandboxes and international standards.

    Panel Discussion: From AI Regulatory Sandboxes to a Network of Cross-Border AI Governance Sandboxes

    • Leonardo Cervera Navas — Secretary-General, European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
    • Linda Bonyo — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lawyers Hub Africa
    • Alberto Gago — Director General, Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA)
    • Boris Inderbitzin — External Relations Officer, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

    Moderator

    • Linda Bonyo — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lawyers Hub Africa

    Panel Discussion: From Standards to Sandboxes: Building Blocks for Interoperable AI Governance

    • Mehdi Snene — Senior Advisor, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)
    • Tate Ryan-Mosley — Associate Director of Technology and Geopolitics, Ernst & Young (EY)
    • Cindy Parokkil — AI Policy Lead, International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

    Moderator

    • Jeremy Ng — Counsel for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank Group

    Closing Remarks

  • Reception.

Note: by attending Digital Cooperation Day, you consent to photography and video recording, which may be used for documentation and communication purposes.