When CIGI launched in 2001, we understood that the world was changing quickly and that post-World War II institutions were showing their age. But the digital transformation that has happened since has shifted the policy landscape fundamentally, leaving institutions and governments struggling to keep up.
After 20 years of influential research and trusted analysis, CIGI’s role in analyzing and understanding changes in global governance — and catalyzing experts to outline effective and innovative options — is more important than ever.
The key to this response has been CIGI’s ability to create networks of people and organizations in crucial areas such as digital platform governance. Our newly launched Global Platform Governance Network is providing solutions — such as a proposed Digital Stability Board — to governments struggling to stay apace of evolving digital platforms that pose threats to democracy and human rights through the spread of disinformation.
Working with Statistics Canada and other institutions, CIGI is developing ways to help manage public data sets effectively and improve public trust. This support builds capacity for policy makers and provides the expertise needed to curb abuses of the surveillance economy while protecting the rights of Canadians.
An important shift in the digital transformation of the global economy involves intellectual property (IP) and data becoming our most valuable assets. The digital economy has also brought new attention to outer space, including for digital communications infrastructure. CIGI is ambitiously leading new avenues for the governance of outer space in response.
Twenty years on, CIGI is still demonstrating its ability to adapt quickly and develop the necessary expertise and influence — this will help ensure that Canada, and other countries around the world, get the digital transformation right.
Jim Balsillie
Chair, CIGI Board of Directors