Discussions about advancing information and communication technologies often focus on their capacity to undermine democratic values and institutions and to enable censorship, surveillance, and exploitation by anti-democratic forces. But technology also provides new platforms and pathways for democratic participation and civic mobilisation through online advocacy and support for civil society, open data initiatives, and digital civic engagement and consensus-building to address social challenges, promote transparency, and strengthen democratic processes.

This session looked at how states—individually and collectively—can design and use technology to support democratic values and institutions, and effective efforts to shape a digital landscape in which emerging technologies align with democratic principles and fundamental human rights.

Speakers in this session included: Brendan Dowling, Australia's Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology and Dr Yuh-Jye Lee, Senior Advisor to Taiwan's National Security Council.