ICANN to take part in IGF 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced it will take part in the 21st Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from 14–18 December 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. ICANN said it will contribute ‘technical and operational expertise’ to discussions on internet governance, multistakeholder cooperation and digital inclusion, and will support a ‘single, secure, stable, and globally interoperable internet’.
The IGF 2026 is being held under the theme ‘Governing the Internet in the Age of Intelligence: Our Shared Responsibility’. It is described as the first global IGF following the 20‑year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) and the decision to make the IGF a permanent United Nations forum.
ICANN’s participation will include three sessions. On Monday 14 December, it will join a Day 0 panel titled ‘Catalysing Governmental Participation in Internet Governance’ (09:00–11:00 EAT, 06:00–08:00 UTC). The panel is organised by the African Telecommunications Union in partnership with the Coalition for Digital Africa, the Internet Society, the International Telecommunication Union, and the Communications Authority of Kenya.
On Tuesday 15 December, ICANN will host a workshop called ‘Enabling a Multilingual Internet by Advancing Universal Acceptance, and How AI Can Contribute’ (13:30–14:30 EAT, 10:30–11:30 UTC). The session will examine progress and challenges in promoting a multilingual internet through Universal Acceptance and will discuss how AI tools could help developers make applications UA‑ready. Theresa Swinehart, senior‑vice‑president of Global Domains & Strategy at ICANN, is listed as a speaker.
On Thursday 17 December, ICANN will hold an Open Forum titled ‘Expanding Participation in the Internet Ecosystem’ (16:30–17:30 EAT, 13:30–14:30 UTC). The discussion will highlight initiatives that lower barriers to participation, strengthen local digital ecosystems and enable communities to contribute to the internet ecosystem. ICANN President and CEO Kurtis Lindqvist will speak.
ICANN said its involvement reflects its role in coordinating the internet’s unique identifier systems through a multistakeholder model, and it will use the sessions to discuss technical capacity development, Domain Name System ecosystem stability and efforts to promote a multilingual internet across Kenya and Africa. The organisation invited IGF participants to register for its sessions via the IGF website.
