Internet connectivity underpins global business growth and social inclusion, yet well over two billion people remain offline. ICC champions meaningful connectivity and an open, secure, stable and resilient Internet.
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The Internet enables people and businesses to learn, trade, communicate and access essential services.
Yet well over two billion people remain offline and many more lack the quality of access needed to participate fully in the digital economy.
At the same time, fragmented national approaches and unilateral decision-making risk undermining the global reach of the Internet, increasing business costs and slowing innovation.
At ICC, we advocate for an open, secure, stable and inclusive Internet, underpinned by meaningful connectivity and strengthened through multistakeholder governance.
We believe that policy decisions affecting the Internet are most effective when governments, business, the technical community and civil society work together.
Through ICC’s Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative, we bring the practical expertise of global business into key Internet governance processes – including the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
Our engagement helps shape policies that preserve a single, global Internet and expand access so the digital economy can drive inclusive development for everyone, everywhere.
ICC Global Digital Economy Commission
Timea Suto, Global Policy Lead – Digital
Meni Anastasiadou, Global Policy Manager – Digital
Want to be part of shaping the solution?
The Internet has become a foundation for social and economic progress. Yet billions remain unconnected. Infrastructure expansion alone will not close this gap. Achieving universal meaningful connectivity demands pairing infrastructure investments with policies that make adoption and full participation in the digital economy possible – from affordable access and digital skills to content that reflects local needs. Without these conditions, communities remain locked out from accessing forms of education, healthcare, commerce and public services, and the promise of digitalisation to advance global goals falls short. Governments must prioritise strategies that integrate infrastructure expansion with adoption measures, ensuring that connectivity delivers inclusion and growth for everyone.
Achieving meaningful connectivity depends on frameworks that create the enabling conditions for investment and innovation across the digital value chain. Light-touch, evidence-based and pro-competition regulation reduces barriers to entry, strengthens trust and encourages new market players.
Effective spectrum management and predictable, interoperable rules support network expansion, and the emergence of innovative business models and services. By lowering adoption barriers and ensuring open, competitive markets, enabling policy environments provide the certainty and incentives needed to mobilise both public and private investment at scale. These frameworks ensure that digital technologies can deliver long-term benefits for societies, businesses and economies worldwide.
A multistakeholder governance model is the cornerstone of effective Internet governance and digital policy development. When governments, business, technical experts, civil society and the academic community work together, they bring the diversity of expertise needed to shape effective and future-proof digital policy. This collaborative approach underpins progress on expanding meaningful connectivity, safeguarding a globally connected and unfragmented Internet, enabling trusted cross-border data flows, strengthening cybersecurity, tackling cybercrime and advancing responsible AI development.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is recognised as one of the key outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) – a two-phase United Nations summit in 2003 and 2005 that established a shared global vision for an inclusive, people-centred information society.
ICC convened the private sector for the Summit and continues to be the voice of global business in all its follow-up processes, including the IGF, where we advocate to:
This guide will support your participation as a business newcomer at the Internet Governance Forum 2025.
This guide will provide you with the business messages that ICC BASIS will bring to the Internet Governance Forum 2025.
AI holds immense potential to accelerate economic prosperity and development. Yet, with an estimated one third of the global population remaining offline, its benefits risk being unevenly distributed. This policy paper sets out practical building blocks for inclusive AI, the role and responsibility of governments and businesses, and recommended policy actions to foster inclusive development and adoption.
In an era defined by digital interconnectedness, safeguarding critical infrastructure and essential services has become paramount. This paper delves into the complexities of this critical task and offers actionable insights and a holistic approach to addressing evolving cyber threats. It particularly focuses on striking the right balance between regulation and sustainable controls supported by both the voluntary actions of the private sector and decisive action from governments.
Digital tools and technologies play a crucial role in boosting trade for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Latin America, reveals a new ICC report.
Responding to the European Commission's call for contributions, ICC acknowledges the potential impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual worlds on competition and innovation in the digital economy and highlights the need for appropriate policy instruments to address societal and ethical concerns.
Given the destructive consequences of successfully executed cyberthreats on a global scale, it is imperative for the international community to come together and take concrete action to halt the growing worldwide trend of cyberthreats. To effectively put existing agreed norms and international law into operation, common goals, supported by a concrete framework for national implementation are necessary. This is why we need shared goals for cyber action; an actionable, collaboratively drafted and agreed agenda to increase the security of the digital economy to drive inclusive development.
Explore the transformative power of non-personal data in this report. Understand how non-personal data plays a crucial role in addressing global challenges and discover how it fuels positive societal impacts. From tracking disease outbreaks to enhancing cross-border cybersecurity, the report outlines the landscape of non-personal data benefits while highlighting challenges hindering its full potential. It advocates for a balanced and targeted approach to cross-border data, promoting economic and societal well-being.
This guide from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the University of Vienna aims to introduce micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to key concepts of the data economy and provide a concrete methodology and best practices to properly leverage data and play a more active role in the data economy.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Google have partnered to research digital exports of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia to inform policy discussions and develop tailored training programmes to upskill and empower MSMEs in the region.
Lack of trust in cross-border data flows leads to uncertainty that may discourage the participation of individuals, businesses, and even governments in the global digital economy. Without clear parameters and rules around government access to personal data, including access across international borders, legal uncertainty will persist, likely leading to the proliferation of data localisation measures, which negatively impact the global digital economy. Achieving consensus on common principles for trusted government access to personal data held by the private sector will support the transfer of data between jurisdictions by commercial entities and result in positive economic and social impacts.
Seven priority areas for a successful World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC12)
ICC has welcomed the adoption, by consensus, of the outcome document of the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society. The document sets out the United Nation’s approach on global digital cooperation. ICC has called on governments and stakeholders to work on establishing policy environments that are open and interoperable, and can support investment and innovation in digitalisation.
The Internet Governance Forum is the only global forum hosting open and inclusive discussions on Internet governance and digital policies. For 19 editions, ICC has mobilised business representatives from across the globe to participate in the forum and was in Riyadh from 15-19 December driving input from business to co-shape the future of the Internet for the benefit of all.
A steady rise in the adoption of electronic Bills of Lading (eBL) has been revealed by the results of a 2024 global survey by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and other FIT Alliance co-founders BIMCO, DCSA, FIATA and SWIFT. Conducted in partnership with the HKUST Li & Fung Supply Chain Institute and the Boston […]
ICC warns of serious flaws in the newly adopted UN Convention against cybercrime.
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO provided insights into the developments emerging from the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial Meeting (MC13) in Abu Dhabi.
ICC has issued a statement upon conclusion of the World Trade Organization's 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi.
In a significant move to bolster global cybersecurity efforts, ICC has officially endorsed the Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development, announced today. The endorsement comes as part of the ongoing Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building. The conference aims to address the urgent need for enhanced capacity to anticipate and withstand cyberthreats, and maintain trust in the use of digital technologies as central to sustainable development worldwide.
ICC through its Business Action to Support the Information Society Initiative (ICC BASIS), represented the voice of global business at the 18th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Kyoto, Japan, speaking up for an open, interconnected, interoperable and unfragmented Internet.
The 18th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be held in Kyoto, Japan from 8-12 October focusing on the development of an open Internet that leaves no-one behind.
Ministers of OECD countries responsible for digital economy policy today adopted a ground-breaking Declaration on Government Access to Personal Data Held by Private Sector Entities.
