Digital Public Infrastructure – or Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) – is a popular new term in global policy and governance. It is promoted by organisations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, large philanthropic foundations, and governments in both the Global North and the Global South. DPI is closely linked to digital sovereignty (having control over your own digital systems) and to governance (how we make decisions together).  

DPIs include Cloud Storage, Networks, Data Protocols and Standards, as well as Software and Tools. Building on the India Stack model, DPIs or DPI-like infrastructures are now being implemented in over 100 countries and even within the European Union (Eurostack).  

DPIs offer new ways of thinking about infrastructure, governance and the role of the state. We invite you to a panel discussion to explore the possibilities and implications of these new ways of thinking about digital sovereignty and governance.

Speakers

Niels Ten Oever Assistant Professor in the European Studies department and co-principal investigator of the critical infrastructure lab at the University of Amsterdam working on how invisible infrastructures shape the socio-technical ordering of information societies and how this influences the distribution of wealth, power, and opportunities

Carolina Maurity Frossard Assistant Professor in the Political & Economic Geographies, and co-director of the Centre for Urban Studies at the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam examining how digital devices and infrastructures shape socio-spatial politics and inequalities at different scales

Nafis A. Hasan Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam studying impacts of digital technology on humans and organizations in the realm of public governance in South Asia

Bidisha Chaudhuri Assistant Professor of Government, Information Cultures and Digital Citizenship in the Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, investigating the political economy of digital infrastructures and governance in the Global South