In its third edition, the IDSF will once again sharpen its profile and demonstrate its distinctiveness as an international meeting place for security experts at the interfaces of diplomacy, politics, IT industry and science. On three conference days, under the core conference topic "Digital Resilience - the Basis for a Safe, Secure and Free Society", all of today's dominant topics of digital security will be discussed, debated and addressed in a solution-oriented manner in this multi-stakeholder community, first created by the IDSF. The spectrum of reflection on central challenges ranges from "Responsible Technology Development", "Artificial Intelligence", "Modern Crisis, Conflict and Disaster Management", "Global Security through Digital Innovation" to the core topic of "Cyber Security". With its already established format of keynotes by prominent key players in digital security and multi-disciplinary panels, ISDF23 will once again position the Austrian capital as a global hotspot of digital security between 19 - 21 September at the Raiffeisen Forum Vienna.
Broad public support for the IDSF
The Forum, organised by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, once again enjoys the broad support of the Austrian Federal Administration, from the Federal Chancellery, the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Federal Ministry of the Interior to the Federal Ministry of Finance with the State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Telecommunications, and enjoys successful cooperation with the Austrian Security and Defence Industries Group (ASW) of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, the AED Agency for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Competence Center Secure Austria (KSÖ) and with Raiffeisen, as host of the international conference. Only this exemplary cooperation of Austrian people responsible for digital security and the support of renowned European industry sponsors such as SAAB COMBITECH made it possible to make the ISDF programme even more attractive than the very successful second edition last year.
Opening by official Austria, high-ranking UN representative and ambassador
The opening speech on Tuesday, 19 September 2023, will be delivered by the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Karl Nehammer, in the form of a video message. Raffi Gregorian, Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General and Director United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) will then deliver his greetings from New York. Florian Tursky, State Secretary for Digitalisation at the Federal Ministry of Finance and Christina Fraile, Ambassador of Spain to Austria will then open the Forum.
Outstanding keynote speakers on all three conference days
The IDSF has been able to attract renowned keynote speakers for all topics. On Tuesday, 19 September 2023, Bjorn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, will start with "The Role of the Council of Europe in the global governance of AI and other emerging technologies - and its geopolitical implications", followed by Institute of Human Sciences (IWM) Rector Misha Glenny on "AI, Cybercrime and Human Scale". On the second day of the conference, one can look forward to the keynotes "Operation of critical infrastructures in difficult environments on the example of Ukraine" by Lars van Dassen, Executive Director, World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), and Ludmyla Rabchynska, CGI Executive Consultant, OECD Consultant, Former Deputy Minister - Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. On the final day, the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Moldova, Adrian Efros, will deliver a video message, followed by Dominika Hajdu, Director of the Centre for Democracy and Resilience, GLOBSEC, Bratislava, with "A Never-Ending Battle: How to Build and Maintain Societal Resilience to Foreign Malign Influence" and Senadin Alisic, Strategic Advisor, Combitech AB, Sweden, with "Unlocking and Protecting Value: Transforming Industrial Ecosystems and Smart Cities with Cybersecurity Vigilance". Finally, IDSF23 will be closed by Karoline Edtstadler, Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution at the Austrian Federal Chancellery, with her closing speech on Thursday.
Worldwide unique community as trademark of the IDSF
"We are very proud that in just a few years we have succeeded in bringing together a unique community from diplomacy, politics, the IT industry and academia to tackle the challenges of our digital transformation," says Helmut Leopold, the initiator of the IDSF. This year, this unique selling point is even better reflected in the programme, where the presentations and discourse range from geopolitics and tech diplomacy to responsible artificial intelligence, the protection of critical infrastructures and the digitalisation of crisis and disaster management, peacekeeping digital technologies, the development of defence strategies against organised crime and terrorism as well as cyberwar, digital identity management, and the challenges of creating resilient energy systems, strengthened industrial ecosystems through global cooperation and an EU data strategy.
Parallel Social Science Track on the middle conference day
At IDSF23, the successful cooperation with the Vienna Centre for Societal Security (VICESSE) started last year will be continued with a Social Science Track running parallel to the main IDSF programme on Wednesday, 20 September 2023. Two keynote speeches at the start and introduction of the afternoon programme and four thematic sessions will discuss questions of the "(de-)centralisation of digital infrastructures". The discussants of the Social Science Track were selected on the basis of a "Call for Papers" and a scientific review. The thematic blocks "The power of Social Media Platforms", "Digital Infrastructures and Supply Infrastructures", "Research and Innovation for an Open, Inclusive and Secure Society", "Digital Infrastructures of governance" and "Open Source Intelligence and Energy Infrastructures" and a concluding round table on "Hypercriticality: Establishing Safety & Security of entangled infrastructures" promise exciting scientific discussions on perhaps the greatest challenge of our time.
Accompanying exhibition of innovative Austrian SMEs and global companies
In 2023, the ISDF will also continue the tradition of an accompanying exhibition at which innovative domestic companies (SMEs) and organisations in the IT sector, as well as research institutions, will be able to present their developments to an interested and knowledgeable professional audience. This year's exhibitors are the Austrian Security and Defence Industries Group (ASW) of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, the Competence Centre Secure Austria (KSÖ), SAAB COMBITECH, msg Plaut, Trend Micro Austria, X-Net Services, Misbar, Nimbusec, Bacher Systems, fragmentiX, Cyttraction, Rohde & Schwarz, Sustainista, SBA Research, Digital Factory Vorarlberg, Silkroad 4.0, Vienna Cyber Security and Privacy Research Cluster (VISP) and the Vienna Business Agency.
Well-known sponsors as supporters of the IDSF
SAAB COMBITECH is the European industry main sponsor of the International Digital Security Forum Vienna 2023. Raiffeisen generously supports the IDSF by providing the event location "Raiffeisen Forum" Vienna. Other sponsors and supporters are the Competence Centre Secure Austria (KSÖ), the Austrian Security and Defence Industries Group (ASW) of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, the DigitalCity.Wien Initiative, the Austrian security research programmes KIRAS and FORTE, AED, msg Plaut, Trend Micro Austria, Verbund, World Institute of Nuclear Security (WINS), The European Security and Defense College, the Vienna Business Agency and important Austrian federal ministries.
Further information on tickets and programme: https://idsf.io/
Press contact:
Mag. (FH) Michael W. Mürling
Head of IDSF Event Organization
Marketing and Communications
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
Centre for Digital Safety & Security
T +43 (0)50550-4126
michael.muerling(at)ait.ac.at I www.ait.ac.at
Mag. Michael H. Hlava
Head of Corporate and Marketing Communications
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
T +43 (0)50550-4014
michael.hlava(at)ait.ac.at I www.ait.ac.at