On the margins of the seventh substantive session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on ICTs, EU Cyber Direct, together with the European External Action Service, held a hackathon on 6 March 2024. The event aimed to critically examine and identify avenues for enhancing the effectiveness of multistakeholder involvement in cyber diplomacy.
The concept of "multistakeholderism" has earned widespread recognition for its capacity to foster collaboration and address intricate challenges, thus adding significant value to cyber diplomacy. Despite this consensus, the transition from high-level consultations and recommendations to tangible action and collaboration remains limited. The linchpin of this challenge lies in trust, or rather the lack thereof, particularly concerning ‘perceived’ conflicting interests among stakeholders. This distrust often leads to unstructured and informal cross-sectoral cooperation.
Current efforts of collaboration between diverse entities and stakeholders in cyber diplomacy have not fully tapped into the potential of cross-sectoral cooperation. It often remains on an ad hoc basis. Questions persist regarding the optimal extent of multistakeholder engagement, the inherent limitations constraining current practices, and the practical measures necessary to organize multistakeholder cooperation and facilitate deeper cross-sectoral information exchange, thereby fostering stronger alignment of priorities. Central to this effort is the imperative of cultivating trust among stakeholders.
By pinpointing the core challenges and exploring practical solutions, the hackathon looked to generate ideas towards a more structured and impactful multistakeholder collaboration.
