Over the past two years, the National Cyber Power Index (NCPI) has catalysed conversations and debate between policymakers, academia, and industry on the concept of cyber power and how states are and can further harness their capabilities to enhance their overall ability to achieve national objectives.
Harnessing a state’s cyber power requires a whole-of-nation approach. National governments should not just be concerned about destructive operations, espionage, or enhancing its cyber resilience, but also other state’s efforts at surveillance, information control, technology competition, financial motivations, and shaping what is acceptable and possible through norms and standards.
The Global Alliance for Digital Governance (GADG) was established through a collaboration of the Boston Global Forum and World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid at the Policy Lab on September 7-9, 2021.
GADG do:
Coordinate resources: governments, international organizations, corporations, think tanks, civil society, and influencers for AI and a digital sphere for good, to make these resources more effective, to synthesize and maximize their impact, and to create more implementation-oriented conferences.
Protect fundamental values and standards proposed in Social Contract for the AI Age, in AI International Accord and in the book Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment.
On September 26, 2022, one day before national funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Boston Global Forum officially launches the website Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security at Abe.AIWS.city.
Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s state funeral is confirmed to be held in Tokyo on September 27, 2022 with an expected attendance of 6,000 guests including local and foreign dignitaries.
World leaders who have confirmed their attendance include US Vice President Kamala Harris, and Australian PM Anthony Albanese and his delegation. Three former Australian leaders John Howard, Tony Abbott, and Malcolm Turnbull, who had all worked with Abe and his premiership from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020, will join as part of Australia’s official delegation.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will also attend the late Abe’s state funeral.
The Taiwanese foreign ministry is reportedly in discussions about whom it will send as a representative.
At a committee meeting, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida revealed other world leaders who plan to attend the funeral, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and European Council President Charles Michel.
The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 8, 2022 has generated approximately 1,700 messages of condolence messages from 259 countries, regions, and international organizations. The attendance of prominent world leaders at his state funeral further underscores the long-lasting impact of Japan’s longest-serving former prime minister on the region and the world.
The Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security was established by the Boston Global Forum, where the late Shinzo Abe participated in numerous events and received the World Leaders Award for Peace and Security in 2015. The Initiative aims not only to honor Abe’s significant contributions and dedication to world peace and security, but also to connect world leaders (leaders of government and businesses), scholars, thinkers, and creators to continue his legacy and work toward world peace, security, and prosperity.
Ramu Damodaran, co-chair of UN Centennial Initiative, the first Chief of UN Academic Impact, and a Distinguished Contributor of Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment, presented opening remarks at BGF online high-level panel “Peace for the Global Enlightenment Age: Technology for Peace” on September 21, 2022, an event of United Nations Centennial Initiative.
“Colleges and universities face severe challenges in preserving a secure research environment,” writes Inside Higher Ed, which, in the last two years, along with other news outlets, has “reported a surge in ransomware attacks, causing significant operational and financial costs to the targeted institutions. Cyberhackers attack higher ed institutions for various reasons, including stealing intellectual property, gaining bragging rights about hacking into high profile institutions and extorting institutions for money. Studies have shown that nearly three-quarters of ransomware attacks on higher ed institutions succeeded — making this a real threat to nearly all types of colleges.
A webcast on October 4 (https://bit.ly/3BTRtrw) will explore the following topics:
• Overview of cybersecurity efforts and recent high-profile attacks in higher ed
• The specific security challenges colleges and universities face
• Measures that appear to be limiting cyber hacks”
AIWS.net includes news reports, analysis and reflections by distinguished thinkers and innovators supporting innovations and solutions for “Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment” and the United Nations Centennial initiative, looking at how the world might be in 2045 when the global organization completes a hundred years.
The Boston Global Forum (BGF) organized an online high-level panel “Peace for the Global Enlightenment Age: Technology for Peace” on September 21, 2022. Amandeep Singh Gill, Under-Secretary – General, Technology Envoy Technology, United Nations presented the keynote speech at the event.
MIT Professor Alex Sandy Pentland, a Distinguished Contributor of Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment, presented his keynote speech “Data for Peace” at the event:
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. The Boston Global Forum (BGF) organized an online high-level panel “Peace for the Global Enlightenment Age: Technology for Peace” on September 21, 2022. Amandeep Singh Gill, Under-Secretary – General, Envoy on Technology, United Nations presented the keynote speech at the event.
The report outlines the stakes of the U.S.-China technology competition and presents an agenda to strengthen U.S. competitiveness. It elevates issues that merit the nation’s attention to ensure we improve the U.S. position by 2025, and identifies the technology areas where the US must act by 2030 to retain our advantage.
On September 16, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan gave a keynote speech at the Special Competitive Studies Project Global Emerging Technologies Summit.
He highlighted the need to recharge the engine of American technological dynamism and innovation, especially in these foundational sectors.
Over the last year, the Biden Administration has made historic investments, and not just in basic research. We are investing in industries of the future and strengthening the resilience and security of the supply chains that underpin them.
Over the past month alone, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, an Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The CHIPS Act invests $52 billion to restore U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and R&D and reduce our overreliance on foreign-produced chips.
It is an investment larger than the real cost of the Manhattan Project. On top of this, it also authorizes the largest single-year percentage increase in overall federal funding of basic scientific research in seventy years.
The Global Alliance for Digital Governance, established by the Boston Global Forum in September 2021, will play a role as a global network of allies and partners share US strategic concerns and are committed to deepening cooperation.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 2022 BGF World Leader for Peace and Security Award recipient, and President of Finland Sauli Niinisto, 2018 BGF World Leader for Peace and Security Award recipient, discussed the countries’ defense cooperation and visa restrictions for Russian citizens.
The head of state wrote about this on Twitter, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
“I informed the President of Finland about the current situation at the front. We discussed further defense cooperation between Ukraine and Finland. I thanked for the assistance,” Zelenskyy wrote.
In addition, according to him, the parties touched upon the issue of visa restrictions for citizens of the Russian Federation.
