Amid escalating digital threats and geopolitical risks, the protection of critical infrastructure is no longer solely a technical issue for individual sectors; it is a core security imperative vital to maintaining national continuity and public trust. Ukraine's experience in high-intensity hybrid conflicts demonstrates that true resilience relies on cross-sector collaboration and the ability to sustain the "minimum viable operations" of government services, communications, and energy during crises.

Hosted by Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), this session will draw on the Ukrainian experience to explore three highly interconnected resilience themes:

GSN (Government Service Network) Resilience: Ensuring the continuity of government command systems, cross-agency data exchange, and basic public services during cyberattacks or communication disruptions.

Communications Resilience: Building flexible backup, resource allocation, and rapid repair mechanisms for the telecommunications industry and infrastructure operators in the face of submarine cable cuts or large-scale distributed attacks.

Energy Resilience: Establishing robust backup and rapid recovery mechanisms for power grids, while addressing the critical interdependence risks between energy, communications, and government service systems.

Focus of Discussion

Through a multi-stakeholder dialogue involving government, industry, academia, and civil society, this session aims to elevate infrastructure protection to "systemic resilience governance" and propose policy directions tailored to Taiwan's context:

Lessons learned from Ukraine and their adaptation to Taiwan's specific geopolitical and institutional landscape.

Strategies to mitigate cross-sector risks and domino effects caused by the interdependence of GSN, communications, and energy systems.

Establishing more effective mechanisms for cross-sector information sharing, crisis response drills, and communication in highly uncertain crisis scenarios.

• Wei Jeng, Deputy Director General, Administration for Cyber Security, Ministry of Digital Affairs

• Ren-Wei Chang, Adjunct Research Fellow, Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET)
• Weisheng Liu, Principal Azure Cloud Solutions Architect, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft
• Chien-Lung Lee, Director, Department of Information Management, Taiwan Power Company (TPC)
• Po-Yu Chen, Director, Center of Assessment and Defense, National Institute of Cyber Security

As AI evolves from a tool into an agent, and as digital twins continue to develop, these systems are increasingly beginning to act on behalf of individuals and organizations across contexts such as search, collaboration, transactions, content generation, and system invocation. In this environment, the central challenge for Internet governance is no longer limited to who can log in. It now extends to broader questions, such as who is acting, on whose behalf, with what authority, how their outputs can be trusted, and who governs these trust relationships. Most existing Internet identity and authentication architectures still center on human users, platform accounts, or closed service ecosystems. They are not yet sufficient to address the new trust demands created by AI agents and digital twins operating in the open Internet environment.

From the perspective of the open Internet and Internet governance, this session will examine questions surrounding the identity, discoverability, authorization, verifiability, and accountability of AI agents and digital twins in networked space. Future models of digital trust are unlikely to rely on a single identifier or a single platform. Instead, they will likely require a multilayered trust infrastructure composed of naming and discovery mechanisms, cryptographic identity, credentials and proofs, delegated authority, traceability of actions, and the governance arrangements needed to support them.

In this context, traditional DNS and naming governance may not be displaced. On the contrary, they may become more important, as AI agents and digital twins must be resolvable, discoverable, and authorizable. At the same time, technologies such as decentralized identifiers (DIDs), digital wallets, verifiable credentials, attestations, and workload identity may each play distinct roles at different layers of the trust stack. However, if this emerging trust architecture lacks clear governance principles, it may produce new forms of centralized control, fragmentation across alternative naming systems, cross-border trust conflicts, and even turn digital identity systems into tools of surveillance and exclusion.

This session therefore seeks to bring together researchers of Internet infrastructure, technical communities, DNS operators, practitioners, and academic experts to discuss what trust infrastructure is still missing once AI agents and digital twins become new actors on the open Internet. How might DNS and existing Internet governance mechanisms be extended? What gaps can DIDs and decentralized credential systems help fill? Which governance challenges cannot be resolved through technology alone? The goal of this session is to establish an interdisciplinary framework for addressing the increasingly urgent issue of AI agents and digital twins on the Internet.

• Nicole Chan, Chairperson, Digital Trust Association in Taiwan

• Yen-Lin Huang, Policy Fellow, Havard Kennedy School Allen Lab
• Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia
• Manju Chen, Director of Policy, Trusted Notifier Network
• Simon Sun, Assistant Professor, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

This workshop intends to invite practitioners from the financial and legal sectors to delve into how digital finance has increasingly become a breeding ground for cross-border fraud amidst the power dynamics of geopolitics. By facilitating discussions on business strategy, financial supervision, legal compliance, and judicial cooperation, we aim to collectively outline the optimal solutions for fraud prevention and internet governance, seeking to restore social trust in the digital economic system.

• Henry Tsai, Partner, Deloitte Legal Taiwan

• Wei Hung Liu, Head Prosecutor, Taiwan Keelung District Prosecutors Office
• Chris Chen, Strategy, Risk & Transactions Partner, Deloitte Taiwan
• Joe Hsu, Secretary-General, Chinese Non-Store Retailer Association
• Brian Huang, Chairman, IIA Chinese Taiwan

In mid-2025, the Executive Yuan announced the "AI New Ten Construction" as a pivotal strategy to realize the vision of a "Smart Technology Island," explicitly designating "Sovereign AI" as a key pillar of digital infrastructure. By the end of the same year, the Legislative Yuan passed the "Artificial Intelligence Basic Law," marking Taiwan's first step toward the legalization of AI frameworks and echoing global trends in AI regulation. However, within a unique geopolitical context and an industrial structure that dominates the AI server hardware supply chain, how government agencies implement the spirit of Sovereign AI remains a challenge with many unresolved issues. The AI Foundation (AIF) will invite senior civil servants involved in the actual deployment of public sector Sovereign AI systems, alongside industry and academic experts, to explore the challenges of promoting Sovereign AI in Taiwan’s public sector and to deliberate on feasible solutions.

Discussion Outline:

1.What is Sovereign AI? How is it defined? Particularly within Taiwan's unique geopolitical context, how can the public sector balance administrative efficiency with the principles of national and information security when building AI systems?

2.What are the primary challenges encountered during the implementation of AI systems in the public sector? Please analyze the underlying causes and the context of their impact.

3.Following the previous question, is it possible to overcome these challenges and hurdles through legislative amendments, organizational restructuring, or adjustments to administrative processes?

4.How can the implementation of AI in the public sector serve directly as policy to jumpstart the development of AI-related industries, benefit civil society, and create a new ecosystem?

Expected Outcomes:

1.Develop an understanding of the specific definition and practical implementation of Sovereign AI. Explore how the public sector, within Taiwan's unique geopolitical context, balances administrative efficiency with national and information security to build AI systems that address existing pain points and enhance the quality of public services.

2.Deconstruct the challenges faced in the practical implementation phases of public sector Sovereign AI, and analyze the underlying causes and impact context.

3.Propose concrete policies and practical recommendations. Explore whether it is possible to overcome current obstacles through legislative amendments, organizational restructuring, or adjustments to administrative processes.

4.Determine how the implementation of AI in the public sector can evolve into policy that activates AI-related industrial development, benefits civil society, and fosters a new ecosystem.

• Greta Wen,Chief Executive Officer, Artificial Intelligence Foundation

• Nicole Chan, Chairperson, Artificial Intelligence Foundation
• Chih-Chien Jau, Director, Department of Statistics, Ministry of the Interior
• Li-Chen Yu, Secretary-General, Ministry of Justice, Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Richard Tzong-Han Tsai, Professor, Dept. of CSIE, National Central University

In recent years, rising geopolitical tensions and incidents such as suspected gray-zone interference with submarine cables have made network and communications resilience a growing public concern in Taiwan. Yet discussion often remains narrowly focused on the question of a total cable cutoff, while overlooking the broader governance challenges involved: how to sustain cross-border data flows for critical civilian services, how to assess dependence on overseas connectivity, how decentralized communications can support civilian and disaster-response needs, and how to build a more grounded public understanding of risk. At the same time, a range of civic actors have already begun responding to these challenges from different angles. The more urgent question is how such dispersed efforts can be recognized, coordinated, and translated into meaningful governance capacity.This session takes up that question within the framework of all-of-society defense, which emphasizes collaboration between government and civil society to sustain core social functions under disruption. Bringing together government representatives and civil society actors—including digital service providers, decentralized communications communities, and digital resilience advocacy groups—the panel will examine risk scenarios, the roles different non-state actors can play, and the practical limits and possibilities of existing initiatives. The discussion will focus in particular on two issues: which civil society-led knowledge, tools, and coordination practices could be integrated into current policy and risk-governance frameworks; and what institutional interfaces or conditions are still missing if these efforts are to become durable governance resources rather than isolated experiments.

• Irvin Chen, Advisor, Open Culture Foundation

• Sucre Lin, Founder, GuangFu Hero (a civil disaster preparedness mobilization platform)
• Kuon, Chief Technology Officer, Funny Systems Co., Ltd.
• Hsu, Kuang-Cheng; Co-founder, Frontline Democracy
• Sean, Engineer, Cyborg Resilience Lab

As "digital sovereignty" begins to redefine network boundaries, the global open internet is facing a turning point toward fragmentation. This workshop convenes youth representatives from Taiwan’s four key communities to bring back first-hand insights on regional and global internet policy and technical standard-setting, from APrIGF and APNIC to IETF and ICANN. This is more than just a session on internet policy development; it is a reflection on "Taiwan’s position." We will explore the strategic significance of communication resilience during extraordinary times and analyze how Taiwan’s youth act as connectors within global governance arenas. The workshop will conclude with actionable recommendations, guiding the audience to understand how to leverage the multi-stakeholder spirit to jointly maintain a secure, resilient, and interoperable internet amidst complex geopolitical dynamics. Its core objective is to lower the barrier to international participation by sharing cross-community pathways—spanning the private sector, academia, and research—providing a practical guide for Taiwan's next generation eager to engage in the field of global internet governance.

• Jason Kuo, Associate Professor of Political Science, NTU

• Yen-Lin Huang, Policy Fellow, Harvard Allen Lab
• Wen-Yen Tien, Executive Secretary, NETalent Co, Ltd
• Jo-Wei Chang, CEO, RightWay Co., Ltd.
• Anna Kuo, Undergraduate, National Taiwan University

This workshop aims to examine how geopolitical dynamics fuel contestation in Internet governance, with a focus on Internet fragmentation, digital sovereignty tensions, and their implications for global open norms and infrastructure resilience. The speakers will bring Taiwanese, Turkish (middle-power), and broader international legal insights, ensuring multistakeholder depth and geographic diversity while fostering interactive dialogue on Taiwan's unique position in these contested terrains.

• Enescan Lorci, Research Fellow, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy

• Hsin-Hsuan Lin, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, NCKU
• Müge Yüce, Associate Professor, Ataturk University and Visiting Fellow at NCCU
• Viktor Buzna, Senior Research Fellow, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs

In recent years, global AI principles and governance frameworks have gradually taken shape, including the OECD AI Principles, the G20 AI Guidelines, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, and various U.S. Executive Orders on AI. However, a key challenge remains: how can these high-level principles be effectively translated into concrete local policy design, mechanisms for public participation, and institutional practice?This session will explore the issue from three dimensions:

(1) How Are Global Principles “Translated”?

1.The core values embedded in global AI governance principles (transparency, accountability, human-centeredness)

2.The institutional gaps and implementation challenges that arise when these principles are localized

(2) The Role of Citizens in AI Governance

1.Research insights from the TRAILS think tank: How can citizens better understand and meaningfully participate in AI governance?

2.Can public participation help mitigate the concentration of power among technical experts (“technocratic dominance”)?

(3) AI and Global Power Competition: Trade and Strategic Dimensions

1.How is the United States seeking to secure AI leadership through export controls, standards-setting, and supply chain restructuring?

2.Taiwan’s position and strategic choices within the geopolitical landscape of global AI policymaking

• Hsien-Lee Tseng, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, National University of Tainan

• Susan Ariel Aaronson, Research Professor; Director, Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub Research Faculty
• Nai-Yi Hsiao, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, National Chengchi University
• Huei-Ying Luiclle Hsu, Assistant Professor, Soochow University School of Law

The rapid advancement of AI technology and business models has catalyzed profound upheavals within the existing digital and platform economies, causing traditional business models, marketing strategies, and ecosystems to undergo constant and rapid evolution. In 2026, the European Parliament introduced its "Ten Issues to Watch in 2026," a key focus of which is how AI is transforming the internet. Generative AI is increasingly replacing traditional search engines; platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity AI understand queries and directly summarize web content, leading to a decline in actual website traffic and impacting the advertising-driven internet economy. AI agents have also begun to autonomously complete multi-step tasks, such as browsing web pages or managing emails, positioning AI as the primary gateway for user interaction with the web. This presents three major challenges: first, website traffic is being intercepted by AI, forcing the content industry to seek new business models; second, the use of existing data for AI training involves disputes regarding copyright and data usage; and third, the potential for a surge of AI-generated content to flood the internet may compromise the quality of information. Simultaneously, the platformization of AI may lead to a concentration of power, raising significant competition law concerns. How to translate global AI governance principles into local legal frameworks and industry practices will become a critical focus of future policy discussions.

• Irving Tai, Professor, Department of Law, Shih Hsin University

• Wen-Che Huang, Chief Secretary, National Communications Commission
• 黃泰然｜助理教授｜台北大學法律系
• Mu-Min Wang, Chief Privacy Officer, Coupang Taiwan Ltd.
• Vick Chien, Attorney, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law

As governments around the world introduce digital age verification requirements to protect minors online, systems for verifying identity attributes—such as age—are increasingly becoming part of the broader digital infrastructure that supports online governance and trust. In this context, age verification is no longer merely a platform-level compliance tool, but an emerging component of digital identity infrastructure, raising important questions about interoperability, governance, and the potential fragmentation of identity and credential systems across jurisdictions.Across the world, governments are increasingly introducing or considering digital age verification requirements to protect minors online, particularly in areas such as social media, online gaming, and adult content platforms. While these initiatives aim to enhance child safety in digital environments, they also raise broader questions about digital identity infrastructure, privacy protection, and the governance implications of verification systems across jurisdictions.In the context of growing geopolitical tensions and rising emphasis on digital sovereignty, identity and credential systems are increasingly regarded as part of a nation’s strategic digital infrastructure. Governments are exploring different approaches to implementing age verification—ranging from platform-based mechanisms to government-supported digital identity and credential systems. At the same time, regulatory approaches to age verification vary significantly across countries. Some jurisdictions emphasize strict platform obligations, while others explore privacy-preserving identity credentials or third-party verification systems. These diverging approaches risk contributing to regulatory and technological fragmentation, potentially affecting interoperability, cross-border digital services, and the openness of the global internet.Moreover, poorly designed age verification systems may introduce new challenges, including excessive data collection, surveillance risks, and barriers to access for vulnerable users. As a result, policymakers, technology providers, and civil society actors are increasingly calling for solutions that can simultaneously support child protection, privacy safeguards, and interoperable digital infrastructure.This workshop will explore the intersection of digital age verification, digital identity infrastructure, and internet governance, focusing on several key questions:

• What technical architectures—such as privacy-preserving credentials, selective disclosure mechanisms, or decentralized identity frameworks—can enable effective age verification while protecting user privacy?
• How can regulatory frameworks balance child protection objectives with privacy, human rights, and cross-border interoperability?
• What roles should private sector technology providers, legal experts, civil society organizations, and technical communities play in designing trustworthy and interoperable age verification systems?

By examining digital age verification as part of emerging digital trust infrastructure, this workshop aims to connect debates about online safety and identity verification with broader discussions on internet fragmentation, digital sovereignty, and resilient digital governance frameworks.

• Tseng Ken-Ying, Partner, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law

• Nicole Chan, Chairperson, Digital Trust Association in Taiwan
• Yu Chi-Min, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Soochow University
• Moon Nguyet Phillips, Senior Director, Head of Government Relations & Public Policy Asia Pacific, Tools for Humanity / World