Swiss IGF

What Swiss IGF does

Swiss IGF is the Swiss national branch of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, organized since 2017 as a non-profit multi-stakeholder forum under the formal patronage of the Swiss Federal Office for Communications (BAKOM). It convenes an annual conference in Bern (most recently June 16, 2026 at Welle 7) to facilitate structured dialogue on digital policy — including AI regulation, data governance, cybersecurity, digital rights, digital inclusion, and digital sustainability — across five stakeholder groups: government and administration, civil society, academia, the private sector, and the technical community. Sessions are offered free of charge with simultaneous German, French, and English translation.

The organization's core offering comprises the annual Swiss IGF conference, a parallel Swiss Youth IGF capacity-building platform for participants aged 18-35, an open Call for Issues process for agenda selection, and an annual "Messages from Bern" publication that feeds Swiss positions into the global UN IGF and EuroDIG (European Dialogue on Internet Governance) processes. Technical infrastructure is limited to a web-based event platform (igf.swiss) supporting hybrid in-person and online participation and PDF document distribution. The organization does not develop proprietary technology, software products, or AI/ML systems.

Swiss IGF operates with a small permanent staff of 7 and is funded exclusively through donations and institutional contributions from a diversified base of supporters including BAKOM, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA), Google Switzerland, digitalswitzerland, Stiftung Mercator Schweiz, Bibliosuisse, TA-SWISS, and SATW. As of 2025, organizational responsibility transferred to the newly formed Swiss Internet & Digital Governance (SIDG) association. The entity has no equity investors, generates no commercial revenue, and prices its offering at zero to participants.

Name

Swiss IGF

Legal name

Swiss Internet & Digital Governance (SIDG)

Website

https://igf.swiss

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Swiss IGF is the Swiss national branch of the UN Internet Governance Forum, convening an annual multi-stakeholder conference in Bern on digital policy topics (AI regulation, cybersecurity, data governance) for government, civil society, academia, the private sector, and the technical community. Participation is free.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Internet Governance Forum

NAICS

International Affairs (92812)

SIC

International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Committees, Working Groups & Expert Panels (BPADANAB)

Keywords

• Internet governance forum
• Multi-stakeholder dialogue
• Digital policy conference
• Internet governance events
• Digital governance platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Bern

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Conference Participation: Free attendance for all participants. The conference is funded through organizational contributions and donations.
2. Donations and Support: The organization accepts donations for conference operations. Current funding comes from BAKOM, Google, EDA, digitalswitzerland, Stiftung Mercator Schweiz, Bibliosuisse, TA-SWISS, and SATW.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Swiss IGF operates as the Swiss national branch of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF), organizing annual conferences in Bern that bring together government, civil society, academia, the private sector, and the technical community to discuss digital policy issues such as AI regulation, data governance, cybersecurity, and digital inclusion. The organization also runs the parallel Swiss Youth IGF for capacity-building with young people aged 18-35 and produces annual 'Messages from Bern' outputs submitted to UN IGF and EuroDIG.

Product overview

Swiss IGF is a conference platform organized by the Swiss Internet & Digital Governance (SIDG) association under the patronage of the Federal Office for Communications (OFCOM/Bakom). It operates a single unified platform model comprising the annual Swiss IGF conference as the core product, the Swiss Youth IGF as a parallel youth-focused capacity-building program, the Call for Issues submission process for topic selection, and the Messages from Bern publication as an output to feed into the UN IGF and EuroDIG processes. The organization does not offer software products or technology services; its offering is the conference event itself along with related dialogue facilitation and policy discussion outputs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Swiss Youth IGF: A youth-focused parallel platform under Swiss IGF to engage young people aged 18-35 in internet governance discussions and develop their own messages and projects.

Products and services

• Swiss IGF Annual Conference Annual national multi-stakeholder forum for discussing public policy issues related to internet governance, including AI regulation, digital rights, cybersecurity, data policy, and digital inclusion. Open to all stakeholders from government, civil society, academia, the private sector, and the technical community.
• Swiss Youth IGF Capacity-building platform for young people aged 18-35 to discuss internet governance and develop their own messages and projects, conducted in parallel with the main Swiss IGF conference.
• Messages from Bern Annual output document summarizing key discussion points from Swiss IGF sessions, submitted to the UN IGF and EuroDIG forums to feed into international internet governance discussions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Annual 'Messages from Bern' documents submitted to UN IGF and EuroDIG
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Swiss Internet & Digital Governance Association (SIDG)coreOthers · 1 January 2026The Swiss IGF and Swiss Youth IGF are now organized by the SIDG association, which is the organizational home for the national internet governance forum activities.
• Swiss Youth IGFcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Swiss Youth IGF is conducted in parallel with Swiss IGF as a capacity-building activity, engaging young people aged 18-35 in internet governance discussions.
• TA-SWISS (Swiss Foundation for Technology Assessment)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023TA-SWISS is listed as a partner supporting Swiss IGF.
• digitalswitzerlandminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019digitalswitzerland is listed as a partner supporting the Swiss IGF initiative.
• BibliosuisseminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Bibliosuisse is listed as a partner of Swiss IGF.
• SATW (Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019SATW is listed as a partner of Swiss IGF.
• BAKOM (Federal Office for Communications)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Swiss IGF operates under the patronage of BAKOM. The Federal Office for Communications provides institutional support and legitimacy to the national internet governance dialogue process.
• UN IGF (Internet Governance Forum)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Swiss IGF is the national Swiss branch of the UN IGF process. Annual 'Messages from Bern' are submitted to the global IGF and feed into international internet governance discussions.
• EuroDIG (European Dialogue on Internet Governance)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Swiss IGF works closely with EuroDIG, the regional European platform. Swiss messages are coordinated with European dialogue and submitted to EuroDIG annually.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• DiploFoundation: Non-profit capacity-building organization focused on internet governance and digital diplomacy, including the Geneva Internet Platform and IGF-related training. Closely comparable in mission (internet governance dialogue and capacity building) and in operating close to Geneva-based international processes.
• French IGF (Forum français de la gouvernance de l'Internet): France's national IGF chapter. Directly comparable as another country-level IGF node with annual multi-stakeholder dialogue feeding into the UN IGF, sharing the French-language trilingual dynamic relevant to Swiss IGF's DE/FR/EN offering.
• EuroDIG (European Dialogue on Internet Governance): The European regional arm of the UN IGF process. Swiss IGF is one of EuroDIG's national feeders and submits 'Messages from Bern' into its process; they share the same multi-stakeholder dialogue model and target audience (government, civil society, academia, private sector, technical community).
• Internet Society (ISOC): Global non-profit focused on internet development, standards, and policy advocacy. Highly comparable in mission area (internet governance) and in operating as a multi-stakeholder convener, though ISOC is a much larger membership organization with year-round programs.
• Interface (formerly Stiftung Neue Verantwortung): German think tank working on digital policy topics including AI, data governance, and platform regulation. Operates as a policy dialogue and analysis hub in a neighboring DACH country, comparable in topic focus but with a deeper research and publications portfolio.
• German IGF (Internet Governance Forum Deutschland): Germany's national IGF chapter. The closest direct analog to Swiss IGF in structure — annual national multi-stakeholder forum under the UN IGF umbrella with similar topics and stakeholder mix — and a natural sibling/peer in the European IGF ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society): UN-led global process on the information society that historically fed into the IGF. Comparable as a higher-level multi-stakeholder policy platform that intersects with and frames the work of national IGFs like Swiss IGF.
• ICANN: The global multi-stakeholder organization coordinating internet naming and technical infrastructure. Comparable in operating a multi-stakeholder governance model on internet-related topics, but focused on technical coordination rather than policy dialogue.
• UN IGF (Internet Governance Forum): The global UN-convened internet governance forum that Swiss IGF is a national extension of. Operates the same multi-stakeholder model at a global scale and sets the policy framework that Swiss IGF contributes to.

Emerging players

• AlgorithmWatch: Non-profit focused on AI accountability and algorithmic decision-making. Comparable as a civil-society-driven voice on AI regulation topics that Swiss IGF convenes, though narrower in scope and more advocacy-oriented than convening-oriented.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/swissigf

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Swiss IGF