Less than five days till Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier becomes the center of critical dialogue on global cybersecurity policy, for the fourth time. The theme that sets the backdrop of an extensive line of sessions and speakers, from June 4-6, 2025, goes like this: Balancing Sovereignty and Solidarity in the Digital Age.
Digital transformation challenges states to maintain their open strategic autonomy and sovereignty while fostering global solidarity in leveraging the benefits and addressing risks and cyber threats. Digital sovereignty emphasizes control over national data and infrastructure, while digital solidarity relies on international cooperation to develop common security standards and share knowledge.
The International Digital Security Forum (IDSF) 2025 will focus on exploring this crucial balance from a variety of technological and thematic perspectives. This conference provides a comprehensive platform to examine how independence and cooperation can be harmonized to address global digital security challenges.
Presence and participation of policy advisors and policy practitioners is what makes the IDSF a direct point of contact between industrial insights and policy making. Governments, in their own separate capacities, certainly take periodic inputs from cyber security experts as more and more public management goes digital.
Read More: 8 Years of Digital Security Dialogue: The IDSF Story
But IDSF makes the dialogue global, recognizing fully well that digital borders is an oxymoron and international cooperation is a must if we have to build sustainable digital ecosystems. As a multi-stakeholder platform with a selected audience, #IDSF25 brings together international and national stakeholders from industry, government, research and civil society with key European stakeholders from the political and policy-making arena, to promote secure digitalization for the benefit of a networked society.
The conference will examine new security risks at the interface of AI, quantum technology and biotechnology, the role of tech diplomacy in an increasingly digitalized world and the transformation of global cyber security strategies, particularly in geopolitically sensitive regions.
Other focal points address digital resilience, the protection of critical infrastructure, trustworthy data spaces and human-centered digital governance and data sovereignty for peace and security, as well as the impact of disinformation and digital manipulation on democracies.
Read More: Meet the Speakers of International Digital Security Forum 2025
To inform policy making on digital safety and cyber security of critical infrastructures, IDSF has planned special workshops, a social science parallel track, and exhibition of Austrian SMEs as well as global companies specializing in global cyber solutions, international and multilateral diplomacy, and meta data governance.
Not just that, IDSF 2025 will offer an inclusive dialogue, where women experts are as keenly heard as their male counterparts. The participation of remarkable women recognizes their contributions and work in fields as diverse as cyber security, data management, diplomacy, academic discourse on Artificial Intelligence, and much more.
Special workshops with in-depth thematic focus
In order to provide participants with more practical insights into the challenges of digitalization and innovative technological solutions, parallel interactive workshops will also be offered on the first two days of the conference as part of the forum, which will be organized and conducted by, among others, the CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation (topic: AI for Peace: The Promise and Peril of AI-Powered Engagement in Conflict Zones), the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation – VCDNP (topic: Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security of High-Risk Critical Infrastructure) and the Vienna Business Agency together with SBA Research.
High-caliber social science parallel track on IDSF Day 2
The program will be complemented by a high-quality social science track organized by the IDSF program partner Vienna Centre for Societal Security (VICESSE) under the title “Sovereignty and Solidarity in the Digital Age – a critical View”, which will take place on 5 June 2025 at the IDSF.
This part of the program will be opened by a keynote speech byPhilipp Budka (Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria) on “Community-Led Digital Sovereignty: Insights and Lessons from an Indigenous Initiative in Remote Canada”, followed by top-class panel discussions that will discuss the social challenges of digital transformation and practical technological and security policy issues.
Accompanying exhibition of Austrian SMEs & global companies
The forum is also organizing an accompanying exhibition in which innovative companies (SMEs), leading IT organizations and research institutions will present their latest solutions and developments.
Companies have the opportunity to position themselves as partners in front of an international audience.
Some of the prominent exhibitors include Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP), SBA Research, Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies, ABA Invest Work Film, The Diplomatic Insight, Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria, among others.
In addition, the international partner organizations for this year’s edition are diverse, based in countries across the world; and not just Europe. IDSF’s media partners for this year include The Diplomatic Insight (Pakistan), New Business, Report, ITWELT.at, SICHERHEIT, among others.
The Diplomatic Insight is a digital and print magazine focusing on diplomacy, defense, and development publishing since 2009.
