Five years ago, I was proud to be appointed as the director general of the IIC. I didn’t know then that a short while later the world would be hit by a pandemic and a new dating nomenclature would enter the global lexicon – ‘pre-Covid’ and ‘post-Covid’ – signalling as it did that everything had changed. As it turned out, there are few areas in which change was more apparent than in the rapid acceleration of digitalisation.
For an organisation dedicated to dialogue through events, the pandemic presented a potentially existential challenge. Our ‘pivot to digital’ involved holding all our international forums online. We had no idea how successful this would be. How well would the technology work? (Mixed, but it, and we, got better.) Would everyone have access to a good enough connection? (Mostly, but not always.) Would speakers and members support us? (Yes, more than we had dared hope.) Another phrase entered the lexicon – ‘you’re on mute’.
As the importance of digital connectivity grew, so did the demands on policymakers. In areas such as the digital divide, online safety, media and disinformation, data and privacy, cybersecurity, competition and now the rise of AI, the debate is continuous and the role of an international convening organisation such as the IIC more important than ever. In this sense you could say that the market ‘moved towards us’ at the same time as we moved back to in-person events. This has been reflected in the growth in our membership and in the significant increase in the programme and resources available to our members, which has been well received given the increase in our membership engagement and activity. We now count 53 regulatory bodies as members, an increase of 66 per cent since 2020. We can claim members on every continent except Antarctica, although with the very welcome addition in 2024 of the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator and this year the Commerce Commission of New Zealand, we’re certainly getting geographically closer.
Our regional programme of Digital Communications and Media Forums (DCMFs) has included events in Mongolia and Botswana. This year we will hold a DCMF in India, while our Communications Policy and Regulation Week, which includes the International Regulators Forum and Annual Conference, will be in Bogotá for the first time, hosted by the Communications Regulation Commission of Columbia. We are especially proud of the growth in the IIC chapters. Australia, Brussels, Canada, Italy, the UK and the US have long-run, strong programmes of debates on topics of national interest. To these we have now added chapters in the Caribbean, France and the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a revitalised chapter in Singapore. Launching a new chapter always requires leadership, dedication and commitment and our thanks go to the many members who volunteer to give their time and support to the IIC; I am forever grateful.
Another great success has been the Future Leaders Competition, in which young professionals are invited to write an essay on a key industry topic. Now in its eighth year, it was initiated specifically to give a voice to the next generation. Last year it attracted a record number of entries and the standard of the essays has continued to rise.
A change thrust upon us, but ultimately beneficial, was the end of Intermedia as a printed journal and its rebirth as an online publication. It too continues to expand, with up to 2,000 readers per issue and attracting an ever-increasing number of contributors.
In the next year we will be working to continue the expansion of the IIC programme and have an eye towards new IIC chapters in Africa and in Latin and South America. We are also frequently asked by regulators and industry to organise bespoke meetings and events; this is another area we are developing and I expect to see a further increase in demand. One thing is for sure – the importance of dialogue is only going to grow as more countries and organisations seek to share, learn and contribute to international policy.
Finally, a big thank you to all our members, sponsors, supporters and Team IIC, without whom all the good things that the IIC is able to do would not be possible. I look forward to continuing to work with you in the years to come.
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