The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will use this year’s Web Summit to spotlight the future of digital identity and the rising geopolitical tensions shaping internet governance.
ICANN President and CEO Kurtis Lindqvist will join Sally Wentworth, head of the Internet Society, and Steve Clemons, Editor-at-Large of The National Interest, for a panel titled “The Geopolitics of the Internet: Unity or Division?” on 11 November. The discussion will examine how international cooperation can preserve a single, open Internet amid growing political and economic pressures to fragment it.
Earlier in the day, ICANN’s Theresa Swinehart, Senior Vice President for Global Domains and Strategy, will host a masterclass on how custom domain names can strengthen brand identity and online security. She will be joined by Nisha Parkash of Sky Group and Patrick Hauss of CSC.
The sessions come as ICANN prepares for the 2026 round of its New gTLD Program, which will open applications for new top-level domains. The next phase will also expand support for non-Latin scripts to make the internet more inclusive for users worldwide.
“This next round of new gTLDs marks an important milestone in the Internet’s evolution,” Lindqvist said. “We’re giving organisations more control over their digital identities while safeguarding the open, interoperable Internet that enables global innovation.”
ICANN’s presence at Web Summit highlights its dual focus, advancing digital opportunity while defending the governance model that keeps the Internet a shared, global resource.
The announcement that ICANN will address the future of digital identity and fragmentation at the Web Summit underscores major themes at Identity Week Europe 2026 such as global identity governance, resilient digital credentials, and interoperability across systems. As the Internet faces pressures of geopolitical division and new top‑level domain launches, the identity industry must examine how we build open, inclusive frameworks that protect individual trust while enabling innovation.
