Together with EGMONT and representatives of the Belgian and Finnish Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Clingendael organizes a scoping seminar on  “Digital Diplomacy: Tomorrow’s Practice”.

Co-conveners of this seminar are Brian Hocking and Jan Melissen (Clingendael), Petri Hakkarainen (Unit for Policy Planning and Research, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland) and Marc Otte (Egmont: Royal Institute of International Relations and Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Approximately 20 selected national diplomats and international organizations officials, NGO and business practitioners, think tankers and academics will participate in this scoping discussion on diplomacy in the digital age. The exercise is meant to go far beyond the much-discussed role of the social media. The session will be broken down into four parts: discussing digital diplomacy agendas; parameters of change in the digital age; changing rules and norms; changing roles and relationships in diplomacy. The seminar takes place in the context of the Clingendael Institute’s research project on “Diplomacy in the Digital Age”.

Apart from its intrinsic objectives in clarifying the concept of ‘digital’ diplomacy, the meeting will be an excellent networking opportunity for experts from varying backgrounds. After the roundtable two of the conveners will circulate brief seminar conclusions. The discussion will also serve as input for a Clingendael Report to be completed in April 2015. An international conference on digital diplomacy is provisionally scheduled for the final quarter of 2015.

Participation is by invitation only.

See also #digitalagediplo.

(Photo credit: John Jeddore / CC, Flickr)