DigHum2026 brings together different voices to explore ways to shape a positive digital future and life. Through dialogue across research, industry, and policy, with experts and engaged participants, the conference views technology through the lens of human values and democratic principles.
Event Details
- Date: 24-26 June 2026
- Location: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Registration: https://dighum.wien/
The conference positions Digital Humanism within the current ongoing debates on technological governance, asking how digital technologies reshape human and political agency, democratic institutions, and international relations – and how they can be aligned with human-centred values?
DigHum2026 explores how democracy can be reconfigured through technology: not as a purely technical challenge, but as a societal project grounded in human rights and environmental responsibility.
Key questions at the event
- What does security mean for individuals and for society in times of rapid technological change?
- How must democracy evolve in response to social transformation?
- And how can solidarity be strengthened in increasingly commercialised societies, where values such as individual success and even inequality are often framed as aspirations?
Programme overview
- Day 1 (Wednesday 24 June):
— Special screening session at historic cinema “Gartenbaukino” of Valerie Veatch’s Ghost in the Machine (2026), a documentary about the origins of AI. - Day 2 (Thursday 25 June):
— Keynote speaker: Rumman Chowdhury (Founder, Humane Intelligence)
— Panels will cover the themes of Digital labour and platform economies; Geopolitics of AI; Democracy and freedom of speech; Social media’s effects on youth; Industry and digital humanism… - Day 3 (Friday 26 June)
— Keynote speaker: Bruce Schneier (Chief of Security Architecture, Inrupt)
— Sessions will cover the themes of Responsible AI science: Public service innovation; Digital commons and knowledge stewardship; Participatory approaches in cities and regions; Visions of digital life in 2100.
The conference is organized by the Digital Humanism Foundation in partnership with the Horizon Europe project EUDHIT, that IEEE Europe forms part of, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The event is supported by the City of Vienna and the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF). IEEE Standards Association is a technical sponsor of the event.