What would happen if the world suddenly lost access to the Internet? You might be able to finish reading this article, but you wouldn’t be able to make a call, send an email or a complete a digital financial transaction.
In an age of rising cyber threats, unpredictable network outages, and environmental stress, the risk of a digital pandemic is all too real.
From extreme heat disrupting power grids to earthquakes severing submarine cables to solar storms knocking out back-up satellites: a global outage would begin quietly, before triggering a chain reaction in our interconnected systems that have become the backbone of modern life.
A recent expert study from ITU, the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction, and Sciences Po explores in detail this threat. It calls on policymakers, the private sector, and civil society to work in partnership to map critical digital risks and improve the resilience of our systems.
Since the time of the telegraph, ITU has brought governments and industry together to harmonize technologies and ensure that telecommunications can flow freely across borders. Originally based in Bern, we joined the United Nations family in 1947 and established our headquarters in Geneva the following year.
For 161 years, we’ve worked to facilitate connectivity in practical ways: by coordinating radio spectrum and satellite orbits, setting international technical standards, and helping to ensure that all communities — including the most remote ones — benefit from sustainable digital transformation.
Today, Geneva is a major hub for digital technology, and it will host the global tech community next month for three major events.
The ninth edition of our AI for Good Global Summit, held from 7 to 10 July in Geneva’s largest conference venue, Palexpo, will feature talks and technology demos showing how AI can help build a better future for humanity. The Summit takes place back-to-back with the UN’s inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance on 6-7 July. And concurrently, our annual WSIS Forum propels global digital cooperation, building on the rich legacy of the World Summit on the Information Society that began in Geneva in 2003.
Back then, fewer than 1 billion people, or barely 15% of the world’s population, was using the Internet, compared to around 6 billion, or 74% today. Protecting the digital lifelines that connect and empower humanity is one of the defining challenges of our time.
From Geneva, capital of tech diplomacy, we must act now to keep our shared digital lifelines accessible to all, resilient, and ready for the challenges ahead.
This article first appeared in Switzerland’s French-language political, economic and financial newspaper L’Agefi.
Read the original: Genève, au cœur de la résilience numérique | Agefi.com
Source: https://www.itu.int/hub/2026/06/geneva-at-the-heart-of-digital-resilience/
