Description: Including youth’s voices in discussions and decision-making is crucial to ensuring that the data economy is truly equitable and that the value of data is unlocked for all. This panel will explore how youth voices can reshape and transform data policy and data-driven technological innovations to effectively unlock the value of data for all. Join us to share insights on the most pressing issues youth care about in the digital era (e.g. AI, genAI, climate change, education, mental health, reskilling for the future), and how to effectively engage young people from all regions of the world in data and digital policy. Youth are more connected than ever and are key in shaping the future of the data economy and thus its governance. They are the most connected to digital technologies, yet the most disconnected from policy discussions on how to govern those technologies. Youth are the most vulnerable, be it for known risks of social media use and internet dependency, as victims of online abuses, or as disenfranchised data subjects. Meanwhile, decisions that impact youth’s future remain monopolized by adults - either through corporations that develop technologies targeting them as users or through governments shaping the frameworks and rules that will dictate their relation with those technologies. Youth are rarely represented in either of those spaces and the gap between decision-makers and youth is particularly pronounced in the data realm. To effectively unlock the value of data and digital technologies for all, it is fundamental to design bold solutions and creative avenues to engage young voices in data and digital policy.
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