Poysdorf Declaration for Digital Humanism
Hannes Raffaseder Joins Meeting of European Ministers
On 30 June, the foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia came together in Poysdorf in the so-called “Austerlitz format” (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria) for a conference dedicated to “digital humanism”.
During their meeting, the three foreign ministers signed the “Poysdorf Declaration on Digital Humanism”, thereby pledging their commitment to the opportunities of digitalisation and the observance of human rights at the same time. The event was hosted by Governor of Lower Austria Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
Panel Discussion Featuring Hannes Raffaseder
Member of the Executive Board of the St. Pölten UAS Hannes Raffaseder had the honour to contribute discussion inputs during the drafting of the Declaration of the foreign ministers and to join one of the two panel discussions at the symposium “Digital Humanism: A Compass for Citizens during the Digital Transformation”.
Further speakers included, among others, Lower Austrian Minister Jochen Danninger, Clara Blume (Head of Open Austria Art & Tech Lab), Kerstin Koren (Head of the Division for Economics, Tourism and Technology in the Lower Austrian Provincial Government), and Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (Director of the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts) as well as colleagues from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition, Brad Smith (President of Microsoft) and Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce) also held interesting video keynotes.
“What we need is a new digital humanism. Or, to put it more appropriately, a new and humanistic digitalisation that breaks existing barriers, reconciles the goals of people with the development of digital technologies and enables citizens to participate in the public discourse on these technologies of the future. The Poysdorf Declaration as well as our initiative APART – the Austrian Platform for Art and Tech Thinking, which we only just presented a week ago, are important steps to support this development”, explains Raffaseder.
Further Information
- Press Release BMEIA (in German)
- Press Release of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government (in German)
- News on the APART Initiative (in German)
