# IWDK21 - TRUST & TECH
THE FESTIVAL GOES VIRTUAL
This year , Internet Week Denmark will be held online . This will show how a festival can go fully “ virtual ” to widen its reach and possibilities .
By Alexander Loft Birkmose
Last year , the Corona lockdown meant a sudden shutdown for Internet Week Denmark . But it won ’ t be like that this year . This year ’ s festival has rebooted and will be held in a completely virtual format .
“ In general , we ’ ve met a great deal of understanding from people about why we have to do the festival virtually . It makes sense that we ’ re aiming for an online festival this year , all things considered . If anyone is going to do it , it should be us . We take advantage of the opportunities that the internet has and we ’ re testing the boundaries of how to do events this way ,” says Randi Vestergaard , Festival Director for Internet Week Denmark .
For this year ’ s festival , Internet Week Denmark has developed a dedicated virtual platform that will set the scene for the festival .
A Festival Space with Virtual Stages This year , there will be four online ” stages ” that be accessed via iwdk . dk , where participants can take part virtually . The audience will have access to a daily programme with different activities and themes . Each stage will feature a mix of talks , interactive presentations , videos and more .
“ We want to try and get as close as possible to a festival experience . A big advantage about doing it online is that we won ’ t only extend our reach of the festival across Denmark but also internationally ,” says Vestergaard . She also underlines that the festival ’ s virtual platform will make it easier to attract big names as speakers because they won ’ t have to be present physically . For example , this year , the festival will be kicked off from Brussels by Margrethe Vestager , who is one of the most powerful and influential policy makers in the global tech industry .
The future ’ s public meeting for digitisation This year ’ s IWDK will also introduce an inaugural Digital Round Table event , which the organisers behind the festival will be further developing over the coming years as an annual forum to create public policy input related to tech .
“ It will be a kind of digital summit . It is our ambition that in 2022 we will have a big summit where we ’ ll gather politicians , civil servants and representatives from the business world to discuss Denmark ’ s digital future ,” Vestergaard says .
This initiative will be started this year with the ambition of IWDK becoming Denmark ’ s public meeting for digitalization . The festival is held from the 4th to the 9th of May and can be accessed online at www . iwdk . dk .
4