On September 6-7, the EastWest Institute (EWI) hosted the Global Cooperation in Cyberspace Progress Roundtable at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Palo Alto, California. This roundtable was the fourth iteration of an annual strategic review of EWI's cyberspace program with 40 leaders of EWI's five cyber cooperation breakthrough groups and other key stakeholders in attendance. EWI's President and CEO Cameron Munter gave a lunchtime speech discussing the intersection between his conception of new diplomacy and cyber cooperation.

Over the course of two days, participants worked together to present each the groups' recent work, discuss progress to date and examine next steps to refine our collective undertaking to stimulate responsible global action in cyberspace. The Global Cooperation in Cyberspace Progress Roundtable was organized with support from, among others, Microsoft, Huawei Technologies, Unisys, Sonus Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Qihoo 360, NXP Semiconductors, CenturyLink, VEON, JPMorgan Chase, Marsh & McLennan, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The roundtable opened with two in-depth workshops designed to hone two forthcoming EWI reports. The first of these discussed the future of IoT-connected smart cities, outlining a draft guide to help city managers, real-estate developers and other relevant decision-makers effectively develop and deploy IoT technology in urban environments. The second of these workshops was designed to revise a draft international report focusing on how to balance encryption and lawful access to data.

The second day of the roundtable was devoted to a broader review and planning as well additional examination of the first day's topics. Discussions included understanding and insuring systemic cyber risk, promoting norms of responsible behavior in cyberspace and increasing access to more secure ICT products and services. In addition, special attention was paid to EWI's continued support of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, which is developing proposals for norms and policies to enhance international security and guide responsible state and non-state behavior in cyberspace.

"We had an extraordinary group of business and government leaders from across the globe join us in Palo Alto,” noted Bob Campbell, EWI Board Member and CEO of Campbell Global Services. “Under the leadership of Bruce McConnell, focused and robust discussions took place concerning the critical issues being addressed by each of our five breakthrough groups. I am confident that our work will lead to agreement and action on some of the most vexing issues of our time."

Feedback received during the two day workshop, presentations and conversations will be used to guide and revise the upcoming work plans for the five breakthrough groups. This was particularly invaluable to the process of publishing the two above mentioned reports: a guide to developing secure, smart cities and an encryption paper outlining ways to try to find common ground in the debate between encryption and lawful access to data. Input from the roundtable will be subsumed within these drafts, which will be published in the coming months.