Q1/2019 - Microsoft - Tech Accord
March 2019
Microsoft drew a positive balance of the political digital agenda it has been operating since 2015 and announced that it was going to found a Cyber Peace Institute in cooperation with other partners from the private sector (Hewlett Foundation, Mastercard) in May 2019. The new institute shall help state and non-state players to better protect themselves against cyber attacks. Microsoft informed that the new initiative built on the experience from the TechAccord (with by now more than 90 member companies[1]) and the “Digital Peace Campaign” (with more than 100,000 signatures from 140 countries[2]) and also took into account the criticism that had been uttered, in particular with regard to the 2016 proposals of a Digital Geneva Convention and a so-called “Attribution Organisation”. The new institute was planned to be organised as an NGO seated in Switzerland or The Netherlands.