Plans to bring a global technology conference to the island next year are still moving forward, according to Bermuda’s Privacy Commissioner.

Alexander White, the Privacy Commissioner, announced last September that the Global Privacy Assembly had selected Bermuda as the host of its 2023 summit, which has historically drawn between 700 and 1,500 attendees.

Mr White said yesterday that work preparing for the week-long conference next October was well under way and he was looking forward to welcoming the tech world to the island for the event.

“We are in the logistics phase of things. We have not started on the substantive work of the agenda or who the speakers might be, but we are trying to nail down the final details of the venue,” he said.

The annual event is intended to provide an opportunity for regulators and policymakers to meet in person and set the agenda for global technology and data issues.

Mr White said that he was optimistic the event would draw more than 700 attendees to the island, particularly in the wake of the long break between in-person conferences caused by the pandemic.

“The way this event has been held for the past two years has been virtually, and there is only so much you can get out of a virtual meeting with colleagues,” he said. “There are not a lot of opportunities to have those hallway conversations where a lot of those important details are hammered out.

“I think people are really craving the opportunity to get back together in person and one reason why we are working hard to give people more than a year’s notice is so they can make those plans and say if they are only going to make one trip in 2023, it will be to Bermuda.”

He added that he believed many attendees will bring their families with them, magnifying the impact of the conference on the island.

“Previous events have been held in Brussels, Albania, Hong Kong — some lovely places and places off the beaten path — but I think Bermuda will be a big draw,” Mr White said.

“My hope is that attendees, who will be from organisations around the world, will bring their families.

“These are government employees or public officers who might never dream of coming to Bermuda otherwise, so it’s a great opportunity to introduce some new communities and families to Bermuda.

“If we had 700 attendees and half brought a spouse, that would be more than 1,000 people right there.”

While speakers for the 2023 event had yet to be decided, Mr White said the goal is to include strong representation from the tech business community — and to utilise local expertise in topics such as cyber-risks and cross-border data flows.

Recent summits have included entrepreneurs and chief executives from the largest tech companies in the world, such as Microsoft and Apple.