Upperlink Limited has announced its collaboration with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) to host a global awareness event for Universal Acceptance (UA) Day 2026.
The virtual event, themed “Building a Truly Global, Multilingual #Internet4All,” is designed to promote a more inclusive and multilingual internet ecosystem and will take place virtually on Monday, 18 May 2026, at 10:00 AM WAT.
UA Day 2026 will bring together key stakeholders across government, academia, technology, digital policy, and the internet community to discuss the future of Universal Acceptance and digital inclusivity.
The event will feature live demonstrations of UA-compliant systems, expert-led strategy sessions on upgrading digital infrastructure and interactive conversations focused on enabling internet systems, applications, and digital platforms to support all domain names and email addresses, regardless of language, script, or character length.
Speaking on the importance of the initiative, Akano Olusegun, Managing Director and CEO of Upperlink Limited, emphasized that Universal Acceptance is critical to ensuring billions of internet users worldwide can fully participate online using their native languages and local digital identities.
“As Africa’s digital economy continues to grow, there is an urgent need to build internet systems that reflect linguistic diversity and provide equal access for all users. UA Day 2026 is an opportunity for stakeholders to collaborate and shape a more inclusive digital future,” Akano Olusegun, CEO, Upperlink Limited
The initiative aligns with ongoing global efforts championed by ICANN and UNESCO to promote digital inclusion, local language accessibility, and universal internet participation.
The organizers encourage a wide range of participants to join the conversation, including developers and tech ecosystem players, policymakers and digital rights advocates, educators, students, and academic institutions and startups and internet governance stakeholders.