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For many across the Asia-Pacific region, this week marks the return to normal work schedules and the imminent return to school for many children. This familiar rhythm is both comforting and a signal that the pace of our lives is picking up again and it's time to engage with our colleagues and members across the IAPP community once more.
Another familiar marker of this time of year is the annual Data Privacy Week, 26-30 Jan., and Data Privacy Day, 28 Jan., festivities. Many organizations across the Asia-Pacific and Australia-New Zealand regions, with global colleagues in the North, will mark this time while others will look toward May when the Southern region gathers to mark Privacy Awareness Week, an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities.
From the Australian perspective, I'm already turning my mind to PAW and how the IAPP can bring exceptional content and community activities to its membership to help raise and elevate privacy, artificial intelligence governance and digital responsibility agendas within their organizations. I'll be excited to see how plans unfold.
For those who don't follow me on LinkedIn, I posted a reminder this week that there are 30 days until the window closes for submissions to speak at the upcoming IAPP Asia Forum 2026: Privacy | AI governance | Cybersecurity Law, which will again feature a dual stream of global AI governance content alongside privacy and digital responsibility sessions. This format was enthusiastically received and supported last year with the largest Summit to date, and 2026 will likely see the same.
I'm thinking about how I can support and uplift members across the APAC region to get the most from this gathering and encourage as many privacy professionals as possible to submit a proposal so members experience the best content.
In a few weeks, the IAPP will be taking a delegation of senior leadership and members to visit Asia-Pacific colleagues in India, the first tour by the IAPP to this important and rapidly growing cohort. Stops include Bangalore and Mumbai, finishing in Delhi to coincide with the India AI Impact Summit 2026, where the IAPP will participate and host activities in its capacity as the global gathering point for AI governance and digital responsibility professionals.
I know colleagues attending this tour are excited to spend meaningful time on the ground with IAPP members and hosts and look forward to hearing what comes out of the tour and the AI Impact Summit. This important world gathering will likely influence policy and tone for the region over the coming year and will be an important one to watch.
Adam Ford is the managing director, Australia, New Zealand, for the IAPP.
This article originally appeared in the Asia-Pacific Dashboard Digest, a free weekly IAPP newsletter. Subscriptions to this and other IAPP newsletters can be found here.