The Way to Digital Made-in-Europe. Promoting European Values In The Global Digital Arena

8 Dicembre 2020

martedì 08 Dicembre 2020 ore 16:30 - 18:30

The Covid-19 crisis and its social and economic consequences have pushed our societies to accelerate the digital transformation: businesses, workers and citizens have been experiencing the potential of digital in everyday life like never before. In her first SOTEU address, Ursula von der Leyen stated her intention to «make the next ten years the European digital decade», setting for the EU the goal of leading the way to the Digital Age «based on our values, our strength, our global ambitions», while EU Leaders have committed to devoting to the digital transition at least 20% of the funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

As the European Commission is preparing to present two of the main legislative packages of the current institutional cycle – the Digital Services Act and the AI legislation – and the debate on those topics has been intensifying within the European Institutions and in the Member States, the Digital Symposium was, on the one hand, the occasion to assess the role of AI-driven solutions in multiple aspects of the response to COVID-19 crisis, and, on the other hand, it offered a forum for a first round of reflections on the upcoming Commission’s DSA proposal.

Overall, the Symposium provided an open forum for high-level representatives from EU and national decision makers, research, business and consumer organisations, and other relevant stakeholders, in order to take stock of the EU Digital Strategy one year after the von der Leyen Commission took office.

The event was also the occasion to present a study developed by I-Com, which contributed to shaping the discussion.

This symposium is a milestone of our 2020 Brussels initiative “PEOPLE, PLANET, PROGRESS”, which aims at monitoring the political priorities of the new European Commission and influencing the EU public debate in line with the recommendations outlined in the I-Com Blueprint “Innovative Europe: The Way Forward. Taking Stock and Thinking Ahead” (February 2020).

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Speakers

Speakers confirmed:

[tp no_translate]Pablo ARIAS ECHEVERRÍA
MEP, Shadow Rapporteur on DSA, IMCO Committee, EPP Group[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Born in Madrid, Mr. Arias is Member of the European Parliament since 2019 in the 9th legislature and previously between 2009 and 2014 in the 7th legislature. His career in Brussels began in 2000, when he was assistant to Alejandro Agag, Secretary General of the Christian Democratic International in Brussels at that time. Between 2002 and 2004, he was assistant to Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Between 2004 and 2009, he served as chief of cabinet of former Prime Minister Aznar.
Currently, Mr. Arias is serving on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Transport and Tourism. He is also part of the European parliament’s Delegation for relations with the United States. Mr. Arias is highly engaged in promoting a safe and fair digital ecosystem in the European Union. In this context, he is the EPP rapporteur of the IMCO report on the Digital Services Act.
Mr. Arias has followed the courses of the Superior School of Marketing and Management in ESEM, International School of Business Management (Madrid) and a Master in Business Administration and Management (ESEM). He also completed a Leadership Program for Public Management at IESE (Madrid).[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Lucrezia BUSA
Member of Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Justice[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Lucrezia Busa is the Member of Cabinet of Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders responsible for data protection, Artificial Intelligence and other digital files as well as company law. Prior to working for Commissioner Reynder’s private office, she worked for ten years for the Directorate General for competition of the European Commission. She also worked in the digital team of the Secretariat General and for the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission. Ms Busa worked was senior legal adviser to the French company Electricite’ de France, EdF, the biggest electricity company world-wide and worked as a lawyer in private practice. She was admitted to the Rome Bar in 2005. She graduated from the Law faculty of the University of Rome, La Sapienza, and attended post-graduated courses on European law at the European University Institute of the Universite’ Libre de Bruxelles .and holds a LLM from the College of Europe in Bruges. [/tp]

[tp no_translate]Ricardo CASTANHEIRA
Digital Coordinator, Permanent Representation of Portugal to the EU[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Ricardo Castanheira is, since 2017, the Digital Counselor Coordinator at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union (REPER), in Brussels.
Previously, he was General Manager at Motion Picture Association – Latin America (2013-2017), which represents institutionally the biggest studios in the world: Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Universal, Paramount and recently Netflix.
Ricardo Castanheira was also the Director of Corporate Affairs for Microsoft Brazil, from 2011 to 2013; Legal and Corporate Affairs Lead at Microsoft Portugal, from 2007 to 2011; CEO of FDTI (Foundation for the Promotion of Information Technologies), in Lisbon, between 2005 and 2007. For many years he practiced law as a main partner of CAPA – Law Firm, in Coimbra.
Between 1995 and 2002, he was the youngest MP in the Portuguese Parliament, elected for Coimbra. He was also a Member of the NATO Assembly (1999/2002) and a petitioner of the “Committee of the 24” at the United Nations, in NY. He actively intervened in diverse entities such as ABPI (Brazilian Association of the Intellectual Property) and the Federation of the Portuguese Trade Chambers in Brazil. He´s graduated in Law (1997) by the University of Coimbra and he holds diverse additional post-graduations: on Negotiation by the University of Harvard – John F. Kennedy School of Government (Boston); on Communication Management by Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV/Brazil); an Advanced Management Program (AMP) by Instituto de Empresa – Business School (Madrid) and a Mini – MBA by INDEG Business School (Lisbon).[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Aedín CONBOY
Senior Policy Officer, DOT Europe[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Aedín Conboy is a Senior Policy Officer at DOT Europe (formerly EDiMA) – the voice of the leading internet companies in Digital Online and Tech in Europe, where she has been working for the past five years. Prior to joining DOT Europe, Aedín previously worked at the Association of European Radios and at consultancy Europe Analytica. Her work at DOT Europe has primarily focused on intermediary liability, copyright and content moderation issues. Aedín has a BCL in Law and French from University College Cork and has an LLM in European Law from the University of Edinburgh.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Stefano DA EMPOLI
President, I-Com – the Institute for Competitiveness[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Stefano da Empoli is the President and principal policy analyst at I-Com (Institute for Competitiveness), a think tank based in Rome and Brussels. He also adjunct professor of Economics at Roma Tre University. He is a member of the Italian Government High-level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence and the European AI Alliance. Stefano published many essays and articles on digital issues, such as artificial intelligence, innovation policy, broadband, 5G, cloud computing, digital platforms. His latest book is “Artificial intelligence: last call”, published by Bocconi University Press in 2019. He has also undertaken study and consultancy assignments for Italian and international public institutions, including the Senate of the Republic, the Department for EU Affairs, OECD, leading companies and non-profit organizations.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO
MEP, S&D Group Coordinator, AIDA Special Committee[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Ibán García del Blanco, 42, was born in León, Spain. In 2003, he started a full-time career in politics, serving from local to national administration: City Councillor (2003-2011), member of the Provincial Council (2011-2012), and member of the Spanish Senate (2012-2015) where he served as the second Vice President of the Health and Social Affairs Committee.
Within his political party, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), García del Blanco is a member of the Federal Executive Commission in charge of Culture and Sports.
In 2018, García del Blanco was appointed President of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), an agency providing public support to the promotion of culture, both in Spain and overseas. He held this position until his recent election as an S&D member of the European Parliament, where he serves as Vice President of the Legal Affairs Committee and he is a substitute member in the Committee of Culture. He is also serving as S&D Coordinator in the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA).
Ibán García del Blanco holds a Degree in Law. As a lawyer, he has specialized in cultural management.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Chiara GIOVANNINI
Senior Manager, Policy & Innovation and Deputy Secretary General, ANEC[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Chiara Giovannini works for ANEC since 2002, first as Programme Manager and presently as Senior Manager, Policy & Innovation and Deputy Secretary General. Apart from deputising for the Secretary General, she leads ANEC’s works on Accessibility and Digital Society and is responsible for horizontal and strategic policy issues.
Prior to working for ANEC, Ms. Giovannini worked at Swiss Consumers Organisation. She holds a Master degree in European Law.
Ms Giovannini represents ANEC at high-level events, committees and research Advisory Boards. For example, she is a member of the European Commission High Level Group on Artificial Intelligence and Ethics.
ANEC is the European consumer voice in standardisation. ANEC defends the European consumer interest in the creation of technical standards and European laws and public policies making use of standards.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Willem JONKER
CEO, EIT Digital[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Prof. Willem Jonker (1962) has a broad background in ICT, both in industry as well as in academia. He studied mathematics and computer science at Groningen University, worked at Delft University of Technology, received his PhD from the University of Utrecht, and is a parttime full professor in computer science at Twente University. Willem Jonker’s industrial experience covers telecommunications (KPN), IT (European Computer industry Research Centre, Munich) and consumer electronics (Philips). He held several positions as researcher, international project leader, department head, sector head, and account manager. In 2006 he was appointed Vice President Philips Research. Prof. Dr. Jonker has served European ICT research in various ways amongst others as project leader, reviewer and advisor.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Thibaut KLEINER
Director ‘Policy Outreach and Strategy’, DG CONNECT, European Commission[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Thibaut KLEINER is Director for ‘Policy Outreach and Strategy’ in DG CONNECT, European Commission. He previously served as Deputy Head of Cabinet of Günther H. Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. He has worked since 2001 for the European Commission. The first ten years of his career in the Commission were spent in the area of competition policy (merger, antitrust and state aid). He was in 2007-2010 Member of the Cabinet of Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for competition. In charge of state aid, he supervised banking and restructuring cases for more than one trillion euros during the financial crisis, as well as high-profile energy and tax cases. He was then Head of Unit for coordination in DG Competition. In 2011, he moved to the digital policy area, as advisor of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, in charge of the Digital Agenda, and supervised Internet policies at large (Internet governance, cloud, cybersecurity, data). From 2014 to 2016, he was Head of Unit in charge of network technologies (5G, Internet of Things) in DG Connect. An economist by training, Thibaut Kleiner holds a Master from HEC Paris and a PhD from the London School of Economics.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Martine LEWI
Director Health Information Sciences, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Martine Lewi is Director for Health Information Sciences at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Data Scientist, she previously worked for IBM Global Business Services. Martine has worked for several years in data management and analytics solution development and engages in RWD initiatives to optimize clinical research across the R&D lifecycle. She has a double Master in Computer Science & Eastern Philology & History as well as a PhD in Applied Economics (Health consumer research). [/tp]

[tp no_translate]Marco PIERANI
Public Affairs & Media Relation Director[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Public Affairs & Media Relations Director at Euroconsumers – Gathering five national consumer organisations (Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats BE, Altroconsumo IT, DECOProteste PT, OCU ES, Proteste BZ) and giving voice to a total of more than 1.5 million people, Euroconsumers is the world’s leading consumer cluster in innovative information, personalised services and defence of consumer’s rights. Euroconsumers organisations work closely together and with BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, and Consumers International to ensure consumers are safe, that markets are fair and benefit from honest relations with businesses and authorities. Marco was previously Head of Public Affairs at Altroconsumo, the Italian Consumers’ Organization based in Milan, he joined Altroconsumo in 2002, after working as a lawyer mainly on Internet law, e-commerce, and telecommunication. He holds a Law Degree, an LL.M. Degree in European Business Law and a specialization in Transnational Law. More than 15 years of experience as Lobbyist, he specializes now in Public Relations in the field of Telecommunication, Internet and Intellectual Property related issues, as well as in Class Actions. Passionate user of the Internet, Marco believes in innovation as a lever of social, economic and democratic development.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Audrey SCOZZARO FERRAZZINI
Senior Director Government Affairs, Qualcomm[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Audrey Scozzaro Ferrazzini is Senior Director Government Affairs at Qualcomm. Experienced Government and Public Affairs Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the wireless and cultural industries and on several continents. Skilled in International Relations, Political Strategy and Lobbying, Leadership and the European Union. Strong legal, policy and business background from Sorbonne and INSEAD[/tp]

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