The concept of “digital sovereignty”, which is always relative, is essentially being promoted from various areas of the European Union, and some of its member States and firms , in an attempt to regain control over some technologies which are dominated by US and Chinese companies, among others, and to which the European Commission’s latest positions on digitisation and connectivity, Artificial Intelligence and the data economy are policy proposals. It also responds to the concept of the EU as a regulatory superpower with global reach in some of these areas.
But it is not enough to talk about “European digital sovereignty” if this desire is not accompanied by corresponding investments, both public and private, in all these areas, even beyond what the European Commission is proposing.
Can the pandemic and its economic effects be a step forward or backward in this respect? The idea is not just “regulation or investment”, but may be both, with some dimensions that are lacking in the debate.
Participants:
- Welcome:Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, Chairman, Elcano Royal Institute. (@PresidenteRIE)
- Lorena Boix, Acting Director for Policy Strategy and Outreach and Head of Unit for Policy Implementation and Planning, DG CONNECT, European Commission. (@LorenaBoix)
- Matthias Bauer, Senior Economist, ECIPE (European Centre for International Political Economy). (@MatBauerEcon)
- Lucía Velasco, Cabinet Chief, Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain. (@jones_lucia)
- Moderator:Andrés Ortega, Senior Research Fellow, Elcano Royal Institute. (@andresortegak)
Wednesday, 14 October 2020, from 12:00 to 13:15 h. CEST (UTC+2)