Programme
To propose content or speakers for the 2019 edition, please contact the Tech Summit team for more information: tech-summit@forum-europe.com
Click on individual programme sessions for more information
08:45
Doors Open
09:30
Tech Vision 2018: Intelligent Enterprise Unleashed - Yves Bernaert, Accenture Technology Europe Lead & Intelligent Platform Services
Einstein ABC | Plenary
Plenary
09:30 - 09:45
Tech Vision 2018: Intelligent Enterprise Unleashed - Yves Bernaert, Accenture Technology Europe Lead & Intelligent Platform Services
Einstein ABC
09:45
Responsible business in today’s digital world
Einstein ABC | Plenary
Plenary
09:45 - 10:45
Responsible business in today’s digital world
Einstein ABC
Digital is dramatically transforming the way we live and work, and significantly the environment in which businesses operates. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT and Blockchain, for example, present significant economic and societal potential, while at the same time presenting new challenges. How do businesses take advantage of these digitally enabled opportunities to provide value for their customers and shareholders, while meeting new and complex expectations and demands? This session explored what it means to be a responsible business in a digital world, how companies are addressing these new expectations and the principles and practices being used to guide them. Topics included ethical innovation, how technology can be leveraged for the betterment of society, developing a digitally enabled workforce, and managing increasing transparency driven by technology.
10:30
Reinvent the public service experience through blockchain
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
10:30 - 11:00
Reinvent the public service experience through blockchain
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
10:45
Coffee break (10:45 - 11:15)
11:00
AI in public service
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
11:00 - 11:30
AI in public service
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
Have you ever moved in or simply visited a new place and your head was full of questions about local public services, such as tourism, education, tax, healthcare, civil affairs, sports infrastructure? I bet you did! But now, rather than spending your time calling different city departments, you can use an AI-powered Chatbot called Stewie.
Wouter Baetens from Arinti presented the case study of the city of Roeselare (Belgium), which was looking for a way to make information more easily accessible to residents and visitors. The city noticed that its staff is often questioned with the same type of inquiries, causing a high workload amongst the city clerks. To increase the availability (24/7), quality of service and to allow public officers to focus more on complex procedures, the city chose Stewie to be the single point of contact for all city-related matters.
Thanks to its Artificial Intelligence, the chatbot is capable of handling questions related to a large variety of subjects relating to public services.
It is not a complex thing, though! It always tries its best to give you the correct answer, redirects you to the right place on the web, or put you in contact with a human colleague. To save your time, you can use it through a webpage our your social media accounts (Facebook and Skype).
Come over and listen to the full story! If you want to see a short video about Stewie, click here.
11:15
Responsible AI
Archimedes | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
11:15 - 12:30
Responsible AI
Archimedes
Following the release of the European Commission’s AI Initiative, this session looked at how the technology community has responded to the policy direction the initiative has taken, how Europe can balance the necessity to be globally competitive while delivering the appropriate regulatory framework to encourage and not stifle innovation, and what collaboration on the impact AI can have between governments around the world and between companies, the public sector and society will look like.
Lucilla Sioli
Director for Digital Industry, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Rumman Chowdhury
Senior Principal and Global Lead, Strategic Global Initiative on Responsible AI, Accenture
Uwe Combüchen
Director General, Ceemet - European Tech & Industry Employers
Andrea Renda
Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy, CEPS
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
MEP, European Parliament
11:15
Emerging Security Threats
Einstein C | Fireside Chat
Fireside Chat
11:15 - 11:45
Emerging Security Threats
Einstein C
Alongside the growing digitization of business and industrial operations, and greater dependency on networked devices, this increased chance of attack is accompanied by a significant rise in the cost of cyber crime.
Incidents in 2017, such as the financially damaging Petya outbreak and the emergence of threats to industrial safety instrumented systems, illustrate the potential extreme consequences of computer security weaknesses in an increasingly networked global economy. A 2018 report by ENISA noted that during the past five years, the domain of cyber threat intelligence has emerged as a critical component of an organization’s security operations capability. These developments place a demand for greater awareness and intelligence on everyone’s shoulders. Companies, consumers, and governments everywhere can all benefit from strengthening their ability to understand why cyber attackers might target them, what methods they would use, and how to take quick action to stop them before they are able to cause damage.
This fireside chat explored where cyber threat intelligence is today, its importance for all stakeholders—be it government or business—and what lies ahead on the cyber threat landscape in this coming year.
11:30
Dries Depoorter, Digital Artist
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
11:30 - 12:00
Dries Depoorter, Digital Artist
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
Digital Artist Dries Depoorter tackles in a thought-provoking and playful issues like social identity, big data sharing, encryption and (the lack of) protection of our online privacy.
His latest projects include Die With Me, the chatroom app you can only use when your phone is about to die (www.diewithme.online), Tinder In, where he placed side by side profile pictures of LinkedIn & Tinder of the same person or Scratch Tickets, in which you can win up to 25.000 followers for your personal Twitter or Instagram account!
All made to make us think again about our online identity.
11:45
Intro to data-science: Artificial intelligence as a Service
Marconi | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
11:45 - 12:15
Intro to data-science: Artificial intelligence as a Service
Marconi
Intro to data-science: from data in a spread sheet to data as a service.
Once upon a time, data was stored in spread sheets, shared on a floppy disk or made available through a share drive within organizations. You could eye-ball columns and rows of numbers; back in that days, data-scientist, was not yet the sexiest job in the world... with the internet, and later the cloud, we let the data flow and infuse services, on your laptop, tablet, cell phone. Data is now ubiquitous! But how does that work? What does that change? Learn more about data in the 21st century.
12:00
Disberse: redefining aid finance on the blockchain
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
12:00 - 12:30
Disberse: redefining aid finance on the blockchain
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
12:15
An inclusive future of work
Einstein C | Fireside Chat
Fireside Chat
12:15 - 12:45
An inclusive future of work
Einstein C
Technology is already transforming the nature of work, and the skills required. As AI technologies reach maturity, a new wave of intelligent automation will accelerate the transformation of employment. While the exact number of jobs that will be impacted by AI – both in terms of job displacement and change in the content of jobs – remains unclear, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), this impact is likely to be highly specific to the industry, region and occupation in question and the ability of various stakeholders to successfully manage change. The time to act and face these challenges, disruption and displacement is now. Yet what steps have stakeholders taken to manage the change? For example, only 3% of executives plan to significantly increase investments into training and reskilling over the next three years, even while facing a persistent skills shortage. And few businesses have yet extended their application of AI from automation to new growth models and augmenting the nature of the work their people do. Also, are training and re-skilling programmes adapting to the way workers will collaborate with AI? How will workers with lower income and education levels’, whose jobs are more likely to transform due to technology, face the unique challenges in making their career transitions?
The session explored how all stakeholders, nonprofits, business and government included, can help to build an inclusive future of work where workers across all skill levels have the means and opportunity to adapt to and thrive in the digital economy. Topics examined included new approaches to re-skilling, roles played by different stakeholders, and the skills the jobs, created or transformed by AI, will require.
12:30
Minecraft
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
12:30 - 13:00
Minecraft
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
12:30
Europe and the global data economy - Invitation only lunch session hosted by European Tech Alliance
Newton BC | Roundtable
Roundtable
12:30 - 14:00
Europe and the global data economy - Invitation only lunch session hosted by European Tech Alliance
Newton BC
Roundtable on the role of Europe in the global data economy: loser, laggard or leader? Invitation-only lunch session hosted by the European Tech Alliance
12:45
Lunch (12:45 - 13:45)
12:45
Privacy and AI - Invitation only lunch session hosted by CIPL
Edison | Roundtable
Roundtable
12:45 - 14:30
Privacy and AI - Invitation only lunch session hosted by CIPL
Edison
More info coming soon!
13:00
Healthy Scepticism in Tech
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Tech Talk
Tech Talk
13:00 - 13:45
Healthy Scepticism in Tech
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
This sessions gave a view from ‘opposite’ sides on the dynamics between humans and technology: Olivier Van DuƱren, former international Microsoft Executive and founder of The Dualarity, who highlighted the angle Technology2Humanity and Tom Meyers, osteopath and author of Futurize Yourself, highlighted Humanity2Technology.
What is the impact of technology on our society and people (you)? What is the human to machine relationship and what are the side effects of technology? How do we thrive and navigate the challenges ahead, so we can embrace technology but not become it?
This quest for balance is redefining what it means to be human.
By humans for humans.
13:45
Digitising Industry through AI and High Performance Computing
Einstein C | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
13:45 - 15:00
Digitising Industry through AI and High Performance Computing
Einstein C
Digital technologies, such as high performance computing and AI, offer considerable opportunities for the renewal of the European industrial sector, enabling manufacturers to enhance their performance, streamline processes and better compete in global markets. To deliver the digital transformation of the industrial sector, technology-based partnerships will be crucial to enable scaling and flexibility. As we enter a new era of manufacturing, in which machines, sensors, robots and humans are digitally connected with one another, how will Europe manage the competing demands of industrial innovation, global competitiveness and workforce dimensions?
13:45
FinTech
Einstein A | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
13:45 - 15:00
FinTech
Einstein A
FinTech solutions promote transactional security, financial inclusion and a better experience for all stakeholders. Disruptive fields such as blockchain and cloud certainly have much untapped potential, but they also pose several regulatory questions. With the European Commission’s recently released FinTech Communication as a frame of reference, this session will look at how Europe can foster innovation in the finance sector and pave the way for positive future relations between policymakers, banks and technology innovators.
Speakers included:
Peter Kerstens
Advisor to the Director-General & Co-Chair, European Commission's Taskforce on Fintech, DG FISMA, European Commission
Syed Kamall
MEP, European Parliament
Cécile André Leruste
Managing Director, Europe Banking Lead, Accenture
Larry E. Thompson
Vice Chairman of DTCC and Chairman of the Board of DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC, DTCC
Dan Michaels
Brussels Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal
13:45
Protection of democratic processes
Archimedes | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
13:45 - 15:00
Protection of democratic processes
Archimedes
The role of social media platforms within global democratic processes has come under the spotlight, as the extent to which these platforms have been used to spread disinformation and fake news has become better understood. Elections in some countries, both in Europe and in the US, have been, it is claimed, subject to influence and disruption from state actors, with governments calling for greater awareness and protection of democratic processes. This session analysed how businesses are working to develop solutions to some of these issues, and it will also look at the policy and diplomatic responses.
13:45
Better tech through diversity: an interactive workshop hosted by Here She Is!
Marconi | Workshop
Workshop
13:45 - 15:00
Better tech through diversity: an interactive workshop hosted by Here She Is!
Marconi
Diversity is high on the political and business agenda. With regards to the tech industry, it is a chicken-and-egg problem: Better tech through diversity and more diversity through technology and AI. But do we have, across continents and generations, a common understanding for what that means, what change we want and where to start? In cooperation with Sarah Wagner, Julia Wagner and Ronja Wagner, three sisters working in tech in Brussels and Silicon Valley, this session shed light on this topic. Workshop attendees were included and challenged through a series of live survey questions and experiments.
Where does bias appear within humans and technology? Can greater diversity lead to reduced bias, both at the level of software design, and more generally across the community, including recruitment and idea funding? How can the tech sector ensure that those from non-programming backgrounds may contribute fully and those impacted by exponential technologies such as AI are included in its design and regulation? The session addressed these and other questions and work to offer inspiration and guidance to an audience of diverse professionals.
13:45
Introduction to WebVR with A-Frame
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Workshop
Workshop
13:45 - 16:00
Introduction to WebVR with A-Frame
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
13:45
Minecraft - Workshop
Baekeland - Workshop Corner | Workshop
Workshop
13:45 - 16:30
Minecraft - Workshop
Baekeland - Workshop Corner
14:45
Sustainable Data Driven Business Models
Einstein B | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
14:45 - 16:00
Sustainable Data Driven Business Models
Einstein B
Data is the raw material of the digital economy and used appropriately has huge economic and societal potential. According to IDC’s European Data Market Monitoring Tool, the value of the European data economy in 2017 was €452 billion, with the potential to grow to €1 trillion by 2025 if the right framework conditions are in place. Equally, data is being used to solve some of the biggest societal problems we face and to improve public services and drive better healthcare, environmental and security outcomes.
One of those framework conditions is access to quality data. This is an increasingly complex issue, with trust being key to unlocking sustainable data driven business models. This session explored the issue from the following angles:
- As citizens and consumers are increasingly aware of the value and the risks of sharing their data, beyond compliance, how can businesses meet the increasing expectations around data equity and consumer trust?
- With automated decision-making increasing across industries, data veracity becomes increasingly important to making the right business decisions to plan, operate and grow. How can businesses manage vulnerabilities from inaccurate or manipulated data?
- Reflecting on recent Commission guidance to open up access to data, what incentives and constructs need to be in place for businesses to open access and share data with other businesses in their eco-system or supply-chain and with Government?
Speakers included:
Patrick Rowe
Deputy General Counsel, Accenture
Christian D'Cunha
Head of the Private Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor, EDPS
Magnus Franklin
Director Digital, Teneo CabinetDN
Frank Rosenberger
CIO, TUI Group
Jiri Pilar
Legal and Policy Officer - Building the European Data Economy, European Commission
15:00
Coffee Break (15:00 - 15:30)
15:30
Building a blockchain ecosystem for Europe
Archimedes | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
15:30 - 16:45
Building a blockchain ecosystem for Europe
Archimedes
Blockchain, together with artificial intelligence, the internet of things, big data analytics, and nanotechnology, is underpinning the fourth industrial revolution currently underway. It is a gamechanger and the potential use cases span identity and government services, energy, health care, financial services and retail; with its cross-industry application, many companies are beginning to explore or to apply the technology in their operations. The European Commission has also set a goal to be at the forefront of the development of blockchain, highlighting the need to establish the right enabling environment so that all citizens can benefit. Yet, what are the conditions for different blockchain applications to grow? What are the constraints around the technology’s uptake and, most of all, how do you put in place the right ecosystem for blockchain to flourish?
This session explored how blockchain is being applied today, the barriers that stakeholders face to adopting and applying the technology and discuss the elements needed to establish an enabling blockchain ecosystem in Europe.
Speakers included:
Andrea Renda
Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy, CEPS
Helen Köpman
Deputy Head of Unit Startups & Innovation, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Eva Kaili
MEP, European Parliament
Andrea Craviotto
Managing Director, Technology Strategy Practice, Accenture
Ben Joakim
Founder & CEO, Disberse
15:30
AI for all: learn how to use Artificial intelligence
Marconi | Workshop
Workshop
15:30 - 16:30
AI for all: learn how to use Artificial intelligence
Marconi
Delegates learnt how to communicate with data, interact with datasets and catch your audience.
Learn a bit of code (HTML, JavaScript, Python).
16:00
Technology for social good
Einstein C | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
16:00 - 17:00
Technology for social good
Einstein C
Digital technologies can be the catalyst for turning great ideas into profound social change for the better. With all the global challenges we currently face, good news stories can often be overlooked. But not today! This session shined a light on just few ways that technology is already being used to make a real difference to people’s lives, including the most vulnerable communities. To what extent might the responsibilities that tech companies and those vertical businesses undergoing digital transformation, change and grow as their role in citizens' lives shifts to critical areas?
16:15
Security in IoT
Einstein A | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
16:15 - 17:30
Security in IoT
Einstein A
The world has seen significant change in the cyber threat environment brought about by tremendous growth and diversification of the global Internet landscape, especially in the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices across all segments of the global economy. This landscape brings with it complex security implementations, creating new opportunities and different degrees of scale, not only for businesses and society, but also for cyber threats.
Many IoT applications and devices operate with poor security mechanisms, such as outdated firmware, insecure protocols and default access credentials. Cyber criminals continue to seek out alternative means to not only exploit both technical and human vulnerabilities, but also increase the prospect of monetizing IoT weaknesses. Financially-motivated cyber attackers are adaptive, inventive, and willing to shift their business structures to meet market demand. On the lower end of the spectrum, attacks may target individual devices, such as kitchen gadgets or other home devices, blocking access to the operational use of such items until a small ransom payment is made. On the higher end, threat actors and groups may seek to target infrastructure that has been established or upgraded with IoT at its core. IoT development with industrial control systems (ICS) and building management systems (BMS) offers significant opportunities for threat actors and groups seeking to disrupt or control remote systems. Despite the explosive market growth of IoT devices, in security terms the IoT sector remains relatively immature—and it may take a major incident to drive demands for greater security controls.
This session looked at how IoT security works in practice and explore the challenges practitioners face in making connected systems and devices more secure. It also discussed the importance of use cases, the role standards and policy should play and the future outlook for securing the world around us.
Jeremy Rollison
Director of EU Government Affairs, Microsoft
Nikos Isaris
Deputy Head of Unit, Internet of Things (IoT), DG CONNECT, European Commission
Floris Van Den Dool
Managing Director for Europe and Latin America, Accenture Security
Rob van Kranenburg
Founder, IoT Council
Zahra Khani
Founder and CEO, Firmalyzer
16:15
Europe’s Got Talent: How EU-based Companies are using TDM to Harness the Power of Big Data
Einstein B | Panel Discussion
Panel Discussion
16:15 - 17:30
Europe’s Got Talent: How EU-based Companies are using TDM to Harness the Power of Big Data
Einstein B
Europe is fortunate to be the home of many success stories in tech, from Spotify to Skype, Shazam or SoundCloud. Most of these European startups and companies have been able to leverage a huge talent pool and harness the power of data to become leading e-commerce, communications, streaming platforms, or cloud-based services, with the ability to compete with the biggest tech giants globally. This panel aimed at showcasing some of Europe’s promising data-driven companies innovating with Text and Data Mining (TDM) technologies: what are the opportunities, and what are the policy challenges they face. This session included TDM demos and enabled the audience to hear from successful EU entrepreneurs who will discuss how Europe can help create a better environment for data analytics innovation to thrive.
17:30
Belgium Minecraft Family
Einstein B | Meetup
Meetup
17:30 - 20:00
Belgium Minecraft Family
Einstein B
The Minecraft-Family is a Community with a Monthly Meetup event to bring kids & family together to learn and play with Minecraft. Join us and learn about basic computer use and computer science and programming.
17:30
Brussels Legal Hackers
Einstein C | Meetup
Meetup
17:30 - 20:00
Brussels Legal Hackers
Einstein C
The Legal Hackers is a global movement of lawyers, policymakers, technologists, and academics spread over more than 50 cities around the world. We explore and develop creative solutions to some of the most pressing issues at the intersection of law and technology. In the other words, we ask how we can apply the hacker ethic to the conservative legal field. Join us to discover the potential of this new perspective and the legal hackathons which have been organized all over the world in the past years. These deal with a wide range of issues from privacy by design to access to justice, from publication of local laws to legal software without forgetting citizens and refugees' rights.
20:00
End of day
Lenard Koschwitz
Director for Public Affairs, Allied for Startups
Lenard Koschwitz joined Allied for Startups in 2015. Previously he was the senior advisor to a Member of the European Parliament and Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs. During his time in Parliament, he focussed on the data protection reform, cyber security and the Common European Asylum System. Further, he was involved in coordinating the legislative work of the Parliamentary Group and its the position papers on these issues. Lenard is a passionate European and a member of the European Federalists and the Europa Union. He studied political science, German literature and psychology in Germany and European Studies in Brussels. Lenard speaks German, English, French and Italian. During high school, he founded an online magazine and event agency for music and lifestyle.
Stijn Hoorens
Head, Brussels Office; Associate Director, RAND Europe
Stijn Hoorens is the head of RAND's Brussels Office and an associate director of RAND Europe. He has extensive experience in designing and leading policy studies at RAND for a range of international clients in the private and public sector. His research interests are broad, but most of his work has revolved around issues related to illicit markets, security, demographic issues, employment, and skills.
Prior to joining RAND, Hoorens held research positions at Delft University of Technology and at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). He received his M.Sc. and B.Sc. in systems engineering, policy analysis, and management from Delft University of Technology.
Julia Wagner
Co-Founder, Here She Is
Julia works in innovation management for an international healthcare company in Silicon Valley, improving healthcare through digital solutions. She finally found a home here after having studied and worked in six countries on four continents (Canada, China, UK, Brazil, Germany and the US). Her background is in finance and engineering and she is a passionate life-long learner interested in technology, health, personal development, happiness, and habits .
Inspired by the 10x visionaries of Silicon Valley she wants to train herself not only to think bigger but to aspire goals and develop solutions she would not develop on her own. How? By surrounding herself with knowledgeable people who have accomplished great things. She seeks to identify role models - female role models - and learn from the experience, mindset, and visions of these exceptional personalities.
Find out more at https://www.here-she-is.com/
Sarah Wagner
Co-Founder, Here She Is
With an academic background in European Studies and European Law, Sarah has embarked on a career in EU Public Affairs in Belgium. She studied and worked in six countries in North America, Europe and Asia, before settling in the European capital. Through her work in the tech sector, she realized that it is still not natural for women to choose a career in tech as well as to aspire high-level positions. By having enriching conversations with great personalities she seeks to learn how to break such traditional patterns. She also hopes to have a positive impact on the people she is surrounded by and the environment she lives in. In doing all this, she hopes to push her own boundaries and find the unexpected.
Find out more at https://www.here-she-is.com/
Ronja Wagner
Co-Founder, Here She Is
Ronja is a Risk IT consultant for a "big four" company in Vienna, Austria. She recently graduated from the University of Vienna with a major in business administration and a minor in computer science. She lived in Austria and the Netherlands during the studies as well as in Germany and the United Kingdom. Her focus at Here-she-is is on her two biggest interests: politics and IT. Ronja knows how hard it is to work in such a male-dominated field like IT. Hence, she wants to encourage young women to take the step into a sector that is future-oriented like no other. Furthermore, she hopes that interviews with inspiring women who have already successfully run for office shall help to draw the curtain for more female engagement in this field.
Find out more at https://www.here-she-is.com/
Lucilla Sioli
Director for Digital Industry, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Ms Lucilla Sioli is the Director for "Digital Industry" within Directorate-General CONNECT at the European Commission. The mission of the Directorate is to strengthen Europe's competiveness ensuring that any industry in any sector in Europe can make the best use of digital innovations to grow, compete on a global scale, and create jobs. She is responsible for the coordination of the European digitisation of industry strategy. The directorate also supports R&D&I in key digital industrial technologies including microelectronics, embedded software, photonics, robotics and AI. It is responsible for the Public Private Partnerships in these fields including the Joint Technology Initiative ECSEL and for the policy development in the area of artificial intelligence. Previously, she was Head of Unit for "Digital Economy and Skills" at DG Connect, responsible for the publication of the Digital Economy and Society Index and of the annual Europe's Digital Progress Report as well as for the management of digital skills policy through the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition. Lucilla holds a PhD in economics from the University of Southampton (UK) and one from the Catholic University of Milan (Italy) and has been a civil servant with the European Commission since 1997.
Roman Miletitch
Founder/digital artist, Papertronics
PhD student in Artificial Intelligence, award winning digital artist and event planner (Food&Code, Electric Offense). Roman is a Jack of all trades and thrives on applying what he learned from one field to another. Coding from roofs, subways or abandoned buildings, he's always eager to explore the creative possibilities of this digital medium.
In the past years, he has co-founded Papertronics -a digital art collective-, founded OpenTechSchool Brussels -an organisation that gives free workshop about new technology - (opentechschool.org/brussels), and worked as lead community manager of Hack League (hackleague.io).
Dr Helio Fernandez Tellez
Technical Guru and Co-Founder, Zebra Academy
Dr Helio Fernandez Tellez: graduated from the University of Malaga, Spain, and PhD degrees from both the Royal military academy of Belgium (Applied Sciences) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Life Sciences). Helio is an engineer by education and an innovator by vocation. His main areas of interest are healthcare, medical ICT infrastructures and medical signal processing applications. He is a Multidisciplinary professional with 15+ years of experience in entrepreneurship and innovation in the healthcare sector. Currently he is an Innovation Consultant at PNO where he help others turning their ideas into businesses. He is also co-founder and the Technical Guru of Zebra Academy, a start-up in the eHealth ecosystem providing patients with the optimal tools for pre-, in- and post-hospital telecare.
Edoardo Camilli
CEO & Co-founder, Hozint - Horizon Intelligence
An entrepreneur and security expert, Edoardo is the CEO & Co-founder of Hozint - Horizon Intelligence); a threat intelligence solution provider. After graduating in international relations and security studies at Bologna University (Italy), Edoardo began his career as a freelancer country risk analyst. In 2014, he co-founded Hozint, whose mission is to provide realtime time alerts on safety and security events worldwide by combining Artificial & Human Intelligence. He is frequently interviewed on security issues by international media and he is often speaker at security and entrepreneurship-related conferences. Edoardo is alumnus of European Young Leader Under 40 (EYL40), International Leadership Visitor Program (IVLP) and Microsoft Boostcamp.
Floris Van Den Dool
Managing Director for Europe and Latin America, Accenture Security
Floris van den Dool is a Managing Director, responsible for Accenture’s Information Security business in Europe, Africa and Latin America (EALA). He is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Floris has more than 25 years of experience in IT and Information Security and assists many Accenture clients with the implementation of security from a business, technology and process point of view. His recent engagements have involved helping our global clients to set up or improve their Cyber Security capability, as well as security aspects of large IT outsourcing contracts, security of Web and SOA architectures, implementation of Identity & Access Management (I&AM) for large multinationals, and implementation of secure infrastructure to meet compliance requirements at large multinationals and financial institutions.
Floris is a part-time lecturer at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, where he teaches Information Security as part of the University’s post-graduate program in IT Auditing. Floris has published several articles on Information Security and is a regular speaker at conferences around the world.
Dries Depoorter
, Digital Artist
Digital Artist Dries Depoorter tackles, in a thought-provoking and playful way, issues like social identity, big data sharing, encryption and (the lack of) protection of our online privacy.
Dries Depoorter latest project is named: Die With Me, the chatroom app you can only use when your phone is about to die. www.diewithme.online
Wouter Baetens
Managing Partner, Arinti - an Applied AI Solution Provider
Wouter Baetens is the Managing Partner and one of the driving forces behind Arinti, an Applied Artificial Intelligence Solution Provider. He has a background in Information Technology and is passionate about introducing AI in the core of different companies and institutions. With Arinti, he and his team are getting organizations ready for a future where bots, machine learning and AI will be the new normal.
Larry E. Thompson
Vice Chairman of DTCC and Chairman of the Board of DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC, DTCC
Larry Thompson is Vice Chairman of DTCC and Chairman of the Board of DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC. As Vice Chairman, Larry leads DTCC’s public policy engagement with key regulators and lawmakers globally and serves as a senior advisor to the firm. He is also a member of the Management Committee.
Larry began his legal career with The Depository Trust Company (DTC) as Associate Counsel in 1981. He was elected Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in 1991, Senior Vice President in 1993, General Counsel of DTC in 1999, Managing Director and First Deputy General Counsel of DTCC in 2004, and to General Counsel in 2005, Vice Chairman and General Counsel in 2015 and Vice Chairman in 2017. Previously, he was a partner in Lake, Bogan, Lenoir, Jones & Thompson. Larry began his legal career at Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Larry currently serves as Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors of The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY). He is a 2005 David Rockefeller Fellow and former Chairman of the Securities Clearing Group and former Co-Chairman of the Unified Clearing Group.
With legal and financial services industry expertise spanning decades, Larry has been quoted in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial News, L’Agefi, Börsen-Zeitung and Handelsblatt among many others. He has also appeared on Bloomberg Radio and TV, CNBC, Thomson Reuters and Channel News Asia.
Cyprien De Barros
Chief Executive Officer, Altheria Solutions
Born in 1995, I studied at the Solvay Brussels Schools of Economics & Management, and launched the Altheria project back in 2016. Thanks to my physics teacher, I managed to create my first solution in Virtual Reality with a small team. I also had the opportunity to work at Ensemble Designs in California. Shortly after, I dropped school to focus entirely on my start-up. I attended an entrepreneurship course at the Microsoft Innovation Center in Brussels, where my team and I won the Brussels-Capital Region Prize. Now, in 2018, I'm the CEO of Altheria where six people are dedicated to bring Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to the masses.
Estelle Masse
Senior Policy Analyst, Access Now
Estelle Masse is a Senior Policy Analyst at Access Now's Brussels office. Her work focuses on data protection, privacy, surveillance and Net Neutrality.
In particular, Estelle leads the work of the organisation on data protection in the EU and around the world.
She graduated with a Master in European Law from the University of Granada, Spain.
Zahra Khani
Founder and CEO, Firmalyzer
Zahra is the founder and CEO of Firmalyzer SPRL, a Brussels-based company specialized in providing security solutions for IoT/connected devices. Their key product is the first automated firmware security analysis solution for IoT device vendors, security labs and enterprise device users. They also provide IoT security and privacy consultancy services for companies in terms of audit and compliance check with regulations, standards and leading practices.
Zahra has more than 12 years of experience in IT security including embedded systems, operating system, software, network, mobile and cloud security. She was the co-founder of the Operating System Security Lab in Alzahra University, which is aimed at fostering women's participation in IT security technology. She was also the co-founder and CISO of MBSCo company that provides secure products and services for enterprises.
Jeremy Rollison
Director of EU Government Affairs, Microsoft
Jeremy Rollison is Director of EU Government Affairs within Microsoft’s Corporate, External, & Legal Affairs (CELA) group. Based in Brussels, his work focuses on policy related to the EU Digital Single Market (DSM), with a particular emphasis on data issues and corresponding public policy covering privacy, cybersecurity, cloud policy, and the cross-border provision of online services. Prior to joining Microsoft, he worked in the Government Relations team at Nokia in the company’s EU representative office, and was previously Director of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA) in Brussels. He has over a decade of experience in Brussels at the company, association, and consultancy levels, focusing and engaging with EU stakeholders on issues related to the development and delivery of online services in the Internal Market and corresponding EU regulatory policy.
Eva Kaili
MEP, European Parliament
Eva Kaili is a Member of the European Parliament, elected in 2014.
In her capacity as the Chair of the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment body (STOA) she has, been working intensively on promoting innovation as a driving force of the establishment of the European Digital Single Market. She has been particularly active in the fields of blockchain technology, m/eHealth, big data, fintech, AI and cybersecurity.
Since her election, she has also been very active in the field of taxation, where she has been the Rapporteur of the ECON committee's annual tax report. As a member of the ECON committee, she has been focusing on EU's financial integration and the management of the financial crisis in the Eurozone.
Prior to her position in the European Parliament, she has been elected two times in the Greek Parliament (serving between 2007-2012), with the PanHellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). She holds a Bachelor degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering, and Postgraduate degree in European Politics. Currently, she is conducting her PhD in International Political Economy.
Jakub Boratyński
Head of Unit, Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Head of Unit 'Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy' within the European Commission in Brussels (Directorate-General Communication Networks, Content and Technology). Among others involved in the negotiations of the recently adopted Network and Information Security (NIS) directive, the implementation of the EU cyber-security strategy's actions on resilience, industrial measures and Research and Innovation under H2020, and cooperation with the EU Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA). He also directly contributed to the production of the new EU Cyber Security Strategy.
Previously Head of Unit 'Organised Crime and Relations with EMCDDA' at the European Commission (Directorate-General Home Affairs), which has the lead responsibility for the fight against cybercrime, corruption, sexual abuse of children and confiscation of criminal assets. In relation to cybercrime, involved in negotiation and drafting of two directives (on cyber-attacks and sexual exploitation of children), establishment of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and drafting of the EU Cyber Security Strategy. Previously worked on EU relations with Russia (Directorate-General External Relations).
Before joining the European Commission, a Director at the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw and Policy Officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of Warsaw (international relations, law).
Mady Delvaux
MEP, European Parliament
Mady Delvaux-Stehres is a Luxemburgish Socialist MEP. She is Vice-chair of the JURI committee and substitute in the ECON committee. She was rapporteur of the report on Civil Law Rules on Robotics and Chair of the Working Group on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Prior to being elected to the European Parliament in 2014, she held various ministerial positions in Luxembourgish Governments over the past 20 years. She was notably Minister for Education and Minister of Social Security, Transport and Communication.
Marietje Schaake
MEP, European Parliament
Marietje Schaake has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament for the Dutch Democratic Party (D66) with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group since 2009. She serves on the International Trade committee, where she is the ALDE spokesperson on transatlantic trade and digital trade. Schaake also serves on the committee on Foreign Affairs and the subcommittee on Human Rights. Furthermore, Marietje Schaake is the Vice-President of the US Delegation and serves on the Iran Delegation and the Delegation for the Arab peninsula. In 2017 she was the Chief of the European Union Election Observation Mission in Kenya. She is the also the founder of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda for Europe. She is a Member of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace and is a Young Global Leader and a Member of the Global Future Council on Future of Digital Economy and Society with the WEF.
Martin Bailey
Head of Unit, Digital policy, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Martin Bailey is leading the team on the Digital Policy in DG CONNECT, European Commission.
Martin was educated in England, Germany and the Netherlands.
Born in 1972, Martin worked as a lawyer for an international law firm in London for five years before joining the European Commission in 2003. Back now in the Commission after a stint at the European Court of Justice, he has worked principally in the fields of single market and competition law, technology and economic regulation.
Speaks English, French, German and Spanish. His interests including acting, cooking, winter sports and mountain-biking.
Pēteris Zilgalvis
Head of Unit, Startups & Innovation, Digital Single Market, DG CONNECT, European Commission
PÄteris Zilgalvis is the Head of Unit for Startups and Innovation in the Digital Single Market Directorate in DG CONNECT and is the Co-Chair of the European Commission FinTech Task Force. He was nominated on the list of CoinDesk’s Most Influential People in Blockchain 2017. He was the Visiting EU Fellow at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford for 2013-14, where he is an Associate of the Political Economy of Financial Markets Programme. From 1997 to 2005, he was Deputy Head of the Bioethics Department of the Council of Europe, in its Directorate General of Legal Affairs. In addition, he has held various positions in the Latvian civil service (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Environment). He was Senior Environmental Law Advisor to the World Bank/Russian Federation Environmental Management Project and was Regional Environmental Specialist for the Baltic Countries at the World Bank. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1991, completed his J.D. at the University of Southern California, his B.A. in Political Science Cum Laude at UCLA, and the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. A recent publication of his is “The Need for an Innovation Principle in Regulatory Impact Assessment: The Case of Finance and Innovation in Europe” in Policy & Internet.
Lowri Evans
Director-General, DG GROW, European Commission
Lowri Evans was appointed Director-General of DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs on 1 September 2015. She has been Director-General in DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries from 2010 to 2015. Prior to that, she has worked in several policy areas in the European Commission notably Competition and Employment.
She started her professional career in audit and accountancy with Deloitte.
Nikos Isaris
Deputy Head of Unit, Internet of Things (IoT), DG CONNECT, European Commission
Nikos Isaris is Deputy Head of the "Internet of Things (IoT)" Unit within the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT). The Unit is responsible for the research, innovation and policy actions to accelerate the take-up of IoT and to unleash its potential in Europe for the benefit of European citizens and businesses. Before that, Nikos was Deputy Head in the Unit responsible for Future Internet Research and Experimentation in the same Directorate. He joined DG CONNECT in 2013 coming from the Directorate-General for Home Affairs, where he was Deputy Head in the Unit "Large-scale IT systems and Biometrics" dealing with IT systems for the Schengen area. Before the European Commission, Nikos worked in the private banking and electronic banking sectors in his home country Greece. He holds an MBA with Honours from ALBA, a Master’s degree with Distinction in Data Communications and Networks from University College London and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Heraklion in Crete.
Sinouhe Monteiro
Founder, Ewala
A year and half ago, Sinouhe Monteiro decided to build a prepaid mobile phone recharging service provider called 'Ewala'. The background? About eighty-five percent of the world’s mobile users are on pay-as-you-go plans. Expensive calls and high internet data costs make it difficult for relatives to stay well connected in emerging markets. Ewala's mission is to enable better mobile connectivity. Through the Ewala platform, users can send value to mobiles in most of Africa, Asia and Latin America with airtime transfers starting as low as 0.10€ up to a maximum of 50€.
Today, Ewala connects 500 operators worldwide. The journey is long. But Sinouhe loves every second of it. He has been featured in Forbes Afrique, JeuneAfrique, CNBC Africa, Moneystore, Afropean, Trends Tendance & won first place at the Microsoft Innovation Center's startup program in 2016.
Paul Adamson
Chairman, Forum Europe
Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of E!Sharp, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe's place in the world.
He is a member of Rand Europe's Council of Advisors and sits on the external advisory board of YouGov-Cambridge, a polling think-tank, He is a member of the advisory groups of the European Institute in Washington DC and the Washington European Society. He is also on the advisory group of the EU chapter of Women in International Security (WiiS).
Paul is a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.
He founded the consulting firm Adamson Associates, which was sold to Weber Shandwick and The Centre, which was later sold to Edelman.
In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to promoting understanding of the European Union”, a part of the Queen's 2012 New Year Honours Diplomatic Service and Overseas List. In 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.
John Frank
Vice President EU Government Affairs, Microsoft Corporation
John Frank is Microsoft's Vice President, EU Government Affairs. In this role, John leads Microsoft’s government affairs teams in Brussels and European national capitals on EU issues.
John was previously Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief of Staff for Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith based at Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in Redmond Washington. In this role, he managed several teams including the Law Enforcement and National Security team, the Industry Affairs group, Corporate, Competition Law and Privacy Compliance teams and the department’s technology and business operations team.
For his first eight years at Microsoft, John was based at Microsoft’s European headquarters in Paris. Initially he was responsible for the legal and regulatory issues involved in the launch of the Microsoft Network (now MSN). From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Frank led Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs group for Europe, Middle East and Africa focusing on issues including privacy, security, consumer protection and antitrust. Mr. Frank began the company’s European Government Affairs program, which focused on advocacy on software and online policy issues.
Prior to joining Microsoft, John Frank practiced law in San Francisco with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Mr. Frank received his A.B. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Jo Deblaere
Chief Operating Officer, Accenture
Jo Deblaere is Accenture’s chief operating officer, responsible for leading the company’s business operations globally, executing Accenture’s business strategy and ensuring operational excellence company-wide. Mr. Deblaere is also group chief executive – Europe with overall leadership responsibility for more than 20 countries. In addition, Mr. Deblaere leads enterprise risk management for Accenture, working across the company to identify, assess and actively manage enterprise risks. He is a member of Accenture's Global Management Committee and chairs Accenture’s Capital and Investment Committees.
Thomas Roca
Economist, Data Strategist, PhD - Government Affairs - Public Policy, Microsoft Corporation
Thomas is an Economist and Data Strategist at LinkedIn & Microsoft within the Government Affairs team. As part of LinkedIn Economic Graph Team, he conducts economic research about the future of work, the impact of Artificial Intelligence and automation on the labor market. Thomas’ favorite field of research is at the cross roads between data-science and socio-economic analysis.
Thomas gives data-training for the United Nation System Staff College in collaboration with Data-Pop Alliance (ODI, MIT media Lab, Harvard HHI)
In his previous roles, Thomas was researcher and statistician, then Data Officer at the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) - France’s Bilateral Cooperation Bank. Thomas lead a research program on alternative welfare indicators, Big Data for Development and data visualization, with MIT media lab, Orange and Data-Pop Alliance as partners. Thomas developed AFD’s data portal to help inform development practitioners about economic and social situation of developing countries.
Thomas also spent time at the United Nations in New York contributing to the Human Development Reports (2015 and 2010). He taught Economics in Hungary, Vietnam, and Kurdistan as a lecturer. Thomas holds a PhD in Development Economics from Bordeaux University and a MSC in Economics from University Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne.
Peter Kerstens
Advisor to the Director-General & Co-Chair, European Commission's Taskforce on Fintech, DG FISMA, European Commission
Peter is Advisor to the Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union and co-chairs the European Commission's Taskforce on Fintech. He has extensive experience in EU policy and legislation through his work on the ESPRIT research programme, in health and consumer protection, e-commerce, single market and financial services policy and regulation. Peter was a Member of the Private Offices of Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy and Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne. He also spent 5 years in Washington DC as Finance Counsellor at the EU Embassy to the USA. Prior to joining the European Commission in 1996, Peter worked as a public affairs consultant in Brussels advising major financial services companies on EU affairs. He is a Dutch national and holds a master degree in European affairs from the College of Europe in Bruges and a master degree in political science from the University of Leuven, Belgium.
Syed Kamall
MEP, European Parliament
Syed Kamall has been Conservative MEP for London since 2005. He is the most senior elected British politician in Brussels, leading the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. He is passionate about tech issues including fintech, financial inclusion, the shared economy, and green tech. Specifically, Syed aims to use tech are a force for good from policy-making to grassroots community organisations. He works with many local community projects through his work, tackling poverty and social problems, encouraging greater financial independence and fostering entrepreneurship. Among them are charities such as Tree Shepherd who help people out of hardship by helping them set up businesses, and Crowdpatch, which helps local projects raise funds through crowdsourcing. He is also interested in pursuing solutions such as blockchain technology to address pressing issues including immigration, poverty and access to financing.
Dan Michaels
Brussels Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal
Daniel Michaels is the European Aerospace and Aviation Editor of The Wall Street Journal, based in Brussels. He writes about and oversees coverage of airlines, aviation and aerospace industries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He has been covering these industries since 1999. He also frequently writes aheds, about almost any subject.
From 1993 to 1999, Daniel covered Central & Eastern Europe for the WSJ, based in Warsaw, focusing on business, politics and society. He previously worked as a management consultant on privatization in Poland and Russia. Before that, he was a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York City, working across a range of industries in the U.S. and Canada.
Daniel is a graduate of Princeton University, where he studied China and East Asia. He speaks French, Polish and rusty Mandarin Chinese.
Christian D'Cunha
Head of the Private Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor, EDPS
Christian is the head of the Private Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor. He advises the EDPS and Assistant EDPS on legal and policy developments in the EU as well as providing support on strategic planning and communications. He has led the EDPS work on online manipulation in response to the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal and on strengthening the links between the enforcement of privacy, competition and consumer law in the digital economy and society. He has been responsible for EDPS opinions on a range of issues, including digital ethics and the reform of the data protection framework.
Previously in the European Commission, Christian drafted and negotiated the EU’s first internal security strategy and carried out the evaluation and the review of the data retention directive. Before moving to Brussels in 2008, Christian advised the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales on senior judicial appointments, succession planning and constitutional reform matters. In the UK Ministry of Justice, he was project manager of the implementation of a new system for handing complaints and disciplinary matters in the judiciary. Prior to this, he was for several years private secretary to the Chairman of the Labour Party and to the Leader of the House of Lords.
Helen Köpman
Deputy Head of Unit Startups & Innovation, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Helen Köpman is Deputy Head of Unit Startups & Innovation, DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission in Brussels. The unit is active in the Digital single Market policy and elaborates initiatives to support digital innovation and growth of startups including Startup Europe, Innovation radar, Innovation procurement and ICT standardisation. The Unit also leads European Commission activities on Blockchain and along with DG FISMA, the European Commission Task Force on Financial Technology.
Magnus Franklin
Director Digital, Teneo CabinetDN
Director for Digital Affairs at Teneo Cabinet DN. Previously, Magnus worked ed as journalist specialised in telecom, media and IT at MLex Market Insight and, before that, at Informa Telecoms & Media covering European fixed-line operator strategies. He has also worked as deputy editor of national UK student newspaper Student Times, plus experience in magazine production, PR and event organisation.
Yves Bernaert
Accenture Technology Europe & Intelligent Platform Services Business Performance Lead, Accenture
As the lead for Accenture Technology’s efforts across Europe, Africa and Latin America, Yves oversees a team of 40,000 professionals at client sites and delivery centers covering a broad range of delivery skills and industry and technology solution capabilities.
Yves is responsible for advancing Accenture’s integrated technology strategy, driving the growth in Application Services and other areas and overseeing the Global Delivery Network in Europe, Africa and Latin America.
He is a member of Accenture’s Global Leadership Council, Technology Services leadership team and Gallia leadership team.
Yves has extensive experience shepherding large transformation projects involving deployment of technology solutions that create value and competitive advantages for Accenture's clients. Currently, Yves is focusing on delivering “New IT,” a model for transforming applications to outperform in a software-driven, cloud-first world and accelerating legacy applications to the pace of business.
Léa Charlet
Director of Studies, EU DisinfoLab
Léa Charlet is Director of Studies at EU DisinfoLab. In the organisation, she is responsible for EU projects and conducting studies on disinformation campaigns in Europe.
Before joining the EU DisinfoLab Léa has worked in various organisations in the EU bubble. She led a wide trans-European campaign aimed at raising the turnout of young people during the 2014 European elections. She later worked for several Brussels NGOs - managing campaigns and projects - and did a Bluebook Traineeship in DG Environment of the European Commission.
She is a graduate of comparative public law from La Sorbonne and European studies from Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Frank Rosenberger
CIO, TUI Group
Frank Rosenberger has been appointed as member of TUI Group’s Executive Board with effect from 1 January 2017. He assumes responsibility for IT and New Markets. Prior to this, Rosenberger had been responsible for TUI Group's strategy division since 1st of October 2015.
In his previous role as Director Group Technology Products and Services at Vodafone Group Plc, which he held since 2011, he was in charge of the international development of new business opportunities. These included innovative new business areas such as the development of mobile payment platforms as well as cloud and security solutions. He was member of the global top management team, the Senior Leadership Team of Vodafone Group.
Frank Rosenberger started his long-standing management career in 1994, holding various management functions for the Vodafone Group, the Group’s largest operating company Vodafone Germany and the predecessor of the latter, Mannesmann Mobilfunk. Since 2006 he had been a member of the Executive Committee of Vodafone Germany: From 2006 to 2008 he was Marketing Director, with responsibility for 250 employees and a budget volume of 200 million euros. His responsibilities included Product and Tariff Development, CRM, Strategy and Brand. In 2008 he additionally assumed responsibility for Distribution. Until 2011, he was Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Consumer Business, managing 2,500 staff and a budget of 1.5 billion euros whilst generating revenues of 5.5 billion euros.
Serving as CCO Consumer Business, he turned around the long-term trend of decreasing revenues per customer into increasing revenues. He also achieved a sustained turnaround of sales and margins, enabling Vodafone Germany to resume market leadership in the mobile communications market at the end of 2011. Frank Rosenberger played a key role in the market launch of the UMTS standard and achieved UMTS market leadership with his team. He was instrumental in creating key management tools in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or customer focus (NPS).
Following the takeover of the fixed-network communications company Arcor AG in the summer of 2008, Frank Rosenberger additionally became board member of Arcor AG alongside his existing function. There, he was also in charge of the Consumer Business and held that position until the integration and merger of the company with Vodafone at the end of 2009. During that period he merged the distribution and marketing operations of the two companies and brands into a new integrated Consumer Business which has since offered fixed-line, mobile and internet services under the single unified Vodafone brand.
Dr. Alan Akbik
Member of the NLP group, Zalando Research
Alan Akbik is a member of the NLP group at Zalando Research, where he is developing advanced text analytics capabilities over large-scale multilingual text data that is often ungrammatical (Web text) and domain-specific. Before this, he was a postdoctoral researcher at IBM Research Almaden in San Jose, California, and before that a research associate at the Technische Universität Berlin. His research lies at the intersection of natural language processing (NLP) and information extraction (IE), with a particular focus on multilingual data and models of cross-lingual semantics.
Patrick Rowe
Deputy General Counsel, Accenture
Patrick joined Accenture in 1995. During his time at Accenture he has worked in a variety of different roles in Legal.
Currently Patrick is Deputy General Counsel with global responsibility for compliance, operational matters, regulatory and ethics programmes.
Prior to joining, he worked in commercial litigation for a law firm in Australia.
Patrick has a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Law from the University of Western Australia and is a qualified solicitor in Australia and in the UK.
Rumman Chowdhury
Senior Principal and Global Lead, Strategic Global Initiative on Responsible AI, Accenture
Rumman’s passion lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and humanity. She comes to data science from a quantitative social science background. Currently, she is a Senior Principal at Accenture, working on cutting-edge applications of Artificial Intelligence and leading Accenture’s Strategic Global Initiative on Responsible Artificial Intelligence. In her job she advises companies on ethical AI practices and work with organizations such as the World Economic Forum, and the IEEE's Wellbeing Metrics Standard for Ethical Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems.
In 2017 she was selected as one of the BBC 100 women as a part of #Teamlead tasked with tackling the glass ceiling by creating an app that can teach women to 'lean in' during meetings. In her spare time she serves on the Board of Directors for multiple AI startups and an AI mentor for Katapult Accelerator, an impact tech accelerator in Oslo, Norway, and she is a teacher and advisor at a data camp startup that helps refugees learn skills for the digital economy. Furthermore, she is a Forbes Tech contributing author and has been named by InformationWeek as one of 10 influential AI and machine learning experts to follow on Twitter.
She holds two undergraduate degrees from MIT, a master's degree in Quantitative Methods of the Social Sciences from Columbia University, and a doctorate in political science from the University of California, San Diego.
Edmondo Orlotti
Business Development for High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Edmondo Orlotti runs Business Development for High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Southern Europe. He has been addressing advanced analytics and visualization needs of industrial and academic environments in order to close the gap between numerical simulation and data interpretation. Prior to HPE, he’s been covering several roles in sales and marketing for the Professional Division of NVIDIA. He’s also a professional journalist since 2001.
Rob van Kranenburg
Founder, IoT Council
Rob van Kranenburg (1964) is the Founder of Council.
He works as Ecosystem Manager for the EU projects Tagitsmart and Next Generation Internet.
He wrote The Internet of Things. A critique of ambient technology and the all-seeing network of RFID, Network Notebooks 02, Institute of Network Cultures. He is co-founder of bricolabs. Together with Christian Nold he published Situated Technologies Pamphlets 8: The Internet of People for a Post-Oil World.
Rob is co-editor of Enabling Things to Talk Designing IoT solutions with the IoT Architectural Reference Model, Springer Open Access.
He is in the SmartCitiesWorld Advisory Board.
He chairs AC04 - IoT Hyper-connected Society of the IERC, The European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things.
He is a member of The IoT Asia 2017 International Advisory Panel (IAP).
Involved in building the ecosystem for the Next Generation Internet.
Rob is an Intelligentsia Influencer.
Jamie Shea
Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO
Jamie Shea is NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. He has been working with NATO since 1980. Positions included Director of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the Secretary General, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, Public Diplomacy Division, Director of Information and Press, Spokesman of NATO and Deputy Director of Information and Press, Deputy Head and Senior Planning Officer at the Policy Planning and Multilateral Affairs Section of the Political Directorate as well as Assistant to the Secretary General of NATO for Special Projects.
Jamie Shea is involved with several prominent academic institutions and acts amongst others as professor of the Collège d’Europe, Bruges, Visiting Lecturer in the Practice of Diplomacy, University of Sussex, Associate Professor of International Relations at the American University, Washington DC, where he also holds the position of Director of the Brussels Overseas Study Programme, and lectures at the Brussels School of International Studies at the University of Kent. He also is a regular lecturer and conference speaker on NATO and European security affairs and on public diplomacy and political communication and lobbying. He holds a D.Phil. in Modern History from Oxford University (Lincoln College), 1981.
Amongst his many associations and memberships, Jamie Shea is Member of the Advisory Board, Security and Defence Programmes at Chatham House, Member of the Policy Council at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and Founder and Member of the Board, Security and Defence Agenda Brussels.
Lisa Neuberger Fernandez
Managing Director, Corporate Citizenship Strategy + Innovation, Accenture
Lisa Neuberger Fernandez is a Managing Director at Accenture. Leading Strategy and Innovation for Corporate Citizenship, she oversees global, cross-functional teams and networks to innovate with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, extended reality and blockchain to improve outcomes of community investments and to publish actionable insights for clients and workforce practitioners with original research such as New Skills Now.
A proven social innovator, Lisa has a track record of managing teams to launch new models – such as a nonprofit consulting org (www.newsector.org) spun out of Accenture in 2001, a patented Public Service Value ROI model that sparked a new consulting practice and think tank in 2005, and the Sustainability Services practice for Communications and High-Tech clients at Accenture in 2007. She started her career at Accenture as a strategy consultant with ten years of experience driving performance for clients across public, private and nonprofit sectors.
Lisa gained public sector experience at the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the OECD, and currently serves as an advisor to Accenture Labs, Upwardly Global, REDF, Save the Children, and as a judge for the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge. She has graduate degrees from Wharton Business School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Andrea Craviotto
Managing Director, Technology Strategy Practice, Accenture
Andrea Craviotto is a Managing Director of Accenture Strategy practice.
In this role, he helps clients to integrate technology with business strategies and to shape their plans for growth and innovation, competitiveness and digital transformation.
He is the Global Blockchain Strategy Lead and is passionate about studying the potential implications for companies and governments. Among other fields, he’s currently focused on the usage of Blockchain for decentralized identity. Estonian e-resident since 2015, he’s graduated in Nuclear Physics at Turin University.
Joshua Ray
Managing Director, Global Cyber Defense, iDefense, Accenture Security
Josh is the Global Cyber Defense Practice Lead and iDefense General Manager for Accenture Security. He has over 18 years of combined commercial, government and military experience in the field of cyber intelligence, threat operations and information security. Prior to Accenture’s acquisition of iDefense, Josh was responsible for Verisign’s enterprise Cyber Intelligence Program as well as the operations and product strategy for the iDefense business. During his work with Raytheon, Josh created and managed the Cyber Threat Operations Intelligence Program, which handled enterprise-wide intelligence activities focusing on defining and providing early warning of advanced cyber threats targeting Raytheon’s networks. Josh also held technical leadership roles with the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and the Northrop Grumman Corporation at the Joint Task Force – Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO), providing intelligence support to focused operations. He holds a Bachelor of Science in information technology from George Mason University, an Executive Certificate in strategy and innovation from MIT Sloan School of Management and served honorably as a member of the US Navy.
Uwe Combüchen
Director General, Ceemet - European Tech & Industry Employers
Uwe Combüchen is an attorney at law. In 1992 he joined Gesamtmetall, the employer organisation of the German metal and electrical industry. In 1997 he became Director General of Ceemet in Cologne. Since its relocation to Brussels in 1999, Ceemet became the leading European lobbying organisation and recognized social partner for the manufacturing industry in employment and industrial policy issues.
Through its members, Ceemet represents over 200,000 manufacturing companies across Europe, providing 35 million direct and indirect jobs. Ceemet’s focus is on employment and social affairs, with expertise in EU social policy initiatives, industrial and employee relations, health & safety issues and education and training.
With its members’ core competence in collective bargaining and social dialogue, Ceemet also drives European sectoral social dialogue with its counterpart, industriAll European trade union, focusing on improving competitiveness, employment, skills and making vocational education and training (VET) in the European manufacturing industry more attractive.
Alea Fairchild
Research Fellow, The Constantia Institute
Dr. Alea Fairchild is a Research Fellow at The Constantia Institute, which is a Brussels-based technology policy think-tank, focusing on innovation and technological advances and their impact on industry and society. As a technology commentator she has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Alea covers the convergence of technology in the cloud, mobile and social spaces and she helps global enterprises understand the competitive marketplace and to profit from digital process redesign.
Alea is passionate about commercial marketing and innovation, and as an entrepreneur, has started several companies of her own. She loves working with start-ups and actively supports VCs in due diligence work. She also assists governmental institutions on technology policy issues.
Alice Stollmeyer
Executive Director, Defending Democracy
Alice Stollmeyer is a Digital Advocacy Strategist. She has lived and worked in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, the heart of the European Union. With a solid background in social science, science studies and communication, in 2012 Alice founded her own consultancy @StollmeyerEU, which specialises in EU public affairs, political communications and digital advocacy. She has been a top digital EU influencer ever since. On 8 November 2017, Alice founded Defending Democracy: an independent, nonpartisan initiative working for a stronger, Transatlantic response to the Kremlin’s hybrid threats to liberal democracies.
Jo Cox
Commercial Director, Hive (Centrica)
Jo Cox is the Commercial Director, UK & Ireland for Centrica Connected Home, responsible for the delivery of products and services in the market including for the Hive brand.
Jo is relatively new to Connected Home and leads all commercial activity including partnerships with British Gas, retail partners, and new sales channels.
Jo has previous experience at large blue chip companies such as Vodafone and Cable and Wireless Communications, which later became part of the Batelco Group, renamed Sure. Her most recent role was CCO on the board of Sure Ltd, a telecoms provider responsible for the delivery of Data Centre & Cloud services, Fixed Line, Broadband and mobile. Jo has been part of the change in the telecoms market as it’s moved from a small niche product to the large global service that it has become today. She hopes to use her 24 years of experience to develop the smart home market in the same way, making the connected home accessible to everyone.
Andrea Renda
Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy, CEPS
Andrea Renda is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a leading research-based think tank based in Brussels (Belgium). He is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, and was Adjunct Professor of Law and Economics at Duke Law School (United States) for Academic Year 2016/2017. From September 2017, he holds the “Google Chair” for Digital Innovation at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium). At the College of Europe, he is also responsible for the course “Regulatory Impact Assessment for Business” since 2007. His current research interests include regulation and policy evaluation, regulatory governance, private regulation, innovation and competition policies, Internet policy, and the alignment of policies for long-term impacts such as sustainability and decarbonization. He also specializes in EU law and policymaking, and in international regulatory cooperation.
Over the past two decades, Andrea Renda has provided academic advice to several institutions, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the OECD, the World Bank and several national governments around the world. Between 2006 and 2009, he was the Coordinator of the European Network for Better Regulation (www.enbr.org), a Coordination Action on regulatory impact assessment funded by the European Commission under the FP6 programme. He was, i.a., the lead author of the Pilot Project on Administrative Burdens for DG ENTR; the main author of the Impact Study on private antitrust damages actions for DG Comp in 2007; the lead author of the study on “Assessing the costs and benefits of regulation” for the European Commission Secretariat General; the project leader in three recent cumulative costs assessments carried out by the European Commission, DG GROW; and the project leader in major studies in the field of administrative burdens, electronic communications, spectrum policy, innovation policy, and social impact assessment.
In 2012-2013, Andrea was Part-time Professor at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy), where he held the “Morris Tabaksblat Visiting Chair on Private Actors and Globalization”. He was Adjunct Professor of “Economic Analysis of Law”, “Antitrust and regulation”, “Policies and policymaking in the EU” and “Regulatory Policies in a global perspective” at Luiss Guido Carli University, in Rome. Between 2006 and 2010, he also lectured on “Advanced Topics in Competition and Regulation” at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam within the European Master in Law and Economics. Between 2008 and 2015, he also lectured at the University of Stockholm (“Competition Policy and Intellectual Property”) and at the University of Jordan (“Telecommunications regulation”). Between 2012 and 2016 he has also taught a course on “Business Law” at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. For the period 2011-2013, he was awarded a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the European University Institute in Fiesole (Italy), researching in particular on better regulation, private regulation and Internet policy. He was also the recipient of a “Prometeo” scholarship awarded by the government of Ecuador for the years 2014-2015, with a specific mandate to assist the National Secretariat for Planning and Development (SENPLADES) in designing the country’s regulatory policy.
An internationally recognized expert in regulation, evidence-based policymaking, and the impact of new technologies on policymaking both in developed and developing countries, in 2017 Andrea became member of the ESIR (Economic and Societal Impacts for Research) expert group of the European Commission. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the international peer-reviewed journals “Telecommunication Policy” (Elsevier) and of the European Journal of Risk Regulation (Lexxion); a member of the Scientific Board of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS) and Chair of the Scientific Board of European Communications Policy Research (EuroCPR) since March 2014. He is a member of the European Association of Law and Economics (EALE), a founding member of the Italian Association of Law and Economics (SIDE-ISLE) and a member of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, where he was in charge of the Global Outlook program dedicated to international economics until June 2015.
Andrea Renda earned a BA cum laude in Economics from LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, in 1995 (Dissertation awarded a special distinction) and is European Master of Law and Economics (LL.M., with distinction, University of Hamburg, 1996). He holds a Ph.D. degree in Law and Economics awarded by the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. He is the author of several publications, including the books “Impact Assessment in the EU. The State of the Art and the Art of the State”, published by CEPS in January 2006; “Last call for Lisbon? Suggestions for the future regulation of e-communications in Europe”, CEPS, June 2006; “Achieving the Internal Market for e-communications in Europe”, May 2008; “Policymaking in the EU: challenges and proposals for reform”, CEPS, June 2009; “A new innovation policy for EU2020”, CEPS, June 2010 (with Massimiliano Granieri); “Critical infrastructure protection in the EU” (CEPS, forthcoming September 2010”; “Law and economics in the RIA world” (Intersentia, September 2011); “Innovation Policy in the EU: towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” (with Massimiliano Granieri, Springer, February 2011); “The Net and the Internet” (edited book with Mario Girasole, forthcoming by Edward Elgar end 2018); and “The effectiveness of transnational private regulation”, Forthcoming by Edward Elgar at the end of 2018 (with Fabrizio Cafaggi). He is current working on two new book projects: “Governing AI ethical and policy challenges” (Palgrave-MacMillan); and “A Modern Guide to Regulation” (Elgar): both should see the light in early 2019.
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
MEP, European Parliament
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri is a Finnish Member of the European Parliament (S&D). She is a member of Industry Research and Energy (ITRE) committee and vice member of Employment and Social affairs (EMPL) committee. Digital affairs and telecommunications markets are important subjects for her.
Tom Meyers
Osteopath / Body-centred Stress Expert, Author of Futurize Yourself, Futurize Yourself
Tom Meyers is an osteopath, body-centred stress expert, with a private practice in Brussels, a forward thinker and the author of “Futurize Yourself - Design your life on Purpose.”
Also known as TomTom the Health Navigator, Tom has been working as an osteopath for more than ten years. Recently, while working on his book “Futurize Yourself,” he started to be interested in the effect emerging technologies will have on stress levels, health and wellbeing.
Tom envisions at least two challenges that will lead to more stress. The exponential pace of the digital (r)evolution - which is faster and in contrast with our own biological evolution, and the effect of intelligent machines will have on our psyche, and we question our place int he Universe when a machine is more intelligent and more proficient then we are
Tom urges us to think how we will navigate these unstoppable changes, embrace technology but not become it and thrive in body mind and spirit without getting stressed.
Olivier Van Duüren
Founder, The Dualarity
In September 2016 Olivier launched The Dualarity (www.thedualarity.com), a business and a book, on how to take the pain out of your personal and business transformation, leaving you with a regained sense of spark.
After 22 years working in the senior international ranks at one of the world’s most successful technology companies called Microsoft, he has a unique perspective on the intersection of innovation, transformation and human behavior.
An international public speaker, trend sensemaker, executive whisperer, sparkle builder and author, Olivier is a thought leader on personal and business transformation, innovation and on the impact of the changes around us on our society and industry.
Olivier is an active innovative investor in 9.5 Magnitude Ventures, a ground-breaking pre-seed fund, connecting Innovating Corporations through the launch of Tailor-made start-ups and this to address the customer of tomorrow.
Cécile André Leruste
Managing Director, Europe Banking Lead, Accenture
Cécile André Leruste is managing director for Accenture Banking in Europe. She is responsible for the industry group strategy and offering across Europe. She has more than 20 years of experience both in consulting and banking. Mrs. André Leruste worked at McKinsey, Société Générale, Roland Berger and Capgemini prior to joining Accenture. She graduated from HEC Paris business school and has an MBA from the Wharton School.
A mother of three, she has a passion for education and is vice president of the Paris-Ile de France Chamber of Commerce, overseeing its 19 schools. She is also a Board member of Savencia Gourmet. In 2013, she founded the Cercle des Femmes Dirigeantes, which gathers top female business leaders in France. Mrs. André Leruste is based in Paris.
Nemanja Malisevic
Senior Security Strategist, Microsoft
Nemanja Malisevic joined Microsoft in 2014. Until recently he led GSSD’s engagement in Germany. Since the launch of Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program (DDP) he has shifted his focus to leading DDP engagements in Europe.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Malisevic worked more than 10 years for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) where, be was the Organization’s first Cyber Security Officer. In this capacity he was deeply involved in the negotiation of the first set of OSCE cyber/ICT security related confidence building measures (CBMs), adopted in December 2013. Before that, he led the Organization’s efforts dealing with combating terrorist use of the Internet.
Mr. Malisevic holds a Bachelor degree (B.A) from the University of Wales (Cardiff, UK) and a Master degree (M.Litt.) from the University of St. Andrews (St. Andrews, UK). His is happily married and the proud father of two daughters.