The summer summit returns on 20 June to Brussels and online.
Europe’s economic security hinges on its access to critical technologies and on its innovative power. To promote this security, we need successful European companies, scalable markets, and strong alliances with like-minded nations. Today, Europe faces an alarming shortage of leading tech firms, comprising only 11% of the world’s top tech companies and a mere 8% of unicorns. It’s time to address this common challenge with urgency.
Join us to explore how we can shape a more secure economic future for Europe.
This summer is a pivotal moment for Europe’s digital decade strategy. The AI and Data Acts are likely to be concluded soon, setting up the policy framework that could make or break Europe’s competitiveness and resilience for the next ten years. Small changes now will have a huge impact years down the line. Meanwhile, 2023 is the year of skills and the 30th anniversary of the Single Market – the twin transition cannot succeed if we don’t get this right. As the Swedes prepare to pass the Council Presidency baton to the Spanish, this is crunch time for the digital decade. We gather top policymakers and industry experts to discuss these topics and more.
As well as focusing on the key elements of these proposals, the summit will also look forward at our policymaking itself. DIGITALEUROPE will share insights from its regulatory sandbox on the AI act, which has been tested on 10 of Europe’s fastest growing scale-ups. You don’t want to miss it.
Didier Reynders has been EU Commissioner for Justice since 2019. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister for Belgium, having been Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Minister of Defence, and Minister of Finance prior to this.
His responsibilities include contributing to legislation towards a coordinated approach on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence; leading on consumer empowerment and protection and protecting citizens’ rights; and maximising the potential of new digital technologies to improve the EU’s justice systems, amongst others.
He is a graduate in Law from the University of Liège and a Lecturer/Visiting Professor (Liège, Louvain, Bruxelles).
Didier Reynders
European Commissioner
for Justice
Minister van Huffelen’s CV can be viewed here.
Alexandra van Huffelen
Minister for Digitalisation, Netherlands
Ms. Carme Artigas Brugal Artigas Brugal is a Spanish businesswoman and a recognized expert in Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and technological innovation, with more than 25 years of experience in the technology sector. She was appointed as Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in January 2020. In 2006, she co-founded and served as the CEO at Synergic Partners, a pioneer company in Europe specialized in Big Data/ AI that was acquired by Telefónica in 2015 where she kept serving as CEO until end of 2018. Since January 2019 she has been providing high level strategic advice and has become a board advisor for several international companies and institutions. Artigas Brugal is a member of the Data Innovation Network of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University NYC and of the Board of Directors at the Spanish Association of Directors (AED). She has been appointed by the University of Stanford (California) as ambassador in Madrid of the Conference “Women in Data Science” (WIDS).
Carme Artigas
Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, Spain
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 45,000 digital companies in Europe.
She is a member of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity). She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Gaia-X.
Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl served as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies. She was also a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, as well as a member of the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum.
In March 2023, Cecilia received the Ukraine Peace Prize on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE for its work supporting Ukraine during the war.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the global SAP implementation company and cloud provider GlobeIT. She served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB).
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
Vinton G. Cerf has served as vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google since October 2005. In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.
Cerf is the former senior vice president of Technology Strategy for MCI. In this role, Cerf was responsible for helping to guide corporate strategy development from the technical perspective. Previously, Cerf served as MCI’s senior vice president of Architecture and Technology, leading a team of architects and engineers to design advanced networking frameworks including Internet-based solutions for delivering a combination of data, information, voice and video services for business and consumer use.
Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. The Turing award is sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Computer Science.” In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize.
Prior to rejoining MCI in 1994, Cerf was vice president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). As vice president of MCI Digital Information Services from 1982-1986, he led the engineering of MCI Mail, the first commercial email service to be connected to the Internet. During his tenure from 1976-1982 with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Cerf played a key role leading the development of Internet and Internet-related packet data and security technologies.
Vint Cerf served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2000-2007. Cerf also served as founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995 and in 1999 served a term as Chairman of the Board. In addition, Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol. Cerf served as a member of the U.S. Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 1997 to 2001 and serves on several national, state and industry committees focused on cyber-security. Cerf sits on the Board of Directors for the Endowment for Excellence in Education, the Americas Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), CosmosID, StopBadWare, the Gorilla Foundation and the Intaba Institute (for the Deaf). Cerf also sits on the Board of Associates of Gallaudet University. He serves on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Advisory Committee and serves as Chair of the Visitors Committee on Advanced Technology of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. He also serves as 1st Vice President and Treasurer of the National Science & Technology Medals Foundation. Cerf is a Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum, the Annenberg Center for Communications at USC, the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, the Hasso Platner Institute and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. In 2011, he was made Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society.
Cerf is a recipient of numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet. These include the Marconi Fellowship, Charles Stark Draper award of the National Academy of Engineering, the Prince of Asturias award for science and technology, the National Medal of Science from Tunisia, the St. Cyril and St. Methodius Order (Grand Cross) of Bulgaria, the Alexander Graham Bell Award presented by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the NEC Computer and Communications Prize, the Silver Medal of the International Telecommunications Union, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Award, the ACM Software and Systems Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Award, the Computer and Communications Industries Association Industry Legend Award, installation in the Inventors Hall of Fame, the Yuri Rubinsky Web Award, the Kilby Award , the Rotary Club International Paul P. Harris Medal, the Joseph Priestley Award from Dickinson College, the Yankee Group/Interop/Network World Lifetime Achievement Award, the George R. Stibitz Award, the Werner Wolter Award, the Andrew Saks Engineering Award, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the Computerworld/Smithsonian Leadership Award, the J.D. Edwards Leadership Award for Collaboration, World Institute on Disability Annual Award and the Library of Congress Bicentennial Living Legend medal. Cerf was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2006. He was made an Eminent Member of the IEEE Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) honor society in 2009. In 2010 he received a Lifetime Webby Award. In February 2011 he was named a Stanford Engineering School “Hero” for his work on the Internet and received a lifetime achievement award from the Oxford Internet Institute. In December 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year’s “25 Most Intriguing People.”
In addition to his work on behalf of Google and the Internet, Cerf has served as a technical advisor to production for “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict” and made a special guest appearance on the program in May 1998. Cerf has appeared on television programs NextWave with Leonard Nimoy and often co-hosted World Business Review with Alexander Haig and Caspar Weinberger. Cerf also holds an appointment as distinguished visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he is working on the design of an interplanetary Internet. Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA. He also holds honorary Doctorate degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich; Lulea University of Technology, Sweden; University of the Balearic Islands, Palma; Capitol College, Maryland; Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania; George Mason University, Virginia; Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands; Brooklyn Polytechnic; Marymount University; the University of Pisa; the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Tschingua University, Beijing, China; the University of Zaragoza, Spain; the Technical University of Cartagena, Spain; the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain; Bethany College, Kansas; the Moscow State University of International Relations and the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology.
His personal interests include fine wine, gourmet cooking and science fiction. Cerf and his wife, Sigrid, were married in 1966 and have two sons, David and Bennett.
Vint Cerf
Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
Renate Nikolay is the current Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, within the European Commission, having transitioned into the role in December 2022. Prior to this, she was the Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Jourova, covering both the Values and Transparency, and the Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality portfolios between 2019 and 2022. She holds a Master’s degree in Law from Washington College of Law, and completed her Legal State Examinations at the Free University in Berlin.
Renate Nikolay
Deputy Director-General, DG CNECT, European Commission
Damian Boeselager is a Member of the European Parliament. He holds degrees in Philosophy & Economics from University of Bayreuth and a dual-Master in Public Administration from the Hertie School of Governance and Columbia University’s SIPA in New York City. Damian co-founded Volt – a pan-European, progressive and pragmatic Europe-wide movement with the aim of reforming the European continent and solving the big challenges of our time.
In the European Parliament, Damian focuses on creating a real European parliamentary democracy, creating the framework for a competitive and innovative European economy with a focus on data policy and AI, establishing paths for legal migration, setting up a common, fair and fast European asylum system, and ensuring that the EU works for all via budgetary stability measures. He is also part of the EU-Canada and US Delegations. Damian was one of the negotiators for the Greens/EFA in the Budget Committee on the Recovery Reform Facility, the largest part of the EUR 672.5 billion European Corona recovery response.
Damian Boeselager
Member,
European Parliament
Dr. Amaryllis Verhoeven is Head of Unit for Digital Transformation of Industry in the Directorate General (DG) for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) at the European Commission (EU Commission). Before her current position, Dr. Verhoeven held different functions in the EU Commission related to Intellectual Property, Single Market and Energy files. She has also worked as an attorney with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Dr. Verhoeven holds a Ph.D. in law and political philosophy from the University of Leuven, where she is also lecturing on a regular basis.
Amaryllis Verhoeven
Head of Unit, Digital Transformation of Industry, DG GROW, European Commission
Brando Benifei is an Italian MEP in his second term and the head of the Partito Democratico delegation to the European Parliament. He is the rapporteur for the Artificial Intelligence Act as a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He also deals with employment, legal and constitutional affairs. He was also shadow rapporteur of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age. In 2016, he was included by Forbes in its list of 30 under 30 to watch out for.
Brando Benifei
Member,
European Parliament
Andreas Schwab is a member of the European Parliament since 2004. As coordinator of the EPP-group in the influential Internal Market Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament Mr Schwab has been successfully steering key legislation through parliament like the Consumer Rights Directive (2011), Network and Information Security Directive (2013), the Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions (2014) and the Directive on the European Competition Network (2018). He has been authoring important resolutions of the European Parliament on “Single Market Governance” (2012) and on supporting consumer rights in the digital single market (2014).
Andreas Schwab
Member,
European Parliament
James Waterworth is Director of EU Public Policy at Amazon where he is responsible for the company’s interactions with the European Union institutions.
James has been active in policy for more than twenty years in London and Brussels, initially in the telecoms sector for Cable & Wireless, Telefonica and Nokia before joining Amazon.
James Waterworth
Director, EU Policy,
Amazon
Graduated from ESC Bordeaux / KEDGE Business School – 1996
Bachelor of Arts in International Business (BAIB) – Sheffield University – 1993
More than 25 years of experience in the MedTech industry with positions in Sales, Marketing, P&L Management, at global and EMEA level
At ResMed since 2006, with the position of President, Sleep and Respiratory Care since July 2022 Board member at Snitem since 2016 and Chair of the Snitem since 2022
Board member at MedTech Europe since 2020
Board member of MDIC since December 2022
Lucile Blaise
Global President, Sleep & Respiratory Care, ResMed
Laetitia Cailleteau, Managing Director for Accenture, is leading Accenture’s Data&AI business in Europe and the Conversational AI domain globally – driving innovation, sales and delivery across the globe for multiple industries and clients . She has more than 22 years’ experience in the consulting industry, authored several academic publications and hold patents in the Conversational AI domain. Laetitia founded Accenture’s Innovation Studio in London, a space where her team co-create with clients to realise the potential of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, IoT, using user-centred approaches. She is a reserve member of the Artificial Intelligence High Level Group at the European Commission and also a board member of OASIS Open Foundation in Europe.
Laetitia Cailleteau
AI and Data lead for Europe and Global Lead for conversational AI, Accenture
Chris leads DIGITALEUROPE’s communications team and coordinates contacts with policymakers in Brussels and across Europe.
Before joining DIGITALEUROPE, Chris was communications adviser to Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström and served in her cabinet. He had previously spent two years in the DG Trade media relations team, and one and a half years as an assistant to a member of the European Parliament. His previous experience includes roles in a software start-up in Berlin and at Bristol City Council.
As well as an in-depth knowledge of various policy areas, notably trade, he has extensive experience of working in the EU institutions and coordinating with Brussels-based media.
He holds a joint M.A. in European studies from Bath University, Sciences-Po Paris and the Humboldt University in Berlin, as well as a B.A. in French and Political Science from Bristol University.
Chris Ruff
Director for Political Outreach & Communications, DIGITALEUROPE
Ray Pinto is currently the Senior Director for Digital Transformation Policy for DIGITALEUROPE.
Ray joins DIGITALEUROPE with over 20 years of government affairs and communications experience in Brussels and across the EMEA region. Ray is responsible for the digital transformation strategy providing policy recommendations to government stakeholders on the disruption being caused to European industries including manufacturing, healthcare, transport, and financial technologies.
Ray leads the Digital Transformation Policy Group helping our members to advance important work on areas impacting vertical industries such as data, cybersecurity, data protection, international trade, emerging technologies (AI, blockchain, IoT, etc), and skills development.
Previously, he worked at Microsoft responsible for socio-economic issues and strategies to improve relations with governments.
Ray holds citizenship with both Canada and France and is a graduate of McGill University in Political Science.
Ray Pinto
Senior Director for Digital Transformation Policy, DIGITALEUROPE
Alberto Di Felice leads the Infrastructure, Privacy and Security teams at DIGITALEUROPE. He is responsible for data protection, cybersecurity and telecoms.
Alberto joined DIGITALEUROPE in February 2018, having previously spent seven years at Qualcomm, a world leader in mobile technologies. His work there cut across EU technology policy areas such as privacy, telecoms regulation and the impact of digital on innovation and business models, including verticals such as connected cars and mobile health.
Alberto is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E). He holds degrees in law and European studies from the universities of Teramo and Trento in Italy as well as a masters in diplomacy from the Institute for International Political Studies in Milan.
Alberto di Felice
Director for Infrastructure, Privacy & Security Policy, DIGITALEUROPE
Aleksander Tsuiman is the Head of Regulatory (Privacy & Product) in Veriff, an Estonian-founded and internationally operating AI-powered identity verification solution company. He is currently spearheading the company’s privacy, regulatory and product counselling functions. As a practicing lawyer and former data protection attorney, Aleksander focuses on technology and regulatory issues for ensuring Veriff’s cross-jurisdictional success. He is also a member of the University of Tartu’s Information Technology Law’s Programme Council as helping to design the future of legal education in Estonia and an avid guest lecturer in various universities.“
Aleksander Tsuiman
Head of Regulatory (Privacy & Product), Veriff
Dr Sabine Grapentin, LL.M. (London), is a German-qualified lawyer and Lead Counsel for Digital & Automation with Siemens Healthineers. Her work includes legal aspects of data-driven business models, cloud products and AI. She was associated partner at a large international law firm in the areas of IT and data protection law before joining Siemens in 2011. Since then she has held various positions with Siemens Healthineers in Erlangen, Germany, and Dubai, UAE. She is a specialist lawyer (“Fachanwältin”) for IT law and also qualified as a solicitor (England and Wales, non-practicing).
Dr Sabine Grapentin
Senior Legal Counsel, Siemens Healthineers
Note: All session timings below are in Central European Summer Time (CEST)
12:15 – 13:20
Networking lunch
13:20 – 13:40
Welcome and insights from our AI regulatory sandbox
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 35,000 digital companies in Europe.
She is a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and of NATO’s high-level Advisory Group for Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, as well as a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum.
Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl was a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, and of the High-level Strategy Group on Industrial Technologies in charge of identifying Key Enabling Technologies.
She was an Executive Board Member of the Royal Danish Export Council and Chair of the Export Grant Committee under the Danish Foreign Ministry. She also served as Executive Board member in DIGITALEUROPE, and as a member of the association’s high level Digital Advisory Council.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB), where she led the development of policy positions on issues such as business digitalisation, ICT security, disruptive business models, telecoms and education.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the cloud provider GlobeIT. She has deep insights into the digitalisation of business and society and the data-driven economy, and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches on these issues at high-level events across the world.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
Chris Ruff, Director for Political Outreach & Communications, DIGITALEUROPE
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General DIGITALEUROPE
13:40 – 14:25
Panel: Artificial Intelligence
Moderated by: Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General DIGITALEUROPE
Alexandra van Huffelen, Minister for Digitalisation, Netherlands
Brando Benifei, Member, European Parliament
Laetitia Cailleteau, AI and Data lead for Europe and Global Lead for conversational AI, Accenture
Aleksander Tsuiman, Head of Regulatory (Privacy & Product), Veriff
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 35,000 digital companies in Europe.
She is a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and of NATO’s high-level Advisory Group for Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, as well as a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum.
Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl was a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, and of the High-level Strategy Group on Industrial Technologies in charge of identifying Key Enabling Technologies.
She was an Executive Board Member of the Royal Danish Export Council and Chair of the Export Grant Committee under the Danish Foreign Ministry. She also served as Executive Board member in DIGITALEUROPE, and as a member of the association’s high level Digital Advisory Council.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB), where she led the development of policy positions on issues such as business digitalisation, ICT security, disruptive business models, telecoms and education.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the cloud provider GlobeIT. She has deep insights into the digitalisation of business and society and the data-driven economy, and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches on these issues at high-level events across the world.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 35,000 digital companies in Europe.
She is a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and of NATO’s high-level Advisory Group for Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, as well as a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum.
Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl was a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, and of the High-level Strategy Group on Industrial Technologies in charge of identifying Key Enabling Technologies.
She was an Executive Board Member of the Royal Danish Export Council and Chair of the Export Grant Committee under the Danish Foreign Ministry. She also served as Executive Board member in DIGITALEUROPE, and as a member of the association’s high level Digital Advisory Council.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB), where she led the development of policy positions on issues such as business digitalisation, ICT security, disruptive business models, telecoms and education.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the cloud provider GlobeIT. She has deep insights into the digitalisation of business and society and the data-driven economy, and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches on these issues at high-level events across the world.
Moderator: Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
Brando Benifei is an Italian MEP in his second term and the head of the Partito Democratico delegation to the European Parliament. He is the rapporteur for the Artificial Intelligence Act as a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He also deals with employment, legal and constitutional affairs. He was also shadow rapporteur of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age. In 2016, he was included by Forbes in its list of 30 under 30 to watch out for.
Brando Benifei
Member, European Parliament
Minister van Huffelen’s CV can be viewed here.
Alexandra van Huffelen
State Secretary for Digitalisation, Netherlands
John Neuffer is President and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) where he’s responsible for setting and leading the association’s public policy agenda and serving as the primary advocate for maintaining U.S. leadership in semiconductor design, manufacturing, and research.
Prior to joining SIA, John served as Senior Vice President for Global Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), where he led ITI’s global team to expand market access opportunities for ITI member companies around the world. He directed all ITI’s global government relations in trade, cybersecurity, standards, regulatory, Internet governance, and privacy. John built strong relationships with foreign governments and industry associations in key global capitals, and advanced the high-tech industry’s trade agenda in Washington.
Before joining ITI, John served for over seven years at the Office of United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington, DC: two years as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Affairs, preceded by over five years as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan.
Prior to his tenure with USTR, John was a Senior Research Fellow and Political Analyst with the Mitsui Kaijyo Research Institute in Tokyo for nine years. As a leading commentator on Japanese politics and policy at the institute, he published a widely read newsletter and wrote regular
John Neuffer
President & CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association
14:25 – 15:05
Fireside chat: 30 years of the Single Market
Andreas Schwab is a member of the European Parliament since 2004. As coordinator of the EPP-group in the influential Internal Market Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament Mr Schwab has been successfully steering key legislation through parliament like the Consumer Rights Directive (2011), Network and Information Security Directive (2013), the Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions (2014) and the Directive on the European Competition Network (2018). He has been authoring important resolutions of the European Parliament on “Single Market Governance” (2012) and on supporting consumer rights in the digital single market (2014).
Andreas Schwab
Member, European Parliament
Moderated by Ray Pinto, Senior Director for Digital Transformation Policy, DIGITALEUROPE
Andreas Schwab, Member, European Parliament
Amaryllis Verhoeven, Head of Unit, Digital Transformation of Industry, DG GROW, European Commission
James Waterworth, Director, EU Policy, Amazon
15:05 – 15:15
Keynote speech
Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
15:15 – 15:50
Networking Break
15:50 – 16:30
Keynote Conversation
Carme Artigas, Spanish Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence
16:30 – 16:45
The Expert View – Unlocking the power of data to revolutionize healthcare
Lucile Blaise, Global President, Sleep & Respiratory Care, ResMed
16:45 – 17:25
Panel: Data Act – B2B sharing: a leap into the unknown, what next?
Moderated by: Alberto di Felice, Director for Infrastructure, Privacy and Security Policy, DIGITALEUROPE
Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General, DG CNECT, European Commission
Damian Boeselager, Member, European Parliament
Dr Sabine Grapentin, Senior Legal Counsel, Siemens Healthineers
17:25 – 17:40
Closing Remarks
Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice
17:40
Cocktail Reception
Jennifer Yokoyama is Deputy General Counsel, IP Group and Chief IP Counsel at Microsoft. Yokoyama was previously Microsoft’s head of IP litigation, but has only been with the software giant since June 2018. Before that, she was principal counsel for patent litigation at Apple. In her four years there, her focus was on the management of complex multijurisdictional patent, competition and FRAND-based disputes, with a special emphasis on Asia, where she was responsible for the APAC litigation docket. Between 2010 and 2013 Yokoyama was assistant general counsel of IP litigation and licensing strategy at Nike. She was also a partner at McDermott Will & Emery for seven years.
Jennifer Yokoyama
Deputy General Counsel, IP Group & Chief IP Counsel, Microsoft
Didier Reynders has been EU Commissioner for Justice since 2019. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister for Belgium, having been Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Minister of Defence, and Minister of Finance prior to this.
His responsibilities include contributing to legislation towards a coordinated approach on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence; leading on consumer empowerment and protection and protecting citizens’ rights; and maximising the potential of new digital technologies to improve the EU’s justice systems, amongst others.
He is a graduate in Law from the University of Liège and a Lecturer/Visiting Professor (Liège, Louvain, Bruxelles).
Didier Reynders
European Commissioner
for Justice
Minister van Huffelen’s CV can be viewed here.
Alexandra van Huffelen
Minister for Digitalisation, Netherlands
Ms. Carme Artigas Brugal Artigas Brugal is a Spanish businesswoman and a recognized expert in Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and technological innovation, with more than 25 years of experience in the technology sector. She was appointed as Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in January 2020. In 2006, she co-founded and served as the CEO at Synergic Partners, a pioneer company in Europe specialized in Big Data/ AI that was acquired by Telefónica in 2015 where she kept serving as CEO until end of 2018. Since January 2019 she has been providing high level strategic advice and has become a board advisor for several international companies and institutions. Artigas Brugal is a member of the Data Innovation Network of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University NYC and of the Board of Directors at the Spanish Association of Directors (AED). She has been appointed by the University of Stanford (California) as ambassador in Madrid of the Conference “Women in Data Science” (WIDS).
Carme Artigas
Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, Spain
The in person element of the event will take place at the MGallery Le Louise, Brussels. In person places are strictly limited and by application only, so please only arrange travel to the event once you have confirmation from the event team following your application.
The event will be live streamed, and details of how to join the online platform will be sent in the week prior to the event to those registered for virtual participation.
If you are interested in knowing how you can get involved in the #DESummerSummit, or for any information, please contact
Kivanç Akil, Associate Director for Events & Executive Coordination
+32 473 36 17 54 / kivanc.akil@digitaleurope.org