Moderated by Kait Bolongaro, Journalist, the first panel, The power of partnership: building a secure and sovereign digital Europe, explored how the EU and its partners can strengthen Europe’s digital security and sovereignty through cooperation, looking at it through a transatlantic lens. With the EU and US each other’s biggest partners in digital services, the discussion looked at what a secure and sovereign digital Europe means in practice. Hendrik Bourgeois, Senior Vice-President, Government Affairs and Policy, Europe, Mastercard, highlighted that trust and security are essential to digital services and depend on strong public-private cooperation. He spoke about sovereignty without unintended consequences, the need to keep driving growth, strategic diversification as the focus, and networks that can operate under stress. Thibaut Kleiner, Director, Future Networks, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission, stressed that sovereignty doesn’t mean going it alone, it means building resilience through trusted partners, including by developing Europe’s own technology in critical areas.

The third session, Reality check: is Europe delivering on digital simplification?, took stock of whether EU simplification efforts are delivering for businesses. Thibaut L’Ortye, Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer, AmCham EU, moderated a discussion on how far the EU’s simplification agenda has come and what still needs to change. Catharina Glugla, Partner, A&O Shearman, underlined that simplification matters because companies find it hard to follow rules that are complex and overlapping. She highlighted next year’s digital fitness check as a good place to see where the overlaps are, and said simplification by design is crucial. Raquel Jorge Ricart, Associate Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies, noted that there is only one digital initiative in the Commission Work Programme. She called for incentives for companies to take up emerging technologies, and for the investment and growth needed to keep companies in the EU. Matis Pellerin, Group Vice-President, Global Government Affairs, Oracle, shared lessons from other parts of the world on AI uptake in government and the private sector. He also raised the issue of regulation holding companies back from investing in the EU.

Malte Lohan, CEO, AmCham EU, closed the conference by thanking speakers and attendees, and by reiterating that a stronger transatlantic digital economy depends on clear rules and continued EU-US dialogue.

Thanks to everyone who attended, as well as our sponsor, Cisco.