CPDP (“Computers, Privacy and Data Protection”) is a non-profit platform founded in 2007 by research groups at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Université de Namur, and Tilburg University, later joined by INRIA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. Today, CPDP is carried by 20 academic centres of excellence from the EU, the US, and beyond. Based in Brussels, CPDP has become a world-leading multidisciplinary conference, convening a global community across research, policy, practice, civil society, and technology to engage with cutting-edge developments in privacy and data protection.

CPDP exists to strengthen rigorous, independent, and inclusive debate on privacy and data protection in a rapidly changing digital society. We create a space where competing positions can be compared, tested, and refined—grounded in fundamental rights and broader digital rights, and attentive to the real-world consequences of data-driven technologies for governance, accountability, and democratic life. 

Each year in Brussels, CPDP convenes a uniquely broad community: academics and researchers, regulators and policymakers, lawyers and practitioners, civil society organisations, and industry and technology actors. Bringing these perspectives into direct conversation is central to our mission. We do not seek easy consensus. Instead, we encourage critical exchange that clarifies tensions, surfaces assumptions, and distinguishes meaningful differences in approach—while maintaining an atmosphere of independence and mutual respect. 

CPDP delivers this mission through a carefully curated multidisciplinary programme of panels and workshops that connects cutting-edge legal, regulatory, academic, and technological developments to their practical implications. We also host an explicit arts and culture programme, including the Culture Club, to open new angles on digital rights and to expand the conference’s modes of inquiry beyond conventional debate. Through formats such as Avatar FM, CPDP experiments with more accessible ways of reaching broader and younger audiences. 

CPDP’s impact extends beyond the annual conference. We build continuity through public-facing outputs—CPDP’s book series and recorded sessions—that support ongoing learning, teaching, and professional practice. CPDP also extends its community through CPDP-branded conferences organised in coordination with the CPDP Executive Director. These initiatives promote CPDP’s philosophy in regional networks and help maintain quality and alignment. CPDP LATAM takes place annually in Brazil, and CPDP Africa is being developed in Namibia.