Common EU Data Spaces: Fundamental Rights, Competition and Innovation in Digital Ecosystems

  • Panel
  • Le Baixu
  • Wednesday 21.05 — 16:00 - 17:15

Organising Institution

ALTI - VU Amsterdam

Netherlands

  • Academic 2
  • Business 2
  • Policy 2
As Europe becomes increasingly digitalised, interconnected, and data-driven, the pursuit of innovation is heralded as a means to enhance citizen welfare and strengthen global economic standing. Yet, in this landscape, fundamental rights can sometimes seem negotiable. This panel critically examines the transformative role of EU Common Data Spaces in shaping digital ecosystems and how this framework interacts with fundamental rights on the one hand, and competition law and industrial policy on the other. Beyond market dynamics, these discussions probe Europe’s core values. Grounded in the principles of fundamental rights, this session evaluates whether emerging EU data policies can support an equitable and innovative digital economy in which individual, corporate, and societal needs do not compete but co-exist.

Questions to be answered

  1. Will EU Data Spaces democratize access to data or entrench the dominance of digital giants?
  2. How can regulations foster both fair competition and meaningful innovation?
  3. As sensitive personal data generates immense value, what risks and opportunities arise for individuals?
  4. How can the value of the data be shared among those who contributed to its creation?

Moderator

Georgiana Mirza

ALTI - VU Amsterdam - Netherlands

Georgiana Mirza is a researcher focusing on digital ecosystems, competition law, and market regulation. She has nine years’ experience as a competition lawyer on high-profile multijurisdictional cases, including a UK Supreme Court litigation that earned a Global Competition Review Award. She is currently a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a member of the Amsterdam Law & Technology Institute.

Speaker

Paola Cardozo Solano

ALTI - VU Amsterdam - Netherlands

Paola Cardozo Solano is a lecturer and researcher in the Law & Technology department at VU Amsterdam. Her research focuses on power dynamics in the regulation of digital technologies, with an emphasis on the EU Data Strategy. In Colombia, she has worked as a lawyer at the national Data Protection Agency, a political advisor in Congress, and a consultant for lobbying firms on data protection, telecoms, and technology regulation.

Speaker

Johan Keetelaar

Oxera - Netherlands

Johan Keetelaar is a leading expert in regulation and competition. He has spent most of his career working in the digital, telecoms and transport sectors, including more than fifteen years as a strategic leader in competition and sector-specific regulation at ACM in the Netherlands and at BEREC. More recently, he has worked as a policy director at Meta Inc. He is currently a senior advisor at Oxera and an adjudicator in Ireland at ComReg’s adjudication panel.

Speaker

Anna Colom

The Data Tank - Spain

Anna Colom is a political and social scientist working at the intersections of democratic processes, data and AI, media, climate, and public health. She is currently the Senior Policy Lead at the non-profit The Data Tank, a visiting scholar at The Open University, and was the Public Participation and Research Lead at the Ada Lovelace Institute.

Speaker

Alberto Di Felice

DigitalEurope - Italy

Alberto Di Felice is Policy and Legal Counsel at DIGITALEUROPE. With expertise in data protection and digital regulation, he oversees the quality of the association’s policy deliverables, forecasts and analyses new legislation, and ensures compliance as DIGITALEUROPE’s data protection and antitrust officer. Alberto previously led DIGITALEUROPE’s work in privacy, AI, data policy, cybersecurity, consumer policy and telecoms regulation. He also spent seven years at Qualcomm, addressing key issues in EU technology policy.