Unpacking the real world impact of the Digital & AI Omnibus - what’s at stake and who benefits?

  • Panel
  • Grande Halle
  • Thursday 21.05 — 10:30 - 11:45

Organising Institution

Ada Lovelace Institute

International

The Ada Lovelace Institute is an independent research institute based in London and in Brussels with a mission to ensure that data and AI work for people and society. We believe that a world where data and AI work for people and society is a world in which the opportunities, benefits and privileges generated by data and AI are justly and equitably distributed and experienced.
  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
The European Commission's Digital and AI Omnibus is presented as a measure to cut red tape and boost competitiveness. Wrapped in the language of ‘simplification’, the package contains substantial changes with far-reaching implications for people's fundamental rights, the European market and the EU's sovereignty. The proposals raise critical questions: Will people enjoy meaningful safeguards around privacy and wider AI risks? Will they maintain choice and agency over data? How would the shape and character of the EU market change if Europe’s competitive advantage in responsible innovation was undermined? This panel will discuss the real-world impact of the proposals and unpack the interplay between the changes across the different regulations, with a focus on the GDPR and AI proposals.

Questions to be answered

  1. When taken together, what will the cumulative effect of the changes on people’s rights and protections and on European businesses be?
  2. Will the proposals achieve the Commission’s various digital strategies in practice?
  3. In what ways do these changes support — or undermine — a value-driven European vision for a competitive, secure, and rights-based digital economy?
  4. What are the implications for Europe’s sovereignty and its position as a normative power in global digital governance?

Moderator

Valentina Pavel

Ada Lovelace Institute - International

Valentina is a Senior Researcher for Law and Policy at the Ada Lovelace Institute. She is a data protection specialist and researcher with expertise in data and AI policy. Her work spans across leading research on data and AI governance and providing critical analysis on policy developments in the UK and EU. She has previously steered ambitious programmes looking at responsible management of data and she specialises on AI governance challenges, algorithmic transparency and accountability, data rights and enabling responsible innovation.

Speaker

Karolina Mojzesowicz

European Commission - Europe

Karolina Mojzesowicz is the Deputy Head of the Data Protection Unit sector within the European Commission’s DG Justice. Her main areas of competence are Competition Law and Data Protection Law and she has represented the Commission in numerous cases before the European Courts and before the WTO panels and Appellate Bodies in Geneva.

Speaker

Max von Thun

Open Markets Institute - Europe

Max von Thun is the Director of Open Markets Institute Europe. He leads Open Markets’ research and advocacy work in Europe, with a focus on identifying the policies needed to build an open, resilient, and democratic European economy. Von Thun’s work touches on a range of competition and market power issues in Europe, with a particular emphasis on emerging technologies and new legislative frameworks targeting dominant technology platforms.

Speaker

Orla Lynskey

UCL Faculty of Laws - International

Orla Lynskey is Chair of Law and Technology at UCL Faculty of Laws. She is also Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges and Global Distinguished Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School London Programme where she teaches EU Digital Regulation. She was previously an Associate Professor at LSE Law School. Orla's research and teaching is concerned with the effectiveness and coherence of digital regulation, with a particular focus on data governance and digital rights. She is currently joint Editor-in-Chief of International Data Privacy Law (OUP) and a section Editor of the Modern Law Review. Orla holds law degrees from Trinity College Dublin, the College of Europe Bruges and the University of Cambridge.

Speaker

Laura Brodahl

Wilson Sonsini - Belgium

Laura Brodahl is Of Counsel in the EU data regulatory practice of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Based in Brussels, she specializes in advising clients on digital regulatory issues, including under the GDPR and ePrivacy, Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and NIS2, AI Act, Digital Services Act and Data Act. Laura regularly provides strategic and practical guidance to start-ups and international organizations, specializing in all-around counselling to data driven sectors and interactions with data protection authorities.