PROFILE OF SPEAKERS
Michał BONI
Senior Research Associate, Martens Centre. Former MEP and Polish Minister of Labour and Social Policy
Michał Boni is a University of Warsaw graduate, involved in the “Solidarity” movement since 1980. In 1991, he became Minister of Labour and Social Policy, then from 1992 to 1993 he served as Secretary of State and led major labour market reforms in Poland. Since 2008 he was a member of the Donald Tusk government, chairing the Council of Ministers Standing Committee and heading the body of strategic advisors to the Prime Minister. He has prepared the first post-1989 long-term strategic document entitled “Poland 2030”. During 2011-2013 he served as the first Minister of Administration and Digitisation of Poland.
Starting with 2014 he was a Member of the European Parliament active in the LIBE and ITRE Committees, taking particular interest in the area of digital challenges, from privacy issues, Internet infrastructure and 5G, AI and algorithms. He was, among others, co-rapporteur of the Directive of public information and re-use of public information. He is the co-founder of the Intergroup Digital Agenda for Europe and author of numerous publications in English and Polish related to digital matters and challenges. He is also the initiator and co-author of unique reports analysing trends and developments within the young generation in Poland: “Youth 2011” and “Youth 2018”.
Francesca BRIA
President of the Italian National Innovation Fund, Honorary Professor in the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL in London and Senior Adviser on Digital Cities and Digital Rights for the United Nations
Francesca Bria is the President of the Italian National Innovation Fund. She is Honorary Professor in the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL in London and a Senior Adviser to the United Nation (UN-Habitat) on digital cities and digital rights. Francesca Bria is leading the DECODE project on data sovereignty in Europe, and is a member of the European Commission high level expert group Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR). She is the former Chief Digital Technology and Innovation Officer for the City of Barcelona in Spain.
Francesca Bria has a PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Imperial College, London and MSc on Digital Economy from University of London, Birbeck. As Senior Programme Lead at Nesta, the UK Innovation Agency, she has led the EU D-CENT project, the biggest European Project on digital democracy platforms and digital currencies. She also led the DSI4EU project, advising the EU on digital social innovation policies and purpose-driven innovation. She has been teaching in several universities in the UK and Italy and she has advised Governments, public and private organizations on technology and innovation policy, and its socio-economic and environmental impact.
Elda BRODGI
Scientific Coordinator of the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at the European University Institute (EUI) and Member of the Executive Board of EDMO, European Digital Media Observatory.
Elda Brodgi is member of the Executive Board of EDMO, European Digital Media Observatory. She holds a degree in Law (University of Florence), a Ph.D. in Public Law and Constitutional Law (University La Sapienza, Rome) and she is an Italian qualified lawyer. She teaches Communication Law at the University of Florence. She is member of the MSI-REF Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform at the Council of Europe.
She has recently served as a member of two expert committees at the Council of Europe: the Committee of experts on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership (MSI-MED) in 2016-2017 and the Committee of experts on protection of journalism and safety of journalists (MSI-JO) in 2014-2015. Member of the Advisory council for the 2017 “World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development” Report, UNESCO.
Ulises CORTÉS
Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the UPC. Scientific manager of the HP-AI group at the BSC. Coordinator of the Ethics-WP in the AI4EU platform.
Ulises Cortés is a full professor and researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), scientific manager of the High-Performance Artificial Intelligence group at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC), working on several areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as knowledge acquisition, concept formation in knowledge-based systems, machine learning and in autonomous intelligent agents. Since 2017, he has dedicated part of his research to studying the impact of AI on society. In particular, to the ethical, legal, socioeconomic, cultural and gender aspects of IA.
He is the coordinator of the ethical, legal, socioeconomic, cultural and gender aspects of IA activities at AI4EU platform (2019), funded by the EU. He is a member of the Ethics Committee of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2020) and member of the Advisory board of the Catalan Ethics Observatory for AI (2000). He is the Ethics Advisor at the AI4XAI network funded by the EU (2020). Since 2017 he is also the scientific manager of the High-Performance Artificial Intelligence group at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC) and former academic coordinator (2007- 2012).
Svenja HAHN (MEP)
Member of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age
Svenja Hahn is a first-term Member of the European Parliament for the German Free Democratic Party (FDP), part of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament and First Vice President of the European Liberal Forum (ELF). She is from Hamburg, Germany. Svenja Hahn is a member of the Committee for Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) where she especially focuses on AI legislation. Furthermore, she is Renew Europe coordinator in the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA), established in 2020. Svenja Hahn is also a member of the delegation to ASEAN and South Asia and a substitute member of the delegation to Australia and New Zealand.
Svenja Hahn was the President of the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) from 2018-2020, and before that she served as the press officer (2014-2016) and Vice President (2016-2018) of the organisation.
Guillaume KLOSSA
Co-Founder CIVICO Europa / Europa Nova – Author of European Commission Report: “Towards European Media sovereignty, an industrial strategy to leverage date, algorithms and artificial intelligence”, former professor Sciences Po and EBU director.
Guillaume Klossa is a European thinker, a former European political adviser and a business leader. He just finished his term as director of the European Broadcasting Union, the most important alliance of media in the world, after serving as executive vice-president of McDonald’s France and Southern Europe. Présidant emeritus of EuropaNova, a Paris-based European Think-tank and chairman of Civico Europa, a pro-democracy European civic movement, Guillaume was special adviser to the minister in charge of the last French presidency of the Council of the European Union, before serving as a sherpa of the European Council Reflection group on the future of the EU chaired by president Felipe Gonzalez. He also headed the Mission ´Innovating and Producing in Europe’ in the globalization of the French ministry of Economy and Finance. He teaches European media at Sciences-Po Paris and used to teach European affairs at College of Europe, ENA and HEC Paris. He published several non-fiction books on the future of Europe. With 30 European opinion-leaders, he contributed at the request of presidents Juncker and Tusk to the report ´the European way for a better future’, a roadmap to relaunch Europe.
Péter KREKO
Director of the Political Capital Institute
Péter Krekó is a social psychologist and political scientist. He is the executive director of Political Capital since 2011. Currently he is a Europe’s Futures Visiting Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and Erste Foundation, and an non-resident Associate Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Institute of Policy Research.
He is the author of two books. The first is entitled The Hungarian Far Right, which was co-authored by Attila Juhász. The book was published by Ibidem Verlag in 2017 and it is being distributed by the Columbia University Press. His second book on fake news and conspiracy theories was published in Hungarian in 2018, becoming a social science best-seller. He is a regular commentator in the international media. He is the owner of Political Capital Institute.
Hans-Gert PÖTTERING
President of the European Parliament Former Members Association and EP Former President.
Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German politician (CDU) and was the longest serving member of the European Parliament (EP) since its first direct election in 1979. His mandate ended on July 1st 2014 – after 35 years of uninterrupted membership. Dr. Pöttering held a number of leading positions in the EP and European People’s Party throughout his political career. From 1999 to 2007 he was Chairman of the European People’s Party-European Democrats Group in the European Parliament. From 2007 until 2009 he served as President of the European Parliament. He initiated the House of European History which was opened in Brussels in May 2017.
Dr. Pöttering has published widely on various issues of European affairs. His autobiography titled “Wir sind zu unserem Glück vereint – Mein europäischer Weg” (2014) has been translated into various languages.
He is currently the President of the European Parliament Former Members Association (FMA).
He was chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) from 1.1.2010-1.1.2018. Now he is Representative for European affairs on behalf of the KAS.
Maryia SADOUSKAYA-KOMLACH
Team Lead Eurasia at Free Press Unlimited in the Netherlands and is a non-resident fellow of Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)
Maryia Sadouskaya-Komlach is a media analyst and a journalist with more than 15 years of professional experience. She currently works as Senior Programme Coordinator at Free Press Unlimited in the Netherlands. She has worked in Belarus, Poland, Belgium and France and advised the European Endowment for Democracy on its 2015 Feasibility Study on Russian-language Media Initiatives. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Journalism from Columbia University.
Žiga TURK
Professor at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Member of the Martens Centre Academic Council
Žiga Turk is a Professor at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He holds degrees in engineering and computer science. As academic he studies design communication, internet science and scenarios of future global developments, particularly the role of technology and innovation. He is an internationally recognized author, public speaker and lecturer on these subjects. Dr Turk was Minister for Growth as well as Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in the Government of Slovenia and Secretary General of the Felipe Gonzalez’s Reflection Group on the Future of Europe. He is a member of the Academic Board of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.
Richard WOUTERS
Researcher for the think tank of the Dutch green party Wetenschappelijk Bureau GroenLinks
Richard Wouters is an expert in European affairs. He works as a researcher for Bureau de Helling, the think tank of Dutch green party GroenLinks.
Richard Wouters has contributed to numerous publications and election programmes as an advisor to the MEPs of GroenLinks. He is co-founder of the GroenLinks Europe working group. At GroenLinks, he focuses on the circular economy and technology.
Moderator: Brian Maguire
Journalist
Brian Maguire is a Brussels-based journalist, producer and broadcaster, he specialises in European politics and business; producing short documentary films exploring Europe’s competing policy dimensions. He hosts live radio and television debates with European Commissioners, Members of the European Parliament and independent experts, and was co-anchor for one of the live European Presidential debates during the 2014 elections. He also presents the EURACTIV series ‘The Presidency’ and ‘Over A Coffee’.
A graduate in Government and Law, he has worked across a broad range of publications, especially within the business-to-business sector. A specialist in corporate and political communications, his clients include start-ups, SMEs, blue chip companies, and NGOs with a human rights focus.