Digital Economy
Europe is rapidly moving from the industrial age to a global, networked knowledge- and service-based economy. That inevitably necessitates changes not only in the economy but also in the institutions and systems that were designed for a different era. Emphasising the paramount importance of the transformative power of new technologies, as well as education, skills and life-long learning, this initiative seeks to stimulate debate and focus public attention on the issues that are at the centre of a successful knowledge economy.
Among the highlights of the Digital Europe Initiative are:
Digital and Web Literacy Deep-Dive
May 2013
StartUp Europe – a collaboration between the Lisbon Council and Telefónica – hosted a Deep-Dive on Digital and Web Literacy. Organised in partnership with Mozilla Foundation, the roundtable highlighted the need not only to advance digital skills as a way to respond to the unemployment crisis among Europe’s young but also to give citizens the tools they need to become active participants on the web. Mark Surman, executive director of Mozilla Foundation, delivered a forceful keynote in which he explained how the open nature of the Internet needs digitally-savvy participants who can actively shape its content. Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefónica UK; Ann Mettler, executive director of the Lisbon Council; and Isidro Laso Ballesteros, Startup Europe team leader at the communications networks, content and technology directorate of the European Commission, explained how StartUp Europe can drive entrepreneurship and innovation. Lewie Allen, code DJ at Freeformers (an organisation that helps people to make digital ideas happen); Nils Fonstad, associate director of e-Labs at Insead; Glenn Manoff, director for social business and sustainability at Telefónica; and Xavier Prats-Monné, deputy director-general for education at the education and culture directorate of the European Commission; discussed the skills needed in the 21st century. In another session, Gi Fernando, founder of Freeformers; Peter “HP” Halácsy, chief technology officer and co-founder of Prezi; Kieron Kirkland, development research manager at Nominet Trust (an organisation that believes in the power of digital technology to improve lives and communities); Lucilla Sioli, head of unit for knowledge base at the communications networks, content and technology directorate of the European Commission; and Kathleen Stokes, lead policy adviser for digital education at Nesta, discussed the economics of digital literacy.
Watch Mark Surman's Interview
View Mark Surman’s Presentation
Intellectual Property and Innovation Summit
September 2012
The 2012 Intellectual Property and Innovation Summit convened under the timely theme of Intellectual Property and Innovation: A Framework for 21st Century Growth and Jobs. Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission in charge of the digital agenda, kicked-off the Summit with a passionate keynote on Innovation in Creative Industries. Ian Hargreaves, professor of digital economy at Cardiff University and author of the high-level Digital Opportunity report prepared for UK Prime Minister David Cameron, formally presented Intellectual Property and Innovation: A Framework for 21st Century Growth and Jobs, a new Lisbon Council publication, co-edited by Prof. Hargreaves. Lilian Edwards, professor of Internet law, Strathclyde University in Glasgow; Reto Hilty, professor of intellectual property law, University of Zurich and director, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law; Bernt Hugenholtz, professor of intellectual property, Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam; Paul Klimpel, former managing director, Deutsche Kinemathek; Till Kreutzer, associate research fellow, Hans Bredow Institute and founding member and editor, iRights.info; Cédric Manara, associate professor of law, EDHEC Business School; Nico Perez, co-founder, Mixcloud.com; and Michel Vivant, full professor and academic director, intellectual property programme of the master’s in Droit economique, Sciences Po, joined the discussion and provided strategic recommendations on how to enhance the intellectual property regime for the digital age.
Watch Vice-President Neelie Kroes's Keynote on Lisbon Council TV
Watch Interview with Prof. Ian Hargreaves
Download Vice-President Neelie Kroes' Keynote
Download Lilian Edwards' Presentation
Download Bernt Hugenholtz' Presentation
Download Intellectual Property and Innovation
High-Level Roundtable on SMEs and Technology
April 2012
The Single Market Entrepreneurs (SME) Centre, a new centre of excellence housed within the Lisbon Council, convened the first High-Level Roundtable on Growth and Innovation under the timely theme: How Digital Technologies are Reshaping Traditional Business Models and Empowering Entrepreneurs. Anthony D. Williams, senior fellow for innovation, presented his latest policy brief – co-authored with Ann Mettler, executive director – entitled Wired for Growth and Innovation: How Digital Technologies are Reshaping Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses. Bart Becks, co-founder and CEO of SonicAngel, a Belgian crowdfunding start-up; Julien Blanchez, Getting Business Online Campaign lead at Google; Fotis Antonopoulos, founder of OliveShop.com in Greece; Joanna Drake, director for SMEs and entrepreneurship at the European Commission’s enterprise and industry directorate-general; Peter Leyenaar, management team member for regulatory reform and ICT policy at the enterprise and innovation directorate of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation; and Taylor Reynolds, senior economist for information economy in the directorate for science, technology and industry at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) followed with timely interventions. For more information, visit http://singlemarketentrepreneus.eu.
Download Wired for Growth and Innovation
View Anthony D. Williams’ Presentation
View Taylor Reynolds’ Presentation
View Bart Becks’ Presentation
View Julien Blanchez' Presentation
View Fotis Antonopoulos' Presentation
View Peter Leyenaar's Presentation
View Photos of the High-Level Roundtable on the Lisbon Council flick Photostream
The 2011 Digital Agenda Summit: New Sources of Growth and Innovation
October 2011
The 2011 Digital Agenda Summit convened under the timely theme of New Sources of Growth and Innovation. Delivering The 2011 Guglielmo Marconi Lecture, the Lisbon Council’s annual flagship lecture on innovation, Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission and commissioner for the Digital Agenda, vowed to encourage the development and deepening of Europe’s digital economy in the coming decade. Prof. Nigel Shadbolt, chair of midata, described this new UK policy initiative which allows consumers to access, control and use data currently held about them; Alexander Alvaro, vice-chair of the committee on budgets and member of the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs at the European Parliament, and Peter Hustinx, European data protection supervisor, discussed the dilemma regulators face as they grapple with the challenges of an entirely new industry; Matthew Key, chairman and CEO of Telefónica Digital, and Hervé le Jouan, founder and CEO of Privowny, France, explored the potential of the Digital Agenda from a company perspective. And Taylor Reynolds, senior economist for information economy at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), discussed the economics of personal data.
Watch What the World Will Look Like in 2020 Video on the Lisbon Council's YouTube Channel
View Photos of The 2011 Digital Agenda Summit on the Lisbon Council's flickr Photostream
Watch Vice-President Kroes' Lecture
Download Vice-President Kroes’ Speech
Download Taylor Reynolds’ Presentation
Download Nigel Shadbolt's Presentation
Digital Opportunity for Europe
July 2011
The Lisbon Council convened a policy briefing on How the Intellectual Property Framework Supports Innovation and Growth. The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Ian Hargreaves, who presented the main findings of Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth. The report – commissioned by UK Prime Minister David Cameron – suggests that a more contemporary intellectual property regime could serve as an important tool for stimulating innovation and growth. Prof. Hargreaves’ views were complemented by interventions from, inter alia, Margot Fröhlinger, director for intellectual property at European Commission’s DG internal market and services; Malcolm Harbour, chair of the committee on internal market and consumer protection at the European Parliament; Ed Quilty, director for copyright and IP enforcement at the Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom and Simon Hampton, director for European public policy at Google.
Download Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth
Unleashing the Digital Single Market by an Ambitious EU Justice Policy
September 2010
Vivane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission and commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship vowed to use EU justice policy to strengthen the single digital market and announced that she will make a proposal to revise the current Data Protection Directive in October. Her address was preceded by a panel discussion, on Creating Trust and Confidence on the Digital Single Market through Citizen Empowerment, Transparency and Monitoring Mechanism. Lena Ek, member of the committee on industry, research and energy and member of the bureau at the European Parliament; Peter Hustinx, European data protection supervisor; Matthew Key, chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe and Mario Monti, president of the Bocconi University and author of the report on the single market commissioned by President Barroso, presented a comprehensive overview of the state of play on the Digital Single Market.
Download Vice-President Reding's Speech
Watch a Summary of Discussion and Debate at Digital Confidence Initiative
Watch Vice-President Reding's remarks on the Digital Single Market in full
View Photos of the Digital Confidence Initiative on the Lisbon Council flickr Photostream
Digital Europe: Europe's Fast Track to Economic Recovery
July 2009
Viviane Reding, European commissioner for telecommunications and media, delivered The 2009 Ludwig Erhard Lecture, the Lisbon Council's flagship event on economic modernisation. In her landmark address, Commissioner Reding shared her thoughts about forthcoming initiatives on the digital dividend, high-speed broadband Internet, intellectual property rights in the digital age, and m-commerce. She also discussed the broader picture of the challenges the European Commission will need to meet in the next five years; and in particular the role she would like consumers to take in the evolving single market online.
Watch Commissioner Reding's remarks in full
Download Commissioner Reding's Speech
Future of the Internet: How the Obama Generation will Change the World
February 2009
How the Obama Generation will Change the World With more than 1.2 billion users worldwide, the Internet has become as ubiquitous as air, as widely employed as the sidewalk. And yet, a host of important issues still lay ahead for the revolutionary technology that gives citizens unprecedented access to information and knowledge, and empowers people across the globe by making their voices heard. First and foremost, how will society change as the technology becomes more widespread? What will Web 3.0 look like? And how will today’s under 30’s – representatives of the first generation to grow up immersed in digital technology – use the Internet to write their own version of democracy and society? These questions will be addressed by top thought leaders and policy makers, such as Don Tapscott, author of bestselling books Grown up Digital and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, and Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media.
Download Commissioner Reding's remarks
Creativity and Enterpreneurship: Empowering a Workforce for the 21st Century
November 2008
An innovative, skilled workforce is the key driver for an ever growing number of companies. Perhaps more than any other company, Google has internalised the importance of empowering employees to be creative and entrepreneurial. But how does this work in practice? How do you create an environment for entrepreneurial engineers that leads to disruptive innovation and experimentation? How do you create porous borders so that an innovative community can flourish outside of the company? Nelson Mattos, vice president, engineering of Google provided a unique insight into an organisation operating at the leading-edge of innovation and creativity. Anneli Pauli, deputy director-general at DG Research, European Commission, provided a policy perspective and explained how the European Research Area (ERA) can help foster more innovation in companies in general and the workforce in particular.
Read blog entry on this Zukunftssalon: Forum for the Future
The 2008 New Leaders for Lisbon Congress
September 2008
Our New Leaders for Lisbon network, a group of progressive thinkers from across Europe, convened in Brussels for its annual brainstorming session. Participants from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, discussed issues ranging from innovation and creativity to the future of Europe’s growth and jobs agenda.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Day
November 2007
In November 2007, the Lisbon Council convened the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Day. We welcomed entrepreneurs from 14 countries across Europe. Among the highlights of this unique gathering was The 2007 Guglielmo Marconi Lecture, the Lisbon Council’s flagship event on innovation. The Lecture was delivered by Don Tapscott, chief executive officer of Canada-based think tank New Paradigm and author of the bestseller Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. Lessons for your Business from Web 2.0. In addition, Charlie McCreevy, EU commissioner for the internal market, gave a keynote address, and Francis Carpenter, chief executive officer of the European Investment Fund, led a session on Financing for Innovation and Growth.
Watch video summary on YouTube
Women in the Knowledge and Service Economy
September 2007
In a Wall Street Journal Europe editorial, Ann Mettler explains why women thrive in the modern, service- and knowledge-based economy. While discrimination still exists in many sectors, women are poised to exercise more political and economic power in the years ahead.
Download the editorial
Zukunftssalon: Skills for the Future
November 2006
Zukunftssalon: Forum for the Future is a network for progressive, future-oriented individuals from the EU institutions, as well as business, academia and civil society. Hosted by Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, MEP and rapporteur of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), the first Zukunftssalon focused on Skills of the Future. Speakers included Mark Spelman, chief European strategist at Accenture and Ester Basri, skills and migration expert at the OECD.
Lisbon Council organises conference on Knowledge Economy together with ING Group and the OECD
February 2006
Together with ING Group and the OECD, a seminar on Globalisation and the Economics of Knowledge was convened at ING House in Amsterdam. The programme had three main focuses -- globalisation and demography, education and social inclusion, and creativity and innovation – which were introduced by internationally renowned experts, Hans Rosling, professor of international health, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Berglind Asgeirsdottir, deputy secretary-general of the OECD, and Emilio Fontela, dean of the faculty of law, economics and business, Antonio de Nebrija University in Madrid.
