Competition Economics: Prof Renato Nazzini Leads High-Level Working Dinner

A high-powered and eclectic group of senior policymakers, NGOs, mobile-networks afficionados and digital-economy experts convened for the High-Level Working Dinner with Prof Renato Nazzini. Renowned King’s College Professor Renato Nazzini kicked off the discussion with an advance look at Rethinking Tying under European Union Competition Law: From Classic Leveraging to Android, a forthcoming ISSN publication. Member of the European Parliament Tibor Szanyi (S&D, Hungary), the rapporteur on the European Parliament Annual Report on Competition Policy 2016, weighed in, discussing the intellectual challenges of defining markets ensuring a level playing field in the digital era. Sylwia Giepmans-Stępień, senior analyst public policy and government relations at Google; Thibaut Kleiner, deputy head of cabinet of European Commissioner Günther Oettinger; Michal Mottl, economic data analyst for eCommerce and platforms at the European Commission’s directorate-general for communications networks, content and technology; Michael Quigley, Europe director at the Progressive Policy Institute; Agustín Reyna, digital team leader at the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC); Alexandre de Streel, EU law professor at the University of Namur and director of the Research Centre for Information Law and Society (CRIDS); and James Waterworth, vice-president Europe at the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), also joined, discussing their on-the-ground experience with competition law and the fast-changing digital economy. The session was the second working dinner hosted by the Lisbon Council under the new Competition Economics initiative. The work stream explores the intersection of competition policy with the digital economy, looking to bring dynamic theory together with real-world experience in a high-level, stakeholder-driven community.