Join this fascinating discussion on Thursday 8th May 2025 at 17:30-19:00 (BST) at University College London (UCL) and online on zoom.
About this talk:
Digital sovereignty has become an urgent question in contemporary policy debates, due to the way in which digital platforms have become a crucial instrument of influence and infrastructural power. World regions such Europe, Latin America and China that - compared to China and the US have little domestic capacity in key digital technologies - such as semiconductors, software, cloud services, etc - are now drafting policies to reclaim control over digital technology. These questions have become all the more urgent in front of the evidence of the strong integration between the state and Big Tech in the US under the presidency of Donald Trump, and the way the US is using the global reach of its digital platforms as a geopolitical club. But to what extent are these digital sovereignty agendas realistic given the enormous dominant positions of Big Tech platforms? What should be the priorities for countries to want to begin establishing "strategic autonomy" in this field? What specific indicators, milestones and goals should policy-makers consider as they push for their countries' digital freedom from pervasive foreign political interference and technological dependence? This debate will bring together leading scholars working on digital sovereignty to identify the strategic priorities for governments pushing for a digital independence agenda, and consider the main dilemmas and risks in this area of policy-making.
Meet the panel:
- Speaker: Dr Mohammad Amir Anwar | Senior Lecturer in African Studies and International Development at University of Edinburgh
- Speaker: Dr Carla Bonina | Associate Professor (Reader) in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Surrey
- Speaker: Dr Mathew Cole | Assistant Professor in Technology, Work and Employment at University of Sussex
- Speaker: Prof. Paolo Gerbaudo | Senior Research Fellow in Social Sciences with the Talento Investigador programme of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in the department of Political History, Theories and Geography at the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology of Complutense University in Madrid
- Speaker: Fausto Gernone | PhD student at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)
- Speaker: Assoc Prof. Edemilson Paraná | Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at LUT University
- Speaker: Assoc Prof. Roser Pujadas | Lecturer in Digital Innovation at UCL's Department of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Public Policy (STEaPP)
- Speaker: Dr Cecilia Rikap | Head of Research and Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)
- Speaker: Dr. Ana Valdivia | Lecturer in AI, Government & Policy, Oxford Internet Institute
- Moderator: Mathew Lawrence | Founder and Director of Common Wealth
