Opening Plenary

20/04/2016, 13h30-14h30

 

This is the Visionary Plenary focusing on how the internet and digital technologies are transforming our world and how we can overcome existing barriers online, to enable citizens to access digital goods and services, internet companies and start-ups to have their horizons expanded, and businesses and governments to fully benefit from digital tools.

This would be an opportunity to explain how the EU is planning to create a connected digital single market and to make Europe a world leader in information and communication technology; how to break down national silos in e.g. telecoms regulation or in the management of radio waves; how to build the framework conditions for protecting citizens online and simplifying consumer rules for online shopping.

Furthermore, it would be an opportunity to show how the mobilisation of public and private investment, for e.g. infrastructures such as broadband networks, promotes digital growth.

In order to do that we will host in this session high-level speakers from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US and the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, who can give the views of the other side of the Atlantic on the same subject.

The session will begin with 10-min keynote presentations by the speakers, followed by a discussion and questions from the audience.

• European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip

• Mats Granryd, Director General GSMA

• Jim Kurose, Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US (presentation)

• Lise Fuhr, Director General of ETNO (presentation)

• Susana Sargento, Professor DETI in University Aveiro, Veniam Co-Founder (presentation)

Moderation: Karen Boers, Director Startups.be

Commissioner Andrus Ansip
Commissioner Andrus AnsipVice-President & Commissioner for Digital Single Market
Mr. Andrus Ansip is the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Single Market.

His main responsibilities are: creating a connected digital single market and making Europe a world leader in information and communication technology; breaking down national silos in telecoms regulation, in copyright and data protection legislation and in the management of radio waves; helping build the framework conditions for protecting citizens online, including fighting against cybercrime; simplifying consumer rules for online shopping; mobilising additional public and private investment for infrastructure such as broadband networks; promoting digital and eGovernment approaches in national and EU administrations; and, supporting the development of cultural and creative industries in Europe.

Before the European Commission, he was member of the European Parliament (2014) and Prime Minister of Estonia (2005-14).

Mats Granryd
Mats GranrydGSMA Director General
Mats Granryd is Director General of the GSMA and a Member of its Board. In this role, he leads the GSMA in supporting its global membership through a range of industry programmes, advocacy initiatives and industry-convening events.

Mats brings to the GSMA a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success in the highly dynamic mobile industry. Before joining the GSMA, Mats was President and CEO of Tele2, one of Europe’s fastest-growing telecom operators with 14 million customers across nine countries.

Previously, he spent 15 years in a variety of roles at Ericsson, most recently as Head of Northern Europe and Central Asia. While at Ericsson, he also led the North West Europe, India, CDMA and North Africa units, as well as the global customer accounts for Vodafone and Bharti. Before joining Ericsson, he was a management consultant in telecom strategies at ARRIGO and Andersen Consulting.

Mats holds a M.Sc. from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Jim Kurose
Jim KuroseAssistant Director, US National Science Foundation, CISE
Jim Kurose is the Assistant Director of the US National Science Foundation, where he leads the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). CISE’s mission is to uphold the nation’s leadership in scientific discovery and engineering innovation through its support of fundamental research in computer and information science and engineering and transformative advances in cyberinfrastructure. Dr. Kurose also serves as co-chair of the Networking and Information Technology R&D Subcommittee of the NSTC, facilitating the coordination of networking and information technology R&D efforts across Federal agencies.

He is on leave from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is Distinguished Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences. Dr. Kurose received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Lise Fuhr
Lise FuhrDirector General of ETNO
Lise is the Director General of ETNO, the Association representing Europe’s leading telecom operators. Prior to that, she was Chief Operating Officer of DK Hostmaster and DIFO, the company managing the .dk domain name. In the period between September 2014 and December 2015 she also chaired the Cross Community Working Group for the IANA Stewardship Transition, building on her strong network within the internet community.
Lise has 10+ years of experience in the telecoms industry. She started her career at the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (1996-2000, where she wrote and implemented regulation for the telecommunication markets. After that, she worked for the telecoms operator Telia Networks (2000-2009), where she led various teams dealing with issues as diverse as interconnection agreements, mobile services and industry cooperation.
Lise is a Danish national.
Susana Sargento
Susana SargentoProfessor DETI in University Aveiro, Veniam Co-Founder
Karen Boers
Karen BoersManaging Director Startups.be
Karen is co-founder and Managing Director of Startups.be. Uniting hundreds of startups with all the incubators, accelerators, investors and public actors in the local ecosystem, Startups.be operates as a one-stop-shop and matchmaker. The impact of the Belgian Startup Manifesto underlines the importance and potential of providing entrepreneurs with a single and strong voice towards policy makers and key decision makers.

With a mixed background in marketing and HR strategy, Karen is and has been heaviliy involved in multi-stakeholder projects and programs, including the Net Futures conferences, the Digital Single Market and the development of the Flemish innovation center iMinds in its first 8 years.