Skip to content
CERRE think tank Logo
  • About us
    • About CERRE
    • Our team
    • Board of Directors
    • Careers
    • Transparency & Independence
    • FAQs
  • Areas of expertise
    • Energy, Mobility & Sustainability
    • Tech, Media, and Telecommunications
    • Cross-sector
  • Publications
    • Ambitions for EU 2024 – 2029
    • Global Governance for the Digital Ecosystems
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Past events
  • Blogposts
  • Insights
  • Media Room
    • Press Releases
    • Press Coverage
  • Membership
    • Our members
    • Become a member
  • Contact
  • About us
    • About CERRE
    • Our team
    • Board of Directors
    • Careers
    • Transparency & Independence
    • FAQs
  • Areas of expertise
    • Energy, Mobility & Sustainability
    • Tech, Media, and Telecommunications
    • Cross-sector
  • Publications
    • Ambitions for EU 2024 – 2029
    • Global Governance for the Digital Ecosystems
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Past events
  • Blogposts
  • Insights
  • Media Room
    • Press Releases
    • Press Coverage
  • Membership
    • Our members
    • Become a member
  • Contact
Filter by Sectors





Event
Public event
#Tech, Media, Telecom

Foundational Technologies: Enhancing Innovation and Competition in Europe

4 June 2024
16:30
- 18:15
About
Programme
Speakers
Media
Gallery

About

The current EU legislative mandate is reaching its conclusion. It has significantly expanded the EU digital acquis, addressing pivotal areas such as artificial intelligence, data, and cloud. As the focus shifts to implementation, regulators face a crucial question: within an environment increasingly driven by economic security concerns, how to responsibly incentivise the innovative development of foundational technologies in Europe while ensuring the contestability and competitiveness of EU digital markets? 

To address this and other related topical questions, and building on its “Foundational Technologies Governance Summit” of last February, CERRE is pleased to announce a special event to take place in Brussels on Tuesday 4 June at 16:30 CEST.

This will feature a fireside chat between Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, and Bruno Liebhaberg, Executive Chairman of CERRE, to be followed with a broader discussion also involving Olivier Guersent, Director General of the European Commission DG Competition, Benoît Cœuré, President of the French Autorité de la Concurrence and Prof. Viktoria Robertson, Head of the Competition Law and Digitalization Group, WU Vienna. 

 

The recording is available on CERRE’s YouTube channel.

Programme

16:30
16:55

Registration (participants advised to arrive early)

16:55
18:15

Start of the event

18:15
19:30

Networking and Cocktail Reception

Speakers

Brad Smith
Brad Smith
Vice Chair and President
Microsoft

As Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith is responsible for spearheading the company’s work and representing it publicly on a wide variety of critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, environmental sustainability, human rights, digital safety, immigration, philanthropy, and products and business for non-profit customers. He leads a team of roughly 2,000 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals located in 54 countries and operating in more than 120 nations.

In Smith’s bestselling book, coauthored with Microsoft’s Carol Ann Browne, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, he urges the tech sector to assume more responsibility and calls for governments to move faster to address the challenges that new technologies are creating. In his podcast by the same name, Smith and his guests expand on the themes in the book, exploring potential solutions to the digital issues shaping the world today. The New York Times has called Smith “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large” and The Australian Financial Review has described him as “one of the technology industry’s most respected figures.” He has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and other governments on these key policy issues.

Smith joined Microsoft in 1993, first spending three years in Paris leading the legal and corporate affairs team in Europe. In 2002, he was named Microsoft’s general counsel and spent the following decade leading work to resolve the company’s antitrust controversies with governments around the world and companies across the tech sector. Over the past decade, Smith has spearheaded the company’s work to advance privacy protection for Microsoft customers and the rights of DREAMers and other immigrants, including bringing multiple lawsuits against the U.S. government on these issues.

As Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith is responsible for spearheading the company’s work and representing it publicly on a wide variety of critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, environmental sustainability, human rights, digital safety, immigration, philanthropy, and products and business for non-profit customers. He leads a team of roughly 2,000 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals located in 54 countries and operating in more than 120 nations.

In Smith’s bestselling book, coauthored with Microsoft’s Carol Ann Browne, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, he urges the tech sector to assume more responsibility and calls for governments to move faster to address the challenges that new technologies are creating. In his podcast by the same name, Smith and his guests expand on the themes in the book, exploring potential solutions to the digital issues shaping the world today. The New York Times has called Smith “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large” and The Australian Financial Review has described him as “one of the technology industry’s most respected figures.” He has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and other governments on these key policy issues.

Smith joined Microsoft in 1993, first spending three years in Paris leading the legal and corporate affairs team in Europe. In 2002, he was named Microsoft’s general counsel and spent the following decade leading work to resolve the company’s antitrust controversies with governments around the world and companies across the tech sector. Over the past decade, Smith has spearheaded the company’s work to advance privacy protection for Microsoft customers and the rights of DREAMers and other immigrants, including bringing multiple lawsuits against the U.S. government on these issues.

Portrait de Benoit Coeure, president de L'autorite de la concurrence
Benoît Coeuré
President
Autorité de la Concurrence

Benoît Coeuré is President of the Autorité de la concurrence since January 2022. He is a graduate of the Ecole polytechnique and the Ensae, Benoît Coeuré also holds a Master of Advanced Studies in economic analysis and policy and a degree in Japanese. He started his career at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies before joining the Directorate General of the Treasury as economic advisor to the Director. Deputy Director General of the Treasury between 2009 and 2011, he lead the foreign trade support policy and general reflection on France’s economic policy as Chief Economist. As a member of the Executive Board and of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank from 2012 to 2018, he was responsible for market transactions, market infrastructures supervision and European and International relations. He chaired the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures of the Bank for International Settlements for six years where he focused on the digitisation of payment systems, the rise of crypto assets and the emergence of tech giants in financial services. In 2019, Benoît Coeuré took over as head of the innovation division of the Bank for International Settlements.

Benoît Coeuré is President of the Autorité de la concurrence since January 2022. He is a graduate of the Ecole polytechnique and the Ensae, Benoît Coeuré also holds a Master of Advanced Studies in economic analysis and policy and a degree in Japanese. He started his career at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies before joining the Directorate General of the Treasury as economic advisor to the Director. Deputy Director General of the Treasury between 2009 and 2011, he lead the foreign trade support policy and general reflection on France’s economic policy as Chief Economist. As a member of the Executive Board and of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank from 2012 to 2018, he was responsible for market transactions, market infrastructures supervision and European and International relations. He chaired the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures of the Bank for International Settlements for six years where he focused on the digitisation of payment systems, the rise of crypto assets and the emergence of tech giants in financial services. In 2019, Benoît Coeuré took over as head of the innovation division of the Bank for International Settlements.

Olivier Guersent2
Olivier Guersent
Director General
Directorate-General for Competition
European Commission

Olivier Guersent graduated with distinction from the “Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux” in 1983. He joined the French Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1984, where he carried out many investigations for the French Competition Authority.

He joined the European Commission in 1992, initially with the “Merger Task Force” in the Directorate-General for Competition. Since then, he has alternated between the private offices of a number of European Commissioners (Karel Van Miert, Michel Barnier and Neelie
Kroes) and DG Competition (successively Deputy Head of Unit in charge of cartels, Head of Unit in charge of policy and coordination of cases, Head of Unit in charge of merger control, Acting Director “Transport, postal and other services” and, from 2009, Director responsible
for the fight against cartels). From 2010 to 2014 he was the head of the private office of Michel Barnier, Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. Having held the position of Deputy Director-General since July 2014, Olivier Guersent has been Director-General of the
Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union from 1 September 2015 to 31 December 2019. As of 1st January 2020 he is the Director General of the Directorate General for Competition.

Olivier Guersent graduated with distinction from the “Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux” in 1983. He joined the French Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1984, where he carried out many investigations for the French Competition Authority.

He joined the European Commission in 1992, initially with the “Merger Task Force” in the Directorate-General for Competition. Since then, he has alternated between the private offices of a number of European Commissioners (Karel Van Miert, Michel Barnier and Neelie
Kroes) and DG Competition (successively Deputy Head of Unit in charge of cartels, Head of Unit in charge of policy and coordination of cases, Head of Unit in charge of merger control, Acting Director “Transport, postal and other services” and, from 2009, Director responsible
for the fight against cartels). From 2010 to 2014 he was the head of the private office of Michel Barnier, Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. Having held the position of Deputy Director-General since July 2014, Olivier Guersent has been Director-General of the
Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union from 1 September 2015 to 31 December 2019. As of 1st January 2020 he is the Director General of the Directorate General for Competition.

Viktoria Robertson
Viktoria Robertson
Professor and Head of the Competition Law and Digitalization Group
WU Vienna

Viktoria H.S.E. Robertson is a Professor of Competition Law and Digitalization at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, as well as the Director of The Competition Law Hub. She holds a law diploma and a doctorate from Graz University and an MJur from Oxford University. She is a member of the European Law Institute and the Academic Society for Competition Law. Her current research interests include digital merger control, computational antitrust, democracy and competition law as well as sustainability concerns within competition law. She is the author of Competition Law’s Innovation Factor (2020) and Competition Law – Austria (2021), and in 2022 authored an Expert Report on Digital Mergers for the European Commission.

Viktoria H.S.E. Robertson is a Professor of Competition Law and Digitalization at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, as well as the Director of The Competition Law Hub. She holds a law diploma and a doctorate from Graz University and an MJur from Oxford University. She is a member of the European Law Institute and the Academic Society for Competition Law. Her current research interests include digital merger control, computational antitrust, democracy and competition law as well as sustainability concerns within competition law. She is the author of Competition Law’s Innovation Factor (2020) and Competition Law – Austria (2021), and in 2022 authored an Expert Report on Digital Mergers for the European Commission.

Bruno Liebhaberg (Website)
Bruno Liebhaberg
Executive Chairman¹ ²

Bruno Liebhaberg is Executive Chairman of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) which he founded in 2010.

From 2018 to 2021, he was also the first Chairman of the European Union Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM ULB) where he taught from 1979 to 2018. Earlier in his career, he advised former European Commission President Jacques Delors on industry and R&D matters related to the completion of the EU Single Market.

He holds a Master’s in management sciences from SBS-EM ULB and a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

 

¹Also representing B.LIEBHABERG S.A., Director General

²Member of the Strategic Committee

Bruno Liebhaberg is Executive Chairman of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) which he founded in 2010.

From 2018 to 2021, he was also the first Chairman of the European Union Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM ULB) where he taught from 1979 to 2018. Earlier in his career, he advised former European Commission President Jacques Delors on industry and R&D matters related to the completion of the EU Single Market.

He holds a Master’s in management sciences from SBS-EM ULB and a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

 

¹Also representing B.LIEBHABERG S.A., Director General

²Member of the Strategic Committee

Gallery

More events on #Tech, Media, Telecom

3
Jul
2025
AI and the Future of Competition
Public event
Tech, Media, Telecom

Stay informed

Subscribe to our newsletter for our latest updates

Subscribe now

Centre on Regulation in Europe asbl (CERRE)

Avenue Louise, 475 (box 10)
1050 Brussels, Belgium
T.: +32 2 230 83 60
E-mail: info@cerre.eu  

Linkedin-in Youtube Link
  • Copyright CERRE 2010-2025
  • BE 0824446055 RPM Bruxelles
About
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Annual review
  • Careers
  • Transparency & Independence
  • FAQs
Expertise
  • Energy, Mobility & Sustainability
  • Tech, Media, Telecom
  • Cross-sector
More
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Blogposts
  • Insights
  • Privacy & Legals
  • Cookie Policy

Centre on Regulation in Europe asbl (CERRE)

Avenue Louise, 475 (box 10)
B-1050 Brussels – Belgium
T.: +3222308360
E-mail: info@cerre.eu 

BE 0824446055 RPM Bruxelles

Linkedin-in Youtube
About
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Board of directors
  • Annual review
  • Careers
  • Transparency & Independence
  • FAQs
Expertise
  • Energy & Sustainability
  • Tech, Media, Telecom
  • Mobility
  • Cross-sector
More
  • Publications
  • Events
  • News & insights
  • Our members
  • Become a member
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
WhatsApp
Email

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience.

OK
CERRE Privacy Policy