After the U.S. elections, protecting vital democratic processes from nation state-led cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns is on everyone’s mind. Governments, companies, non-profits and others worldwide have a critical part to play in addressing disinformation and election interference broadly.
These challenging times highlight the importance of ensuring that people can trust the information they see online. With the European Democracy Action Plan publication, the EU is taking the lead in setting standards for a safer and trustworthy online environment, safeguarding our fundamental values in an increasingly complex online environment.
Microsoft invites you to join us in a discussion on the opportunities and challenges regarding the implementation of one of the main pillars of the Action Plan – countering disinformation.
15:00 – 15:05
Introduction by Casper Klynge, Vice-President, European Government Affairs, Microsoft
15:05 – 15:15
Keynote by Morten Løkkegaard, MEP, INGE Vice-Chair of the INGE Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation
Irena Bednarich, Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa , HPE Irena Bednarich is the Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. In this role, she leads HPE’s government relations and public policy team in the region and supports key public sector pursuits across EMEA.
Irena has wide-ranging experience in representing the tech sector at the European level; she currently holds several industry leadership roles including serving in her second term on the Board of DIGITALEUROPE, the EU-wide representation body for the digital and technology sectors.
After 14 years in Brussels, Irena has recently relocated to Dubai, UAE, to drive stronger alignment with the business in an important growth region. Irena is fluent in Italian, Slovenian, French, English and German and has working knowledge of Spanish.
Irena Bednarich
EMEA Director, Corporate Affairs, HPE
15:15 – 16:00
Code of Practice on disinformation – best practices and the way forward
Khalil Rouhana, Deputy Director General, DG CONNECT, European Commission Khalil Rouhana is the Deputy Director-General in DG CONNECT (Communications Networks, Content & Technology) since 1/12/2016. His responsibilities include the policies for digital economy and society and notably for research, innovation and industrial strategies, digital solutions for societal challenges and governments as well as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Before that he was Director for Digital Industry in DG CONNECT supporting the competitiveness of core digital sectors in Europe and the digitisation of all industrial sectors of the economy.
In his previous experiences in the Commission, he was the Director for Digital content & Cognitive systems, the Head of Unit in charge of ICT research and Innovation strategy, and started as a project officer in the ESPRIT programme in the areas of High Performance Computing and Future and Emerging technologies.
Before joining the Commission in 1992, he was for 5 years the director of an institute and school of engineering (Grande Ecole) in France. He started his career as research and development engineer for the aeronautics industry, worked for the French University in Beirut and created also his own engineering company. He has a master degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité (Supelec, France).
Khalil Rouhana
Deputy Director General, DG CONNECT, European Commission
16:00 – 16:15
Enhancing user awareness – Promising steps forward on identifying deep fakes
Presentation of Project Origin by Ashish Jaiman, Director of Technology Operations, Microsoft
16:15 – 16:25
Q&A
16:25 – 16:30
Conclusion
Prof. Dr. Boris Otto, Gaia-X Board of Directors Prof. Dr. Boris Otto holds the Chair for Industrial Information Management at TU Dortmund University and is the Executive Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST in Dortmund. He received his doctorate degree from the University of Stuttgart and his post-doctoral qualification (“habilitation”) from the University of St. Gallen. His research focuses on industrial information management, corporate data management and business networks and ecosystems. He is Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the International Data Spaces (IDS) Association.
Prof. Dr. Boris Otto
Member of the Interim Management Team and acting Interim CTO of the GAIA-X AISBL (under incorporation)
Morten Løkkegaard, MEP & Vice Chair of INGE Committee, European Parliament MEP & Vice Chair of INGE Committee
European Parliament
Krisztina Stump, Head of Unit, Media Convergence and Social Media, DG CNECT, European Commission Krisztina Stump is Head of the Media Convergence and Social Media Unit, in Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission.
The Unit is in charge of social media policy as well as research and innovation funding to address the challenges brought by media convergence and social media, and to foster technological developments to allow for new types of media services and user experience. The Unit is also responsible for the Commission’s policy on combatting disinformation online. This work entails close collaboration with the main social media actors, as well as European media providers and fact checking professionals. The unit fostered the development of ‘The Code of Practice on disinformation: social media and platforms accountability’ in 2018.
Krisztina Stump holds Master of Laws degrees, with a focus on Media Law from Columbia Law School (2010) and from Humboldt University (2003). She graduated in Law from the ELTE University in Budapest in 2001 and obtained there later also a Master’s in Communication and Media Studies. She joined the European Commission in 2011. Formerly, from 2005 until 2010, she was working at the Research Department of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Her experience prior to joining the EU Institutions includes work at the legal department of the Hungarian Radio and Television Commission, the legal department of MTM-SBS Television and at the Andrási Law Firm in Budapest”.
Head of Unit, Media Convergence and Social Media, DG CNECT
European Commission
Casper Klynge, Vice President, European Government Affairs, Microsoft Since March 2020, Casper Klynge is Microsoft’s Vice President for European Government Affairs with the responsibility for all of Microsoft’s governmental affairs and public policy work across the continent. Casper leads a team of government affairs professionals based in Brussels and across Europe tasked with strengthening relations with the EU institutions as well as European governments to ensure Microsoft is a constructive partner in supporting policy makers in Brussels and European capitals achieve their goals. Casper reports directly to president Brad Smith and serves on the senior leadership team of Microsoft’s Corporate, External and Legal Affairs group.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Casper had a long career in the public sector serving most recently as Denmark’s (& the world’s first) Ambassador to the global tech industry (2017-2020) heading a diplomatic representation based in Silicon Valley and with staff in Copenhagen and Beijing. Before leading Denmark’s ‘TechPlomacy’-initiative, Casper served as Ambassador to Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea & ASEAN (2014-2017) and to the Republic of Cyprus (2013-2014). In 2010-2011, Casper was the Deputy Head of NATO’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. From 2003, he worked out of Brussels in various positions under the European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, followed by an appointment as Head of Mission of the EU’s civilian crisis management planning mission in Kosovo (2006-2008).
Casper holds a M.Sc. in Political Science supplemented by executive education from Stanford University. He is a 2009 Marshall Memorial Fellow and was in 2018 named among the World’s 100 most influential people in digital government. Casper is married and the father of two sons.
Vice President, European Government Affairs
Microsoft
Ashish Jaiman, Director of Technology Operations, Microsoft Ashish Jaiman is a hands-on technologist and innovator currently serving as the Director of Technology and Operations for the Customer Security and Trust organization at Microsoft. Dedicated to building impactful technology for a purpose, Ashish now spearheads technology and operations for the Defending Democracy program. He works at the cross-section of AI and Cybersecurity, focuses on helping customers to improve their cybersecurity resiliency and building innovative solutions to combat disinformation and deepfakes.
https://ashishjaiman.medium.com
Director of Technology Operations
Microsoft
Ľuboš Kukliš, Council Representative, ERGA Ľuboš Kukliš is a chief executive at the Slovak Media Authority.
In 2018 and 2019, he was Chair of European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) and currently leads its work on disinformation.
He frequently speaks at public events and cooperates with various international institutions on possible solutions to problems such as the spread of disinformation and regulatory solutions in the digital environment.
He holds a PhD in administrative law.
Council Representative
ERGA
Eliska Pirkova, Europe Policy Officer, Access Now Eliška Pírková works as Europe Policy Analyst at Access Now, international civil society organisation that defends and extends digital rights of online users at risk. At Access Now, she leads European work on content governance and the protection of freedom of expression online, including the EU Digital Services Act package and European Democracy Action Plan, among others. She is a human rights lawyer by education and training, with previous experience working for international organisations and as a legal researcher. She is a member of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech, nominated by the Council of Europe as an independent expert.
Europe Policy Officer
Access Now
Romain Digneaux, Policy Officer, DOT Europe Policy Officer
DOT Europe
Kristine Berzina, Senior Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy, The German Marshall Fund of the United States Kristine Berzina is a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy in GMF’s Brussels office where she works on building transatlantic cooperation to counter authoritarian interference in democracies. In this role she focuses on U.S.–EU relations, NATO, digital technology, disinformation, and energy topics. Berzina appears frequently in international media, including The Financial Times, the BBC, NPR, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining GMF, Berzina worked on energy security, transatlantic cooperation, and climate change and security in Berlin, Germany and in Washington, DC. A native of Latvia, Berzina grew up in the United States. She received her master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge and her bachelor’s in political science and history from Yale University. Berzina is a native speaker of English and Latvian, has worked in German, and has a basic knowledge of Russian and French.
Senior Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
This event is complimentary to attend.
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