There is an interesting webinar on Strategic Autonomy coming up this Wednesday morning, January 27, 2021, from 10:00am – 11:30am (Eastern time), hosted by the International Telecommunications Society.
The year 2020 will be known as the year the Covid pandemic changed our lives and livelihoods. Up to date, more than 60 million people have been infected and 1,4 million people have died. We can expect a wave of bankruptcies, unemployment and a big pile of additional public debt that will have to be shouldered by next generations. And we have seen tremendous disruption of supply chains, further escalation of the conflict between the US and China (and further focus of these rivals on each-other), spectacular growth of the digital economy and a huge push towards a digitalized society.
Strategic autonomy looks at having a sufficient choice of suppliers to avoid dependence on any single company or national supply chain. In addition, the subject examines issues of information and network security and the reliability of suppliers and issues associated with political landscapes.
Are national industrial policies equipped to appropriately assess resilience in supply, cyber security and issues of independence.
This webinar has a Euro-centric focus but appears to raise issues of relevance to those of us in Canada and the United States.
“A year after the pandemic hit, this webinar looks at the background and the fundamental questions involved in the building of the next phase in the digital communication infrastructure that is key to the recovery of the European economy.”
Opening remarks: Professor Erik Bohlin (Chalmers University and member of the ITS Board of Directors)
Moderator: Dr. Georg Serentschy (Serentschy Advisory Services GmbH and ITS Corporate Board Member)Confirmed speakers:
- Thibaut Kleiner, Director Policy Strategy & Outreach, European Commission
- Dr. Paul Timmers, visiting research fellow at Oxford University and former European Commission director. Paul is one of the leading academic experts in the field of strategic autonomy
- Derk Oldenburg, Foreign and EU Digital Policy Expert
- Carmen Gonsalves, Head of international Cyber Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands
- Jonathan Sage, Government and Regulatory Affairs Executive, IBM.
The complete program description is available here [pdf] and registration for the event is free.
I look forward to seeing you online.