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Event Recap January 13, 2021

Event recap | AI, China, and the global quest for digital sovereignty – Report launch

By GeoTech Center

Find the full GeoTech Hour Series here.

Event description

Over the past year and half, experts from the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center organized meetings in ParisBrussels, and Berlin; traveled to Beijing and Shanghai; and held virtual conferences with Indian and African experts, all to find answers to one question: how can countries successfully collaborate on data, AI, and other modern technologies amid the widening geopolitical gyre?

The resultant report Smart Partnerships amid Great Power Competition” captures key takeaways from the conversations, identifies the challenges and opportunities that different regions of the world face when dealing with emerging technologies, and evaluates China’s role as a global citizen. In times of economic decoupling and growing geopolitical bipolarity, it highlights opportunities for smart partnerships, describes how data and AI applications can be harnessed for good, and develops future scenarios, forecasting where an AI-powered world might be headed. Given the experimental nature of emerging technologies, it will come as no surprise that the emphasis of the report is thereby on the need for regulatory cooperation, even as AI development has become the next playing field for great power competition.

Join us for a conversation about AI, China, and the global quest for digital sovereignty as previous roundtable participants discuss regional specifics and the report authors’ alternative futures for global technology cooperation.

Opening remarks by

David Bray, PhD
Director, GeoTech Center
Atlantic Council

Kevin O’Neil, PhD
DirectorData and Technology
The Rockefeller Foundation

Report summary by

Matthew Burrows, PhD
Director, Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Atlantic Council

Julian Mueller-Kaler
Resident Fellow, GeoTech Center and Foresight, Strategy, and Risks InitiativeScowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Atlantic Council

Featuring

Luis Viegas Cardoso
Digital, Technology, and Innovation Advisor to the Presidency of Ursula von der Leyen, I.D.E.A. Advisory Service
European Commission

Eniola Mafe
Lead, 2030 Vision, Technology and Sustainable Development
World Economic Forum

Ambassador Latha Reddy
Co-Chair
Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace

Kaan Sahin
Research Fellow for Technology and Foreign Policy, German Council on Foreign Relations; Strategic Advisor for Cyber Diplomacy and the EU Presidency, Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office of) Germany

Hosted by

Edward Luce
US National Editor and Columnist
Financial Times

Previous episode

Event Recap

Jan 6, 2021

Event recap | Tech and data recommendations for the new administration

By GeoTech Center

In this episode of the GeoTech Hour, hosted Wednesday, January 6, from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. EST, panelists make recommendations on how the new administration can prioritize data and tech applications.

Digital Policy Technology & Innovation

The GeoTech Center champions positive paths forward that societies can pursue to ensure new technologies and data empower people, prosperity, and peace.

Related Experts: David Bray, Mathew Burrows, and Julian Mueller-Kaler