On June 19th, The European Institute, in partnership with Sanofi, convened a meeting of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Innovation and Research in Boston, Massachusetts. Held on the margins of the BIO 2012 Convention, the meeting focused on the challenges facing the sustainability of biomedical research at a time of potent scientific promise and increasingly limited financial resources. Christopher Viehbacher, Chief Executive Officer at Sanofi, opened and moderated the discussion with Dr. Elias Zerhouni, President of Global Research and Development at Sanofi; Dr. Arnd Hoeveler, Head of Unit for Advanced Therapies and Systems Medicine for DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission; Dr. Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, Senior Advisor for Science and Innovation in the Office of the Chief Scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and Robert Wells, Head of the Biotechnology Unit in the Directorate for Science and Technology at the OECD.

On May 22, The European Institute hosted a discussion on European and American approaches to key internet governance issues with Ambassador Philip Verveer, U.S. Coordinator & Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy at the  U.S. Department of State; Beatrice Covassi, Counselor for the  Digital Agenda at the Delegation of the European Union; Carlos López Blanco, Director of the International Office at Telefónica, and Paul Brigner, the Internet Society’s Director for North America. Panelists offered their perspectives on the central challenges facing both public and private sector stakeholders as Europe and the United States prepare for the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai this December. The discussion was moderated by Shane Tews, Vice President for Global Public Policy and Government Relations at VeriSign, Inc.

On May 8, The European Institute, in partnership with the European Parliament, welcomed Dr. Christian Ehler, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the United States, to a breakfast discussion on the challenges and opportunities for greater transatlantic cooperation on cybersecurity. Stressing that cybersecurity has become a priority issue on the European agenda, Dr. Ehler underlined the need to strengthen private-public partnerships to develop and implement coordinated response strategies to the escalating risks of cyber attacks.  Christopher Painter, U.S. Department of State Coordinator for Cyber Issues and John Cosgrove, Deputy Cyber Exercise Lead of SRA International’s Cyber Security and Risk Analytics Division, both presented their perspectives on the future of transatlantic cooperation on this critical front and echoed Dr. Ehler’s call for greater public-private coordination. The discussion was moderated by Andy Purdy, Chief Cybersecurity Strategist for CSC.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has begun to study “the Cloud” as a rising digital technology, viewed by many as the next big frontier in the development of the information age.  ITU involvement could mean stormy weather for the cloud, for both Europeans and Americans. The Americans largely see the cloud as an economic engine, while the Europeans, slow at first to embrace the cloud, now wish to balance its potential with consumer privacy protections.  But the ITU is a global forum, where countries outside of Europe and the U.S. can often impact outcomes--a prospect that is worrisome on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

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On March 21, 2012, The European Institute, in cooperation with the European Parliament's Liaison Office to the U.S. Congress, hosted a delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) led by Vice-President Alexander Alvaro.  Vice-President Alvaro and a panel including Danny Weitzner, Deputy Chief Technology Office for Internet Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Marc Rotenberg, Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; and Christopher Soghoian, an Open Society Foundations Fellow discussed the implications of new data protection and privacy initiatives in both the EU and U.S. and assessed the impact of these initiatives, their dividing lines and the prospects for moving towards more closely aligned privacy policies between the European Union and the United States.  The discussion was moderated by Alan Raul, Partner at Sidley Austin LLP.