12.30   

Welcome and registration of participants

13.00

Lunch DEBATE

Strengthening Europe’s internet economy is now a top priority for EU policymakers, with a new Regulation covering data protection due to be presented by Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding in early 2012. But how can the new rules on data protection help to reaffirm the internal market dimension of personal data and allow Europe’s businesses to tap into the efficiencies of technological developments such as cloud computing while sidestepping possible legal pitfalls?

Small businesses account for almost two-thirds of all private sector employment in Europe, but their productivity and therefore profitability is about half that of larger corporations. How should the EU be constructing its latest attempt to balance data privacy against commercial efficiency, and what importance should be given to its “soft power” attempt to impose its rules internationally? Will it provide an opportunity for Europe to develop its own cloud computing centres?

14.00

End of debate and networking coffee