Online Symposium: Big Tech, Competition & Innovation in the Digital Economy

The rise of big tech companies has sparked a firestorm of debate and scrutiny, with policymakers worldwide grappling with reining in big tech companies and installing new regulatory guardrails for the digital economy. Regulators in the EU and the U.S. have taken steps to mitigate the (potential or anticipated) harm to competition and innovation posed by these companies by imposing large fines and implementing new regulations. In this context, it becomes highly important to connect insights and debates from law, economics and management to evaluate the impact of big tech companies on competition and their effects on innovation.

This is an exciting opportunity for researchers, academics, and professionals to come together and discuss some of the most pressing issues surrounding big tech and its impact on innovation and competition in the digital economy – register today via this link: https://plamadiso.weizenbaum-institut.de/symposium-on-innovation-and-competition-in-the-digital-economy/

During the first panel of our Symposium on Innovation and Competition in the Digital Economy on 2nd February 2023, 4.00pm to 6.00pm (CET), which is jointly organized and moderated by Prof. Johannes M. Bauer (Director of the Quello Center at Michigan State University) and our own Dr. Volker Stocker (research group "Digital Economy, Internet Ecosystem, and Internet Policy"), three outstanding scholars will engage in a discussion on these topical issues. The panel will present opening positions, engage in a moderated discussion, and conclude with a Q&A session with the audience.

Our speakers will bring together multiple disciplinary and regional perspectives:

• Prof. Annabelle Gawer is the Director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey and a leading academic in the field of platform economics and strategy. Prof. Gawer is widely considered as a thought leader in the context of digital platforms and has advised the European Commission, the UK Parliament House of Lords, and the OECD. She has been an Expert Member of the European Commission’s Observatory of the Online Platform Economy (2018-2021) and regularly consults for major international corporations on platform and ecosystem strategy (more info here).
• Prof. Shane Greenstein is the Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, former co-chair of the HBS Digital Initiative, and former co-director of the program on the economics of digitization at The National Bureau of Economic Research. In his highly influential research, Prof. Greenstein extends from economic measurement and analysis to broader issues, covering topics such as digitalization, computing, communication, and Internet markets. His most recent book, “How the Internet Became Commercial” (2015, Princeton University Press), won the 2016 Schumpeter Prize for best book (more info here).
• Prof. Herbert Hovenkamp is the James G. Dinan University Professor at the Penn Carey Law School and the Wharton School. Prof. Hovenkamp is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2008 won the Justice Department’s John Sherman Award for his lifetime contributions to antitrust law. He is a world-renowned scholar, widely recognized as one of the most influential U.S. antitrust scholars, and has been named the “dean of American antitrust law” by the New York Times (see here). Currently, much of his research focuses on remedies for platform monopoly (more info here).

The event will take place online on 2nd February 2023, 4.00pm to 6.00pm (CET), register now!