Transatlantic Summit 2022
© Photo Credit: Barak Shrama
In November, the DWIH San Francisco team attended the “Transatlantic Summit: Sovereignty vs. Cooperation in the Digital Era” event at Stanford University. The event was hosted by GACC West – Representative of German Business, Stanford German Student Association, Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and the Consulate General of Germany in San Francisco.
During the many panels and moderated discussions, we learned a lot about critical infrastructures, semiconductors and the role of digital regulations on geopolitics. This forum brought together influential figures in academia, industry, and foreign policy, who offered their insights on geopolitics, digital platforms and emerging tech as well as digital sovereignty.
Some of the key findings were:
Data Science education is crucial:
Governments should boost data-science education as early as high school so the next generation understands the world of data better and can develop new solutions.
Digital Sovereignty means collaboration:
We need an open-source strategy that promotes collaboration.
Decreasing dependence on China:
It is important to make sure that smaller companies can still maintain their collaborative innovation ties with their Chinese partners.
Establish sandboxes:
It is important to foster transatlantic regulatory collaboration where entrepreneurs work together with regulators to find out how their solutions can be deployed safely.
Thinking about blindspots in AI:
This can help to come up with outside-of-the-box solutions that don’t only fulfill a business need but solve human problems.
Managing misinformation:
We won’t be able to eradicate misinformation or disinformation entirely but we can try to manage it by starting with targeting algorithmic up-ranking and down-ranking.
The conference in a nutshell:
- Created a vibrant forum for a dialogue between the US and Europe in Silicon Valley about the impact of digital technologies on business and society
- Built a strong network for German-American collaboration in digital innovation, business, and geopolitics
- Excited, connected and inspired: Participants met the movers and shakers of the digital future from business, academia, and politics
