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Speakers

Summit 2026 Speakers – Following the Agenda Sequence

Please take into account that this page will be updated regularly. Stay tuned for the latest updates!

Cornelia Ertl

Summit Moderator

Cornelia Ertl has been self-employed in the field of communication and public speaking since 2012 and is now one of the top event moderators in Austria. The Viennese native focuses on German and English-language business events in the areas of business, science, research, new technologies, innovation and sustainability, but her repertoire also includes major events in the Austrian art and culture landscape.
In addition, Cornelia Ertl is the founder of Moderatoren Connection, a platform for moderation services through which she has supported and managed colleagues – both professionals and newcomers – for more than ten years. Clients and event organizers continue to benefit from her expertise and extensive network.

Catherine Jestin

BoD Chairwoman, Gaia-X; Executive Vice President Digital and Information Management, Airbus

Executive Vice President Digital and Information Management at Airbus since 1 July 2021 and member of the Company’s Executive Committee. Catherine has previously held the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Airbus since March 2020. In this role, she drove state-of-the-art Information Technology systems and solutions supporting Airbus employees, customers and suppliers. Prior to this position, Catherine was Chief Information Officer at Airbus Helicopters, a role she held from July 2013 to February 2020. Before joining Airbus, Catherine held various positions, between 2007 and 2013, at Rio Tinto in Montreal, Canada, in Information Systems & Technology (IS&T). Catherine also spent 17 years at Accenture and was nominated Partner in 2002, a position she held for five years.

Ulrich Ahle

Gaia-X, CEO

Ulrich is a reputed executive in the IT sector, formerly Vice President and leader of the Manufacturing and Industrie 4.0 System Integration business at Atos in Germany. He is also founder and member of the Board of the International Data Spaces Association in Germany and served 16 years on the Board of the prostep IVIP organisation until April 2018. After an apprenticeship as toolmaker at Hella KG, he studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Paderborn. In his career, Ahle held several positions, including development engineer, Director of PLM services, sales director, and Vice President. He has been part of Nixdorf Computer AG, Siemens and Atos. From January 2017 to November 2023, Ulrich Ahle was Chief Executive Officer of the FIWARE Foundation, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

Jérôme Léger

Gaia-X, CEO

Jérôme Léger takes over as CEO of Gaia-X after being Chief Architect of Groupe Crédit Agricole, serving as Head of Group Architecture & Design Authorities. He leads the bank’s global architecture function, guiding a community of more than 500 architects across 15+ European countries and over 30 international markets. In this role, he shapes Crédit Agricole’s enterprise-wide architectural vision, ensuring coherence, resilience, compliance, and innovation across one of Europe’s largest financial groups.
With over 25 years of experience across banking, telecommunications, and media, Jérôme is recognised for translating complex technological visions into practical, enterprise-scale execution. His expertise spans hybrid and cloud architectures, interoperability, data governance, cybersecurity, regulatory alignment (PSD2, GDPR, BCBS239), and transformation of large organisations.
Before becoming Chief Architect, Jérôme served as Deputy Group Chief Data Officer and Head of the Group Data Management Office, where he designed Crédit Agricole’s group-wide Data Usage Code and established its first unified Data Management Framework. He previously directed the bank’s PSD2 program, making Crédit Agricole the first systemic French bank to achieve full DSP2 compliance.
Jérôme also serves on the Board of Directors of Gaia-X, where he contributes to the practical implementation of sovereign, interoperable European data and cloud infrastructures.
He is known for his philosophy of “making it simple from vision to results,” combining strategic foresight with hands-on delivery to drive real organisational impact.

 

Helmut Leopold

Head of Center for Digital Safety & Security, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology

Helmut Leopold has more than 30 years of experience in the IT industry. After acting CTO at Telekom Austria, he has established AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) a globally leading RTO. He also led international efforts such as the Broadband Services Forum in San Francisco, and supports international organisations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Austrian society for Electronics and Software Based Systems, and is member of the supervisory board of the Austrian telecommunication regulator.

Peter Hanke

Austrian Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure

Federal Minister Peter Hanke was born in Vienna in 1964. He worked at Wien Holding starting in 1993, and became an authorized signatory in 2001. In 2002, Hanke was appointed as one of two managing directors of Wien Holding. He was responsible for the business areas of “Finance”, “Culture and Event Management”, and “Logistics & Mobility”.From May 2018, he served as Executive City Councilor and State Councilor. Since the start of the Vienna Progress Coalition in November 2020, he has been responsible for Finance, Business, Labor, International Affairs, and the Wiener Stadtwerke (Vienna Public Utilities).Since March 2025, he has been the Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility, and Infrastructure.Hanke is also active in the humanitarian field. For instance, he serves on the extended state board of the Kinderfreunde Wien and as a board member of the “Wirtschaft und Integration” (Business and Integration) association.In 2015, he was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria.

Alexander Pröll

Austrian State Secretary for Digitalisation in the Federal Chancellery

He has been State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery since March 2025. Previously, he was Secretary General of the People’s Party and Federal Managing Director from 2021 to 2025. He holds an LL.M. in Business Law from 2017 and an LL.B. from 2015, both from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

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Thibaut Kleiner

Director for Future Networks, DG Connect, European Commission

Thibaut Kleiner is Director at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect) of the European Commission, in charge of future network technologies -including 5G and 6G, cloud computing, software, open source, blockchain, Internet governance, Web 4.0, and digitalisation of mobility, energy and agriculture. Thibaut Kleiner started his European Commission career in 2001 in the area of competition policy, where he worked until 2011. Since then, he has been mostly active in the digital field, covering a wide range of areas – from cybersecurity, data, and research strategy to international affairs – as Head of Unit and subsequently Director in DG Connect. He served as adviser in Vice-President Kroes’ Cabinet, and as Deputy Head of Cabinet under Commissioner Oettinger. An economist by training with a Master’s degree from HEC Paris and a PhD from the London School of Economics, he is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe.

 

Véronique Lacour

Group Senior Executive Vice-President, Transformation and Operational Effectiveness, EDF

Véronique Lacour, started her career at Thales in 1987, where she gained solid experience in Information Systems, before taking up the position of Chief Information Officer for the new Services business unit in 2004. Between 2007 and 2009, she managed the Group HRIS Shared Services. She moved to Safran in 2009 where she held the position of Chief Information Officer for Safran Aircraft Engines (formerly Snecma). In 2013, she becomes Vice-President Improvement Initiatives, and manages continuous improvement and transformation initiatives. She went on to become Vice-President Programs for Safran Analytics, and was involved in the creation of this new Big Data-focused entity as part of the Group’s digital transformation strategy. She joined EDF on 1 December 2016 as Group Senior Executive Vice-President, Transformation and Operational Efficiency and is a member of the Executive Committee. She is tasked with directing the Group’s activities in the areas of information systems, purchasing, property, consultancy, tertiary and IT shared services.

Martine Gouriet

Director Digital Transformation, Usages and Innovation, EDF; Gaia-X BoD

Martine Gouriet is the director of digital uses at EDF Group, a role she assumed in 2019. Most recently, she was Director of IT and Telecom shared services at the company. Previously, she was leading EDf subsidiary Edelia, which specialises in data, energy efficiency and smart grids. She has worked during 17 years within Orange and she has launched in France the IP and VOD TV. Martine Gouriet is also board director of Gaia X, leading the work related to labels and energy in the association. She graduated from ” Ecole Polytechnique ” and ” Telecom Paris Tech“.

Kai Meinke

Co-Founder & Business Lead, deltaDAO AG

Kai is the Co-Founder and Business Lead of deltaDAO AG and the Lead of the Gaia-X Open-Source Software (OSS) community. With a background in IT and Economics. deltaDAO is the orchestrator of the Pontus-X digital service ecosystem, the largest publicly available X-ecosystem, which is now the home of four Gaia-X lighthouse projects and operated by European federators.

Anne Sophie Taillandier

Director Nuclear Data Space (Data4NuclearX), EDF

Data Science, Algorithm are the heart of my education as an Engineer and PHD. Innovation, new skills, Data and AI, Interdisciplinarity, building bridges between different lines of business , development of ecosystems

 

Frédéric Bellaiche

VP Technology & Research, Dawex

Frédéric Bellaiche is a PhD and Vice President of Technology and Research at Dawex. He is responsible for the strategic development and integration of most advanced technologies within the Dawex organization and product architecture.

Prior to joining Dawex, Frédéric served for 14 years as Technical Expert for a leading digital services company where he led innovation in the areas of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Edge Computing, Blockchain, Security and Quantum Computing. Prior to that, Frédéric also served as CTO and co-founder of a start-up specialized in securing financial flows for 7 years.

During his career, Frédéric has conducted research at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the field of high energy physics, at CERN and at the Université Claude Bernard. Holding a PhD. in particle physics and a DEA in nuclear and particle physics, Frédéric is a member of the Blockchain working group at Numeum and contributes to the OWASP project.

Giulia Biagioni

Scientist, TNO

I work at the intersection of computational semantics, semantic frameworks, and knowledge representation & reasoning, with a focus on how meaning can be structured, formalized, and computed by AI systems.

My academic path began in literature and linguistics, where I developed a foundation in meaning, interpretation, and textual structures. I then specialized in semiotics, paleography, and the construction of meaning in ancient writing systems, gaining a deep understanding of how humans “encode” and “decode” information in different contexts, societies and historical periods. Through my Master’s in Digital Humanities, I transitioned into computational linguistics and computational semantics, connecting humanistic approaches to formal and algorithmic ones.

I am currently pursuing a PhD in description logics, exploring the boundaries between theoretical knowledge representation and its practical applications in AI systems. My goal is to bridge linguistic, semiotic, and formal AI methodologies to build semantic frameworks that are both expressive and computationally efficient.

Alongside my academic work, I am scientist at TNO and Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing and Cloud, where I contribute to national and EU-level initiatives on semantic interoperability, trust frameworks, and hybrid-AI system design. My work focuses on building semantic architectures that support trustworthy, interpretable, and large-scale AI reasoning across complex digital ecosystems.

Philippe Grosbois

General Manager, DECADE-X; Head of Program Data Space for Aerospace & Defence, Airbus

Philippe comes with more than 20 years international experience mostly in Aerospace working both at Airbus and Satair in France and Germany with operational positions in supply chain, and leadership roles for new A350 aircraft programme development and transformation programmes leveraging digital from strategy to implementation (industrial footprint evolution, procurement cost reduction programme, operations digitalisation).

Catherine Simonnin

Tech lead Trust, Design Architecture & Innovation Governance, ORANGE/OBS/CTIO/DA/Emerging Technology & Incubation

Catherine has been working in the IT architecture domain for the last 19 years in different domains and entities of Orange. She is always looking for new technology challenges and innovative solutions even in management domain.  With it’s master from Telecom Paris, she started to work on Intelligent Network first development in first generation GSM in SFR, then on telecom services for Equant customers. Catherine is today the Lead of the Sprint Conformity and label operationalization in Gaia-X.

Fabian Biegel

Chief Operating Officer, Gaia-X

C-level Technology and Operations Executive with 19 years of experience in software industry and consulting with a T-shaped competence profile spanning company founding, strategy, business development, operations, transformation and scaling. Proven track record leveraging technology innovation, in particular also AI – to enable tangible business results, e.g. AI transformation of a 2.700 people organization as well as 25+ productive AI use cases and intelligent agents across a midsize consulting business. Widely recognized Digital Transformation Expert with significant footprint in Industry 4.0 ecosystem, Sherpa for Industry 4.0, co-initiator of Gaia-X, Catena-X and IPCEI CIS, secretary of Manufacturing-X Council Germany. Former Chief Digital Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, combining hands-on technology depth with P&L, operations, risk and security leadership at enterprise scale.

Degree in ‘Business Administration with technical Qualification’ from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern.

Christoph Strnadl

Chief Technology Officer, Gaia-X

Educated as a research scientist in Theoretical Physics, Dr Strnadl has over 30 years of consulting and management experience in IT and how to leverage it for businesses. After 10 years as a strategy consultant and business manager at Atos, he joined Software AG in 2005, where he held various technical leadership positions in Austria, central and eastern Europe, and finally, at the global level as Deputy CTO. His accountabilities centred around aligning technology solutions and products with business requirements and strategies with a pronounced focus on innovation and evangelisation. In this capacity, he has been responsible for Software AG’s ecosystem engagements, such as Gaia-X or dataspaces, since 2019. Before joining the Gaia-X AISBL as CTO, he led the efforts of the IOTA Foundation, a Berlin blockchain/DLT association, to define and implement a technology adoption department in 2024. He is a recognised public speaker with over 300 appearances, a university lecturer for BPM technologies, and a co-author of/contributor to six books.

Bert Verdonck

CEO, LNDS

Bert Verdonck is the CEO of LNDS, a governmental organisation created to solve the hard problems in public sector data sharing. He has a background at Philips, where he worked on health data sharing and data & AI strategy. He has expertise in business, marketing, sales, product management, clinical informatics, cloud, data spaces, data and AI, population health, and medical image processing. He explores the adoption of the Gaia-X framework, scouting for European initiatives with a potential to scale.

Sukumar Munshi

Senior Advisor Business & Strategy, MicelioData

Innovating leader with experience across multiple business sectors such as international business, digitalization, software and healthcare.

Cécile Badiola

CEO, HEVA; Head of BU LifeScience & MedTech, DOCAPOSTE

Michael​​​​ Mossal

Senior Digital Transformation Director Luxembourg, NTT Luxembourg

Michael is a Senior Digital Transformation Director and a local Executive Committee Member with a strong focus on innovation. In 2019, he was appointed to represent the region in the CTO Office of NTT Ltd. This role became a key success factor for NTT Luxembourg, to evolve from an already very successful country in Europe, into an innovation lab for the region fostering innovative leading European projects in the areas of Healthcare, Sports, Automotive, Aeronautics and Space. Michael is one of the key figures driving the Dataspace4Health project.

Alberto Borrego Díez

Head of Healthcare, Partner at NTT DATA

Arno Pons

General Delegate Think Tank, Digital New Deal Foundation

An advocate for digital sovereignty, he advises public and private decision-makers on trusted digital issues (Cloud-Data-AI).
For fifteen years, Arno Pons supported major corporations and public institutions in their digital communication, influence, and digital transformation strategies as a leader of consulting agencies (Deputy Managing Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, Managing Director at 5eme Gauche, then VP of Herezie Group).
In 2017, he took over the leadership of the “Digital New Deal” think tank created by Olivier Sichel, serving as Managing Director. In 2021, he founded his “Do Tank” activity, an economic intelligence service dedicated to technological cooperation issues (helping companies structure industries into digital ecosystems through collaborative initiatives).
In 2026, he co-founded the Digital Resilience Index (IRN).
He has taught at Sciences Po Paris, at the School of Management and Innovation, focusing on technological sovereignty issues related to the centralization of political and economic power by Big Tech.
Author of several white papers for the Government, notably “Trusted Cloud” for Bercy (Ministry of Economy and Finance), “Trusted AI” for Matignon (Prime Minister’s Office), “Trusted Data”, and “Generative AI: Unite or Submit” co-published with the Medef.
He is also an entrepreneur (founder of CityLuxe.com, Checkfood—an application against food waste, Medicimo.com—a search engine in Canada, Themis-X—an AI-DataShare startup, etc.).

Hubert Tardieu

Independent Board Member, Gaia-X

After 27 years in Sema then SchlumbergerSema then Atos in various positions on Executive Committee including EVP for Global Telecom, Global Finance, Global Consulting& Systems Integration, Hubert Tardieu has been the advisor of Atos CEO helping him to form the vision of what will be our world in 5 years ahead. To help him in this task he formed the Atos Scientific Community in June 2009 which he chaired until October 2020. He is now consultant with his own company. Hubert Tardieu is the author of several books on Information System Design Methodology Merise and in March 2020: “Deliberately Digital: Rewriting Enterprise DNA for enduring success” Tardieu and all. Springer ed Hubert Tardieu has been successively, in 2020 the Interim CEO then in 2021 the Chairman of the Board of the Gaia-X AISBL until June 7. He is currently Independent Board Member in charge of relationships with governments.

Robert Heinrich

Deputy Director General for Digital Economy, AI and Data Policy at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, Germany

Robert Heinrich is a seasoned political and public affairs professional with extensive experience in strategic communication, digital policy, and leadership within government and party organizations. He studied Political Science and Economics in Leipzig, Berlin and Washington, D.C. From 2003 to 2021, he worked for the German Green Party, where he held several senior roles, including Head of Communications, Campaign Manager, and Chief of Staff to the Federal Party Chairs. In 2022, he joined the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) as Head of the Executive Office. Since 2025, he has been serving as Director for Digital Economy, Artificial Intelligence and Data Policy at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation (BMDS).

Amandine Reix

Deputy Director for Space, Electronics and Software, Direction Générale des Entreprises

A graduate of ENSTA Bretagne, she holds a master’s degree in “Artificial Intelligence Research” from IMT Atlantique, a postgraduate degree in human factors and the psychodynamics of work, and has completed advanced training in systems engineering (FAIS) at ENSTA Paris. Amandine REIX began her career as an architect specializing in human factors, change management, and organizational transformation at the DGA (Directorate General of Armaments)..

Ander Caneda

Area Coordinator at the General Directorate of Data, Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, Spain

Michael Wiesmüller

Head of Department: Key Technologies for Industrial Innovation, Federal Ministry of Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure

Initially stemming from the humanities and holding a degree in philosophy of science, working several years with various humanities related Institutes and later as Management Consultant with A.T. Kearney he joined the Federal Ministry in late nineties. He is currently Head of Department for Key Enabling Technologies for Industrial Innovation. Main responsibility of this department includes Tech-Policies for High-Tech, preparation of national R&D strategies and programs as well as areas of International R&D Policy and Coordination. Th scope of technologies covers Chips and Electronic Systems, Quantum and Photonics, Manufacturing and Robotics, AI and Data-Innovation and Advanced Materials. Over the years he acted as Lead Delegate to various European ICT anf Tech Programs. in recent years, his department has spearheaded key initiatives, including the launch of Silicon Austria Labs, the establishment of the Austrian Industry 4.0 Pilot Factories, the BMK-Endowment Professorships, the Austrian AI Strategy and the Key Technology Initiative as part of the Austria Industrial Strategy.

David Djaïz

CEO, Ascend Partners

A former senior civil servant who held leadership positions within the state for nearly a decade, an essayist, and the author of several acclaimed books on the fragmentation of globalization (Slow Démocratie, 2019) and green reindustrialization (La Révolution obligée, 2024), he puts his intellectual boldness and analytical rigor to work in renewing strategic approaches.
As a leader, he helps organizations anticipate long-term transformations, reconfigure their development models, and map out new trajectories that create value and meaning. In every mission, he leverages his forward-looking vision to connect complex global challenges with innovative operational solutions, giving his clients a lasting competitive edge. Through this combination of systemic thinking and high-level strategy, he is capable of deeply guiding collective trajectories while achieving tangible results on the ground.

Djilali Kies

Director of Strategic Projects, TDF

With over 30 years of experience in digital and IT governance—25 of which have been in the telecommunications and media sectors—I have led large-scale strategic transformations in complex and demanding environments.

I consider IT department as an engine for value creation. My approach is based on rigorous governance, scalable digital architecture, and the implementation of innovative operating models. I combine digital transformation, technological exploration, and economic streamlining to support business growth and resilience.

Frédéric Sutter

Head of Skywise Product & Service Line, Airbus

Head of Skywise since January 2021, Frederic Sutter is responsible for Skywise Product and Service Line strategy and implementation within Airbus’ Digital organisation.

Skywise is an aircraft option fuelled by Airbus expertise and Palantir Technologies, best in class data analytics provider. By combining in-flight, engineering and operational data in an analytic rich environment, Skywise provides airlines and Airbus with an industry data platform [ purpose-built ] to address Aircraft Operations Challenges over its full lifecycle.

Before becoming Head of Skywise, Frederic   played an active part in Airbus’ digital transformation as Group Digital Transformation Program Director and Digital Transformation Leader, helping to develop the Skywise ecosystem towards IM integrators, third-party application editors and other corporate aviation stakeholders.

Frederic first joined Airbus Group in June 2012 as VP, Services Development and Strategy.

Prior to this, he held several positions within Alcatel-Lucent as service channel sales manager, director of corporate strategy, VP of the managed services division and finally, as head of the defense segment. Frederic began his career as a systems architect in the IT industry.

 

Mark Kuehner

VP, AP Industries and Experience

Mark Kuehner has been a key force in Europe’s enterprise cloud transformation for over two decades. At SAP since 2001, he has played a foundational role in building SAP Cloud and Enterprise Cloud Services. After supporting the cloud strategy of Amadeus’ CTO Office in 2018, he returned to SAP to lead sovereign cloud and AI initiatives across industries.
Currently VP for SAP Industries and Experience, Mark drives innovation at the intersection of AI, edge; and sovereign infrastructure. As a Board Member of Gaia-X, he contributes to shaping European data spaces, and represents SAP at the Industry Alliance for Data, Edge and Cloud as well as BITKOM’s Gaia-X & Cloud Policy group.
Mark initiated and is leading voice behind the “Open Reference Architecture” for Europe’s next-gen cloud stack. 

Ernst Stöckl-Pukall

Head of Division, Digitization and Industrie 4.0, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action

As Head of Division “Digitization and Industrie 4.0″ in the Department for Industrial Policy in the Federal Ministry for Economics and Climate Action Ernst Stoeckl-Pukall focuses on topics regarding a successful digitalization of the manufacturing sector in Germany. He focuses on setting up the federated and globally interoperable industrial data ecosystem Manufacturing-X. In that role he is also responsible for the “Plattform Industrie 4.0” and he takes care of Germany’s various bilateral and multilateral cooperation activities in the field of Industrie 4.0. The Plattform Industrie 4.0 is headed by the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Minister for Education and Research. The platform is a central player in the digital transformation of the manufacturing sector in Germany and includes all relevant stakeholders such as industry, academia, trade unions and politics. It also initiated the project GAIA-X which aims at building a sovereign data infrastructure. Ernst Stoeckl-Pukall is also in charge of various research and support funding schemes addressing in particular the automotive sector and topics like autonomous driving and the digital transformation of the sector. He is also responsible for the “Important Project of Common European Interest” designed to set up the next generation cloud-edge structures in Europe. The project is also known as “8ra-cloud edge continuum”. Before his current post Ernst Stoeckl-Pukall was in charge of the maritime sector after having returned from his post at the German Embassy of New Delhi where he served as economic and commercial counsellor. He graduated in Economics at Ludwig Maximilians-University in Munich.

Jakob Rehof

Professor of Computer Science, TU Dortmund University

Since 2006 Jakob Rehof is full professor of Computer Science at the TU Dortmund University, where he is chair of Software Engineering, and as of April 2024 director of the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Dortmund. By joint appointment, Rehof was director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software- and System Engineering (ISST) in Dortmund 2006-2021, and since 2021 he is director of Research Strategy at the Fraunhofer-ISST. Jakob Rehof studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Copenhagen  and got his Ph.D. in Computer Science at DIKU, Department of Computer Science , University of Copenhagen. In 1997 Rehof was a visiting Researcher at the University of Stanford, CA, USA. From 1998 until 2006 he was a researcher at Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA. Prior to all of the above he studied Classical Philology (Latin & Greek) and Philosophy at the University of Aarhus and the University of Copenhagen and was a DAAD scholar at the Eberhard-Karls University of Tubingen. In 2003 Jakob Rehof received the CAV Award in Computer Aided Verification. Rehof is a member, of the editorial board of the Communications of the ACM. 

 

Jun-Kyun Choi

KAIST, Professor

Prof. Jun Kyun Choi received the Ph.D degree in 1988 in electronics engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
During year 1986 ~ 1997, he was with the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI), Korea. At year 1998, he joined the Information and Communications University (ICU), Korea as Professor. At year 2009, he moves to Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). During year 2011 ~ 2014, he served as director of IT convergence center, KAIST.
Dr. Choi was an active member of ITU-T Study Group 13 as a Rapporteur or Editor from year 1993 on the ATM, MPLS, and NGN issues. He was Head of Korean Delegation (1993 – 2010) and the working group chairman of IPTV Focus Group (year 2006 – 2007).​

Joëlle Toledano

Professor Emeritus associated with the Governance and Regulation Chair, Paris Dauphine-PSL University, Member of the French National Digital Council

Joëlle Toledano is an emeritus professor of economics and a member of the “Governance and Regulation” Chair at Paris-Dauphine University. Furthermore, she serves as a member of the National Academy of Technologies of France and as board member of digital companies. She holds a PhD in mathematics and economics and has pursued a dual career in academia and business before becoming involved in public policy issues. From 2005 to 2011, she served on the board of the French regulatory authority for electronic communications and posts (Arcep), and from 2013 to 2022, on the board of the French national frequencies agency (Anfr). Joelle has published extensively on industrial economics and the economics and regulation of digital and postal services, including several books, numerous articles, and a series of public reports and research papers. Her latest book, GAFA: reprenons le pouvoir (Odile Jacob, 2020), has been the recipient of three awards, including the prize for the best economics book.

Lucas-Eustache

Lucas Eustache

PhD student, Governance and Regulation Chair, Paris Dauphine-PSL University

Lucas Eustache has been a PhD student at the Governance and Regulation Chair since the start of the 2022 academic year. Graduating with a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 2022, his thesis, supervised by Eric Brousseau, focuses on the business models of data-sharing intermediaries.

Boris_Otto_FraunhoferISST_seitlich_quadrat_2023

Boris Otto

Professor for Industrial Information Management, TU Dortmund University: Director, Fraunhofer ISST

Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST and Professor of Industrial Information Management at the Technical University of Dortmund Professor Boris Otto (born 1971 in Hamburg) is an industrial engineer and business information scientist and has been Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST in Dortmund since 2017. He has also been Professor of Industrial Information Management at the Technical University of Dortmund since 2013. Boris Otto received his doctorate in engineering from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart and habilitated at the School of Management at the University of St. Gallen. His research and teaching focus on industrial data ecosystems, data spaces and data management in industrial companies. He is Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Catena-X Automotive Network e. V., a member of the Board of the Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud and the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Health Data Alliance (EDHA) and Coordinator of the EU Data Spaces Support Center (DSSC). Boris Otto is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fraunhofer ICT Group and thus a member of the Executive Board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. He is a founding partner and member of the board of directors of CDQ AG in St. Gallen and a member of the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board, the Supervisory Board of SICK AG in Waldkirch, the Advisory Board for Mobility Data of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport, the Bosch Data Strategy Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig and Berlin.

Mario Drobics

Head of Competence Unit for Cooperative Digital Technologies at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

Mario Drobics is Head of Competence Unit for Cooperative Digital Technologies at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH. He received his PhD in applied mathematics in 2005 at the Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria. Since 2007 he is working in the Center for Digital Safety & Security at AIT. His research addresses various aspects of digitalization, focusing on digital sovereignty, resilience and sustainability. Dr. Drobics is past president of PSC-Europe, member of the management board of the Gaia-X Hub Austria and member of the AIOTI Alliance.

Thomas Trautner

Head of the Research Group for Control Engineering and Integrated Systems, TU Vienna

Dr. Thomas Trautner leads the Control Technology and Integrated Systems research group at the Institute of Production Engineering and Photonic Technologies (IFT) at TU Wien, where he holds a tenure-track position in modular production systems. His research addresses the information-technical foundations of autonomous manufacturing cells that increasingly plan, monitor and adapt their processes on their own. At the machine tool, he links CAM planning, CNC control and sensor data, and uses edge computing to build data-driven process models. Within the manufacturing cell, digital twins and Asset Administration Shells serve as the integration platform. Across company boundaries, he investigates industrial dataspaces, Compute-to-Data and federated learning, so that process data can be shared and used under the data owner’s control. Dr. Trautner is a member of the Advisory Board of the Gaia-X Hub Austria.

Klaus Donsa

Senior Scientist, Digital Health Information Systems, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology

Klaus Donsa is a distinguished researcher and digital health expert specializing at the intersection of technology and clinical care. Currently serving as a Senior Scientist within the Digital Health Information Systems group at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology since 2022, he brings over 15 years of experience in driving data-driven innovations and evidence-based optimization in European healthcare. Throughout his career, Klaus has led pioneering developments and clinical studies, resulting in decision support solutions actively used in patient care and research across Europe. His career includes serving as Head of the Clinical Decision Support research group at JOANNEUM RESEARCH, co-founding the healthtech spin-off decide Clinical GmbH, and advising the World Health Organization (WHO) as an expert consultant. In addition to his research and industry work, he is an active academic lecturer at several Austrian institutions, including FH Joanneum, University for Continuing Education Krems, the Medical University of Vienna, the Medical University of Graz, and Graz University of Technology. He holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master’s Degree (Dipl.-Ing.), and a Doctorate (Dr. techn.) in Biomedical Engineering.

Georg Nesslinger

Head of Department, Section VII – Digitalisation and E-Government, Federal Chancellery

Mag. Georg Nesslinger heads the “E-Government for Businesses” department at the Austrian Federal Chancellery (BKA). He is responsible for e-government services for companies, such as the Business Service Portal (Unternehmensserviceportal)—the e-gov platform for corporate entities in Austria—and electronic delivery via “MeinPostkorb” (My Postbox). Since the beginning of 2018, he has also been responsible for the national and cross-border implementation of the Once-Only Principle in Austria. To achieve this, two major IT systems of the Once Only Platform are being developed: the Digital Austria Data Exchange (dadeX for short) and the Information Obligation Database. These systems enable smart data usage in e-government and set new standards. His area of responsibility also includes participation in European research and development projects. A business administration graduate, he started his career in the field of Microsoft Business Solutions.

Margit Kranner

Cooperative Digital Technologies, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology

Margit Kranner studied technical physics at TU Wien and completed her studies in 2018 in the field of Theoretical Soft Matter Theory. Her interest in data science began during her studies, which led her to work for several years as a data scientist on various national projects after graduation. Since March 2024, she has been bringing her expertise as a Research Engineer to the AIT, focusing on data spaces and distributed systems.

Georg Hartner

Interoperability and Distributed Flexibility Expert, Hagenberg University of Applied Sciences

Enterprise architect, project manager, software development master. Outstanding expertise and network in European energy trading, grid management, smart grids data exchange and distributed ledger technologies (DLT). Broad experience in risk management and energy-related regulation and legislation. Strong skills in agile project management and consulting. Expertise in building and delivering cross-functional and cross-cultural projects on schedule and budget. Proficient in driving innovation with a strong focus on business value.

Francisca Rubio

Director of expansion and ecosystem, Gaia-X Hub España

Francisca is electronic engineer with master in Photovoltaic Energy (PV) and Business (MBA). She has always worked as R&D and Innovation director of different companies in different sectors.

Hermund Arntzen Dale

Project Manager / Head of Gaia-X Hub Norway, Smart Innovation Norway

Hermund Arntzen Dale is a Partner Manager and Innovation Advisor at Smart Innovation Norway. As Partner Manager, he is responsible for the follow-up and further development of the organization’s partner program. He plays a central role in work related to sovereign data sharing, data markets, and data-driven value creation. Hermund works with the mobilization and development of data spaces, assisting companies in developing and commercializing business models for data sharing within sovereign and open ecosystems. In this context, he leads Gaia-X Hub Norway and the Center for Data-Driven Innovation, a collaborative platform for actors driving the development of open, sovereign data-sharing infrastructure. He also works on establishing flagship and infrastructure projects, including those associated with Norsk katapult (Norwegian Catapult).
Hermund holds a bachelor’s degree in innovation and project management from Østfold University College, as well as leadership training from the Norwegian Armed Forces’ officer candidate school. He has several years of experience from the Norwegian Army, where he was responsible for planning and executing tactical operations at the platoon level. Following his military career, he gained entrepreneurial experience by founding a SaaS startup, and has also worked as a project manager and commercial manager at the green-tech company Becour. Hermund is deeply committed to sustainable innovation and digital value creation, describing himself as a team player with strong execution capabilities, high attention to detail, and a creative approach to complex problem-solving.

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Jarek Kowalski

Expert, PKN, Vice-Chair of the Gaia-X Hub Poland at the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications

Jarek is involved in standardization for dataspace domain since 2020. Working with European and global leaders, and in cooperation with IDSA, Gaia-X, Eclipse Foundation and BDVA, Jarek is engaged in the development of data exchange standards at ISO/IEC, CEN-CENELEC, and ETSI. As an entrepreneur he provides independent consulting services to support cross-border data exchange projects for global supply chains based on European and international standards, and in compliance with local regulations. From 2018 to 2021 he served as Director of the Competence and Qualifications Centre of the Polish Information Processing Society (PTI). From 2012 to 2018, he was responsible for the development of digital content and cloud/SaaS tools compliant with education industry and technology standards at the UK company Pearson. Between 1994 and 2012, he worked at Novell and SUSE, a US networking and identity management software company, and acquired German Linux provider. Jarek was amongst founders of the Coalition for Open Standards (KROS) in Poland, which aimed to promote adoption of open technology standards (with contribution to ISO/IEC 26300 Open Document Format for Office Applications) and open source software by public institutions. He was involved in the EU’s Interoperable Europe initiative (formerly Join.up and OSOR), and provided support to the development, localization/globalization, and implementation of open-source software. As an editor Jarek has contributed to reports, articles, white papers and monograph on standardisation and interoperability. Since 2023 Jarek is supporting new standardisation work, including ISO/IEC 20151 and EU Trusted Data Framework.

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Antonio Salvado

Consultant, TICE.PT, Gaia-X Hub Portugal, BoD Gaia-X

With a degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering, former senior manager at the research and development centre for the one of major telecom operators in Portugal. Joined TICE.PT in the last quarter of 2022 as a senior consultant and project manager, and since then is involved in promoting Gaia-X Hub Portugal, and also IDSA Competence Centre Portugal the latter one, since the beginning of 2024. Since early 2025, represents TICE.PT Association at the Strategic Stakeholders Forum of the Data Spaces Support Centre, and since June he has been an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Gaia-X Association.

Flávio Maeda

Flávio Maeda

Vice President, Brazilian Internet of Things Association

Flávio Maeda is a Mechatronics Engineer and has been working professionally for 19 years in the industrial IT field. As an entrepreneur since 2005, he has founded IT consulting, software, and internet companies. He has been active in the Internet of Things field since 2009, having founded the “Internet das Coisas na Prática” meetup groups, initiated The Things Network project in Brazil, and served as a member of the IoT Council.

Alban Schmutz

CEO, Cloud Data Engine

European tech entrepreneur and policy strategist. As Co-founder and CEO of Cloud Data Engine, he leads initiatives in trusted digital infrastructure.

Roland Wiesmüller

Senior Sales Manager AI & Data, T-Systems International

Roland Wiesmüller is a seasoned technology leader with more than 35 years of experience in information technology and telecommunications. Throughout his career, he has gained extensive expertise in digitalization, strategy and business model development and has held various leadership roles. In 2016, he joined T-Systems Austria to drive digitalization in the manufacturing industry and has since represented the company in committees related to Industry 4.0. In 2024, he moved to T-Systems International, where he focuses on cross-industry data and artificial intelligence. There he helps organizations unlock new business models through scalable, responsible and future-ready AI- and data strategies. Previously, he was Principal Consultant at Capgemini and led Sales Support for Central and Southeast Europe at Nokia/Nokia Siemens Networks. These roles strengthened his expertise where technology, business and large-scale enterprise transformation meet.

Mario Campolargo

Independent Board Member, Gaia-X

Government of Portugal:

Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation of Portugal – March 2022 – April 2024 (2 years 2 months)
European Commission

Director General DG Informatics DIGIT – March 2021 – March 2022 (1 year 1 month)
Deputy Director General – DIGIT – September 2016 – March 2021 (4 years 7 months)

Su-Jung Kim

Assistant Secretary for AI and Future Planning,
Office of President of the Republic of Korea

Su-Jung Kim is currently serving as the Assistant Secretary for AI and Future Planning at the Office of President of the Republic of Korea, where she orchestrates and oversees comprehensive national policies across AI and emerging technology sectors. Prior to this role, she worked as the Director of the Data Promotion Division under the AI Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) from March 2024 to June 2025. ​ With over 20 years of public service in ICT-related fields, she has led the development and implementation of national policies in areas such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and digital governance. ​ Her previous roles include Director of Digital Society Planning, Team Lead for AI Innovation & Convergence, and Policy Officer for AI and Software Promotion. ​ Ms. Kim has led strategic public-private initiatives to foster Korea’s data and AI industries, enhance national data capabilities, and promote policies for a responsible and trustworthy AI ecosystem.​ She holds a Ph.D. in Data Knowledge Service Engineering from Dankook University (2025), an M.A. in Mass Communication from Nanyang Technological University (2012), and an LL.M. from Yonsei University (2005).​ Beyond domestic policy work, Ms. Kim is actively engaged in international cooperation, contributing to Korea’s participation in multilateral initiatives with organizations such as the OECD and the United Nations. ​ Her interdisciplinary academic background—spanning law, media, and data science—combined with extensive government experience, enables her to design and lead digital policies that balance innovation, trust, and inclusion.

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Hiroshi Mano

CEO, EverySense,Inc./EverySense Japan K.K. Secretary General, Data Society Alliance

In 1993, he was one of the first to commercialize wireless LAN systems. He became the IEEE802.11 TGai Chair in 2010, and received the Telecommunication Technology Commitee Award (Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Commendation) in recognition of his contribution to standardization activities in 2017. In the same year, he contributed to the proposal of big data strategy as a member of the Advisory Board of the Turin G7 ICT Ministerial Meeting.
In 2018, he was appointed as AI Hospital SubPD for the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP.) He joined IEEE P3800 Data Trading System WG Chair in 2020, and participated in the establishment of this organization to promote data distribution beyond industry, academia, and government.
He assumed his current position in May 2018. He is a specially-appointed professor at Keio University SFC.

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Michelle Robitaille

CEO, Digital Trust Canada (DTC)

Michelle Robitaille is Chief Executive Officer of Digital Trust Canada (DTC), where she works to strengthen the foundations of digital trust across the country and advance the development of a federated and secure data infrastructure that benefits all sectors. With more than 25 years of experience in organizational transformation, innovation, and public private partnerships, she is recognized for her ability to bring together diverse sectors and reinforce Canada’s presence in global innovation. She plays an active role in advancing economic and innovation initiatives across sectors through advisory work and strategic collaboration in the Ottawa Gatineau region and beyond, contributing to efforts that connect local strengths with broader national and international opportunities. Michelle holds an Executive MBA from the University of Ottawa and a degree in communications and information technology from the Université du Québec en Outaouais.

Cristiane Vianna Rauen

Cristiane Vianna Rauen

Director of Department of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, Brazil

Cristiane Vianna Rauen holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and was visiting doctoral researcher at Columbia University. Throughout her career, Cristiane has specialized in topics associated with science, technology and innovation, performing research, teaching, consulting and public policy formulation activities. She is a Brazilian civil servant since 2011, holding positions in different organizations: leader of the technology project incubator at the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro, 2011-2013); advisor at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI, 2013-2019); researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT, 2015-2017); visiting researcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea, 2015-2018); general coordinator at the Secretariat of Vocational and Technological Education of the Brazilian Ministry of Education (2019-2020); coordinator at the Brazilian Company of Research and Industrial Innovation (Embrapii) (2021-2023). Currently, Cristiane is Director at the Department of Digital Transformation and Innovation at the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC).

Giovanni King

CEO, Blue NAP Americas

Since 2024, serves as Chairman of the Caribbean Datacenter Association (CDA), providing regional leadership on data sovereignty, digital infrastructure development, sustainability, and interconnectivity. Since 2022, serves as Chief Executive Officer of Blue NAP Americas, leading the strategic growth and operations of a Tier IV and ANSI/TIA 942 Rated-4 data center, with a focus on sovereign cloud services, AI-ready infrastructure, and regional partnerships. Also serves as Advisory Board Chairman of TELBO N.V. (since 2022) and has been a Member of the Ministry of Education’s Digitalization Working Group (since 2020).​

Previously served as COO of the Bureau Telecommunications & Post (BT&P) Curaçao and BT&P St. Maarten, overseeing telecommunications regulation, cybersecurity, policy implementation, and infrastructure development. Earlier roles include Policy Advisor / Manager Technical Affairs & International Relations at BT&P Netherlands Antilles and Business Development & Operations Director at Antillean Network Management N.V. / Scarlet N.V.. Also chaired Curaçao’s National Consultation Committee, leading national socio-economic recovery and public engagement initiatives.

Anne Le Hénanff

Anne Le Hénanff

Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, France

Anne Le Hénanff is the Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, attached to the Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industrial, Energy, and Digital Sovereignty.
Education:
• Graduate of the EM Normandie Business School.
Professional Background:
• Deputy Mayor of Vannes (Morbihan), in charge of digital affairs, information systems, and institutional communication (March 2008 – May 2020).
• Independent Digital Consultant (Anne le Hénanff Conseils et Communication) (April 2015 – September 2022).
• Chair of Cybersecurity for Major Public Events at the UBS Foundation, University of Southern Brittany (January 2018 – September 2022).
• Senior Project Manager, Morbihan Énergies (December 2018 – September 2020).
• First Deputy Mayor of Vannes (Morbihan) (May 2020 – July 2022).
• Regional Councilor of Brittany (Morbihan section) (2021 – 2022).
• Member of Parliament (Députée) for Morbihan (1st constituency: Vannes) (since June 2022, re-elected in July 2024).
• President of the France-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group (January 2022 – June 2024 and since January 2025).
• Co-rapporteur of the National Assembly’s mission on the cyber transformation of the Ministry of the Armed Forces (March 2023 – January 2024).
• Rapporteur for the National Assembly’s special committee responsible for examining the bill aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (August 2023).
• Rapporteur on the budget for the Environment and Defense Policy Forecasting program of the Defense mission (since September 2024).
• Second Vice-President of the Higher Commission for Digital Affairs and Posts (CSNP) (since January 2025).
• Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industrial, Energy, and Digital Sovereignty, in charge of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs (since October 2025).

Markus Richter

Markus Richter

State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, BMDS, Germany

Dr. Markus Richter is State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation. Previously, he served as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Federal Commissioner for Information Technology. Prior to that, he held several senior leadership positions at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, most recently as Vice President, and at the Federal Office of Administration. In these roles, he was responsible for key areas of government modernisation, digital transformation, and migration and integration policy.

Manuel Gutiérrez

Senior Digital Ecosystems Manager, Gaia-X

With over 20 years in strategic consulting, including experience at a Big Four, Manuel Gutiérrez is an expert in digital transformation. His economics background enhances his strategic insights, helping him achieve significant business results through technology. As the Senior Digital Ecosystems Manager within Gaia-X Stategy Team, he develops and advances engagement plans for Gaia-X lighthouse projects and digital ecosystems. He analyzes current engagement levels, identifies obstacles and opportunities, and integrates projects into the digital value chain. His role ensures that projects meet technical standards and deliver strategic business value, maximizing the potential of the Gaia-X services and deliverables.

Tae-Gyu Kwon

KAIA, Head of Strategy

Cheol-Ho Shin

OGQ Corp., CEO

I.T.SHIN is the founder of platforms, including OGQ, an IP content platform that connects creators with fans; Docfriends, a personalized care platform that links patients to a personal doctors for every patients; and POSDAQ, a political innovation platform that allows daily evaluations of politicians with the goal of implementing a three-term limit system.

He has served as an adjunct professor in Political Science and International Relations at Yonsei University and as a board member of a grassroots alternative education network. Believing in the power of IT to transform society, he has led entrepreneurial efforts across diverse sectors.

His contributions have been recognized with several honors, including the Korea Internet Award, Dong-A Ilbo Idea Prize, the UNESCO Korea Trust Award, and a Ministerial Commendation as a contributor to national science and technology advancement.

During his undergraduate studies in Political Science at Yonsei University, he founded POSDAQ, Korea’s first platform for digital democracy. Although he completed three years and one semester, he was withdrawn due to exceeding the official leave period. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration through Korea’s National Institute for Lifelong Education, studied UI at the Korea University Graduate School of Information Technology Management, enrolled in INSEAD (TIEMBA), and completed his master’s degree at KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy.

 

Amélie Jayet

Expert in Digital Transformation for Aerospace industries, Sopra Steria

I am an aerospace enthusiast, eager to contribute to the success of the industry through Digital Transformation.

Curious about all the business aspects of the industry, I enjoy working everyday with the teams on matters related to supply chain, manufacturing, MRO and flight testing. Also, as I work with major actors of the industry such as Safran, Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Thales, I understand their culture and their stakes.

As a digital transformation expert, my skills include Program Management, Process optimization, Change Management, and functional framing and definition of SAP S/4HANA and other digital solutions.

As a freshly graduated student, my prime interest was corporate strategy, and it remains yet to this day. Thanks to Sopra Steria, I had the opportunity to contribute to an M&A due diligence in a high-tech environment, broadening my understanding of the issues C-level managers have to tackle on the long run.

Petra Makovec

Operation Manager, Gaia-X

She is the Operation Manager in the COO Team. She has 20 year’s experience in Organisation Development, Portfolio Management and Program Management. Since 2009 she is running her own company delivering various Transformation Projects for clients in different Industries.

Gianfranco Cecconi

Data Ecosystem and Sharing Lead, Capgemini

It’s just over ten years since the beginning of this latest and rewarding stage of my career. In 2013, for Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Open Data Institute, using just open-source software, open data and some commercial data offered by the local mobile networks, we validated the Major of London’s choice to shut down ten of the city’s fire stations, and empowered its citizens to the opportunity to do their own analysis.

Twelve years later, I am proud to have led the largest European Union programmes for the dissemination and promotion of open data (data.europa.eu), data sharing (Support Center for Data Sharing) and data spaces (Data Spaces Support Centre).

What about ten years from now? Trustworthy and sovereign data sharing will be the norm, and we won’t need to talk about it, like we don’t talk about other kinds of infrastructure that have matured: the supply chains that bring food to our tables, the power distribution networks, mobile networks, or the sewage system. Then, finally, we will need to worry about being creative and innovative, about “unleashing human energy through technology” – like Capgemini likes to frame it – and use that data to address the challenges that we face as a society.

Roman Gehrer

Research Associate, Technical University Vienna

Roman Gehrer is a Research Associate at the Research Unit of Mechanical Engineering Informatics and Virtual Product Development (MIVP) at TU Wien, holding a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is responsible for Data Space and Data Ecosystem-related research projects, including EuProGigant and AMIDS (Austrian Manufacturing Innovation Data Space), implementing Gaia-X compliance structures as well as developing policy and compliance validation mechanisms.

In 2024, he authored a paper on a decentralized, privacy preserving Federated Learning approach for the manufacturing industry, which leverages Gaia-X’s data sovereignty and Compute-to-Data.

Roman is highly involved in the Gaia-X world, not only through the aforementioned projects, exemplifying how Gaia-X can be practically applied to real-world industrial challenges in the context of Industry 4.0 and data-driven manufacturing, but also as part of the Gaia-X Technical Committee where he contributes to shaping the future of Gaia-X.

Axel Jean Marie Laniez

Head of Public Affairs & EU Policy, Clever Cloud

Public policy strategist leading Public Affairs & Policy Development at Clever Cloud. Focused on EU and French public affairs, I lead policy engagement at EU and national level on cloud and AI sovereignty — working with EU institutions and industry coalitions on the Cloud and AI Development Act (CAIDA), public procurement, competition law, the DMA and EUCS.

Juliana Michelon

Juliana Michelon

Senior Compliance Expert, Gaia-X

Juliana in her previous role as Policy and Research Manager at the UK Cyber Security Council was closely engaged with government officials and leading professionals from private businesses and associations to carry out several projects under the Council’s external affairs. In addition, she supported the writing of major policy deliverables to the UK government. Her work at the council involved engaging multiple stakeholders from academia, government, and industry, facilitating discussions and contributions from industry professionals, specialised working groups and sponsoring members. She is finalizing the writing of her PhD thesis about: Distributed Cognition in Human-machine Systems (Distributed Epistemic Systems).

Pierre Gronlier

Technical Fellow, Gaia-X

Pierre Gronlier has been working in the IT industry for the last twelve years, with a particular focus on operationalising and scaling systems in the field of real-time communication and cloud services. With a penchant for science and an academic background in embedded real-time systems and applied mathematics in signal processing and machine learning, he started as a research engineer in video compression before joining Skype and Microsoft in Estonia. He then moved to OVHcloud in France as a Cloud Solution Architect.

Przemek Halub

Program Manager, Gaia-X

Przemek is the Program Manager of Gaia-X. He has 15+ years of experience in project management and has led multidisciplinary teams across service delivery, presales, and software development areas. His main duties are:

Definition; planning; monitoring and control of program; program requirements; milestones; risk planning and documentation; program reporting; coordination and support of Gaia-X Hubs in relation to their project activities.

Prior to this role Przemek has spent 5 years at Atos and was assigned to the Siemens Account. He managed large global IT presales programs in the areas of digital transformation, digital workplace, application management and could. Previously Przemek led projects in R&D (technology transfer area) and the banking industry (management and implementation of new processes for stock exchanges in Singapore and Asia-Pacific region). He is certified in Agile Project Management (Agile PM) and is a project management graduate and a scholarship holder from the University of Stanford.

Stefan Dumss

Senior Researcher, Posedio GmbH

Stefan Dumss is a dedicated engineer, with a background in aeronautics, in both mechanical and industrial engineering who has been focusing on mechanical engineering informatics during his work at Technische Universität Wien. This enables him to work in various roles in the field of Industry 4.0. He is currently Senior Researcher at Posedio GmbH, a company specialised in cloud-native software development and digital transformation, where he continues the research towards data spaces which started for him with the Gaia-X lighthouse project EuProGigant. EuProGigant aims to establish a resilient and sovereign data ecosystem for the European manufacturing industry that aligns with Gaia-X principles. Currently, the focus area of his research lies on enabling policy-based access control with verifiable credentials. He is also very active within the Gaia-X Open-Source Software community, with a focus on the usage of Gaia-X Digital Clearing Houses.