Euro­pean Dig­i­tal Squads – iRights.Lab Founds new Ini­tia­tive with Euro­pean Partners

On the occa­sion of the EU Sum­mit on dig­i­tal­iza­tion in Tallinn, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of five Euro­pean organ­i­sa­tions met on 29th Sep­tem­ber 2017 to launch the “Euro­pean Dig­i­tal Squads”.

The ini­tia­tive focuss­es on two main aspects: to pro­duce pol­i­cy sce­nar­ios and solu­tions for the dig­i­tal future of Europe and to improve the dia­logue between Euro­pean insti­tu­tions and dig­i­tal ecosys­tems. With these con­cerns, the experts of dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion from dif­fer­ent EU coun­tries swapped ideas on the launch of their ini­tia­tive, among oth­ers, with the French Pres­i­dent, Emmanuel Macron. It is about catalysing the work­ing capac­i­ties and the visions of expert bod­ies from four dif­fer­ent coun­tries for set­ting up a think and do tank at Euro­pean level. The aim is to help devel­op­ing a dig­i­tal EU strat­e­gy on dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion. With their expe­ri­ence and visions, the rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the coop­er­a­tion will help law- and deci­sion-mak­ers across Europe address the main chal­lenges of digitalisation.

Philipp Otto, Founder & Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Ger­man think tank iRights.Lab, is also on the ground and dis­cuss­es the dig­i­tal future of the Euro­pean Union. For him the exchange among the experts is of cen­tral importance:

“We want to enable the right pre­con­di­tions for a suc­cess­ful Europe in the dig­i­tal 21st cen­tu­ry. To this end, we bring the exper­tise of our struc­tures and think tanks togeth­er and help the Euro­pean heads of state and gov­ern­ment build a dig­i­tal Europe.”

The first meet­ing is mere­ly the begin­ning of a series of actions intend­ed by the mem­bers of the Squads. In addi­tion to iRights.Lab, the fol­low­ing organ­i­sa­tions are involved: The Nation­al Board of Trade Swe­den, The Fore­sight Cen­ter of Esto­nia, The French Dig­i­tal Coun­cil and the Inter­net Econ­o­my Foun­da­tion. But it doesn’t have to stop there: The coop­er­a­tion is open to other organ­i­sa­tions, will­ing to join the ini­tia­tive later on.

Press con­tact and in case of ques­tions: kontakt@irights-lab.de

Press release of the “Euro­pean Dig­i­tal Squad“: PDF