Time to Reset: Unlocking Growth & Sovereignty Through Digital Competition
About this Event
Time to Reset: Unlocking Growth & Sovereignty Through Digital Competition
A handful of firms now control the digital infrastructure the whole UK economy runs on - from search and cloud to the app stores and advertising markets that British businesses depend on to reach their customers. The UK has the world's most effective yet proportionate tool for tackling this: the CMA's Digital Markets Competition Regime, created by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The problem is not the law. It's the political will to use it.
Following the publication a forthcoming report from IPPR - Bottleneck Britain: How digital competition could power UK growth and sovereignty - this event will bring together leading voices from politics, regulation, industry and academia to ask how the CMA's digital competition regime can be used more boldly and effectively to unlock growth across every part of the UK and strengthen our tech sovereignty.
Across the afternoon, our speakers will explore how an updated Strategic Steer could refocus enforcement on the remedies that genuinely open markets and grow the economy, and discuss how the CMA can manage the trade-offs around inward investment and geopolitics without outsourcing that judgement to the firms it regulates. A full speaker line-up will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
The formal programme will be followed by a drinks reception, offering guests the chance to continue the conversation with speakers and fellow attendees.
Please see the agenda below:
1:30pm – Doors Open
2:00pm – Welcome
2:10pm – Keynote from Will Hayter, Executive Director, Digital Markets, CMA.
2:30pm – PANEL 1: The costs of concentrated markets in the AI age – lost growth and technology sovereignty. The panellists are:
Suzi Ring, Legal Correspondent, Financial Times
Matt Davies, Economic and Social Policy Lead, Ada Lovelace Institute
Dylan Sparks, UK Director, Reset
Stephen McDonald, Head of Economics at Which?, the UK Consumers’ Association
3:20pm – Coffee and networking break
3:40pm — Keynote from Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning, University of Cambridge
4:00pm — PANEL 2: A roadmap for more effective digital competition enforcement
Tom Smith, London Managing Partner, Geradin Partners
Rosamund Powell, Senior Research Fellow, IPPR
Max Von Thun, Director, Open Markets Institute Europe
Alex Rennie, Senior Public Affairs Manager, Skyscanner
Chi Onwurah MP, Chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee
4:50pm — Keynote from Philip Marsden, former member of HMG's Digital Competition Expert Panel and Deputy Chair of the Bank of England's Enforcement Decision Committee
5:10pm — Close of formal programme
5:15pm — Drinks and networking (until 7pm)
Our speakers:
Will Hayter - Will Hayter is Executive Director for Digital Markets at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Prior to the CMA, Hayter worked as Director at Transition Hub (Cabinet Office / 10 Downing Street), and in other roles at the CMA and Ofcom.
Suzi Ring - Suzi Ring is the Financial Times' legal correspondent in London, covering white collar crime, antitrust and the business of law. Prior to joining the FT, Suzi spent ten years at Bloomberg News where she covered a variety of beats including legal, Brexit and healthcare.
Matt Davies - Matt Davies is Economic and Social Policy Lead at the Ada Lovelace Institute, where they lead a new programme of work on power, political economy, and industrial strategy. Their previous published research includes reports on global approaches to public compute and on lessons for AI regulation from other high-tech sectors. Their writing has been featured in The Guardian, Renewal Journal, and IPPR’s Progressive Review, and in the AI Now Institute’s edited volume AI Nationalism(s). They sit on advisory committees for Global Fund for a New Economy and the Centre for European Policy Studies.
Prior to joining Ada, Matt held various roles in the Labour Party, including as a political advisor to members of the Shadow Cabinet, and as a researcher for Chi Onwurah MP. They hold degrees from Oxford University and the London School of Economics, where they are currently studying towards a PhD in the political philosophy of AI.
Dylan Sparks - Dylan Sparks is the UK Director at Reset Tech, where he leads on policy work at the intersection of tech and democracy. He focuses on online safety, healthier information ecosystems, digital competition and public service broadcasting in the digital age. His career has focused on digital threats to public welfare and he has previously held roles at Luminate and Omidyar Network. Reset Tech is a public policy organisation advocating for technology that protects children, consumers, and public safety.
Stephen McDonald - Stephen McDonald is Head of Economics at Which?, the UK's Consumers' Association. Stephen manages Which?’s programme of economic research and analysis and leads on competition policy. His research relating to digital markets was used extensively by the UK government in its development of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act. Stephen holds a PhD in industrial organisation and was formerly a Lecturer in Economics at Newcastle University, where his primary research focus was consumer outcomes in online markets.
Neil Lawrence - Neil Lawrence is the inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, where he is also the academic lead of ai@cam, the University’s flagship mission on AI. He is a visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield and author of the book The Atomic Human and co-founder and Chief Scientist at Trent.AI.
Tom Smith - Tom Smith is the London managing partner at Geradin Partners, having previously been Legal Director at the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). At Geradin Partners, he represents a wide variety of broadcasters, news publishers, app developers, gaming companies, e-commerce sellers and other companies on digital regulation in the UK, the EU, and other jurisdictions.r
Rosamund Powell - Rosamund Powell is a senior research fellow in the econmoy team at IPPR, where she co-leads the AI programme. Her work focuses on identifying policies that will help the UK seize the opportunities AI brings and ensure new technologies benefit people across the UK. Before joining IPPR, she worked on AI policy at the Alan Turing Institute, Centre for Emerging Technology and Security, UNESCO, and the Interparliamentary Forum on Emerging Technologies.
Max Von Thun - Max von Thun is the Director of Open Markets Institute Europe. He leads Open Markets’ research and advocacy work in Europe, with a focus on identifying the policies needed to build an open, resilient, and democratic European economy.
Von Thun’s work touches on a range of competition and market power issues in Europe, with a particular emphasis on emerging technologies and new legislative frameworks targeting dominant technology platforms. Prior to joining Open Markets, von Thun advised UK parliamentarians on economic policy, led the research program at the Centre for Entrepreneurs, and advised businesses on EU and UK technology and competition policy.
Alex Rennie - Alex has worked at Skyscanner as a Senior Public Affairs Manager for three and a half years, where he has played a leading role in the company’s engagement on digital competition in the UK and EU. His work has focused particularly on competition in online search and the development and implementation of new digital competition regimes, including engagement with policymakers and regulators on how these frameworks can deliver more effective competition and better outcomes for consumers.
Chi Onwurah MP - Chi Onwurah MP is a British politician representing Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West in the House of Commons. She was first elected in 2010 to represent Newcastle Central. She serves as the Chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. Chi is a Charted Electrical Engineer and before entering Parliament, spent over twenty years working on engineering projects around the world. She has previously served as Head of Technology at Ofcom. Whilst at Ofcom Chi oversaw the development of PIA, the Physical Infrastructure Access regulatory product which has enabled competition and greater fibre coverage in the UK. Born in Wallsend, Chi attended Kenton Comprehensive School in Newcastle, where she was elected the school’s ‘MP’ in mock elections aged 17.
Philip Marsden - Co-author of ‘Unlocking Digital Competition’ – the Furman report; decision-maker at CMA, FCA, Bank of England. Philip decides enforcement cases for various authorities, teaches law and economics, and advises companies and governments, particularly on digital competition regulation.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
