Set the 5G standard

In 2012, US law professor Anu Bradford coined the term "The Brussels Effect" to refer to the European Union's unilateral ability to regulate global markets. Today we have entered the digital age, where data is replacing land, labor and capital as the main factors of production of the economy.

In order to thrive in the digital economy, companies will have to reimagine how to it creates and distributes value in such an economy. We need unified technical standards and rules for data governance. Europe, with the Brussels Effect, could be the only global market with the will and the ability to establish these rules in the digital age.

There are also those who define data as “the new oil ". However, there is a fundamental difference between data and oil: data is unlimited and data sources increase indefinitely. This means that economic development will no longer be limited by scarce supplies of natural resources. How we have created value since the industrial age is about to change.



We urgently need data governance and regulation, as governance is constantly lagging behind development technological. The EU has particularly strong regulatory capabilities. In all fairness, data governance has been neglected in many parts of the world. The EU, by contrast, was a forerunner.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has marked a huge leap forward in the protection of personal data, allowing not only informative self-determination, but also providing remedies for cases of violation of individual privacy. When it comes to setting standards, Europe must continue to have the confidence to move forward.