Speakers biographies - Data for Innovation Conference

Renate NIKOLAY

Deputy-Director General at DG CONNECT, European Commission

Renate Nikolay is the Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content, and Technology at the European Commission. She has a distinguished career within the European institutions, marked by a series of high-profile roles that underscore her expertise and leadership in various portfolios. Before her current position, she served as Head of Cabinet for Vice-President Věra Jourová, overseeing Values and Transparency, having previously managed Justice, Consumers, and Gender Equality.

Nikolay's academic credentials reflect her dedication to legal excellence. She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with honours from American University, Washington College of Law, and both her First and Second Legal State Examinations with honours from the Free University of Berlin and the High Court of Berlin, respectively. Additionally, she earned a Diplôme de Droit Français with honours from the University of Grenoble, France. Her early professional career also includes positions such as a Research Assistant at Humboldt University and an Associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Brussels.

Her extensive experience in the European Commission includes key roles such as Advisor to High Representative/Vice President Cathy Ashton on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Head of Unit for Interinstitutional and International Coordination at DG JUST, and Member of Cabinet for Commissioners Peter Mandelson and Cathy Ashton in the Trade portfolio. Renate Nikolay has also served as an Administrator for Multilateral Affairs and WTO at DG TRADE. Before joining the European Commission, she was a Counsellor at the German Permanent Representation in Brussels and a Desk Officer on Transatlantic Relations at the German Ministry of Economics.

Pilar DEL CASTILLO

Member of the European Parliament

Pilar del Castillo is a Member of the European Parliament at the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE). She has been the European Parliament's rapporteur on the Data Act, the European Electronic Communications Code, the Telecoms Single Market Regulation, the Regulation on the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the report on Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe, among other dossiers. She has also actively participated in several EU policy files in the field of energy.

In addition, Del Castillo is the chair of the European Internet Foundation, the vice-president of European Energy Forum (EEF) and a member of the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN). She is former Minister of Education and Culture (2000-2004) and former President of the Centre for Sociological Research (1996/2000) of Spain. Del Castillo is full Professor in Political Science and Administration and a Fulbright scholar.

Xavier LAGARDÈRE

Chief Data Officer, Lufthansa Group

Xavier Lagardère was appointed as Head of Data Strategy and Transformation for Lufthansa Group in January 2021. He is responsible for LHGs data strategy & governance and enables the transformation of LHG towards a data-driven airline group. As Vice President of Project Innovation Management, he now leads the Group’s Innovation Management. This makes him responsible for accelerating innovation, forming innovation partnerships, and aligning the Group’s innovation potential.

Xavier Lagardère began his professional career as Research & Development engineer at HP in 2003. In 2005 he joined the travel & mobility industry taking a position at Amadeus IT Group with responsibility for product development and innovation. For Groupon he was appointed business unit director, responsible for the travel business in France. Xavier joined Lufthansa Group in 2013 as Vice President online retail & distribution at Brussels Airlines where he set up new direct distribution channels with a focus on online sales.

In 2016 his responsibility expanded to defining the go-to-market strategy and the global channel solutions for Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines. He is a board member of several companies in the travel & mobility sector and holds various patents in the domain of travel & mobility system automation and passenger interaction. Xavier has a master degree in computer science from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD. 

Patrick PAGANI

Deputy-Secretary General, Copa-Cogeca

Patrick Pagani is Deputy Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca leading the organisation since 1 February 2024. He is responsible for the office leadership and for its strategic and policy development.

Previously, as Lead Coordinator, he has been developing the organisation stance on Farm to Fork, Fit for 55 and food security. He is also in charge of the Agriculture Technology work with the Secretariat aiming to make the farming sector one of the frontrunners in the data-driven economy and in developing new technologies for better resource efficiency, improving, and modernising the agriculture sector in the path towards more sustainability.

Patrick has early experiences in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and DG Agriculture of the European Commission and previously has worked for several years in the European sugar beet sector on sustainability, agriculture and innovation matters in close link with the farming community.

Prof. Peter SARLIN

CEO and Co-Founder of SILO AI

Peter Sarlin is the CEO and co-founder of Silo AI, Europe’s largest private AI lab, and a Professor of Practice at Aalto University, specialising in machine learning and AI. With a PhD in machine learning, he has a rich academic background that spans roles as a tenured professor, visiting professor and research associate at institutions like the Imperial College London, London School of Economics, University of Technology Sydney, Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Pavia, Stockholm University, IWH Halle, and University of Cape Town.

Peter's expertise is further recognised by his former roles as Vice Chair of the IEEE Computational Finance and Economics Technical Committee and the IEEE Analytics and Risk Technical Committee. His professional journey includes tenures at the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, among others.

Prof. Gregory LEWKOWICZ

Director of the Smart Law Hub, Université libre de Bruxelles

Gregory Lewkowicz is a professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), the director of the Smart Law Hub, and a member of the Perelman Centre. He serves as principal investigator at the Artificial Intelligence Institute for the Common Good (FARI) in Brussels and is the Koyre Senior Research Fellow in Business Law & Artificial Intelligence at the Université of Nice Sophia Antipolis. Additionally, he is a visiting professor in law and technology at Sciences Po Paris Law School, Paris II Panthéon-Assas, and the University of Liège.

With a primary focus on the intersection of law and technology, Mr. Lewkowicz frequently contributes to executive programs developed for HEC Paris, ULB, and other higher education institutions. He is also a member of the external advisory board of AI4Belgium and the “Club des Juristes” digital task force in Paris. In addition to his academic roles, he leads multiple research and industrial projects, including R&D initiatives, with both public and private partners. Furthermore, Mr. Lewkowicz regularly advises governments, civil society organisations, and private companies on digital strategy and regulations.

Dr Gregory NAIN

Co-founder and Head of operations at DataThings

Experienced technology leader with over 12 years of experience in software engineering and Internet of Things (IoT), specializing in the development and management of innovative digital twin solutions. Proven track record in leading cross-functional projects and research initiatives, with a strong focus on operational efficiency of industries and strategic alignment. Adept of bridging together technical and business domains to drive impactful results and foster continuous growth.

In his position at DataThings, Dr. Nain oversees all operational aspects since 2017, including the development and coding of innovative AI and machine learning solutions tailored to client needs, with the support of DataThings' GreyCat technology as a Made in Europe, independent and sovereign integration in a unique tool, of data storage, data processing and machine learning activities. 

Design and implement comprehensive data projects strategies that encompass resource management, risk assessment, and quality assurance, ensuring that projects are delivered on time and meet or exceed client expectations. Cultivate and sustain strong relationships with clients and partners, driving successful project outcomes and fostering ongoing business opportunities. Leads the delivery of AI-driven solutions and provides expert training on Artificial Intelligence Value Discovery and Data Structures and Complexities for Big Data Processing. 

Lotta RAUSÉUS

COO and Co-founder of Insurely

Lotta Rauséus, COO & Co-Founder of Insurely, has since 2018 been on a journey to transform the insurance industry for the better to make it more open and transparent for both consumers and insurance providers.

Prior to founding Insurely, she worked as a management consultant, specialising in the banking and insurance industry at Ernst & Young. In 2018, she stepped away from her consultancy position at EY with a mission to create an enhanced insurance experience for consumers with the help of open data and innovative technology, and co-founded Insurely.

As a co-founder of Europe's leading provider of open finance solutions within insurance, pension, and investment, she envisions open finance as the future of the financial industry, poised to set a new standard for banks, insurance companies, and consumers alike. Leveraging her insights and professional expertise, she introduces a fresh perspective to an industry traditionally dominated by men.

Dr. Daniela BRÖNSTRUP

Vice-President of the BundesNetzAgentur

Dr. Daniela Brönstrup is one of the two vice presidents of the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). She took up her service on 1 June 2024 and her responsibility includes telecommunications and rail.

Previous to her current position, she was Director-General for Digital and Innovation Policy in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). Prior to that, she was Deputy Director-General for Telecommunications, Media and the Postal Sector as well as International Digital Policy in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). From 2010 to 2015 she was Head of Division for International and European Economic and Monetary Affairs as well as Fiscal Policy at the BMWi. 

From 2007 to 2010 she was responsible for economic affairs, finance, labour, and social security at the Office of the Federal President. Ms Brönstrup holds a doctorate in economics and is a graduate of the Cologne School of Journalism.

Sébastien PICARDAT

CEO of Agdatahub

Since 2020, Sébastien Picardat has been chief executive officer of Agdatahub, the French infrastructure for sharing agricultural data. With over 20 years' experience in the agri-food sector, he is passionate about harnessing data and technology as sources of value and impact for the farming and food industry in France and Europe.

Lucie KIRSTEIN

Team Lead for Data Infrastructure at Acatech

Lucie Kirstein is Team Lead for European projects on data infrastructure at acatech, where she coordinates deployEMDS, a collaborative project with 45 partners supporting the creation of a common European data space for mobility. She also supports and advises several Member States in their ongoing application to establish a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium for mobility and logistics data and is a member of the European Data Innovation Board (EDIB) created under the Data Governance Act.

Previously, Lucie worked as a Transport Analyst at the OECD International Transport Forum (ITF), leading initiatives on rural mobility and contributing to technical studies on decarbonising aviation, ports, and shipping sectors. Lucie has an academic background in international economic policy and speaks six languages.

Dr Andrejs VASIĻJEVS

Co-founder and board member of Tilde

Dr. Andrejs Vasiļjevs is the co-founder and a board member of Tilde, a European language technology company renowned for its expertise in machine translation and other AI-driven technologies for linguistically complex languages. His work focuses on fostering collaboration between industry and academia to advance multilingual solutions across Europe. He is actively engaged in the development of European infrastructure for language data, supporting the advancement of multilingual AI technologies. Andrejs has led several key initiatives, including the creation of the terminology portal EuroTermBank, the machine translation platform LetsMT, and the National Language Technology Platform (NLTP), deployed in several EU countries.

Andrejs serves on the board of the European Big Data Value Association (BDVA), where he co-leads the Generative AI Task Force. Additionally, he is the vice-chair of the Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance (META-NET) and chairs the Knowledge Society Program Council of the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO. Andrejs earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Latvia and has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Academy of Sciences of Latvia. He has authored or co-authored over 100 research papers on machine translation, language data, terminology management, and other developments in AI and language technology.

Clara PEZUELA

Vice-President of Fiware, Chair of the Technology working group in the Data Spaces Support Centre

Clara Pezuela holds a degree in Computer Science from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and has 25 years of experience in digital technologies research, primarily through European research and innovation projects. She currently serves as the Vice President of Funded Programs at the FIWARE Foundation. In this role, her main responsibilities include aligning FIWARE's participation in innovation projects, exploring new opportunities for contributing to the research agenda, and engaging the FIWARE community with European institutions and initiatives.

With a Master’s in Innovation Management and a GOLD for Business Leaders certification, she possesses advanced skills in innovation and technology transfer from research to business and society. Technically, she has deep expertise in data architectures, cloud/edge/IoT computing, data platforms, and data spaces. At present, she is working on the Data Spaces Support Centre, where she leads activities related to standardisation, interoperability, and value creation. She is also actively involved in the Data Space for Smart Communities.