The ambassador Jeffrey Marder inaugurated the day ‘Digital Rights: necessary dialogue EU-Canada’, organized by the CEU San Pablo University at Casa América
Academic and legal experts in Canadian and Spanish digital technologies agreed on February 26, during the day ‘Digital Rights: necessary dialogue between the EU and Canada’, that responsible regulation does not hinder technological innovation, contrary to the anti-regulatory pressures advocated by the United States. All of them also emphasized a fundamental aspect: Europe must invest more in technology.
“Canada links the commitment to technological development with a firm commitment to ethics, responsible regulation, and inclusion,” said the ambassador of Canada to Spain, Jeffrey Marder, during the inauguration of the day, organized at Casa América by the CEU San Pablo University.
The Canadian diplomat, after recognizing Spain as “a solid and stable partner,” listed “ethical AI, multilateralism, data protection, inclusive innovation, and responsible governance of the digital space” as the priorities of his Government, “which works to ensure that technological innovation remains at the service of people and democratic institutions.”
The meeting included, on the Spanish side, Juan Miguel Márquez, deputy director general of Ontsi; the professor of Administrative Law, José Luis Piñar; and professor Rosario Duaso, both from the CEU San Pablo University.
Representing the University of Montreal were professor Karim Benyekhlef, director of the Cyberjustice Laboratory and a world reference in analyzing how destructive technologies impact fundamental rights; Nicolas Vermeys and Valentin Callipel, deputy director and mission head of the laboratory, respectively.
The deputy director of the National Observatory of Technology and Society (ONTSI) argued that fundamental rights must also be guaranteed in the digital environment. Márquez highlighted the closeness of the viewpoints of Canada and Spain on digital rights: “we share the vision of fundamental rights in the digital environment, the need for governance of digital technologies and their regulation to serve the common good..”
Professor José Luis Piñar emphasized that “no steps can be taken in the digital world without a constant dialogue between jurists and technicians, and even less so in the European Union and Canada, where any innovation must respect fundamental rights,” he assured.
Piñar denied the supposed impact of regulation on innovation. In his view, “it is not true that innovation and regulation are opposed, quite the contrary”. And although he admitted that “perhaps there is a lack of investment, Europe is not that far behind and that innovation is being made within a regulatory framework fully aligned with fundamental rights.”
Karim Benyekhlef, director of the Cyberjustice Laboratory at the University of Montreal, in line with Piñar, referred to studies indicating that innovation is not limited by regulation and identified the problem in the large tech companies, which operate as “state companies”, and in “the enormous pressure that the EU suffers from the United States,” which considers that European regulation is a limitation for its companies.
According to Benyekhlef’s analysis, in this scenario of extreme pressure and competition “the regulation of the European Union is not enough. It must be supported by significant investments for Europe to become an industrial and technological power.”