Lecture on "Competition in the Digital Era: New Challenges Raised by Platforms and Data" by Professor Jean-Yves ART, Director of Competition Law (EMEA) at Microsoft

On Thursday, 21 January 2016, Professor Jean-Yves ART held a lecture on "Competition in the Digital Era: New Challenges Raised by Platforms and Data”.

The lecture focused on innovation in the field of digital economy. Professor ART discussed the issue of scarcity of data and the role of platforms in the digital economy.  In particular, he considered whether these new topics could be properly assessed using traditional competition analysis and/or whether they require specific regulation. These questions are especially relevant now that the EU is working on the Digital Single Market portfolio.

Professor ART is Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft, Brussels, in charge of antitrust matters for the EMEA region. He is also teaching in the Department of European Legal Studies at the College of Europe, Bruges campus, and at SciencesPo, Paris. He is actively participating in competition policy discussions as a non-governmental advisor in the International Competition Network. 
Professor ART is a specialist in economic law and has experience working in private practice (as a partner with the international law firm, Coudert Brothers), the European institutions (as a law clerk with the European Court of Justice) and as in-house counsel to Microsoft.

The lecture was organized in the framework of the cooperation between Microsoft and the Department of European Economic Studies at the College of Europe.