It’s September, and as we are gearing up for a rich programme of events this fall at the European Parliament, it is a perfect moment to take stock of the last 20 months, since we resumed our in-person programme.

Check out this 1-minute video, recapping the January 2022-July 2023 period of #EIFdebates

Between 15-18 May 2023, EIF organised a special programme for MEPs to discover the thriving innovation ecosystem in Israel, the 'Startup Nation'.

The EIF members who took part in this MEP visit were:
- Mr. Victor Negrescu MEP, S&D, Romania (MEP lead)
- Ms. Beatrice Covassi MEP (S&D, Italy)
- Ms. Josianne Cutajar MEP (S&D, Malta)
- Mr. Ivan Štefanec MEP (EPP, Slovakia)
- Ms. Róża Thun MEP (Renew Europe, Poland)

Each year, we invite Members of the European Parliament to an #MWC deep-dive here in Barcelona. Together with the GSMA, we offer MEPs the chance to get a hands-on experience of cutting-edge technology devices, to learn about the latest trends and innovations in mobile technology and to engage with experts on the field.

We meet with representatives of key players in the sphere of technology to exchange views on how innovation and connectivity can change our lives. This year our tour was packed with many interesting demos, from AI-powered networks solutions, sustainability, 6G to Metaverse, Holograms etc.

MWC Barcelona is the largest and most influential event for the connectivity ecosystem and we look forward to be back again next year.

A new #EIFasksMEPs episode is out! Dragos Tudorache MEP answered all our questions on the AI Act and the Transatlantic cooperation on Artificial Intelligence.

#EIFasksMEPs aims to be an opportunity for our Political members to share views on a topic of choice, in the format of a professionally filmed interview.

Learn more at www.internetforum.eu

On 20 July, EIF asked MEPs the main takeaways from the Transatlantic Week 2022, organised by TPN with the support of EIF. The theme was "Facing the Challenges Ahead Together: towards the Transatlantic Partnership 2030".

On 19 July, EIF asked Brando Benifei MEP the key takeaways from the Transatlantic Week 2022.

On 19 July, EIF asked Paul Tang MEP the key takeaways from the Transatlantic Week

On 19 July, EIF asked Tsvetelina Penkova MEP the key takeaways from the Transatlantic Week 2022.

On 19 July, EIF asked Miapetra Kumpula-Natri MEP the key takeaways from the Transatlantic Week 2022.

On 19 July, EIF asked Victor Negrescu MEP the key takeaways from the Transatlantic Week 2022.

On 19 July, EIF asked Pilar del Castillo MEP and EIF Chair the key takeaways from the Transatlantic Week 2022.

A new #EIFasksMEPs episode is out! Pilar del Castillo MEP did a great job answering all our questions on the "Challenges of the Data Economy". An MEP with the EPP group from Spain, member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and substitute of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Pilar del Castillo has recently been appointed as Rapporteur for the ITRE Committee on the Data Act.

#EIFasksMEPs aims to be an opportunity for our Political members to share views on a topic of choice, in the format of a professionally filmed interview.

The past two years have been challenging and unpredictable for us all. The pandemic has pushed us to reinvent ourselves, to fully embrace the digital world in order to continue delivering value to our membership. 

Since then, we have organised over 40 virtual debates, continuing the conversation on the most important topics of the digital policy agenda with MEPs and top-level speakers from the European Commission, CEOs, industry experts and civil society. And #EIFasksMEPs, our first video interview series was born. In 2022, as soon as the covid19 pandemic will allow, we are prepared to welcome you in person at our hybrid and networking events.

Nothing would have been possible without our members' trust and engagement. This video is a tribute to the continuous support that we have received. A story of collective resilience that we wrote together. Because #WEareEIF!

The first episode of our new #EIFasksMEPs project features Ivan Stefanec, MEP with the EPP Group and EIF Programming Committee Co-Chair, with whom we discussed "SMEs and digital transformation".

As a member of the IMCO Committee in the European Parliament, MEP Stefanec's work focuses on SMEs, employment, entrepreneurship and the Digital Single Market. #EIFasksMEPs aims to be an opportunity for our Political members to share views on a topic of choice, in the format of a professionally filmed interview.

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On 18 February 2020, EIF hosted a lunch debate where participants discussed the interplay between encryption, data protection and law enforcement.
The debate was hosted by MEPs Patrick Breyer and Rasmus Andresen and featured the following speakers:
- Maximilian Schubert, President of EuroISPA
- Ceren Ünal, Regional Policy Manager Europe, Internet Society
- Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Internet Archive Fellow, Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Bert Hubert, Founder of PowerDNS
- Cathrin Bauer-Bulst, Acting Head of the Cybercrime Unit, DG HOME, European Commission

On January 29th, EIF invited MEPs, Members and friends for an exchange of views on the future of the EU Digital Single Market.

In this highlights video, EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Ambassador Luminita Odobescu, Permanent Representative of Romania to the EU share their views on the EU Digital Single Market.

What are the key challenges and opportunities that digital transformation brings to EU taxation?

On 12 November 2019, Ivan Stefanec MEP invited EIF members for a discussion on this timely topic. The debate featured the following speakers:

• Maria Teresa Fabregas, Director of Indirect taxation and tax administration Unit, DG TAXUD, European Commission
• Magdalena Piech, Head of Regulatory Affairs at Allegro, Chair of the European Tech Alliance
• Rob Burlison, Director of Global Corporate Affairs, Intuit
• Dr. Horst Heitz, Deputy Secretary General, Taxpayers Association of Europe

In 2019 EIF invited members to exchange views on the regulatory obstacles Banks and FinTechs are facing in the Digital Era as well as how to ensure that competition, data privacy and security will empower the consumer and SMEs while allowing the sector to lead in innovation.

The debate, titled "The digital transformation of financial services", was chaired by MEP Pilar del Castillo and featured the following speakers:

• Delphine Leroy, Policy Officer, Financial Technology and Sustainable Finance Unit, DG FISMA, European Commission
• Joel Rosenbaum, Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, Banco Santander
• Ciaran O'Malley, Head of Commercial Strategy, Trustly

On 24 April 2018, MEP Pilar del Castillo and EIF invited MEPs, EIF Members and friends, to exchange views on the impact of Internet of Things on European industries. In this EIFAsks video, MEP Pilar del Castillo, the European Commission Director for the Future Networks Directorate Pearse O'Donohue, Justin Hobbs, from Zebra Technologies and Thomas Walloschke from the Alliance for the Internet of Things Innovation discussed successes and challenges the Union faces in bringing digitalization to Europe’s traditional manufacturing industries.

On 21 March 2018, MEP Michal Boni and EIF invited MEPs, EIF Members and friends, to discuss how to ensure that digital is prioritised in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, from artificial intelligence to cyber-security and from copyright to ensuring high speed internet access. In this EIFAsks video EU Commissioner for Budget, Günther Oettinger, MEPs Jan Olbrycht (MFF co-rapporteur) and Michal Boni, and Kalin Tomov from the Bulgarian Permanent Representation, give their views on how to support Europe's digitisation through the next MFF.

On 20 March 2018, MEP Pilar del Castillo and EIF invited MEPs, EIF Members and friends, to exchange views on the proposed EU Cyber Security Act, and a much needed global approach. In this EIFAsks video, MEP Angelika Niebler (EP rapporteur on the file), the European Commission Director for Cybersecurity Despina Spanou and Ilias Chantzos from Symantec, confer upon the Commission's initiative to counteract future cyber threats and attacks.

On 30 January 2018, EIF & MEPs Pilar del Castillo and Michal Boni hosted an exchange of views with European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, on the impact of digital transformation in the fields of research and innovation. Digital technologies have developed tremendously in recent years. In this short interview, Commissioner Moedas gives us an overview of the progress made towards the implementation of the Digitasing European Industry initiative.

On 23 January 2018, EIF & MEPs Catherine Stihler and Brando Benifei invited members & friends to debate on Copyright in the EU Digital Single Market. The reform of EU copyright rules has been a long running and hotly debated topic within the European institutions. In this EIFAks MEP Brando Benifei and stakeholders from the publishing industry, the academia and the libraries put forward their views on how the EU could make a balanced copyright framework for the Digital Single Market.

On 24 January 2018, EIF & MEPs Pilar del Castillo and Michal Boni invited members & friends to debate on the future of work. Technological innovation is increasingly changing the nature of how we can access, organise and carry out work in many ways and forms. In this EIFAsks, MEP Michal Boni, the President of Lisbon Council -a leading think tank-, the founder of FacilityLive, and representaitives from the European Commission and UBER confer about the the work revolution and how it will affect our economy and socities.

On 21 November, EIF & MEPs Pilar del Castillo and Eva Kaili hosted a debate to discuss the impact of Brexit on data flows. Disruptions could not only affect business activities whether in goods and services, but also R&D, the academic world, government lead projects and many public services. In this #EIFAsks video, MEPs Pilar del Castillo and Daniel Dalton, representatives from Vodafone and BTGroup – which heavily rely on uninterrupted data flows – and Giles Derrington from Tech UK – which represents the interests of UK tech companies, assess Britain’s options to avoid disruption on data flows in a post-Brexit scenario.

On 18 October 2017, EIF & MEP Eva Kaili hosted a debate to explore blockchain technology, its range of applications, the way it transforms value chains in every aspect of our life and reliable ways to build and preserve trust and security for its users. In this #EIFAsks video, MEP Eva Kaili, the renowned blockchain expert Dr Julian Hosp, Peteris Zilgavis from the European Commission, and representatives from companies developing blockchain applications and solutions such as IBM or Pro-civis, comment on the different approaches to regulating this disruptive technology.

On 27th September, EIF & MEP Lambert Van Nistelrooij hosted a debate on innovation, mobile commerce and the future of retail in the European Parliament, Brussels. The debate discussed trends in e-commerce and multi-channel retailing; the future of payments; and challenges for policymakers. In this #EIFAsks video, MEP Lambert Van Nistelrooij, Margriet Keijzer from the Dutch Retail Association, Peteris Zilgalvis from DG CONNECT at the European Commission and Matthew Mayo from MasterCard comment on how Europe can foster e-commerce solutions.

On 5th September 2017, EIF and MEPs Pilar del Castillo & Michal Boni, hosted a debate on cybersecurity. The European Union has recently witnessed major security incidents impacting government systems, critical infrastructures, as well as businesses and other public and private organisations of all sizes across several countries. In this #EIFAsks video, MEPs Pilar del Castillo and Michal Boni, Dr. Hugh Thompson from Symantec and Axel Petri from Deutsche Telekom’s share their views on Europe’s main challenges in the sphere of cybersecurity.

On 28 March 2017, EIF and Eva Kaili MEP hosted a debate to discuss how the Fintech revolution is transforming digital economics and the economy. In this #EIFAsks video, MEPs Eva Kaili, Catalin-Sorin Ivan and Neena Gill, European Commission Director General Roberto Viola DG CONNECT and representatives of the financial and technological industries share their views on wether Europe is leading or lagging in the development of Fintech technologies and rollout.

On 23 March 2017, EIF and Carlos Zorrinho MEP hosted a debate to discuss the EU pilot project WIFI4EU and how it could help close the digital divide. In this #EIFAsks video, MEP Zorrinho, representatives of the European Commission, Public Libraries and members of the technological industry discuss all aspects of the WIFI4EU initiative including funding and available technologies to make it happen.

On 8 February 2017, EIF and Pilar del Castillo MEP hosted a debate to discuss the best approach to enable data flows within EU to future-proof the EU Digital Single Market. In this #EIFAsks video, representatives of the European Commission, two Member States and the start-up community share their views on the new Commission communication and what needs to be done to enable data economy in Europe.

On 8 February, MEPs Axel Voss and Michal Boni hosted a debate to explore as to whether the co-existence of the General Data Protection regulation and a revised e-privacy Directive is feasible or whether it creates unnecessary overlap and legal uncertainty. In this #EIFasks video, policy makers, industry and consumer rights representatives share their views about balancing the privacy/security conundrum.

On 7 February 2017, EIF and Victor Negrescu MEP invited representatives from various content creation and distribution industries to gather their views on the copyright reform. Last September, the European Commission published its highly anticipated proposal to reform the EU copyright rules: the proposal for a directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. In this #EIFAsks video speakers present their business priories and needs for the new set of the copyright rules.

On 29 June 2016, EIF and Kaja Kallas MEP invited a panel of small and big business representatives as well as a tax authority from Estonia to share their views on how to find an easy way for companies to pay taxes for their activities in Europe.Companies often feel discouraged from doing business across the EU as dealing with 28 different tax systems (in different languages) requires a lot of time and resources. With a rapid growth of the digital economy this issue has to be discussed at European level. 

On 16 June 2016, EIF & Lambert van Nistelrooij MEP invited a panel of entrepreneurs to talk about what it is like to scale up in Europe. Startups have been blossoming across Europe for a while now. Some of them have become success stories, some can call themselves a “unicorn”, many of them are not European any longer because were obliged to move outside Europe and/ or give up ownership to find the money to scale up. The lagging European economy cannot be revived solely on the basis of a thriving ecosystem for startups. The EU needs to offer an environment nursing scale-ups and just replicating Silicon Valley is not an option.  Before the debate kicked-off EIF asked them what steps can be taken to improve the policy climate for the scalability of European start-ups?

On 15 June 2016, Angelika Niebler MEP invited Renate Nikolay, Head of the Cabinet of Commissioner Vera Jourova, Daniel Fesler from Baker McKenzie, and John Frank from Microsoft, to discuss what Europe needs to fully enjoy the economic advantages of data enabled transatlantic businesses, while ensuring its citizens right to privacy. In the coming days the European Commission will announce the Privacy Shield deal - an outcome of the negotiations with the US counterpart on data transfers across the Atlantic. EIF asked the panellists does the Privacy Shield as it stands solve Europe’s problem?

On 25 May 2016, Lambert van Nistelrooij, MEP and EIF Steering Committee member, invited representatives from the European Commission, Smart City of Amsterdam and industry to look deeper into the opportunities and issues around this topic. Europe is home to a small number of Smart Cities who have leveraged telecommunications technologies to optimize the way they function, reduce waste & tap whatever efficiencies are to be had from innovatively deploying ICTs. People living and working in Smart Cities not only can enjoy the benefits of convenient living but also innovate and develop new Smart Cities technologies, applicable around the globe. Before the debate started we asked the panel how can Europe take greater social and economic advantage of digital tools and technologies for the organisation of urban space and society? And this is what they had to say...

On 24 May 2016, Pilar del Castillo MEP invited civil society, industry and policy makers to address the importance of trust and cyber-security.An increasing number of cyber attacks makes us worry about our safety online. Consumers trust is crucial for the digital economy to function. EIF seized the opportunity to ask the speakers if we are gaining or losing ground in the race to contain threats to our cyber-security and this is what they had to say...

"Behind every piece of child pornography content online there is a real child suffering from sexual abuse". At the EIF breakfast debate, hosted on 27 April at the European Parliament, Nathalie Griesbeck MEP invited representatives from the Europol's Cybercrime Centre, Missing Children Europe and INHOPE, a network of 51 hotlines in 45 countries worldwide, once again to look into the issue of children safety and raise awareness about this sensitive and important issue. In this video speakers shared their views on how to keep children and youngsters safe in the online world.

On 16 February EIF & Sabine Verheyen MEP invited a diverse panel of speakers to share their thoughts on the Content Portability in the EU. Academics, industry representatives and consumer rights watchdog discussed European Commission's recent cross-border portability regulation proposal. To better understand what's at stake and how various groups will be affected, we asked the prominent speakers to share their views on consumers right to content portability in the EU.

EIF kicked off 2016 with a debate on the Digital Service Platforms in the European Parliament (26/01/2016). A crowded room once again proved that this topic is a priority for many EU stakeholders. What attitude toward digital platforms European legislators should take today - we asked the chairing MEP Michal Boni and the speakers of event to share their views in this video.

On 25 September 2018, MEP Pilar del Castillo and EIF invited MEPs, EIF Members and friends to exchange views on how the EU can help bridge the gender gap in technology.

In this short highlight video, MEP Pilar del Castillo, Elizabeth Crossick of RELX Group, Lora Borissova from EU Commissioner Gabriel's cabinet, Caroline Chavier of Voodoo.io, Egle Nemeikstyte of Blockchain Centre Vilnius and Melissa Rancourt from Greenlight for Girls share their views on what could be done in the future to help more women have the opportunity to succeed.

On 26 September 2018, MEP Ivan Stefanec and EIF invited MEPs, EIF Members and friends to exchange views on the current opportunities and challenges that EU SMEs are facing.

In this short highlight video, MEP Ivan Stefanec, David Goodridge of Mastercard, Horst Heitz of SME Europe, Lenard Koschwitz from Allied for Startups and Dr. Max Lemke from the European Commission share their views on how SMEs are adapting to digitalisation, how startups and SMEs can work together and how policymakers can support SMEs in becoming more digital.

On 16 October 2018, EIF hosted a lunch debate on ‘The impact of GDPR on cybersecurity and on the development of the Internet’ chaired by Peter Kouroumbashev MEP and EIF Member.

In this short highlight video, MEP Peter Kouroumbashev, Steve Purser from ENISA, Gregory Mounier of Europol and Ilias Chantzos of Symantec share their views on how GDPR has impacted cybersecurity and the development of the Internet.

On 29 November 2018, EIF had the pleasure to meet Casper Klynge, the world's first Tech Ambassador, in order to exchange views on #techplomacy, future #digital trends and geopolitical #tech trends with a focus on Europe's position.

On 6th February 2019, MEP Brando Benifei and EIF invited MEPs, members and friends for the Brussels Pre-Launch of the Startup Europe Mediterranean, a project which aims to make a significant step forward as it links together different EU priorities: startups, investment but also the strategy for the Mediterranean as a geo-strategic area with innovation at the centre of the neighbourhood policy, development and cooperation and migration.

In this short highlight video, MEP Brando Benifei, Isidro Laso-Ballesteros from the European Commission, Gianpiero Lotito of FacilityLive, Zineb Rharrasse of Startup Maroc and Rasha Tantawy of TIEC share their views on the added value that Startup Europe Mediterranean can bring to the current landscape.

On 24 September 2019, Pilar del Castillo MEP and EIF invited members to kick off the new parliamentary season by discussing the "Top 10 Digital Trends that will shape Europe's future and demand Political Leadership".

In this short highlight video, MEP del Castillo, Roberto Viola of the European Commission and Jim Cloos from the EU Council share their views on EU's digital policy priorities.

On 9 October 2018, MEP Pilar del Castillo and EIF invited MEPs, EIF Members and friends for an exchange of views with Elzbieta Bienkowska, EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, on the Future of Work.

In this video, some of our leading MEPs explain what EIF is invite Members of the European Parliament interested in digital policy topics to join EIF, "one of Brussels' most important fora for debate".