Speakers

Günther H. Oettinger

Günther H. Oettinger has been the European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society since November 2014. Under the previous Commission, he was in charge of Energy from February 2010 to October 2014. From 2005-2010, he was Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and has been a member of the regional Parliament ("Landtag") since 1984, including a time as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Landtag group from January 1991 to April 2005. A lawyer by training, he became actively involved in politics as an adolescent. He is a member of the Federal Executive Committee and of the Steering Committee of the CDU Deutschlands.

Gertrud Ingestad

Gertrud Ingestad was born in Sweden in 1958. She studied languages and history and then worked as a language teacher in Stockholm before joining the European Commission in 1995. Her main domain at the Commission has been resources, with a specialisation on people-and organisation-related issues, in DGT and DG CONNECT, where she also started working with IT from a digitalisation perspective. In January 2014 she joined DG DIGIT as Director for Information Systems and Interoperability Solutions, now Digital Business Solutions. Since 1 January 2016, she has been acting Director-General for DIGIT. Her main driving force is constant improvement in collaboration.

Conference speakers and moderators in their order of appearance in the programme:

Carlos Zorrinho

Carlos Zorrinho (born 28 May 1959) graduated in business management from the University of Évora, which later awarded him a Doctorate Degree in Information Management. He started his academic career as a professor at the University of Évora, becoming Full Professor of its Department of Business Administration.

A member of the National Council of the Socialist Party since 1990, he was first elected to the National Parliament in 1995, by the electoral circle of Évora. He was a member of Parliament until 2000, becoming vice-president of the Socialist Party’s Parliamentary Group in 1999.

From 1997 to 1999, Mr Zorrinho also coordinated the ProAlentejo – the Programme for the Integrated Development of Alentejo. In 2000 he was elected as a member of the National Council for Education. Later that year he entered office as Secretary of State Deputy to the Minister for Home Office of the XIV Constitutional Government (2000/2002).

In 2002, he resumed his academic career at the University of Évora. After the Socialist Party won the 2005 general elections, he was appointed National Coordinator of the Lisbon Strategy and Technological Plan, reporting directly to the Prime Minister of the XVI Constitutional Government (2005/2009). In that capacity, he developed the Portuguese Digital Agenda, known as the “Plano Tecnológico”, which aimed to improve the country’s competitiveness through technology, innovation and knowledge.

From 2009 to 2011 he served as Secretary of State for Energy and Innovation in the Ministry of the Economy, Innovation and Development of the XVII Constitutional Government. Returning to Parliament in 2011, Mr Zorrinho was elected Leader of the Socialist Party’s Parliamentary Group from September 2011 to 2013.

Paul Hofheinz

Paul Hofheinz is the president of the Lisbon Council, an independent think tank based in Brussels, which he co-founded in 2003 after a distinguished career in journalism. Mr Hofheinz researches, supervises research and hosts events on topics ranging from innovation, knowledge-economy, human capital and financial-market reform to economic development and European politics. In 2011 he served as an advisor to the Polish government, providing strategic input into the country’s European Union Presidency. He holds a Master of Science degree in Russian politics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in history from Yale, where he received the prestigious John Addison Porter and Dean Henry P. Wright prizes upon graduation.

Shuichi Tashiro

Shuichi Tashiro is the General Manager at the Open Standards Promotion Center of the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), Japan, which is driving an IMI project to enhance the semantic interoperability of eGovernment systems. He began his work in the Electrotechnical Laboratory of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. From 2002 he served in the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry, before moving to the IPA in 2006. He is also a lecturer at the University of Tokyo and Chuo University.

Tzvetoslav Mitev

Tzvetoslav Mitev (LL.M.) is an attorney at law, registered with NOAB (Brussels) and SBA (Sofia), and practicing in the field of commercial and administrative law, IT law and data protection. Mr Mitev is a law graduate of the McGeorge School of Law (California, USA), the University of Salzburg (Austria) and Sofia University (Bulgaria), and is currently a principal at Mitev Law Office

Natalia Aristimuño Pérez

Natalia Aristimuño Pérez has been the head of the unit delivering solutions on decision-making, document management and knowledge management domains since 2012. Since she joined the European Commission in 2000, she has always been involved in providing solutions that make users' lives easier and the institution more efficient. Ms Pérez has an IT background, graduated from Deusto University (Bilbao, Spain) and has an in-depth knowledge of the business domains she works with.

Serge Novaretti

Serge Novaretti has been a Policy and Programme Manager at the European Commission/DG CNECT since 2011, working on Public Services and eParticipation. He is in charge of the e-SENS large-scale pilot, is involved in the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Digital) and in the preparation of the new eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020. From 2006 to 2011, while working in the DG DIGIT/ISA Programme unit, he was in charge of the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS), the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and the European Interoperability Architecture (EIA).

Giorgia Lodi

Giorgia Lodi received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Bologna (Italy) in 2006. After a long period in the academic environment, in 2011 she moved to the public sector, working as a consultant for “Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale” on issues such as technical and semantic interoperability, (linked) open data and cloud computing. In 2014, Ms Lodi also started working as a research assistant at CNR (the National Council of Research), in the Semantic Technology Laboratory (STLab).

Jaime Quesado

Jaime Quesado, an economist and MBA from the University of Oporto (Portugal), is currently the President of ESPAP, the Portuguese Government Agency for Shared Services and Public Procurement. He has 25 years of professional experience directly associated with High Level Management functions, both in the Private and in the Public Sectors, always in areas connected with Strategy, Innovation and Technology. Over the last 15 years, he has been involved in some of the most dynamic European Innovation and E-Government Projects, representing the Portuguese Government in several High-Level Groups in the OECD, the European Commission and other international institutions. Mr Quesado regularly participates at lots of international conferences and is a permanent contributor to newspapers and magazines (he has a weekly column in the Brussels paper New Europe). He has published two books, about strategy and innovation – THE NEW CAPITAL and MY EXPRESS.

Eric Heijligers

A computer engineer by training, Eric Heijligers started out in consultancies, then rapidly grew interested in the specific problems of State IT. This led to him joining the Ministry of Justice, first as a technical lead then as project manager. Through these experiences, he transitioned from V-model project management to a broader interest in architectural concerns and IT urbanisation, with a broad view of the mechanisms of administrative IT systems. Through the FranceConnect project he discovered new and complementary approaches, such as Agile, Lean and co-creation.

Luukas Ilves

Luukas Ilves is Counsellor for Digital Affairs at Estonia’s Permanent Representation to the EU, where he makes Europe a more connected and innovative continent by bringing Estonia's outcome-oriented experience in digital markets and government to bear on Brussels. He is responsible for preparing Estonia’s ICT agenda for its EU Presidency in 2018. Mr Ilves previously served as a national expert in the European Commission (under Commissioner Neelie Kroes) and as head of International Relations for the RIA (Estonia’s central agency for e-government and cybersecurity), where he led Estonia’s push to integrate its e-government systems with neighbouring countries and the EU.

Margarida Abecasis

Margarida Abecasis is an ICT engineer specialised in telecommunications, with a master’s degree in electrotechnical engineering and computers. As an administrator at the European Commission since 1993, she defined the first service level agreements for data transmission services and managed IT projects supporting the modernisation of the decision-making procedures of the Commission and inter-institutional exchanges. In 2006, she was appointed Head of Unit in DG Informatics, responsible for ICT infrastructure services. She also chaired the inter-institutional sub-committee on telecommunications and networks (CII-TN). In 2011, she took over the responsibility of the unit in charge of the ISA programme. Ms Abecasis was also in charge of preparing the legal basis for the ISA² programme, the follow-up programme of ISA. The new EUR 131 million programme, approved by the Council and European Parliament in autumn 2015, started on 1 January 2016 and will run until December 2020.

Michał Boni

Michał Boni graduated from the University of Warsaw and was awarded a PhD before lecturing at the Department of Polish Culture for many years. He was involved in the ‘Solidarity’ underground movement since 1980. He was the Minister of Labour and Social Policy in 1991, and from 1992 to 1993 he was Secretary of State in the same ministry, where he was responsible, among other things, for labour market policy. From 1998 to 2001, Mr Boni was Chief Advisor to the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. He was the Minister - Head of Strategic Advisors to the Prime Minister Donald Tusk from 2008, and Minister of Administration and Digitisation of Poland from 2011 until 2013. He has been an MEP since 2014, and a member of the LIBE and ITRE Committees.

Miguel A. Amutio

Miguel A. Amutio studied at La Salle School of Deusto and graduated in Computer Science at Deusto University (Bilbao) in 1988. CISA, CISM, CRISC. He coordinates the development of the National Security Framework and of the National Interoperability Framework of Spain, along with its Technical Interoperability Regulations, together with the supporting documents. He is a member of the Committee of the ISA² Programme, and has been on the managing committees of the EU Programmes ISA, IDABC and IDA II.

Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor works for the UK's Government Digital Service, where she currently leads the user research team at GOV.UK. Ms Taylor has a background in user-centred design and user research, and has worked around the world on design and research teams, making consumer products, toys, printers and software.

Giacomo Martirano

Giacomo Martirano is an electronic engineer and CTO of Epsilon Italia, an independent SME active in the Geomatics sector, which he cofounded in 1997. He has been responsible for many international geoICT related projects, as well as projects implementing SDIs at a local level for local authorities. He is actively involved in many INSPIRE implementations, ranging from data harmonisation to network service deployment and to validation and testing. Since 2012, Mr Martirano has also been deputy chair of CEN/TC 287, and since 2014 co-chair of OGC CITE SC (OGC Compliance and Interoperability Testing and Evaluation Programme Subcommittee). Since 2015 he has been an external consultant at JRC (Joint Research Centre) of the European Commission, where he is coordinating the Energy Pilot of the EULF (European Union Location Framework) Action of the ISA Programme.

Eva Berneke

KMD A/S is the largest focused IT software and Service company in the Danish public sector. Since the early 1970s, KMD has been developing digital solutions for the Danish public sector, across all Danish municipalities and also for Central Government agencies. Eva Berneke has been the CEO of KMD since 2014. Prior to taking on the role, she was a Senior Executive Vice President of TDC A/S, running the B2B business of TDC, the Danish incumbent telecom operator based in Copenhagen. From 1993 to 2007, she worked with McKinsey & Co in Paris. Ms Berneke has a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, from the Technical University of Denmark, and an MBA from INSEAD. She is a member of the board at Lego A/S, Schibsted ASA, DTU, and the Foreign Economic Forum and a member of the board of representatives of the national bank of Denmark.

Björn De Vidts

Björn De Vidts is head of Division Data Management at The Flemish Information Agency. He has a background in geographical information systems and holds a master’s degree in Geography. Mr De Vidts is responsible for implementing the base registries that offer reliable sources of authentic and authoritative information on people, businesses, parcels, buildings, locations and roads, and are therefore considered as the cornerstone of public services in Flanders. He is working to implement a more rational, interoperable e-government, promoting ISA and INSPIRE.

Vassilios Peristeras

Vassilios Peristeras works as Programme Manager in the ISA Unit. He teaches at universities, and is elected Assistant Professor at the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki, Greece. He has worked as eGovernment researcher and consultant in international, public and private organizations in several countries and published over 100 papers. His interests include eGovernment, semantic technologies, open, linked data, and interoperability.

Eric Brouwer

Eric Brouwer works at ICTU, the Dutch government organisation that implements ICT-projects in order to maximise the government's IT objectives through collaborating with other authorities. Prior to that he was tasked with improving the e-collaboration within the Dutch ministries by introducing Identity Management and the deployment of a secure smartcard for physical access control as well as logical access control. From 2010, he was working on further developing the Dutch Interoperability Framework – www.NORAonline.nl – in order to improve the design and implementation of the government’s services towards civilians and businesses.

Mr Brouwer graduated from the Delft University of Technology and has over 25 years of experience in improving business processes through ICT-solutions, gained from AT&T and Philips Telecommunications, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Shipping Inspectorate (Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water management), Pragmavision partners BV (his own company), the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and ICTU.

Paul Smits

Paul Smits is a scientific officer at the European Commission DG Joint Research Centre (JRC). He chairs the ISA Working Group on Spatial Information and Services. He also served as team leader at the JRC of the group responsible for the technical development and coordination of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE Directive 2007/2).

Fabrizio Abbinante

Fabrizio Abbinante is presently Programme Manager of the Information Management Programme at the European Food Safety Authority.

He has been a data manager and IT business analyst for both the European Food Safety Authority (2008-2014) and the European Medicines Agency (2004-2008). He has managed several projects in the area of data warehousing, data collection, data harmonisation, web reporting, interoperability, data standards, controlled terminology, and information management in general.

From 2004 to 2007, Mr Abbinante was member of the ICH M5, ICH E2B(R) and ISO TC215/WG6 Expert Working Groups for the definition of an international standard for the exchange of medicinal product and safety report data between the three ICH regions (EU-JP-US) and Canada. From 2002 to 2004 he worked for Bassilichi S.p.A, first as software developer, then as IT business analyst in the ‘EudraVigilance project’ at the European Medicines Agency, which included the design of a European central database for medicinal products. He graduated in 2002 as a software engineer at the University of Pisa, in Italy.

Sergey Filippov

Sergey Filippov is associate director at the Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal, a Brussels-based think tank. Prior to joining the Lisbon Council, Mr Filippov served as assistant professor of innovation management at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. He has published several dozen internationally refereed articles and book chapters, as well as practitioner and policy reports. He earned his PhD in economics and the policy of technical change at UNU-MERIT, a research and training centre of the United Nations University and Maastricht University. He holds an MA in management of the European metropolitan region from Erasmus University Rotterdam and an executive master’s degree in international and European relations and management from the University of Amsterdam.

Anna-Maija Karjalainen

Education
M.Sc. (eng.), Technical University of Lappeenranta
1986

Position
Director general (public sector ICT), Ministry of Finance
14.3.2014 onwards

Experience

• Shared service center director, Division director, State Treasury
  2009-2014
• Vice President IT, Head of Corporate IT, Stora Enso Oyj
  2008-2009
• Vice President IT, IT sourcing and Business Liaison, Stora Enso Oyj
  2006-2008
• Vice President IT, Business and Enterprise Applications, Stora Enso Oyj
  2000-2006
• IT Manager, Stora Enso Publication Papers Oy Ltd
  1997-2000
• IT manager, Oras Oy
  1992-1996
• Systems manager, Enso West NV, Antwerpen, Belgium
  1990-1992

Roland Genson

Roland Genson is director at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, in charge of processing the Council's documents, as well as recording, archiving, transparency and running the GSC's libraries. He is one of the main drivers behind the redesign of the GSC's knowledge and information management system, seeking to align the organisation with digital innovation and with Member States' expectations in this respect. Until 2014, Mr Genson was a GSC director covering Schengen, judicial cooperation and internal security cooperation under the Justice and Home Affairs policy framework. From 1987 to 2007, he served in the Luxembourg law enforcement sector, and then at the Ministry of Justice. He is also a lecturer at the universities of Luxemburg and Liège.