The ECODIGITAL project aims to promote the dissemination of knowledge regarding European legislation on the digital economy, with a specific focus on the free movement and protection of personal data, including in the context of Artificial Intelligence, and on the European Data Strategy.
Indeed, in today’s data-driven economy, data—especially personal data—represents a strategic asset for businesses. In this regard, EU actions in recent years aim to build a regulatory framework that reconciles the development and expansion of the digital economy, along with the benefits it brings, with the protection of people’s fundamental rights—particularly personal data protection—and the competitive structure of the market, which currently suffers from a heavy concentration in the hands of a few dominant players (the so-called Big Tech).
In light of these considerations, the project’s goal is to provide future data analysts, who will be employed in businesses, with a specific knowledge of the European regulatory framework. This is done through dialogue with policy-makers and digital market operators, involving them through guest lectures, while simultaneously contributing to the dissemination of knowledge about the new regulatory framework to those potentially interested in expanding their business in the digital environment, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Therefore, the project includes three actions aimed respectively at:
1) ensuring an in-depth analysis of European regulations through the university course in Digital Economic Law – Jean Monnet Module, strengthening it by involving professors from other disciplines and through lectures given by individuals already active in the digital market (multinational corporations, online platforms, etc.);
2) carrying out cross-sector scientific research on the critical aspects of the new regulations, in order to create a “knowledge hub” that can draw on contributions from various scholars, including from other universities, whose results will be presented at a final conference;
3) contributing to broadening the dissemination of the acquired knowledge to consumers and businesses (with particular attention to SMEs) interested in understanding how to enter the digital market and wishing to expand their business to other European countries, so that they can understand the protections offered to them by EU legislation.