The importance of the high-profile Ericsson/Cisco partnership was laid bare at the Swedish vendor’s press conference on Monday. Hans Vestberg, Ericsson’s CEO, stressed that the agreement, which has only been operational for 74 days, was already gaining significant traction and had the continuous commitment from both companies. Cisco’s chief strategy officer, Hilton Romanski, was more […]The New EU-US “Shield” for data privacy is full of holes
February 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week the “post-Safe Harbour era” was officially launched. On February 2 the European Union and the United States have agreed on a new framework for transatlantic data flows, the so-called Privacy Shield. The two sides have now a brand new data-sharing deal, which will allow websites like Facebook, Apple and Google to transfer EU citizens’ […]“Airbnb and YouTube are two great examples of a crowd based capitalism”, key stakeholders outline the boundaries of the 4th Industrial Revolution in Davos
January 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On the second day of the World Economic Forum 2016 there was a truly interesting session on how digital platforms can increase innovation and help the digital economy grow. The lively session, named “A New Platform for the Digital Economy”, focused indeed on the core theme of 2016 Davos annual event, by analysing some of the key-aspects […]EU Commission announces Safe Harbour 2.0 and a wider Data protection reform
December 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The new EU-US data transfer deal, currently under development, will give the European Union the right to suspend the pact if privacy concerns are raised again, EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová said in a statement last week. For the first time, such right is formally guaranteed, and even though the pact is still a draft, the […]A Sting Exclusive: “eHealth can change many dimensions of how the healthcare area functions”, Polish MEP Michal Boni underscores from Brussels
December 4, 2015 by 1 Comment
Written by Michal Boni, Polish MEP with the European People’s Party (EPP) There are completely new opportunities related to the healthcare area. The new drivers come from the digital revolution. Digital devices are around us – everywhere. We have computers in our pockets. We use wearables with chips monitoring the real-time state of our health […]October’s EU strong digital mix: From Safe Harbour to Net Neutrality, Roaming and Snowden
November 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The month of October 2015, which began with another turning point in the Google-EU question and with a decisive judgment on data protection legislation will be remembered for a long time as a milestone for the digital European Union. On Net Neutrality First, last week, the European Parliament passed new rules on net neutrality which […]EU Court of Justice invalidates Safe Harbour and the game for thousands US businesses suddenly changes
October 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In what some American media already call a “dramatic judgement”, the European Court of Justice last week changed the course of history for data protection and handling between the EU and the United States. After having declared the “Safe Harbour” data transfer agreement invalid earlier last week, on October 06, the EU’s highest court last Friday […]Google and Apple suddenly realise that doing business in EU is tough?
October 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last week was definitely a reference for digital European Union. For those who have felt that the European Commission has specifically targeted Google for some reason, or are particularly interested in the impact that regulators can have on big companies like Google last week must have truly paid off in terms of newsfeed. The Google bias? Let’s start with Google’s story. Last week, European Competition Commissioner […]Oh, well, you are wrong, Google responds to the European Commission
September 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Many months post the European Commission filed formal antitrust actions against Google, the American tech-giant issued its response to the Commission last week. Google, which has always denied the European Union’s antitrust charges, this time decided to formalise its response and speak wide open. In short, the high interests and the enormous weight the case has in antitrust […]EU and US close to an agreement on data sharing amid European citizens’ concerns
August 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union and the United States are close to sealing a deal on data sharing, which will affect the way banks and other businesses store data. As reported by Reuters last week, the European Commission is working with US authorities on the final details of the same commercial data-sharing deal that was frozen two years […]EU finally agreed to cut roaming charges in 2017 but criticism is always there
July 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union finally reached an agreement last week to end roaming charges for people travelling within its 28 member countries as of June 2017. After 12 hours of negotiation the Latvian presidency reached a provisional deal last Tuesday with the European Parliament on new rules to end mobile phone roaming fees and safeguard open […]Google’s bare truth: Europe’s Chief denies EU accusations but admits they “don’t always get it right”
June 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
When back in April the European Commission formally filed a complaint against Google it was clear that the action could have turned the page of the whole “EU vs Google” case. But after the tech giant responded and set out the initial arguments against the Commission’s findings, almost immediately, no further discussion about the thorny […]“The winner is who can accelerate the transition to a new digital era”. The Sting reports live from EBS 2015: a Digital Europe 4.0
May 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Digital Economy touches every aspect of our society, from the job market and the economy to our social life. The world is changing and who wants to be competitive must adapt quickly. This was the message reinforced at the EBS 2015 Session on Europe and the digital era last week, which was moderated by Bruno […]It’s EU vs. Google for real: the time is now, the case is open
April 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
As anticipated by the European Sting in a latest Sting of the day last week on Google’s antitrust case in Europe, the European Commission did take finally formal actions and filed a complaint against the Northern American tech giant, alleging the company’s search results unfairly favoured its own shopping services over third-party sites. The antitrust charge followed a five-year […]EU seeks foreign support on 5G from Mobile World Congress 2015 as the “digital gold rush” begins
March 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“The digital economy is simply becoming the economy. And the future network infrastructure, 5G, will become the infrastructure”. These words came from Günther Oettinger, the European Union Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and they were spelled in Barcelona, during Mobile World Congress, 2015 last week. Those words stood for Mr. Oettinger’s introduction for the […]Mobile World Congress 2015 first to debate EU’s new stance on Net Neutrality and Roaming Charges
March 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Did you really think that Christmas 2015 would be the perfect chance to travel abroad in Europe, do your shopping in London or Paris and call your folks back home for wishes at zero roaming cost? More so, did you really think that Christmas 2015 would be the perfect chance for you to Skype with your pal without […]New VAT rules in the EU: how a digital sea could have become an ocean
January 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
From 1 January 2015, a major change to the European Union VAT rules occurred affecting the digital world, which is destined to be discussed widely for a long time. A new regulation has come into place where VAT on digital products sold in the EU will be chargeable in the place of purchase rather than […]Parlamentarians to “break up” with reality in the Google antitrust case
November 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
How many years can an antitrust case endure in the EU? It certainly depends on many factors but in the case of Google 4 is the minimum. This is because the topic of a ‘digital monopoly’ of a search engine is so refined and sophisticated that for the majority of EU stakeholders it is “terra incognita”. Also […]It’s Time to Disrupt Europe, Digital First
October 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Written by Kumardev Chatterjee, Founder & President of European Young Innovators Forum Over the last 30 years, the European Union has failed in innovation capacity and the main reason is its mindset: in on the one hand, societally, europeans have grown increasingly risk-averse in the last 30 years while on the other, structurally, it has […]Digital business is Europe’s best hope to get back to growth
October 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Digital market has received a lot of interest lately in Europe. Not only by the market players that have always lobbied more favourable or less regulation in general, but most importantly by the EU leadership. New Commissioner, new priorities Jean Claude Juncker, new President of the European Commission, seems to have ‘bet all his money’ […]Facebook wins EU approval for WhatsApp acquisition; just a sign of the times
October 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
After a few months of sleepless nights, Facebook founder and young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg can finally relax a bit. The world’s largest social network will likely receive approval by the European Union for its $19 billion purchase of mobile messaging startup WhatsApp, reports said. Citing two people “familiar with the matter” Reuters revealed on Thursday […]
Look Mom, even the House of Lords says the #righttobeforgotten is not right
July 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The relation between the UK and the EU is like that passionate thing usually developped between a cat and a dog. Historically since the very beginning of this love and hate affair in 1973, when London realized that the European project is a ‘good’ one, the UK always seeked to receive special attention, reminding to […]“None of our member states has the dimension to compete with China and the US, not even Germany!”, Head of EUREKA Pedro Nunes on another Sting Exclusive
June 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This revealing exclusive interview with Pedro Nunes, Head of EUREKA, was conducted by Carlo Motta at the European Sting’s pavilion during European Business Summit 2014. In the following interview Carlo Motta will be signalled as C.M and Mr Nune as P.N. C.M.: I am very please to welcome to our booth Mr Pedro Nunes, Head of EUREKA. So […]“Is Europe innovative? Oh, Yes we are very innovative!”, Director General of the European Commission Mr Robert-Jan Smits on another Sting Exclusive
June 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This revealing exclusive interview with Mr Robert-Jan Smits, Director General of the European Commission for Research and Innovation, was conducted by Carlo Motta at the European Sting’s pavilion during European Business Summit 2014. In the following interview Carlo Motta will be signalled as C.M and Mr Smits as R.J.S. C.M. : It is a big honour and pleasure to welcome in […]


























