Session

EU AI sovereignty: a two-fold challenge

Wednesday July 8, 2026  | 15:00-16:00 CEST

Albert II Auditorium

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Description

This panel will discuss the challenges related to sovereignty and how Europe can be competitive in certain strategic sectors (e.g., Apply AI strategy).

Speakers

Valerie Zapico

Founder and CEO, Valkuren
Valérie Zapico is Founder and CEO of Valkuren, a European deep-tech company focused on AI and Big Data solution development for SMEs. With extensive experience in technology, innovation, and digital transformation, she works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data, and business competitiveness. Through Valkuren, she helps organizations leverage critical knowledge and operational data to develop trusted AI solutions while maintaining control over strategic information assets. Valérie is a strong advocate for European AI sovereignty and the development of trustworthy AI systems that foster innovation, resilience, and competitiveness across key industries.

David Timis

Global Communications & Public Affairs Manager at Generation.org and Senior Fellow in AI Governance at the Global Governance Institute and Co-Founder, Brussels AGI Collective
David Timis is a Global Communications & Public Affairs Manager at Generation, one of the largest skilling and employment nonprofits in the world, where he oversees the organisation’s storytelling globally and advocacy work at a EU level.
He writes and speaks regularly about AI and the risks and opportunities it presents for people, businesses and society, as a Senior Fellow in AI Governance at the Global Governance Institute in Brussels, International Strategy Forum Fellow at the SCSP in D.C., and AI Energy Impact Fellow at the the World Economic Forum in Geneva.
He is also the Community Champion for the BeNeLux & France region, Co-Lead for the 2025 edition of SHAPE Europe & Eurasia, and Longevity Economy Taskforce Member within the Global Shapers Community (a young leaders initiative of the World Economic Forum).
He previously led the EU Civics Outreach efforts at Google during both the 2019 and 2024 EU Elections, and before that he was a UN Youth Delegate representing Romania. His career spans a range of public, private and third sector organisations including L’Oreal, Mars Inc., Burson (formerly known as BCW), Chatham House, and the Council of Europe.
With a career at the crossroads of technology, workforce development, and policy, David has been deeply involved in shaping conversations on skilling, education, AI governance, and digital transformation. His work spans from advising companies on their AI strategy to navigating the complexities of AI training for some of the world’s most influential brands.
Whether discussing the ethical implications of machine learning, the future of work in an AI-driven economy, or the regulatory challenges facing big tech companies, David brings a unique perspective grounded in both leading research and real-world implementation.

Ricardo Bessa

Coordinator of the Center for Power and Energy Systems and Senior Researcher, INESC TEC
Ricardo Bessa (b. 1983, Viseu), IEEE Fellow, earned his 5-years in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2006), M.Sc. in Data Analysis (2008), and Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Systems (2013) from the University of Porto. He coordinates the Center for Power and Energy Systems at INESC TEC. His research spans energy forecasting, computational intelligence, and smart grids. He led projects like AI4REALNET and contributed to FP6 ANEMOS.plus, H2020 Smart4RES, H2020 InteGrid, HE ENERSHARE, HE AI-EFFECT. Received the ESIG Excellence Award (2022) and he serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE Data Descriptions, Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy, and International Journal of Forecasting, and is a former AE of IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy.

Sagar Sen

Research Manager, SINTEF
Dr. Sagar Sen is Research Manager and Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF Digital, leading the Trustworthy Green IoT Software group. His research focuses on trustworthy, sustainable, and human-centric AI for software-intensive systems across manufacturing, energy, and health domains. A Commonwealth Fellow (2004) and recipient of the Most Influential Paper Award for automated t-wise testing, he has published widely on AI engineering, model-driven development, and uncertainty-aware learning. Sagar holds a Ph.D. from INRIA/Université de Rennes 1 and an M.Sc. from McGill University, and previously co-founded Sweetzpot AS, developing wearable breathing sensors used in health and performance monitoring.

Jeriek Van den Abeele

Research Scientist, Telenor
Jeriek Van den Abeele joined Telenor Research & Innovation as a Research Scientist in 2020, following a PhD in theoretical particle physics at the University of Oslo. During his PhD, he worked on topics including Gaussian process regression for particle cross-section calculations and genetic algorithms for computational drug development. At Telenor, he has been involved in work on using reinforcement learning for network automation and technical advisory regarding AI governance and the EU AI Act. He is currently leading Telenor’s efforts in the Horizon Europe project ENFIELD, focusing on Green, Human-centric, and Trustworthy AI research directions, including work on building defences against LLM jailbreak attacks. [​Photo credit: Erik N.H. Krafft (Krafftwork Photo and film / Flow Event)]