Beyond 5G: The Need for Trusted and Secure Digital Infrastructure

Christian-Marc Lifländer, head of the NATO Cyber Defence Section. Mr. Christian-Marc Lifländer serves as the senior cyber policy official of NATO’s International Staff. As head of the Cyber Defence Section, he is responsible for leading the development and implementation of cyber defence policy across NATO.

Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar is Director of the Digital Society Institute at ESMT Berlin. Heli was Ambassador at Large for Cyber Diplomacy and Director General of the Cyber Diplomacy Department at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked in several roles involving cyber policies and diplomacy at NATO HQ International Staff, the European External Action Service and the Estonian Ministry of Defense.

Antonia Hmaidi is an Analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), working on China’s pursuit of tech self-reliance (especially in areas like semiconductors and operating systems), its internet infrastructure, and disinformation and hacking campaigns. She gained experience as a project manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, worked at the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), as a journalist in Asia and at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP).

John Strand is the Founder and CEO of Strand Consulting. Its first focus was optimizing the sales process and reducing cost for companies in the IT, Telco and Media industry. John had already built successful consulting company providing sales and marketing services for the Telecom, It, Finance and Publishing sectors.

Oscar Almén is a Senior Researcher at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). His research focuses on East Asia and Chinese security policy, with 20 years of experience in doing field studies in China based on interviews with local officials and civil society actors.

Hosuk Lee-Makiyama is the director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), who has covered technology trade and diplomacy for more than 20 years. He has advised several EU institutions, G7 governments and all the principal international organisations, where his contributions have included 5G security, investigations into state subsidies, Open RAN, and economic disputes. He has also served as a representative to the WTO and UN agencies, including ITU. He is also a senior fellow at the London School of Economics and the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Dr. Felice Simonelli is the Head of EU Policy at Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), where he is responsible for monitoring and analysing EU policy and legislation, ensuring CDP participation in public consultations, targeted consultations and working groups contributing to the EU policymaking process, and arranging policy events. Previously he worked as a Senior Research Fellow, Head of Policy Evaluation at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), as an expert on EU regulation, competitiveness and analysis of EU public policies.

Falk Steiner is a freelance correspondent in Berlin. As an editor, he helped build Europe.Table from mid-2021 to mid-2022. Since then, he has continued to work as an author for Table.Media, as well as for Deutschlandfunk, c't, heise online and others. He previously worked as a correspondent for Deutschlandfunk, as an editor and writer for Zeit, Spiegel, Tagesspiegel, taz and others. Previously, he also worked at the Federation of German Consumer Organisations, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Brunswick Group.