2025 EDITION

EBDVF Opening and Keynotes

November 12, 2025 - 09:30 - 10:30

Room 0 / Plenary

Keynote: Europe’s digital competitiveness

Mikael Bomholt, Director in the Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs

Keynote: No European competitiveness without human-centered digitalization

Christine Nellemann, Provost & EVP at DTU – Technical University of Denmark

How can Europe lead the global digital race without losing sight of what matters most—people? In her keynote at EBDVF 2025, Christine Nellemann explores how we can build a competitive and resilient digital Europe by putting human values at the heart of innovation.

Drawing on the European Big Data Value Forum’s mission to foster trustworthy, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation, Christine will highlight how closer collaboration between universities and industry can unlock new potential for AI and digital technologies. Inspired by DTU’s commitment to trustworthy AI and human-centric technology as a foundation, she will show how European values—ethics, transparency, and responsibility—can become a strategic advantage in shaping the future.

This keynote will challenge us to rethink competitiveness: not as a race for speed or scale, but as a shared journey toward a digital Europe that is strong because it is human-first.

Join us to explore how Europe can lead with values—and win with innovation.

Keynote: Building Europe’s Digital Resilience – Science, Sovereignty, and Collaboration

Marianne Holmer, Dean of Faculty of Science at SDU – University of Southern Denmark

In an era of rapid digital transformation and geopolitical uncertainty, Europe’s resilience hinges on its ability to build secure, sovereign, and trustworthy digital infrastructures. As Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Southern Denmark, Marianne Holmer will explore how European universities can play a pivotal role in this effort — not only by advancing open and reliable AI models, but also by reinforcing the foundations of data and compute sovereignty.

Her keynote will highlight the critical need for strong digital competencies across society: from highly specialized expertise in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, high-performance computing, cybersecurity, and quantum computing, to broader digital literacy that supports the digitalization of scientific disciplines and vital societal sectors such as healthcare, energy, and education.

Drawing on concrete examples like SDU’s UCloud platform and the national language model initiative,

Marianne Holmer will illustrate how interdisciplinary research and collaboration — spanning computer science, mathematics, and beyond — can empower Europe to maintain independence, trust, and leadership in the digital age.

Keynote: Empowering Europe’s Future with AI and Data: A policy perspective

Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director-General in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT)