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Investing in research towards solutions for Societal Challenges is a key priority of the EU Innovation Union[1], and the EC has placed focus on “Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World”[2] as a strategy to make the EU leader in Research & Innovation. Open Science is about removing all barriers to full sphere basic research knowledge and outputs (research data, research code, publications, policy briefs), and thus feeding Open Innovation and the knowledge-based economy. The concept is central to EU’s Responsible Research and Innovation philosophy[3], and removing barriers to basic research measurably contributes to the EU’s Blue/Green Growth Agenda[4]. Despite the potential of the internet age to deliver on that promise, only 50% of today’s basic research is freely available[5]. The workshop will demonstrate how and why Open Science can be a key tool for research managers formulating and managing grant proposals. Learning Outcomes follow FP7 FOSTER Open Science Learning Objectives (http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15603) : - Understand EC’s Open Science Agenda priorities; - Gain insight into what is, and will be, mandated on access to research, and data management; - Be capable to integrate Open Science in the research concept, and its impact; - Understand Open Science’s impact on EC Evaluation process based on examples from 2014-2015. The topics is presented as a tool to alleviate daily problems with formulating competitive grant proposals, in a way that optimised knowledge transfer and dissemination strategies, as well as the societal impact of research projects. The workshop can bring total beginners up to speed with the EC position on Open Innovation, and can upgrade existing knowledge on the topic of Open Science synergies and conflicts with IPR and Data Protection. [1] EC Digital Agenda & Access to Knowledge http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-access-scientific-knowledge-0 [2] Commissioner Moedas Press Release, 22 June 2015 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-15-5243_en.htm [3] Responsible Research and Innovation for Societal Challenges http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/responsible-research-and-innovation-leaflet_en.pdf [4] Houghton, J., Swan, A., Brown, S., 2011. Access to research and technical information in Denmark [WWW Document]. URL http://www.deff.dk/uploads/media/Access_to_Research_and_Technical_Information_in_Denmark.pdf [5] Proportion of OA Peer-Reviewed Papers at the European & World Levels 2004-2011, EC Report http://www.science-metrix.com/pdf/SM_EC_OA_Availability_2004-2011.pdf

New digital consumer trends are developing with the continuous rise of the information technologies while new information tools for making purchasing decisions emerge providing consumers with an ever wider choice available online 24 hours a day. The new digital products and services have also emerged but together with this new evolution the new privacy and personal data protection challenges have been encountered. Data processing, especially processing of personal data, developed the need for increasing privacy protection with regards to new digital products and services, such as internet of things. This could be done in the framework of the on-going revision of EU data protection framework but also the protection of consumer rights will need to follow the revision in the same context. Action should also be taken in order to protect consumers from unfair contract terms and offer them effective dispute resolution in a global and internet-based context (with special regard for cloud computing services). In addition, the reduced frontier between digital services and products may create legal uncertainty and protections of citizens's privacy with respect to the definition of digital econmy new surroundings. In this paper, the author will present the new emerging digital consumer trends with regulation overview of consumer protection rights in the Republic of Croatia and in the EU as well with emphasis on the possible challenges associated to them. It aims at contributing to the reflection on future policy actions that would improve consumer protection on EU level and it's empowerment which will result with better protection of consumers rights in fast growing digital economy.

Directive 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market was adopted in 2019. Member States have until 7 June 2021 to transpose its provisions into their own national laws. Of the various provisions which are part of the directive, Article 17 has been and remains one of the most intensively and intensely discussed ones. This brief commentary takes position in respect of five key points concerning the transposition and application of Article 17: (1) the nature of its right of communication to the public; (2) the possibility for Member States to envisage de minimis exclusions; (3) the nature of exceptions or limitations in paragraph 7; (4) ex ante blocking of content and the role of the complaint and redress mechanism in paragraph 9; and (5) the position of users whose content has been unduly blocked. It maintains that: (1) the right of communication to the public in Article 17 is the same right as found in the rest of the acquis; (2) Member States cannot introduce statutory de minimis exclusions; (3) the exceptions and limitations under Article 17(7) have mandatory character, require adopting a minimalistic transposition method, and should interpreted uniformly across the EU; (4) ex ante blocking is allowed and the complaint and redress mechanism serves inter alia to reinstate unduly blocked content; and (5) users are entitled to invoke protection under available exceptions and limitations, although those cannot be characterized as user rights.

In the first decade of the 21s century, copyright was high on the political agenda as activists and academics criticised how stricter implementations of copyright laws limited the public access to culture and knowledge and enclosed the information commons. A decade later, streaming media and data mining have changed the information-political agenda, shifting the focus from piracy to privacy, giving concepts such as access to knowledge and information commons new meanings. This article relates the copyfights of the early 2000nds to more recent copyright discussions. It relies on a series of interviews with members of the Pirate Party, conducted between 2011 and 2015 and connects them to more recent debates about the European Union Directive on Copyright for the Digital Single Market (COM/2016/0593) that was passed in march 2019. The article asks if and how the information commons movement and the international political agenda about intellectual property rights and access to information have changed with the rise of a digital economy build around streaming media and data mining.

Dominant digital platforms are under increased scrutiny by regulators around the world, notably competition authorities. Much of the discussion focuses on market access and contestability. However, many doubt whether traditional competition law enforcement can, by itself, be an adequate solution to the challenges posed by dominant digital platforms. Instead, a broader regulatory solution could be devised to ensure effective competition and to provide access to critical platforms or access to data. On the premises that regulation is warranted, this paper considers whether a Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) access regime could be a solution to ensure effective competition, while maintaining the incentives of dominant platforms to innovate. The paper shows that, beyond the application of FRAND in the competition law context, the European Union institutions have consistently used the FRAND regime to ensure access to critical infrastructure or inputs. The FRAND regime has been applied in EU legislation such as standardisation, chemicals, electronic communications framework, public sector information, research framework, vehicles emissions, payment services, credit rating agencies and benchmark regulations. It has proved itself to be a flexible and pragmatic tool, able to apply to different market dynamics and bottlenecks. Drawing out the common elements of this European FRAND access regime, the paper considers how it could be applied as a regulatory solution for dominant digital platforms.

Investing in research towards solutions for Societal Challenges is a key priority of the EU Innovation Union[1], and the EC has placed focus on “Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World”[2] as a strategy to make the EU leader in Research & Innovation. Open Science is about removing all barriers to full sphere basic research knowledge and outputs (research data, research code, publications, policy briefs), and thus feeding Open Innovation and the knowledge-based economy. The concept is central to EU’s Responsible Research and Innovation philosophy[3], and removing barriers to basic research measurably contributes to the EU’s Blue/Green Growth Agenda[4]. Despite the potential of the internet age to deliver on that promise, only 50% of today’s basic research is freely available[5]. The workshop will demonstrate how and why Open Science can be a key tool for research managers formulating and managing grant proposals. Learning Outcomes follow FP7 FOSTER Open Science Learning Objectives (http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15603) : - Understand EC’s Open Science Agenda priorities; - Gain insight into what is, and will be, mandated on access to research, and data management; - Be capable to integrate Open Science in the research concept, and its impact; - Understand Open Science’s impact on EC Evaluation process based on examples from 2014-2015. The topics is presented as a tool to alleviate daily problems with formulating competitive grant proposals, in a way that optimised knowledge transfer and dissemination strategies, as well as the societal impact of research projects. The workshop can bring total beginners up to speed with the EC position on Open Innovation, and can upgrade existing knowledge on the topic of Open Science synergies and conflicts with IPR and Data Protection. [1] EC Digital Agenda & Access to Knowledge http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-access-scientific-knowledge-0 [2] Commissioner Moedas Press Release, 22 June 2015 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-15-5243_en.htm [3] Responsible Research and Innovation for Societal Challenges http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/responsible-research-and-innovation-leaflet_en.pdf [4] Houghton, J., Swan, A., Brown, S., 2011. Access to research and technical information in Denmark [WWW Document]. URL http://www.deff.dk/uploads/media/Access_to_Research_and_Technical_Information_in_Denmark.pdf [5] Proportion of OA Peer-Reviewed Papers at the European & World Levels 2004-2011, EC Report http://www.science-metrix.com/pdf/SM_EC_OA_Availability_2004-2011.pdf

The software industry has evolved from software on the shelf based applications deployed in dedicated servers , to Software as a service based components running on public or private Clouds and now to Cloud Service Brokers So, Cloud service brokerages have emerged as digital intermediaries in the information technology (IT) services market (Shang, 2013), creating value for cloud computing clients and vendors alike. This paper presents an approach to foster next generation cloud service brokers through an ecosystem of trusted, interoperable and legally compliant cloud services through an added value Cloud Services intermediator. This ecosystem will offer, create, consume and assess trusted, interoperable, and standard Cloud Services, where to (semi-)automatically deploy the next generation service based software applications. This work has been partially funded by the European project Cloud for Europe (Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 610650) and OPERANDO (Horizon 2020 Programme, under grant agreement no 653704).

The globalisation of the digital economy is indicative of a changing multidimensional paradigm driven by a number of factors: the primacy of intangible assets in value creation; a growing transnational and international dimension in the production and consumption of goods and services; the transition from human labour to artificial intelligence; the increasing dominance of networks of stakeholders over individual players; the emergence of new forms of sharing, creation, collaboration and innovation; and the need to harmonise rules, standards and policies (including in the area of taxation) within a multilateral framework. In a competitive geopolitical environment, the EU, characterised by disparities between its Member States and sometimes opposing national interests, is some way behind China and the uncontested leader of the digital pack, the United States. But Europe can carve out a place for itself alongside these digital giants, since it outperforms its competitors in some sectors of the DSM. These include the production of digital services (the main driver of digital globalisation) and the digital consumption of financial operations.