UKinSPIRE Workshop - How Digital Standards and Geopolitics Shape Competition and Collaboration in the Global Economy

Jan 24, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Patterson Office Tower Van Room (POT 420) and Via Zoom

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The workshop is focused on work that explores how digital standards shape geopolitical competition and the global economy. As geopolitical tensions rise among major powers, digital standards have become a new arena for not just cooperation but also competition. This workshop brings together scholars studying standards in terms of internet governance, international trade and cooperation, and smart city development and management. The goal of the workshop is to set a broad research agenda on how standards interact with governance and international coordination in the “global data economy." Attendance is open to the public (in person or Zoom). If you have questions, please reach out to Dr. Yujia He (yujia.he@uky.edu).

This project has been supported, in part, by the UKinSPIRE (Seeding Partnerships for International Research Engagement) grant awarded to Dr. Yujia He and Dr. Matthew Zook by the University of Kentucky International Center and Office of the Vice President for Research. You can discover more about ongoing UKinSPIRE research grants, including this one, here.

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UKinSPIRE Workshop - How Digital Standards and Geopolitics Shape Competition and Collaboration in the Global Economy

Schedule of Events Jan. 24, POT 420 and via Zoom

Zoom Link

Welcome and Opening Remarks, 9:30-9:35: Joe Young, Director, Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky

Session 1, 9:35-11:05: Standards and Internet Governance (15 min/person, 30 min Q&A)

Moderator: Matthew Zook, University of Kentucky

Shamel Azmeh, University of Manchester, The Golden Straitjacket and Embedded Liberalism in the Digital Age: Examining the E-Commerce Joint Statement Initiative in the WTO (co-authored with Chris Foster, University of Manchester) (Zoom)
Sarah Eaton & Daniel Fuchs, HU Berlin, The "China Challenge" in the Standardising Digital Technologies (Zoom)
Milton Mueller, Georgia Tech, Are Standards Really a Site of Geopolitical Competition? The Case of the Chinese Attempt to Replace the Internet Protocols (Zoom)
Matthew Zook, University of Kentucky, Maintaining the Internet: The complex spaces and governance of digital protocols and standards (co-authored with Ate Poorthuis, KU Leuven)

Break 11:05-11:15

Keynote and Q&A 11:15-12:00

Nanette Levinson, American University, Standards & Governance Galaxies: Ideas, Imbrication, Inclusion & Influences (Zoom)

Lunch 12:00-13:30

Session 2, 13:30-15:10 Competition and Collaboration in the Global Economy (15 min/person, 30 min Q&A)

Moderator: Yujia He, University of Kentucky

Yujia He, University of Kentucky, A Geopolitical Economy Analysis of China and India’s Approaches to Data Governance (co-authored with Ka Zeng, UMass Amherst)
Masaru Yarime, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), The Effects of Digital Belt and Road Investments on Infrastructure and Data Governance in the Philippines (co-authored with Timothy Joseph G. Henares, HKUST)
Jess Reia, University of Virginia, The Role of Standards, Rights and Open Data in the Use of Artificial Intelligence by City Governments
Rachel Hulvey, Harvard (incoming assistant professor at Indiana University Bloomington), Discourse Power: How China Gains Support for its Vision of Cyber Order (Zoom)

Break 15:10-15:20

Closing, 15:20-16:00: Setting a Research Agenda

Workshop Ends, 16:00

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UKinSPIRE Workshop - How Digital Standards and Geopolitics Shape Competition and Collaboration in the Global Economy

Back to Events

Schedule of Events Jan. 24, POT 420 and via Zoom

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