Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE)
2234 Piedmont Avenue
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
510-642-3067

UC Berkeley's new E-conomy Project to Host
Digital Economy Conference in Washington, D.C.

5/12/99 - By Jacqueline Frost, Public Affairs

BERKELEY--Will there be one digital economy or many? What are the best strategies for avoiding the development of rival national technologies and standards?

The University of California, Berkeley's new E-conomy Project will launch a dialogue on these issues, bringing together an international group of business leaders, policy makers and academics at a May 27 conference in Washington D.C.

The conference - "The Digital Economy in International Perspective Common Construction or Regional Rivalry" - will add an international dimension to a major federal government conference on the digital economy to be held in D.C. on May 25-26.

"We hear much talk of the new global economy but little discussion or understanding of the potential for diverging technologies or conflicting rules and standards," said conference organizer John Zysman, a UC Berkeley political science professor and co-director of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE), an E-conomy Project sponsor.

"UC Berkeley has a long tradition of bringing good minds together to seek reasonable solutions for difficult public-policy issues," said Zysman. "This one should be lively."

Conference participants include David Beier, chief domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore; Lauren "Pete" Belvin, senior counsel to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Stuart Feldman, director of the IBM Institute for Advanced Commerce; Regis McKenna, chairman and CEO of Regis McKenna Inc.; Erika Mann, a member of the European Parliament; and Elliot Maxwell, special advisor to the U.S. secretary of commerce.

Panelists will cover a range of topics including the legal and regulatory issues raised by the emerging digital economy; venues for dispute resolution; developments in enabling network technologies; and new policy on the structure and operation of networks. A complete conference program and registration information can be found at http//e-conomy.berkeley.edu/.

The conference is scheduled to follow the May 25-26 conference on "Understanding the Digital Economy," sponsored by the U.S. Government Working Group on Electronic Commerce, the National Economic Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation. See http//www.digitaleconomy.gov.

The E-conomy Project is a joint endeavor of BRIE; the College of Engineering, the Haas School of Business and the School of Information Management & Systems (SIMS) at UC Berkeley; and by collaborating faculty from UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. It is receiving funding from the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.

The Project's goal is to create a forum for research and discussion among industry leaders, policy-makers and academics around the broad topic of digital networks and electronic commerce.

Press contact Ann Mine (510) 642-3067; minean@socrates.berkeley.edu