Beyond the Brussels Bubble: Why Europe's Digital Future Isn't Just About More Rules » A conversation with Kai Zenner

We sat down with Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Advisor to MEP Axel Voss, ahead of his appearance at GoTech World. As one of the minds behind the EU's groundbreaking AI Act, Kai offers a refreshingly honest take on what it really takes to regulate the future without breaking it.

🚀 The Wake-Up Call That Started It All

For Kai, the journey into digital policy wasn't about loving tech, it was about recognizing a harsh reality: technology is now a geopolitical factor, and Europe was showing up to a Formula 1 race with great rulebooks but questionable pit stop execution.

"The EU too often writes great laws but struggles to deliver outcomes," Kai reflects. "Even worse, we don't find a good narrative for what we as a continent are standing for." 

Sound familiar? It's the classic gap between ambitious strategy decks and actual market results that every business leader knows too well. 

⚡Regulating Fast-Moving Technologies: Method Over Slogans 

From his Brussels experience, Kai identifies a crucial insight about regulating fast-moving technologies: "Method beats slogans.". His approach centers on pairing clear goals with harmonized standards, regulatory sandboxes, conformity assessment and technical guidance while measuring real-world effects.

"We will be able to regulate speed without breaking innovation. The trick for policy-makers is to design adjustable laws: narrow obligations that evolve and 'once-only' proofs so that our digital companies aren't re-audited into oblivion." 

🎯 Europe's Strategic Digital Positioning 

With the US and China dominating headlines, Kai offers a clear vision for Europe's digital strategy. Rather than trying to compete directly, Europe should focus on its existing strengths and areas where it can scale quickly.

"We should concentrate on us and focus where we're already strong or can scale fast: advanced manufacturing equipment, industrial and energy-system software, secure connectivity, privacy-enhancing tech, and trusted data spaces." 

His strategic approach: "Build a EuroStack with open interfaces, leading in areas where we can, partner where it's efficient, and de-risk in areas of critical dependencies such as in chips, cloud, and AI compute through diversified alliances." 

🔧 Critical Technologies for Europe's Digital Resilience 

When asked about the technologies critical for Europe's digital resilience, Kai identifies three essential clusters:

1. "Compute & connectivity: energy-efficient chips, edge/cloud orchestration, and secure 5G/6G. 

2. Data & AI tooling: interoperable data spaces, privacy-enhancing technologies, evaluation & assurance tools for AI. 

3. Operational tech: cybersecurity for industrial control systems, grid/health/transport digitisation. " 

⚖️ The AI Act: Navigating Unprecedented Regulatory Territory

The AI Act represented an unprecedented regulatory challenge. As Kai explains, "It was exceptional because the tech moved so quickly while we were negotiating: foundation models went from niche to mainstream mid-negotiation." 

The team had to create an agile framework within a comprehensive legal structure: "We had to bolt agility onto a digital law - risk-based obligations, harmonised standards, regulatory sandboxes, and an EU-level AI Office - while keeping at the same time maximum single-market coherence." 

The most challenging decisions involved balancing "a very broad scope, while guaranteeing high usability, allowing innovation while implementing sufficient safeguards, and striving for EU unity while allowing national divergence." 

🏆 Regulation as a Competitiveness Tool 

Addressing the common criticism that Europe is over-regulating, Kai challenges this perspective: "That is a false binary. Smart regulation can be a competitiveness tool as long as it is predictable, testable and paired with significant investments." 

His solution involves a fundamental shift in approach: "The EU must shift from 'maximum paperwork' to outcome-based, standard-driven, once-only compliance, and match our digital laws with scale-up levers such as procurement, skills, and capital." 

The potential outcome? "When we do both, our AI companies will innovate faster because they know the rules in Europe won't change with every press release." 

💭 A Final Thought That Changes Everything 

"Treat technology as infrastructure for freedom. The more trustworthy, interoperable and resilient it is, the more choices citizens and companies have. Build that, and competitiveness and values stop being a trade-off but will reinforce each other." 

🤝 Meet Kai on November 12 at GoTech World 

Want to dive deeper into how Europe can reclaim its strategic digital autonomy in an unstable world? 

Join Kai Zenner at GoTech World 2025 for his session "Digital Resilience in an Unstable World: Reclaiming Europe's Strategic Autonomy" where he'll explore practical strategies for building digital resilience and the policy frameworks shaping Europe's tech future. 

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