activities
←# keynote Technical Implications of Digital Sovereignty: Towards European Architectural Autonomy June 2026
SURF Security & Privacy Conference 2026
2026-06-26 15:15–15:45, Plenary room (1B.10) Language: English
European digital sovereignty initiatives focus on reducing dependence on US companies by creating European alternatives and through data localisation. This approach overlooks a fundamental problem: network externalities create continued US dominance even under European ownership. In this talk, Niels compares Russia’s isolationist network sovereignty, China’s government-directed standardization, and argues for a distinctly European approach. This approach is rooted in developing an alternative technological trajectory by designing open architectures that distribute power and embed European values: democratic governance, environmental sustainability, privacy, and social inclusion.
# keynote The ecology of AI May 2026
How do we break something that is already broken?
Virtual Assembly of the Critical AI Network, CPCT (27-29 May, 2026, online)
Guided by the premise that under the hood, AI is simply the same technology whether it is being introduced into education or other domains of life, we ask how we might articulate and analyze the relations forged by AI between vastly different areas that hitherto appeared to be unconnected. What insights might be gained from situating AI within an ecology? How does AI compete with others in this ecology for natural resources, and what can be done to mitigate, contain, or reverse this impact? If, as we propose, AI should be evaluated not as a tool with a use value but rather as the latest symptom of misused infrastructures, how might we articulate the counterproductivity that AI adoption represents within its ecology for any green policy?
# keynote The State of the Internet 2026 with Fieke Jansen April 2026
During the State of the Internet, Waag Futurelab takes the annual temperature of the internet. This edition focuses on AI and the limits of our planet. The lecture will be given by Fieke Jansen, co-founder of the Critical Infrastructure Lab.
Generative AI and other AI applications are currently being added to our technology everywhere. From search engines and social media to office software and urban infrastructure: AI is everywhere, whether we like it or not. Our digital landscape is changing significantly, but our physical landscape is perhaps changing even more dramatically. The arrival of large data centres, known as hyperscalers, is putting considerable pressure on our power grid and water supply. Local residents are seeing their energy bills rise and their water supply become less reliable.
This year, we are looking at what lies behind our screens: what impact does the growing appetite for data centres and AI computing power have on our living environment, and what are the consequences for the world outside our screens? The possibilities of AI seem limitless, but our planet’s natural resources are finite.
About Fieke Jansen
This year the keynote lecture will be given by Fieke Jansen, co-principal researcher at the Critical Infrastructure Lab at the University of Amsterdam and co-lead of the Green Screen Coalition. Jansen investigates how the infrastructure of our digital world, data centres and AI influence the environment, raw material use and climate.
About Waag Futurelab
Waag Futurelab is engaged in regenerative technology by developing research and design methods that detach technology from purely extractive models and instead make it restorative and circular. In collaboration with the Critical Infrastructure Lab, Waag investigates how technical systems can be designed in such a way that they not only extract value from natural and social resources, but also give back: think of the use of biomaterials, a focus on repair and extending lifespan, and public values that strengthen local ecosystems and social initiatives. Through practice-oriented research and participatory design processes, Waag brings together knowledge from science, art and citizen initiatives to realise technologies that contribute to long-term regeneration rather than depletion.
https://www.waag.org/en/event/state-internet-2026-fieke-jansen