Head of DIESL Vili Lehdonvirta has had a busy few months speaking at international conferences, with talks delivered and more lined up on the geography of cloud, AI and digital sovereignty. Below is a selection of his engagements, both recent and upcoming.
ACM MobiSys 2026, Cambridge (21-25 June)
Vili Lehdonvirta opened proceedings with a keynote titled “How economics and politics are reshaping the future of computing”. Speaking to an audience of mobile systems researchers, he traced how economic forces have concentrated computing into a small number of hyperscale cloud centres, and how governments are increasingly pushing back through data residency requirements and support for local firms. He also touched on how rising electricity demand is pulling computing infrastructure towards cheap energy and cooler climates, closing with some speculation on what these shifts might mean for the future of mobile systems specifically.
Looking ahead
Further keynotes are on the horizon this autumn:
- 38th EAEPE Conference, Lausanne (8-11 September): Vili Lehdonvirta will deliver a keynote titled “Supersovereign: Cloud, AI, and the Transformation of the State”.
- WIK Conference 2026, Brussels (13-14 October): He joins a lineup of policymakers and academics for a conference on whether Europe can achieve technological sovereignty in digital platforms and telecoms and will give a talk on “Digital technology or European sovereignty: one has to change”.
- 14th Sino-German Forum, Shanghai (September): Vili Lehdonvirta has been invited by Tongji University and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation to speak at the International Conference on Sino-Euro Trade and Industrial Policy in a Changing Global Order.
- The Hague Conference on International Cyber Security (10-11 November): Under this year’s theme, “A digital State of Nature? Interdependence, alignment and alliances revisited”, Vili Lehdonvirta will contribute to discussions on shifting alignments and dependencies in the digital sphere.
We’ll share updates and any recordings as these events unfold.
Event programmes:
- ACM MobiSys 2026 Keynotes: https://www.sigmobile.org/mobisys/2026/keynotes/
- 38th EAEPE Conference Programme: https://eaepe.org/program-overview26/
- WIK Conference 2026: https://www.wik.org/en/events/event/wik-konferenz-2026
- The Hague Conference on International Cyber Security 2026: https://www.thehagueprogram.nl/news/2026-conference-on-international-cyber-security-a-digital-state-of-nature-interdependence-alignment-and-alliances-revisited