Dr. Emilia Tantar is Chief Data and AI Officer at Black Swan LUX, spin-off of the University of Luxembourg, she co-founded in 2015. She previously held the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer position at INCERT G.I.E. and led the Artificial Intelligence (AI) efforts of PwC Luxembourg as Senior Manager. Since May 2023 she is part of the Romanian national scientific and ethical consultative committee on artificial intelligence*. Dr. Tantar is also Luxembourg Head of Delegation and President of the National Mirror Committee in AI Standardization in CEN/CLC JTC 21 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 42 and convenor of the European CEN and CENELEC JTC 21 AI Working group 2 “Operational aspects”. Since 2021 she is also co-chair of the EU Digital SME Alliance Focus Group on AI. She has over 20 years of experience delivering AI to the business market and public institutions, such as the European Commission, as researcher and strategic consultant. Emilia is member of the European Observatory of ICT Standardization WG on AI, where she co-authored the EUOS report of TWG-AI: Landscape of AI Standards, June 2021. She is Forbes Ignite contributor, has edited 7 volumes in Springer and has authored more than 20 journal papers and scientific articles, collaborating with entities such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) or the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). As TedX speaker she regularly delivers keynotes and participates in exchanges for UNDP, OECD, European Commission, within the research and business communities. She acts also as reviewer and evaluator for the European Commission.

Since April 2022, Pedro Tavares is the Portuguese Secretary of State for Justice.

Previously, he worked as General Coordinator at eBUPi - Simplified Land Digital Registry Mission Unit, the Portuguese public agency responsible for the expansion of a new cadaster and registry initiative, using a digital approach (Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Environment). BUPi won several projects, namely Cities and Territories of the Future by APDC; Best Digital Transformation APDSI; Apolitical Global Public Service Team of the Year - Runner-Up; and OECD innovation best practice mention.

From 2015 to 2020, he was a Senior Advisor at the cabinets of the Minister of Justice and of the Secretary of State for Justice, where he managed different innovation and transformative projects and policies, including a Justice Innovation Lab, transparency and participation projects, or new digital Citizen-centric services. He acted as the Ministry’s contact point for the OECD report on Justice Innovation in Portugal and for several international projects with the European Commission.

In the public sector, Pedro worked on innovation projects such as the new concept for the citizens’ one-stop shops (Lojas de Cidadão), or the Citizens’ Portal. He has had different positions focused on digital transformation and innovation, including roles managing digital services, communication, transparency and participation initiatives. Pedro also worked in the private sector as marketing & innovation director at different IT companies, including Vision-Box, PHC Software and Inetum. Moreover, he was a digital marketing & communications trainer at INA and Lisbon Digital School, and a guest lecturer at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and Instituto Politécnico de Santarém.

Pedro holds a master’s degree in Digital by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a post-graduation in Business Administration by ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics & Management, a BA in Communication Studies by Universidade Nova de Lisboa and an advanced course in Digital Innovation by The University of Chicago.