With the support of the TSE Digital Center, TSE researchers Jacques Crémer and Alexandre de Cornière and TSE associate faculty Gary Biglaiser and Andrea Mantovani, organized a workshop on the Economics of the Cloud Market in Brussels on June 25, 2024. The workshop welcomed around thirty participants from companies, academia, and regulatory authorities. Through academic presentations and panel discussions, the event addressed topics related to the cloud, artificial intelligence, regulation, and competition issues. On this occasion, Jacques Crémer presented recent work on "The economics of the cloud", developed with the support of Microsoft, one of the TSE Digital Center's partners. The end of the day was devoted to two round tables, which confronted the viewpoints of regulators, academics, and industry participants.
Roundtable 1: Issues in the Regulation and Analysis of the Cloud Economy
Roundtable 1 was devoted to Issues in the Regulation and Analysis of the Cloud Economy. It was chaired by Alexandre de Cornière (TSE), with the participation of Ben Evans (University of East Anglia), Manuel Mateo Goyet (European Commission), Donald Mee (Amazon), Femke Nagelhoud (Autoriteit Consument & Markt), Laura-Lucia Richter (Google), and Elodie Vandenhende (Autorité de la Concurrence).
They discussed the industry trends and in particular the evolution of the market and what seems to be its increased concentration over the last few years. The extent and consequences of consumer lock-in, as well as whether or not egress fees played an important role in that regard, were discussed. Participants also debated the benefits – ease of switching for users - as well as the costs – complexity and harm to innovation – of standards and mandated interoperability. Thus, the round table highlighted the complex and interconnected challenges facing the cloud sector. Ongoing discussions and the commitment of all stakeholders will be essential in shaping a dynamic and balanced future for the cloud economy. TSE is committed to be a platform for and a participant in this dialog.
Roundtable 2: Cloud and AI
Jacques Crémer chaired Roundtable 2 which was devoted to Cloud and AI, to which participated Alexandre De Streel (Université de Namur), Scott Fitzgerald (Amazon), Carel Maske (Microsoft) and Marion Panfili (ARCEP).
AI and cloud computing are intimately linked technologies, each driving the innovation and evolution of the other. The roundtable was focused on the “AI stack”, the set of tools, including hardware infrastructure, which provides the basic layer of the technology. Scott Fitzgerald and Carel Maske very usefully introduced the issues by speaking about the industry challenges and the technology of AI.
Enormous investments are required to support the development of AI: data centers, software, training of new models, development of specialized microprocessors, etc. Consequently, the dynamics of competition and innovation in AI and cloud services show a complex and rapidly changing landscape. The participants discussed the ways in which regulatory balance can keeps ecosystems open without holding back innovation as well as the convergence of cloud infrastructure and telecoms regulation were also raised.