2015 Annual Privacy Forum focusing on Privacy Enhancing Technologies 

The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security jointly with the European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), and as local host, the University of Luxemburg organised the 3rd Annual Privacy Forum (APF) on the 7th and 8th October 2015, in Luxembourg.
The two-day event brought together academia, industry and regulators with the aim of bringing research and policy together in the area of privacy and data protection.
Prof Thomas Engel (University of Luxembourg), Raffaele Di Giovanni Bezzi (policy officer EC DG CONNECT) and Dr Demosthenes Ikonomou (Head of Information Security & Data Protection, ENISA) gave the welcoming notes. The meeting looked into the technical aspects and approaches to privacy, ethics, and transparency behind data processing. Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) that could support users’ needs while safeguarding their personal data were put forward to policy makers, academia and industry, as a tool for more transparent and safeguarded data analysis in the age of IoT (Internet of Things) and Big Data. In this context, ‘privacy by design’ (PbD) was examined as the element which can bring together the technical, legal and business aspects of IT, promoting it as culture (operational framework) on privacy.
Key note speeches were presented by: Giovanni Buttareli (EDPS), Naomi Lefkovitz (National Institute of Standards and Technology- NIST, US Department of Commerce), Charles Raab (University of Edinburgh), Marit Hansen (Privacy & Information Commissioner of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), Paul Nemitz (DG Justice, EC), Gwendal le Grand (CNIL), Bart Preneel (KU Leuven).Safeguarding privacy, data protection in the era of big data and privacy economics: the ethical approach
Prof Thomas Engel from University of Luxembourg and General Co -Chair Annual Privacy Forum 2015 said: “There are at least two perspectives: protecting the individual citizen against attacks and the interest of a society to make sure that safety is guaranteed. We are convinced that practical solutions for privacy will need multidisciplinary efforts. The Annual Privacy Forum offers an ideal platform for discussing these issues with experts from industry, data protection agencies, academia, ENISA and the European Commission. Particularly the format of the forum combines practitioners’ views with a scientific track based on peer-reviewed paper submissions and published in Springer. A number of follow-up activities have been agreed upon to further demonstrate and show-case open issues and potential solutions. I am extremely satisfied with this years’ edition of the APF.” 
ENISA’s Dr Demosthenes Ikonomou Head of Information Security & Data Protection, said: “This forum has brought together for yet another year diverse communities to look into state of the art approaches towards privacy, data protection and the technologies surrounding the field. ENISA places an emphasis on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) that could support users’ needs while safeguarding their personal data. A typical example of our work is  privacy by design’ (PbD) which in this forum was examined as the element which can bring together the technical, legal and business aspects of IT, promoting it as culture (operational framework) on privacy. At the same time the Agency supports the Commission on the policy process currently under way. This two day event has been an excellent platform for the community to discuss and respond in a more efficient manner to the challenges on the subject and we are eager to start preparing next year's edition”.
The APF took place during the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, and was made possible with the contribution of the APF partners, EDPS and KU Leuven, and the APF sponsors, ISACA and Symantec. For details and the full programme please check here. News about the upcoming 2016 edition will be soon announced by ENISA.
 
Follow the forum on twitter @PrivacyForum_EU and the dedicated hashtag #APF15For event pictures: Annual Privacy Forum 2015
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