Digital Ecosystems and Agentic AI: Geoeconomics, Law and Business Strategy Perspectives

About the conference

This conference explores the transformation of digital ecosystems at the intersection of geoeconomics, competition law, and business strategy, with a particular focus on the emerging role of agentic AI. As digital markets evolve from platform-centric models to complex, multi-layered ecosystems characterised by data interdependence, complementary capabilities, and autonomous decision-making agents, traditional analytical and regulatory frameworks face growing strain.

The first panel situates these developments within the broader shift towards a “security state” in economic governance, where concerns over technological sovereignty, resilience, and strategic dependency increasingly shape foreign direct investment screening, foreign subsidies control, and competition enforcement. This geoeconomic turn raises fundamental questions about the objectives and limits of competition law in digitally mediated markets.

The second panel examines the future of digital platform regulation through a comparative global lens, assessing the convergence and divergence of regulatory approaches across jurisdictions, including the EU, UK, US, and key Asian economies. Particular attention is paid to the move from ex post enforcement to ex ante regimes, particularly focusing on how the EU and UK experience may provide useful insights for jurisdictions in Asia that either have adopted some form of ex ante regulation (Japan) or have been envisaging to adopt one or specific competition law tools for the digital economy (South Korea, India, China). 

The final panel turns to the rise of agentic AI systems – autonomous, goal-oriented digital agents capable of coordinating, learning, and acting within and across platforms – and their implications for competition law and policy. Building on recent scholarship, the discussion considers how agentic AI may reconfigure market power, blur the boundaries between firm and market, and enable new forms of strategic behaviour, including algorithmic coordination and ecosystem-level leveraging. These developments call for a reassessment of core competition law concepts such as dominance, agreement, and foreclosure, together with a rethinking of the regulatory tools and remedies deployed to address them, and for a closer integration between legal analysis, business strategy, and enforcement design.

Bringing together leading academics, practitioners, and policymakers, the event aims to advance a more integrated understanding of competition in digital ecosystems, highlighting the need for adaptive, interdisciplinary, and globally informed regulatory responses.

Conference Participants

1. Dr Konstantina Bania – Partner, Geradin Partners and Senior Lecturer in Commercial and Private Law, Brunel University of London
2. Dr Cristina Caffara - UCL, Faculty of Laws
3. Avv. Karan S. Chandhiok – Chandhiok & Mahajan, Advocates and Solicitors
4. Timothy Cowen – Partner, Preiskel & Co
5. Todd Davies – UCL, Faculty of Laws
6. Sara Fish, Harvard University
7. Prof. Kazuhiko Fuchikawa - Keio University, Faculty of Law
8. Dr Anush Ganesh – University of Leeds, School of Law
9. Av. Dr Gönenç Gürkaynak – ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law; UCL Faculty of Laws / CLES
10. Dr Liyang Hou – KoGuan School of Law, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
11. Prof. Ioannis Kokkoris - CCLS, Queen Mary University of London
12. Thibault Larger – Amazon, Head of academic engagement and partnerships, economic policy, International Public Policy
13. Dr Oliver Latham – Vice President, Charles River Associates (European Competition Practice)
14. Dr Sangyun Lee – Osaka Metropolitan University
15. Dr Liang Li – China University of Political Science and Law
16. Prof. Ioannis Lianos – UCL, Faculty of Laws
17. Dr Stavros Makris – UCL Faculty of Laws
18. Dr Despoina Mantzari – UCL, Faculty of Laws
19. Dr Jasper van den Boom - Leiden University, Faculty of Law
20. Prof. Dina Waked – Sciences Po Law School

21. Dr Bowen Wang – Peking University E-commerce Law Centre

     

Organisers and Supporter

Prof. Ioannis Lianos – UCL Faculty of Laws

Dr Despoina Mantzari – UCL Faculty of Laws

Dr Stavros Makris – UCL Faculty of Laws

This conference is supported by

Picture by Zyanya Citlalli on Unsplash

Valentine Korah Laws Memorial Fund

The Valentine Korah Laws Memorial Fund honours the memory of a much loved exceptional scholar and advocate. Explore the opportunities that we believe best honour the spirit Valentine Korah embodied, and the legacy she left at UCL Laws. The new fund will:

• support the Valentine Korah Scholarship
• support an annual Valentine Korah Prize in competition law for undergraduates
• support a Valentine Korah Collaboration Space in Bentham House
• support an annual Valentine Korah Lecture
• support the creation of academic positions in competition law or policy

View full details of the opportunities available and how to donate can be found at:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/remembering-professor-valentine-korah