Paul Fehlinger

Director of Policy, Innovation and Impact at Project Liberty Institute

Speaker

As inaugural Director of Policy, Governance Innovation & Impact at Project Liberty's Institute, he leads trailblazing global strategic initiatives for the future of the data and AI economy. He orchestrates engagements with leaders spanning policymakers, VCs, major LPs, IGOs, corporates, entrepreneurs, technologists, civil society, and top universities for the USD 500M initiative.

Between 2012-2022, Paul co-founded and -led the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network, the groundbreaking global platform for cross-border digital markets and national laws. He scaled the organization from 0 to 1, pioneering new approaches to multistakeholder collaboration and diplomacy. It engaged 400+ key entities across 70+ countries across key governments, IGOs, the world's largest tech companies (USD 10T+ combined market cap), civil society, and universities. Under his leadership, the organization's impact was formally endorsed and recognized by the G7 process, UN, OECD, and EU.

His insights on the global digital economy, policy, and investment have been featured in The Economist, ImpactAlpha, New York Times, Fortune, Politico, Euronews, and Die Zeit, as well as by the Council on Foreign Relations, Finland's Innovation Fund Sitra, Mary Meeker's Internet Trends Report, and Oxford University Press. Paul is also the publisher of VC+POLICY.

As a leading voice at the nexus of policy and innovation, Paul frequently speaks and moderates at global fora including the UN, AI Action Summit, OECD, EU, G7, FRAME of VentureESG, ImpactVC, KFW Capital, Web Summit's Collision, or WTO. He has been appointed to advisory groups by the World Economic Forum, Global Commission on Internet Governance, and Freedom Online Coalition.

Harvard University appointed Paul as an Affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center, where he focuses on better bridging the VC and policy worlds, and what makes innovation ecosystems highly performant. He is also a VC and policy-focused Senior Fellow at the Hertie School of Governance in Europe, and an alumnus of the Newton Venture Program of London Business School, LocalGlobe VC, and HSBC Innovation Banking. He holds a Master's in International Relations from Sciences Po Paris with a scholarship from the German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung), and holds a BA in European Studies from Maastricht University.