ESRs Secondments at BY.TE, AGCM, MMI and University of Luxemburg
In this special edition of our blog posts, seven of our ESRs write about their experiences and insights they made during their secondments.
Secondments enable ESRs to engage with prominent academics and practitioners at both partner universities and research institutes as well as industrial and regulatory entities. ESRs gain practical experience in how their research might translate into real-life problems encountered by businesses. At the same time, ESRs will be able to complement their research with practical experiences gained throughout the secondment and adapt their research projects accordingly. Finally, they also constitute an invaluable networking opportunity and grant our ESRs the possibility to identify possible career paths. Whether in the academic, regulatory, or industry sectors.
Each ESR will complete two secondments: one at a beneficiary (universities and research institutes) and one at the partners (industry or regulatory bodies) of the LeADS project.
The LeADS Partners
ΒΥΤΕ COMPUTER S.A. is a Greek Information Technology and Communications (ICT) Integrator company with a dynamic presence of over 30 years in the Greek ICT Market and a focus on the private sector. BYTE has 3 business segments: 1) systems Integration, 2) custom software application development, and 3) value-added services, including consulting, project management, and training services.
The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) is the Italian competition authority and is responsible for enforcing rules against anti-competitive agreements among undertakings, abuses of dominant positions, and concentrations that have anti-competitive effects.
ESR Tommaso Crepax at BY.TE and AGCM
In the last eight months, the journey of Tommaso Crepax Ph.D. in the LeADS project has become a challenging exploration into the web of data portability within the EU digital market. Two pivotal secondments during this odyssey—one at BY.TE software company in Athens and the other at the esteemed Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) in Rome—have proven instrumental in shaping the trajectory of his research.
His secondment at BYTE in Athens was an enlightening experience, spanning two months immersed in the world of cutting-edge software development. The technical issues of his research—determining specific formats for seamless data porting—found his solution through the lens of BY.TE’s work on electronic health records (EHRs). The health information systems they adeptly navigated provided a rich canvas of examples, allowing them to address challenges and nuances in his thesis, specifically through the adaptation of EHR formats to datasets created through the use of commercial software. Witnessing firsthand how BY.TE tackled the intricacies of EHRs not only broadening his understanding of data formats but also offering practical solutions that enhanced the robustness of his research.
The AGCM secondment in Rome provided a different but equally vital perspective. Engaging with cases where data portability emerged as a critical issue underscored the real-world implications of his theoretical framework. The interplay between data protection and competition, a recurring theme in his thesis, revealed itself with striking clarity. AGCM’s expertise and the cases they delved into reaffirmed the significance of balancing these two pillars in the ever-evolving digital landscape. The experience deepened his appreciation for the legal intricacies surrounding data portability, illuminating the regulatory challenges faced by businesses and authorities alike.
BY.TE and AGCM, with their unique perspectives, have not only enriched his academic pursuits but have also contributed invaluable insights to the ongoing discourse on unchaining data portability in the EU digital market. The lessons learned from Athens and Rome will undoubtedly shape the future landscape of data legality and portability –as will the amazing people he has met on his personal journey.
MMI is a Pisa-based company whose mission is to enable surgeons around the world to address unmet needs and achieve better outcomes for microsurgical procedures. MMI offers an innovative robotic platform that’s mobile, easy to set up, compatible with existing surgical microscopes, and has a small footprint.
ESR Christos Magkos at MMI and University of Luxemburg
Upon visiting the MMI institute in Pisa, Christos Magkos encountered a very positive and vibrant environment. He both helped in organizing the data management cycle and experienced at full length how clinical trial data is collected and processed, leading to translational and actionable results. This was pertinent to his personal research as it is centered around personal health data analytics, and experiencing it at such a high level was extremely fruitful and interesting.
At the University of Luxembourg, he became part of a team of interdisciplinary researchers, all of whom were offering unique perspectives in the domain of legal and ethical data science. As of now, he is in collaboration with a UL-based researcher, and along with Dr. Gabriele Lenzini, he hopes to be part of a paper on the caveats that AI-assisted coding may pose in cybersecurity.
