# Interoperability Conference 2026 ![Interop](/sites/default/files/styles/866w/public/2026-02/gemini_generated_image_h594hah594hah594.png?h=2a4ffb3d&itok=MgulfLSN) ## Interoperability as a Design Principle in the Digital Economy March 24th, 2026 [Register to Attend](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiQorHwljpPxhd0acFu9Wv9uukLowUJDv8H2a24TKUqbWRjw/viewform) --- ## **March 24th, 2026** ## Organized by the [**NET Institute**](https://www.netinst.org/), [**UCL Centre for Law, Economics and Society**](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/cles) and the [**Fubon Center**](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/fubon-center). ## This workshop examines interoperability not merely as a technical standard but as a policy tool for reshaping digital architectures characterized by hyperscalers, network effects, and data-driven complementarities. As digital infrastructures—from operating systems and cloud platforms to payments and AI systems—exhibit superlinear returns to scale and multi-sided feedback loops that generate persistent bottlenecks, regulators increasingly turn to interoperability mandates to counter market concentration. Such interventions may however also risk diluting beneficial complementarities, creating security vulnerabilities, and dampening investment incentives, demanding careful calibration. ## The workshop, which will discuss some of the issues raised by [**this paper**](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/sites/laws/files/2025-12/CLES-6-2025-2.pdf), adopts a multidisciplinary approach, integrating insights from network economics, business strategy, and innovation economics to develop a richer conceptual framework. We conceptualize digital ecosystems as lattices of complementarities—linking users, developers, data, and infrastructure—where scaling laws serve as empirical signatures of supermodular relationships. This framing enables deeper analysis of how interoperability obligations redistribute network complementarities across ecosystem layers and whether horizontal versus vertical interoperability mandates differ in their structural effects. [**More details here**](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/2026-03/Interoperability_Conference_Program_March_24_2026.pdf)**.** [Register to Attend](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiQorHwljpPxhd0acFu9Wv9uukLowUJDv8H2a24TKUqbWRjw/viewform) ## Workshop Organizers [ ![Head shot](/sites/default/files/styles/500w_x_625h/public/2026-03/nicholas_economides_smile.jpg?h=ecdaeac9&itok=Djes_aat) ](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/nicholas-economides) [## Nicholas Economides ](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/nicholas-economides)NYU Stern [BIO](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/nicholas-economides) [ ![Head shot](/sites/default/files/styles/500w_x_625h/public/2026-03/ioannis_lianos_photo_vertical_1.jpg?h=bc54fc94&itok=-z2F_rFI) ](https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/1800-ioannis-lianos) [## Ioannis Lianos ](https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/1800-ioannis-lianos)UCL Laws & NYU Law School [BIO](https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/1800-ioannis-lianos) [ ![Cerf head shot](/sites/default/files/styles/480w_x_543h/public/2026-03/vgc_official_photo.jpg?h=9bd2c576&itok=OWxvjlxt) ](https://research.google/people/author32412/?&type=google) ### Keynote Speaker **Vint Cerf**, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google [BIO](https://research.google/people/author32412/?&type=google) --- ## Agenda Show All | Hide All Welcome and Opening **9:00** - Registration, Continental breakfast **9:10** - Opening remarks: Arun Sundararajan, NYU Stern **9:15** - Introductory remarks: Nicholas Economides, NYU Stern Panel 1: Scaling Laws, Complementarities and Interoperability: Beyond Network Effects **9:20 – 10:50** **Panel 1: Scaling Laws, Complementarities and Interoperability: Beyond Network Effects** Moderator: Ioannis Lianos, UCL Laws & NYU Law School Nicholas Economides, Stern NYU Scott Hemphill, NYU Law School Barry Nalebuff, Yale School of Management (remotely) Howard Shelanski, Georgetown University Tommaso Valletti, Imperial College London (remotely) Xavier Vives, IESE Business School (remotely) Keynote followed by Q&A **10:50 – 11:20** Vint Cerf, Google (remotely) Coffee Break **11:20 – 11:35** Panel 2: Designing Interoperability in Social Media **11:35 – 13:00** **Panel 2: Designing Interoperability in Social Media** Moderator: Nicholas Economides, NYU Stern Eliana Garcés, ALP Economics Annabelle Gawer, University of Surrey Gonenc Gurkaynak, ELIG & UCL Rossitza Kotzeva, European Commission (remotely) Richard Reisman, The Foundation for American Innovation Marshall Van Alstyne, Boston University (remotely) Lunch Break **13:00 – 13:40** Panel 3: Interoperability as an Antitrust Remedy and Limits: US and EU Perspectives **13:40 – 15:10** **Panel 3: Interoperability as an Antitrust Remedy and Limits: US and EU Perspectives** Moderator: Christos Makridis, Arizona State University & Gallup Harry First, NYU Law School Eleanor Fox, NYU Law School Ioannis Lianos, UCL Laws & NYU Law School Danica Noble, Antitrust & Consumer Protection Committee, Washington State Bar Association; formerly FTC Dan Rubinfeld, NYU Law School and UC Berkeley Coffee break **15:10 – 15:25** Panel 4: Digital Regulatory Regimes for Interoperability: Retrospective and Prospective - General (DMA, Data Act), Open Banking/Finance, Open Health **15:25 – 16:45** **Panel 4: Digital Regulatory Regimes for Interoperability: Retrospective and Prospective - General (DMA, Data Act), Open** **Banking/Finance, Open Health** Moderator: Eleanor Fox, NYU Law School Elettra Bietti, Northeastern with Daji Landis, NYU and Sunoo Park, NYU Courant Institute Martin Gaynor, Carnegie Mellon University Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania Nicolo Zingales, FGV Brazil New Challenges: AI, Blockchain, Metaverse **16:45 - 17:45** **New Challenges: AI, Blockchain, Metaverse** Moderator: Ioannis Lianos, UCL Laws & NYU Law School Victor Oliveira Fernandes, CADE & IDP Panos Ipeirotis, NYU Stern Christos Makridis, Arizona State University & Gallup Christopher Sprigman, NYU Law School Arun Sundararajan, NYU Stern