Pearse O’Donohue
Pearse O’Donohue is the Director for Future Networks within the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission. His Directorate deals with policy development, research funding and innovation as regards 5G networks, 6G research, IoT, cloud and edge computing as well as new and innovative approaches towards service platforms and next generation Internet. Internet governance is under his direct responsibility and in this capacity, for the last seven years he has represented the European Commission inside ICANN and at the IGF, at many gatherings of the multistakeholder community and contributing to the implementation of the Tunis Agenda from the EU perspective. Pearse O’Donohue is Chair of the EU High-Level Internet Governance Group. He previously served as Deputy Head of Cabinet of the then Vice-President of the Commission, Neelie Kroes, during which time he steered the first European Commission policy Communication on Internet Governance.
Pearse O’Donohue attended NETmundial in 2014 and participated in the final drafting session. He is also participating to NetMundial in Sao Paulo this year.
Prior to joining the European Commission, Pearse held posts in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels, and the Irish Business & Employers’ Confederation.