Speakers

Renata Avila

CEO, Open Knowledge Foundation

Renata Avila is an international human rights and technology lawyer focused on data governance, open knowledge, and digital justice. As CEO of the Open Knowledge Foundation, she leads global efforts to ensure equitable access to information, data, and technology for social change. With deep expertise in intellectual property and digital trade, she advocates for open, fair technological ecosystems and resists monopolistic control. A vocal critic of restrictive digital trade agreements, she promotes data sovereignty and inclusive digital policies.

Renata is a longtime defender of whistleblowers and investigative journalists, working at the intersection of technology, transparency, and accountability. She also plays a key role in shaping alternative, democratic configurations of knowledge systems in the era of AI, championing openness, pluralism, and justice in public digital infrastructures. A former fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, she is affiliated with the Center for Internet and Society at CNRS in France. She serves as an expert in the UN Working Group on Data Governance under the Commission on Science and Technology for Development.