In the first episode of season 6, Alexandra Ebert sits down with Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Adviser to MEP Axel Voss at the European Parliament, for a deep dive into Europe’s digital future. They outline what Brussels is still not getting right on AI and debate what is urgently needed in 2026: a long-term AI, data & digital strategy for Europe, the courage for bold political leadership, and taking action where it matters most.

KEY TOPICS:

• 00:00 — Intro
• 07:08 — Davos and the geopolitics of AI
• 12:03 — Why the EU lacks a long-term strategy for AI and digital policy
• 16:09 — The “European Way”: Partnerships and more focus on areas where the EU could actually lead
• 24:00 — Why the EU lacks a long-term AI and data strategy, but urgently needs one
• 27:58 — AI Factories and Digital Innovation Hubs? That's not enough! The EU needs an AI innovation ecosystem
• 31:09 — The EU's opportunity costs of chasing frontier models and more compute. Let's focus on AI adoption instead!
• 36:52 — Proprietary business data: The EU’s real competitive AI advantage?
• 39:05 — Where the Data Act & Data Governance Act fall short
• 50:08 — Why the EU policy cycle is broken — and why Kai calls for more courage and bold political leadership
• 53:25 — The biggest risks & opportunities in 2026 for the EU's digital policy
• 57:42 — The surprising impact of public procurement on the AI startup ecosystem

Follow Kai Zenner on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kzenner/?skipRedirect=true

Website: https://www.kaizenner.eu/

Welcome back to season 5 of the Data Democratization Podcast - and our first-ever live studio recording.

In this episode, Alexandra Ebert sits down with Faris Haddad, AWS' Global AI Technical Strategy Lead. Together, they delve into the transformative role of synthetic data in modern enterprises.

Faris shares his journey into the world of synthetic data, highlighting its evolution from a niche solution to a cornerstone of enterprise data strategy. He discusses the challenges organizations face with data silos, legacy systems, and privacy concerns, and how synthetic data offers a pathway to overcome these hurdles.

Whether you're grappling with data accessibility issues or exploring innovative ways to leverage your organization's data assets, this episode offers valuable perspectives on integrating synthetic data into your enterprise data strategy.

AI democratization sounds great in theory, but why do so many enterprises struggle to make it work? In this episode, Ari Kaplan, Head of Tech Evangelism at Databricks, breaks down the biggest roadblocks to scaling AI—and what’s needed to overcome them. From data intelligence and synthetic data to why leading enterprises rely on unified data and analytics Platforms to cut costs, reduce governance complexity, and streamline AI adoption—we explore how organizations can move beyond AI pilot purgatory and use AI to drive tangible impact at scale.

Ari dives into the hard truths about AI implementation, including why companies still face governance hurdles, siloed data, and inefficient infrastructure. Ari and I discuss how organizations can get more value from their data, deploy AI responsibly, and use synthetic data to scale securely.

Plus, Ari shares his personal approach to balancing a global career, thought leadership, and content creation—including how he manages to make time for writing books while advising enterprises worldwide. We also discuss his take on social media strategy, the skills he’s encouraging his kids to develop for an AI-driven world, and the future of work in an era of intelligent automation.

If you care about AI democratization, enterprise AI strategy, and staying ahead of the curve, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!