VC + POLICY
This platform explores how to better bridge the VC, policy, and entrepreneurial innovation worlds. In an increasingly complex landscape where tech becomes regulated and geoeconomics plays a larger role, we need a new approach to lean into cutting-edge innovation.
Serving as an agile repository of conversations and articles, it features insights from people passionate about the intersection of capital, politics, and digital innovation. These contributors share a dedication to finding better ways to scale innovation responsibly.
By showcasing ideas across these domains, this platform seeks to foster a more collaborative ecosystem that can navigate the challenges of regulated tech markets while driving groundbreaking innovations. My goal is to spark dialogue and contribute to shaping a future where venture capital, policy, and entrepreneurship work better together to advance responsible technological progress to build amazing things.
This is a personal project. All views are my own.
ABOUT
PAUL FEHLINGER
I have a track record in bridging policy, capital, entrepreneurship and tech, building transformative ventures from the ground up, and scaling high-performing ecosystems where diverse stakeholders tackle thorny issues at the business-innovation frontier.
I currently serve as the inaugural Director of Policy, Governance Innovation & Impact of Project Liberty, a USD 500M initiative, where I orchestrate global strategic initiatives spanning policy, tech, VCs, and major LPs for the future of the data and AI economy. Previously, I co-founded the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network, pioneering for more than a decade international multistakeholder collaboration and diplomacy on cross-border digital markets and compliance. I scaled the innovation ecosystem to engage over 400 key entities across 70+ countries, including governments, Intergovernmental Organizations, the world's largest technology companies with a combined market cap of USD 10T, civil society, and top universities. Under my leadership, it was formally endorsed by the G7, OECD, and UN.
I regularly speak or moderate at international fora—from the United Nations or the AI Action Summit over Collision of the Web Summit to FRAME of VentureESG. My views on the future of the digital economy have appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, Politico, Council on Foreign Relations, ZDF, France24 or ImpactAlpha, as well as Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report, Finland’s Innovation Fund Sitra, or Oxford University Press. I have served on various advisory groups including for the World Economic Forum, the Global Commission on Internet Governance, and other international bodies and organizations.
Maintaining a robust global network with strong transatlantic ties, I’ve been also appointed as a VC and policy-focused Affiliate at Harvard University and as a Senior Fellow at Europe's Hertie School of Governance. I hold a master's from Sciences Po and a BA from Maastricht University. I'm also an alumnus of the London Business School, LocalGlobeVC, and HSBC Innovation Banking Newton Venture Program. My career began in journalism—a foundation that continues to inspire this VC + POLICY project.
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