Paul Timmers is visiting research fellow for cybersecurity policy and digital transformation at the University of Oxford and senior advisor at the European Policy Centre, a thinktank in Brussels. Until 2017 he was director at the European Commission for Digital Society, Trust & Cybersecurity, dealing with policy, legislation and innovation in digital health & ageing, e-government, smart cities/mobility/energy, cybersecurity and digital privacy. He was involved in EU legislation (cybersecurity, e-privacy, eID, CEF/Telecom, AAL), EU R&I and deployment funding of about 3 B€ and was co-lead of the European Innovation Partnerships on Smart Cities and on Active & Healthy Ageing.
Paul was also interim member of the EC’s impact assessment / regulatory scrutiny board (2014-2016). As member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Liikanen (2001-2003) he dealt with telecommunications and information society policy.
He held various academic positions and has a long-standing interest in business models, being one of the most cited authors on e-business models worldwide. He worked as a manager in a large ICT company and co-founded an ICT start-up. He holds a PhD in physics from Nijmegen University, the Netherlands; an MBA from Warwick University, UK; was awarded an EU fellowship during which he studied sociology and ageing at UNC Chapel Hill, USA and completed executive cybersecurity education at Harvard.
