Urs Gasser

Dr. Urs Gasser is Professor of Public Policy, Governance, and Innovative Technology at the Technical University of Munich, where he serves as the Rector of the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy (Hochschule für Politik München) and the Dean of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology. From 2009-2021, he was the Executive Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. His research and teaching activities focus on information law, policy, and society issues and the changing role of academia in the digitally networked age. Currently, much of his work focuses on the promise and limitations of digital responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from a comparative perspective. As a longer-term research interest, he studies the patterns of interaction between law and innovation, and innovation with the legal system in the digital age. Dr. Gasser has written and edited several books on digital technology issues, and published over 100 articles in professional journals. He is the co-author of “Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives” (Basic Books, 2008 and 2016, with John Palfrey), which has been translated into 10 languages (including Chinese), and “Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems” (Basic Books, 2012, with John Palfrey). Recent book publications include Remembering and Forgetting in the Digital Age (Springer, 2018, Co-Editor), Big Data, Health Law, and Bioethics (Cambridge University Press, 2018, Co-Editor), The Connected Parent (Basic Books 2020, with John Palfrey), and “Pandemie als Verbundkrise und Digitales Phänomen” (Helbing Lichtenhahn 2022, with Jens Drolshammer).

In addition to his appointments at TUM and Harvard, Dr. Gasser had visiting professorships at the Singapore Management University School of Law, the University of Zurich Faculty of Law, KEIO University (Japan) and the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), and taught at Fudan University School of Management (China). He currently serves as a trustee on the board of the Digital Asia Hub and as a Co-Chair of the Global Future Council on Virtual and Augmented Reality. He is a member of the German Digital Council, appointed by Angela Merkel.

He graduated from the University of St. Gallen (J.D., S.J.D.) as well as Harvard Law School (LL.M.) and received several academic awards and prizes for his research. Full bio and disclosure here: https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/ugasser