On the afternoon of April 21, Professor Thomas Christiansen from the University of Luigi Bocconi in Italy was invited by the School of Management to deliver a special lecture titled "The Evolution of EU Critical Technology Governance Approaches and Regulatory Practices for Artificial Intelligence" in Meeting Room 212 of the School of Management at the Chang'an Campus. This event marked the 4th session of the 2025 Overseas Expert Lecture Series hosted by the School of Management. Chaired by Associate Professor Shao Jing, it attracted more than 40 faculty members and students.

In his lecture, Professor Christiansen systematically reviewed the three-stage evolutionary path of EU technology governance: In the early stage, through data privacy regulations such as the GDPR, it formed the "Brussels Effect" with global extraterritorial effect, leading the formulation of digital rules; in the middle stage, it shifted to defensive policies represented by the Chips Act to respond to geopolitical competition; currently, it is accelerating the transformation to a new paradigm of "Open Strategic Autonomy", whose core is to build a four-level risk classification regulatory system through the AI Act — this system covers 12 specific regulations including prohibiting the application of biometric technologies and mandating transparency obligations. Notably, the EU is making breakthroughs in balancing technological innovation and ethical constraints through innovative mechanisms such as establishing the European AI Office and piloting regulatory sandboxes, but still faces structural challenges such as the mismatch between regulatory fragmentation and the speed of technological iteration.

The lecture put forward two core viewpoints: First, the EU governance model is shifting from "regulatory competition" to "standard-led governance", and its three-dimensional framework of "Governance Resilience" encompassing technological autonomy, industrial coordination, and rule compatibility provides a new paradigm for global technology governance; Second, China-EU cooperation needs to break through differences in values and institutional barriers.

This lecture sparked multi-level academic dialogue. Participating faculty and students conducted in-depth discussions with Professor Christiansen on issues such as the localized adaptation of technology governance and the institutional transplantation of artificial intelligence ethics. Finally, Shao Jing concluded that the lecture content provides a new perspective for EU research at the methodological level, and the theoretical framework of "resilient governance" proposed has important implications for resolving technological sovereignty disputes, opening up innovative paths for future research.

[Lecturer's Biography]

Professor Thomas Christiansen is currently a Professor of Political Science and European Integration at the University of Luigi Bocconi in Italy. He has previously taught at Maastricht University, the European Institute of Public Administration, Aberystwyth University in Wales, and the University of Essex. Currently, he serves as the Executive Editor-in-Chief of the well-known SSCI journal Journal of European Integration in the field of European studies, and also co-edits the European Administrative Governance book series published by Palgrave Macmillan. His main research focuses on multi-dimensional issues of EU politics, with representative works including The EU and China and The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Management.