Lea Gimpel

Lea Gimpel is Director of Policy and AI Lead at the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA). As an internationally recognized expert on open technologies, open-source AI and the management of digital public goods, she brings more than 15 years of leadership and consulting experience at the intersection of technology, policy and international cooperation. Previously, she served as co-director at the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) for the “FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for All” project, which was implemented in six countries worldwide and, among other things, collected open language data for underrepresented languages in collaboration with local communities.

Lea combines technological expertise with innovative policy approaches to promote, preserve and shape digital commons and works with a global network of partners from public institutions, foundations, the open-source movement and global tech communities.

She is a board member of the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany and a member of the Communication Expert Committee of the German Commission for UNESCO. Her previous roles include co-chairing a working group for the United Nations’ Universal DPI Safeguards Initiative and serving on the advisory board of the AI Ideas Lab at the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV).

She holds an Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) with a focus on digital governance from the Hertie School as well as a degree in Social and Business Communication from the Berlin University of the Arts. She also teaches courses on digital governance in public policy programs and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences.

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