Thorsten Jelinek is a senior policy researcher and expert in digital governance, with a focus on sovereignty, privacy, cybersecurity regulation, and AI and data governance, drawing on his book Digital Sovereignty. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he works on Earth Intelligence for digital sustainable development. Thorsten is also a recurring member of the Think20, where he co-authored a policy brief on “The creation of a G20 coordinating committee for the governance of AI.” In addition, he is an affiliated scholar at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Sociology and a member of UNIDO’s Global Alliance for Advanced Manufacturing and AI in Industry. He has previously served as a member of ITU’s Connect2Recover Initiative and OECD’s Trust in Business Initiative, and has contributed to multilateral forums including the UN’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum.
Earlier in his career, Thorsten was an Associate Director at the World Economic Forum and held managerial positions in the ICT industry. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Organisational and Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a degree in Business Administration and Software Engineering from Berliner Hochschule für Technik.
