The Digital Markets and Data Economy Laboratory represents CARS’ research platform dedicated to the evolving legal and regulatory framework of digital markets and the European data economy.
The Laboratory brings together scholars working at the intersection of EU competition law, market regulation, intellectual property, consumer law, data protection and sector-specific regulation. It focuses on the systemic implications of digitalisation for market governance, enforcement structures and the functioning of the digital internal market.
Dr. Laura Zoboli
Dr. Laura Zoboli
Assistant Professor, IE University
Scientific Coordinator, CARS
PhD, Bocconi University
Laura Zoboli’s research focuses on EU competition law and its interaction with intellectual property and digital markets regulation, with particular attention to the data economy.
E-mail:
Profile: https://www.ie.edu/university/about/faculty/laura-zoboli/
Members
Maciej Bernatt (University of Warsaw); Giuseppe Colangelo (University of Basilicata); Mariateresa Maggiolino (Bocconi University); Iga Małobęcka-Szwast (University of Warsaw); Maria Lillà Montagnani (Bocconi University); Joanna Mazur (University of Warsaw); Björn Lundqvist (Stockholm University); Marco Botta (European University Institute); Antoni Napieralski (University of Warsaw); Marta Sznajder (Univeristy of Warsaw); Monika Woźniak-Cichuta (University of Warsaw)
Mission and Research Focus
The Laboratory situates itself within the field of research examining how digital technologies and data reshape the structure and functioning of markets in the European Union. It pays particular attention to the increasing overlap between regulatory regimes and to the challenges arising from their concurrent application to the same economic practices.
Recent EU initiatives have profoundly transformed the regulatory landscape. New instruments – including the digital services package, competition enforcement in digital markets, data governance frameworks, sectoral regulation and consumer protection measures – increasingly interact and sometimes overlap. The Laboratory analyses these cross-regime dynamics and their implications for legal certainty, innovation and effective enforcement.
Core research themes include:
• Data sharing and access obligations in EU law
• The interaction between competition law and data protection
• Platform governance and systemic power in digital ecosystems
• The regulation of algorithmic decision-making and generative AI
• Digital consumer protection and evolving notions of vulnerability
• Enforcement design and institutional coordination across regimes
The Laboratory aims to contribute to academic debate and to provide analytically grounded insights relevant for policymakers, regulators and practitioners.
Research Output
A central outcome of the Laboratory’s research activity is the volume:
Data Sharing Regulation in Europe
Edited by Laura Zoboli and Maciej Bernatt
Routledge, 2025
The book conceptualises data sharing as a systemic problem of EU law, in which competition law, data protection, intellectual property and sectoral regulation apply concurrently to the same practices. It analyses how these regimes interact and how enforcement mechanisms operate as a stress test for regulatory coherence, including in light of recent policy debates such as the Digital Omnibus.
The volume includes contributions by Björn Lundqvist, Joanna Mazur, Marco Botta, Maria Lillà Montagnani and Mariateresa Maggiolino. The introductory and concluding chapters are available open access.
The book has been presented at academic seminars, including Tilburg University and Utrecht University, fostering discussion on cross-regime tensions and the governance of data sharing in the EU.
Academic Activities
The Laboratory promotes scholarly exchange through participation in academic seminars, conferences and collaborative research initiatives addressing contemporary challenges in digital regulation.
Recent engagements by members have addressed, inter alia:
• Control and power structures in the generative AI ecosystem
• The embedding of AI systems within dominant digital platforms
• Digital consumer vulnerability in profiling and personalised environments
• The limits of merger control in fast-moving digital ecosystems
• The enforcement of digital markets regulation
• The coherence (or lack thereof) of EU digital market rules
• The interaction between intellectual property rights and data access obligations
The Laboratory operates as a flexible research network and remains open to collaborations with scholars, practitioners and policymakers working on the governance of digital markets.
