Future of law conference: the internet of things, smart contracts and intelligent machines

• Author: ZHANG Jiyu, ZHANG Wenke
• Pages: 673-674

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 12 DECEMBER 2017 NO. 4

DOI 10.3868/s050-006-017-0033-7

ACADEMIC NEWS

FUTURE OF LAW CONFERENCE: THE INTERNET OF THINGS, SMART CONTRACTS

AND INTELLIGENT MACHINES

From 26 to 27 October 2017, the Centre for Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia of

Singapore Management University (SMU) Law School held an international conference

entitled “Future of Law Conference: The Internet of Things, Smart Contracts and

Intelligent Machines” in Singapore. The conference brought together the leading thinkers

in academia and practice in the field of information technology law to discuss the legal

and regulatory implications of recent technological developments. Associate Professor

ZHANG Jiyu and Associate Professor DING Xiaodong of the Law and Technology

Institute of Renmin Law School were invited to attend the conference.

On the first day, Simon Beswick, CEO of Osborne Clarke’s international organization,

delivered a welcome address at first. Mr. Ng How Yue, Permanent Secretary of Ministry

of Law, then gave a speech as guest of honor. Professor Ian Kerr from University of

Ottawa delivered an opening keynote speech themed with “AI and the Law” afterwards,

to which Koh Chia Ling, a director of Singapore Law Practice, OC Queen Street LLC,

made comments. Professor Ian Kerr, Koh Chia Ling, and Jacqueline Poh (Chief

Executive, GovTech, Singapore) took part in the following panel discussion, for which Dr.

Eliza Mik worked as moderator. Goh Yihan (Dean of SMU) provided closing remarks

afterwards.

In the parallel sessions after lunch, Professor Sharon K. Sandeen from Mitchell

Hamline School of Law expressed opinions on the relationship between cyber security

and wrongful acquisition tort. Furthermore, Dr. C. Sappa (Assistant Professor from

IÉSEG School of Management) discussed what trade secrecy has to do with a

sharing-based paradigm. During the presentation on the regulation of online platforms, Dr.

Jonathan Galloway (Senior Lecturer of Newcastle Law School) addressed the role of

competition authorities in promoting innovation and issues arising from innovation of

platforms. Dr. Gary Low (Assistant Professor of SMU) described risk and regulation of

online platforms. In the plenary session, Simon Spooner (Partner and International Head

of Transport & Automotive Sector) aimed to delve deeper into the skills and areas of

discipline that will be needed by lawyers of the future, and CHEN Siyuan (Assistant

Professor of SMU) focused on the issue whether there is any personal remedies for

recreational drones and alleged privacy intrusions.

In the second-day presentation, Professor Nancy S. Kim from California Western

School of Law first delivered a speech on “Normalizing Business Practices through the