On Thursday, April 17, 2025, we will hold an Intellectual Property Law Lecture / CPS Research Group Open Seminar: Data Utilization and Legal Regulation in the AI Era "Data Assets, Data Protection Regulations, and Corporate Competitive Advantage."

As digital transformation (DX) and artificial intelligence (AI) reshape competitive advantage, companies are increasingly relying on data assets to drive innovation and efficiency. However, strengthening regulations on data privacy and data security are imposing new compliance burdens on companies. Therefore, this lecture examines how companies respond to data protection regulations, focusing particularly on both mandatory regulatory pressure and voluntary pressure arising from competitiveness and industry-wide data breaches, and analyzes their impact on corporate financial performance.

Companies demonstrate regulatory compliance through increased attention to data protection (as shown in corporate disclosures in annual reports) and the introduction of new data governance, including advanced data security technologies and data-related organizational structures. However, despite these signals, corporate market value declines on average. While signals of enhanced data protection do demonstrate the ability to respond to strict regulations, it is inferred that they do not lead to competitive differentiation due to the intangible nature of data protection and the difficulty of credibly communicating the effectiveness of data protection to market participants.

Companies bear significant compliance costs without gaining clear short-term returns. Regulations increase investment in research and development (R&D) but decrease the number of patent applications. However, companies with high technical capabilities—particularly those with proprietary data processing technologies or large market shares—are less susceptible to negative impacts because they can implement compliance measures more efficiently.

*This research group is supported by the JST Moonshot Research and Development Program JPMJMS2215 as part of the CPS Research Group.

【Speaker】

Professor Aija Leiponen, Cornell University

【Date and Time】

Thursday, April 17, 2025, 16:40–18:10

【Venue】

Room 421, 2nd Floor, South School Building, Keio University Mita Campus

【Format】

In-person participation (at the venue) *No online option available.

【Target Audience】

Open to everyone

【Language】

English only

【Fee】

Free

【Registration】

Not required

*Capacity: 200 people

【Organizer】

Keio University Cyber-Physical Sustainability Center (CPS Center)

Please see here for further details.