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Summer School

AI and Digital Platforms

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing how markets work, how firms compete, and how consumers make decisions. Digital platforms, already central to retail, travel, advertising and finance, are being transformed by large language models, AI-powered recommendations and autonomous agents, and cloud computing has become critical infrastructure for AI. These developments raise pressing questions for competition policy and regulation. The AI and Digital Platforms Summer School brings participants to the research frontier on these questions.

The Economics of Artificial Intelligence course covers foundation models and competition along the AI value chain, the effects of AI on jobs and productivity, reinforcement learning and algorithmic collusion, recommender systems and choice manipulation, AI in finance, and the policy landscape (DMA, DSA and AI Act).

Digital Markets and AI: Cloud, Platforms, Regulation covers the economics of digital platforms, market power and the regulation of digital gatekeepers, data and privacy, cloud computing, and the emerging economics of AI platforms and agentic markets.

Courses are taught by leading researchers in the field and combine rigorous economic analysis with case studies and policy applications. The two courses are complementary and are scheduled so that participants can attend both in the same week.

Face-to-face

English

Next edition: June-July 2027

Early Bird deadline: April 15, 2027

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Here are the available courses in AI and Digital Platforms Summer School!

Summer School

AI and Digital Platforms

Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Next edition: June 28-July 1, 2027

Instructor: Emilio Calvano

Summer School

AI and Digital Platforms

Digital Markets and AI: Cloud, Platforms, Regulation

June 28-July 2, 2027

Instructor: Andrea Mantovani

Who attends BSE AI and Digital Platforms Summer School?

This program is aimed at:

Graduate students (Master’s and PhD) in economics and related fields, such as law, business, finance, and data science, who want to understand how AI and digital platforms are changing markets, including PhD students looking for a dissertation topic
Advanced undergraduate students with a solid background in economics
Practitioners and researchers in competition authorities, regulatory bodies, central banks and financial supervisors, law firms and economic consultancies, and firms in the digital sector, who want to catch up with the latest research on AI, digital platforms and their regulation

Program Director

ICREA-UPF and BSE; former Chief Competition Economist, European Commission

Massimo Motta

ICREA-UPF and BSE; former Chief Competition Economist, European Commission

PhD, Université Catholique de Louvain

Massimo Motta

ICREA-UPF and BSE; former Chief Competition Economist, European Commission

PhD, Université Catholique de Louvain

Massimo Motta is Research Professor at ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra and at the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE). He served as Chief Competition Economist of the European Commission from 2013 to 2016, and he has extensive experience in advising competition and regulatory agencies from all over the world, as well as training their staff.

Massimo’s research, widely cited and influential, has been published in the main economic journals. His book on Competition Policy: Theory and Practice (Cambridge U.P., 2004) is the standard reference on the economics of antitrust. He also wrote (with C. Fumagalli and C. Calcagno) Exclusionary practices. The Economics of Monopolisation and Abuse of Dominance (Cambridge U.P., 2018).

Teaching

Competition, Regulation, and Markets Program
Abuse of Dominance: Digital Cases and Other Recent Developments
Competition Economics
Quantifying Damages in Competition Cases
Antitrust Enforcement and Regulation of Digital Platforms: Legal and Economic Aspects
Quantitative Methods for Competition Analysis

Research interests

Industrial Organization
Competition Policy

Explore biography

Why study at BSE?

Top 5 Economic Research Department

Study with professors who produce top-ranking research in their fields.

World-renowned Faculty

Receive the highest quality training, with courses developed with students in mind.

Barcelona

One of Europe’s most popular cities, combine learning with culture for the best learning experience.

Why should you attend BSE Summer School?

All BSE Summer courses are taught to the same high standard as our Master’s programs.

1

Network with like-minded peers from around the world

2

Short courses allow you to learn without a big time commitment

3

Try something new, expand your knowledge and career prospects, and advance your thesis

Admissions Process

It is important to make sure you meet the admissions criteria before starting your application.

Next edition: June-July, 2027

Early Bird deadline: April 15, 2027

Requirements

Successful candidates will usually demonstrate one or more of the following in an application to our Summer School programs:

A strong background in Economics or a field closely related to the course topic (Statistics, Law, etc.)
Postgraduate degree or current Master’s/PhD studies related to the course topic
Relevant professional experience

Mix and match your summer courses!

Remember that you can combine AI and Digital Platforms Summer School courses with courses in any of the other BSE Summer School programs (schedule permitting). Maximise your learning this summer and take advantage of our multiple-course discount.

FAQ

Here are some of the most common questions that our Summer School participants have. For any further queries, please contact our Admissions Team

Can I see the full Summer School calendar?

You can view the full Summer School calendar here.

How much does each Summer School course cost?

Fees for each course may vary. Please consult each course page for accurate information.

Are there any discounts available?

Yes, BSE offers a variety of discounts on its Summer courses. See more information about available discounts or request a personalized discount quote by email.

Can I take more than one course?

Yes! you can combine any of the Summer School courses (schedule permitting). See the full course calendar.

Credit Transfers (ECTS)

To be eligible for credit transfers, students must complete a final project.

Students will deliver a short research proposal one week after the summer school finishes. It will consist of 3-4 pages, 1.5 spaced, font size 11, with a clear research question, a motivation (introduce the question and its policy relevance), a discussion of the existing literature and how your paper relates to that, and an explanation on how you would approach the questions (empirical strategy and/or theoretical model).

Consult the Credit Transfer page for more information about this option.