Areas of Expertise

• Internet governance 
• ICT development 
• Digital and ledger-based currencies
• Technology and geopolitics
• Digital sovereignty

Short Bio

Kai von Carnap is an independent researcher based in Brussels who focuses on digital sovereignty, global internet governance, and the interactions between digital technologies and state power. Since June 2024, he has been serving as an associate fellow in the Center for Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, and Technology at DGAP. In this role, von Carnap examines the nexus between private actors and state-directed technology development in China. He is also active as a BLOCS Lab Fellow at the US-based Aletheia Research Institution. 

Previously, von Carnap worked as a research associate at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlin, where he led several research projects focusing on internet fragmentation, among other topics. He advised the Interparliamentarian Group on China (IPAC) and was a permanent member of the “Digital Business Models” expert group of the Sino-German Industrie 4.0 Project. Additionally, von Carnap served as a guest lecturer at the TU Berlin and as a mentor in the “German Accelerator: Discover China” program run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany (BMWK). 

Kai von Carnap earned his master’s degree in Chinese-European economics and business studies from the Berlin School of Economics and Law and the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Sinology and economics at the Ruprecht Karl University Heidelberg, supplemented by study periods at the Hong Kong Baptist University.

Languages

German, English, Chinese 

[Last updated: August 2024]