App Makers Tour of Europe – Germany
On 17 June 2021, ACT | The App Association continued the App Makers Tour of Europe. During our second stop in Germany, local app developers, policymakers, and industry representatives discussed the German app economy and the opportunities and challenges developers face today. Our panel also debated the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and how it could affect app developers and the broader tech ecosystem. After some opening remarks and a warm welcome from the App Association’s founder and chairperson Mike Sax, [...]
Access to Capital: The Issues
The racial wealth gap in the United States has remained relatively unchanged since 1967, with Black and Brown Americans making a little more than $57 for every $100 in income earned by their White counterparts. When you consider that 66 percent of new entrepreneurs start their businesses using personal savings, that statistic becomes even more alarming. To make matters worse, Black and Brown entrepreneurs are denied loans nearly twice as often as white entrepreneurs. These statistics are the economic reality [...]
What App Developers Need to Know about the New Standard Contractual Clauses
On June 4, 2021, the European Commission (EC) adopted a revised version of the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). SCCs are important template agreements that allow entities to transfer data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) to third countries (such as the United States) that have not received a formal adequacy decision from the EC. The revisions carry a great deal of significance following the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) Schrems II ruling, which invalidated the Privacy [...]
Lending Discrimination: What App Developers Need to Know
As the App Association launches our new Amplify Diverse Talent Working Group, the first set of issues we are examining are those that influence access to capital for entrepreneurs of color. We recently convened leaders in the space for our first Amplify Diverse Talent webinar “Access to Capital: The Issues,” with a second webinar, “Access to Capital: Solutions,” scheduled for next month. As panelists in the first webinar pointed out, the lack of access to capital for Black and Brown [...]
Bills, Bills, Bills: What Developers Need to Know About the Legislative Package from the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee
Last week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law introduced draft legislation aimed at regulating “Big Tech” after a year-plus investigation of competition in digital markets. The legislative package largely stems from information gathered through witness testimony, documents, and interviews captured in the more than 500 page report the Subcommittee Majority staff released last year. The five draft bills focus on core themes from the hearings and reports— nondiscrimination, conflicts of interest, portability and interoperability, merger review [...]
App Makers Tour of Europe – Romania
On 25 May 2021, ACT | The App Association kicked off the App Makers Tour of Europe with its first stop in Romania. During this webinar, we engaged with local app developers, policymakers, and academics. Our speakers discussed the Romanian tech ecosystem and considered the impacts of impending tech regulation like the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Moderated by the App Association’s Morgane Taylor, the panel consisted of: Vlad Roman, Competition and State Aid, Platform Economy Attaché, Permanent Representation of Romania [...]