As the economy is becoming more and more digital, new jobs and investment opportunities are created and the EU has identified the digital economy as one of the main drivers of sustainable growth. At this Briefing, General Counsel of the US Department of Commerce Kelly R. Welsh put the benefits and risks of technological advances in the digital economy into perspective and shared his views on the progress made in the context of Big Data, the need for enhanced privacy protection frameworks, developments and responsibilities in the public sector and US-EU cooperation in this area.