Dr Rudolf Gridl, born in Munich on 21 June 1971, studied legal sciences in Paris and Munich, where he received a doctorate in international data protection law in communication networks.

His career initially brought him to the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, where he worked in the field of international law from 1999 to 2000.

He has been working for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy since 2000. Before becoming head of the division for “Internet Governance and International Digital Dialogue”, he led the division for bilateral economic relations with North Africa and the Middle East, the division for ‘special trade policy, agricultural policy and sub-Saharan Africa’ and the planning and speech-writing divisions.

Previous to that, he worked in the Ministry in the field of trade policy and transatlantic relations in Germany’s Permanent Representation to the EU, in the Sherpa Staff of the G8, and in the division for fundamental policy issues on the information society.