Aurelien Portuese

Aurelien Portuese
Director, Antitrust and Innovation Policy
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Aurelien Portuese is director of The Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy. The Schumpeter Project advances a dynamic framework for competition policy in which innovation is a central concern for antitrust enforcement, not a secondary consideration. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the Global Antitrust Institute of George Mason University, and at the Catholic University of Paris.

As an expert in U.S. antitrust and EU competition law and economics, Portuese has published extensively on these issues and has presented his research at international conferences. With 10 years of university experience (UK, France, Belgium, US), his research encompasses U.S. and European perspectives on the regulation of competition.

A doctor in law from the University of Paris II (Sorbonne), Portuese has graduated from the London School of Economics, Sciences Po Paris, and from the University of Hamburg. He regularly speaks at conferences and seminars and regularly writes op-eds and academic articles. His book Antitrust Populism: Competition Policy in the Digital Era will be published in 2021 by Oxford University Press.

More about Aurelien Portuese: aurelienportuese.com

Recent Publications

April 4, 2022

The Senate’s main antitrust bills—the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act—emulate a stalled House package and the EU’s deeply flawed Digital Markets Act. They err on many fronts, and the main arguments for them are at odds with reality.

March 29, 2022

ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy offers six-month resident fellowships for graduate students and invites inquiries from antitrust professionals wishing to become nonresident affiliates of the program.

March 28, 2022

The advisory board of ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy is proud to award a prize for the year’s best graduate student paper on antitrust policy. The winner(s) will receive an honorarium of $2,000.

March 26, 2022

Antitrust is the wrong tool to address content moderation—and weaponizing antitrust because of animus to certain companies is simply wrong.

February 16, 2022

As Congress considers sweeping new antitrust legislation to address the so-called “big tech” companies, the bill’s supporters are indeed right in asserting that the revamped competition rules may disrupt some digital players.

January 31, 2022

The FTC plans to follow Europe’s precautionary approach to antitrust by enacting preemptive rules of per se illegality. But American precautionary antitrust is both unlawful and economically harmful, as it opposes dynamic competition, which benefits consumers and innovation.

January 29, 2022

Over the last few years, many algorithm-driven companies in the digital economy have been investigated, prosecuted and fined, mostly for allegedly unfair algorithm design. Legislative proposals aim at regulating the way algorithms shape competition. Consequently, a so-called “algorithmic antitrust” theory and practice have also emerged.

January 12, 2022

As the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the ‘American Innovation and Choice Online Act’ on January 13, it appears that Congress is ready to make it harder and more expensive for consumers to enjoy the benefits of digital platforms.

January 4, 2022

President Biden announced a billion-dollar plan to beef up competition in the meat processing industry this week to reduce price increases for meat. Inflation affects all sectors of the economy.

December 23, 2021

Conference paper in “The Meaning of Competition in the Digital Age,” edited by Victoria Hewson (London: IEA, December 2021).

December 20, 2021

Despite domestic presidential elections in April, the EU’s French Presidency will be critical for adopting the Digital Markets Act in ways that minimize harmful unintended consequences.

December 14, 2021

Conference Report: The measures stipulated in the DMA do not match its calls for strengthening of the internal market, more competition, and innovation.

Recent Events and Presentations

April 1, 2022

Please join ITIF for the latest in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy hosts leading scholars and antitrust enforcers to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.

March 24, 2022

Dr. Aurelien Portuese delivered a guest lecture for Judge Douglas Ginsburg’s course on antitrust at George Mason University.

March 21, 2022

Please join ITIF for the latest in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy hosts leading scholars and antitrust enforcers to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.

February 28, 2022

With new leadership at the Federal Trade Commission and a new antitrust chief at the Department of Justice, what does this mean for Big Tech?

February 24, 2022

Marking the release of the new book “Algorithmic Antitrust,” ITIF’s Portuese moderated as the authors discussed their respective essays and debated how companies compete through algorithms and what it means for competition agencies.

December 14, 2021

Join ITIF for the twelfth in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation. Join us to discuss the interaction between antitrust and innovation with Professor Thomas Lambert and ITIF's Julie Carlson.

November 12, 2021

ITIF hosted a discussion about the new FTC's priority with Professors Daniel Crane and Andrew Gavil. This is the eleventh in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.

November 10, 2021

Join us to discuss this report and the proposal of banning self-preferencing with Professor Herb Hovenkamp. This is the tenth in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.

November 4, 2021

Jointly organized by ITIF's Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and held at the IEA's offices at Lord North Street in the heart of Westminster, this conference features world-leading experts, officials, and scholars. The conference debated current concepts and misconceptions of the meaning of competition in the digital era.

October 22, 2021

ITIF hosted the ninth in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.

October 21, 2021

The FTC should advocate for a national privacy law that applies to all U.S. companies instead of being willing to unilaterally enforce sector-specific privacy standards that would distort competition across industries.

June 30, 2021

ITIF hosted an expert panel discussion exploring the implications of GTIPA’s declaration of principles, and prospects for the vision to become a reality.