Day 1 - Thursday 18 November 2021

Building EU resilience and autonomy in a fast changing world

  • -

    Welcome

      • Stephen Quest, Chair, ESPAS and Director-General, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

  • -

    Keynote address

  • -

    Key messages from the European Commission’s second Annual Strategic Foresight Report – The EU’s Capacity and freedom to act

      • Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Inter-institutional Relations and Foresight, European Commission

    • Discussion with Ministers for the Future

    • Perspective from a third country

    • Concluding remarks

      • Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Inter-institutional Relations and Foresight, European Commission

    • Moderator

      • Stephen Quest, Chair, ESPAS and Director-General, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

  • -

    Break

  • -

    Resilience in practice: what does this mean for an open Europe?

    What lessons to draw from the pandemic? What will adaptation to climate change entail? Does the EU have the technological means for its ambitions? Should health become an EU competence? What about food security, dependence on imports, jobs, social issues? What about the resilience of European democracy and multi-level governance?

    • Introduction and moderation

      • Pascale Ehrenfreund, Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs, George Washington University

    • Keynote address

    • Panel discussion

      • Kirsten Dunlop, CEO Climate-KIC (a Knowledge and Innovation Community)

      • Hans van der Loo, Chair, Institute for Integrated Economic Research Advisory Board

      • Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair, Cognitive Psychology, School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol

      • Harald U. Sverdrup, Professor of System Dynamics, Game Development and Interactive Simulations, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences

    • Conversation with the digital floor

  • -

    Lunch Break

  • -

    Technology for the green transition

    Digital technologies are the object of many promises for the green transition and beyond. At the same time, some are promoting low-tech as a source of resilience and as a sure way to reduce resources and energy use. An increasing number of people also see digital technologies (social media, AI, etc.) as a threat to democracy. How can we disentangle these conflicting issues?

    • Introduction and moderation

    • Keynote address

      • Markku Markkula, Former President of the European Committee of the Regions

    • Panel discussion

    • Conversation with the digital floor

  • -

    How to successfully twin the green and digital transitions?

    Engaging simultaneously in these two profound transitions will hold many challenges. Old ways will be lost - because of the application of new technologies and the end of certain sectors such as fossil fuels - and many new occupations will emerge – for example in new energy sectors or in resource efficiency. Society will also transform, forcing people to adapt to a radically new world. Society will also transform, forcing people to adapt to a radically new world. How to best support citizens through these changes?
    This session could see two groups develop alternative paths forward, one in which digital technologies deliver on all promises and one in which they don’t. 

    • Panel discussion

    • Moderator

      • Isabella Pirolo, (ESPAS YTN alumni) International Relations Officer, EU Delegation in Singapore

  • -

    Break

  • -

    How to use future scenarios for policy-making in an era of profound transitions

    A broad and open forward-looking reflection on the future of the EU in the world. What possible trajectories? How can foresight help chart the course? What assumptions can we make about the future of the EU in view of the recent (geo)political developments? How to make the key systems in society work in synergy?

    • Introduction and moderation

    • Keynote presentation – scenarios for the future of the EU

      • Stephen Quest, Chair, ESPAS and Director-General, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

    • Round Table debate - how to build a shared vision for the future of the EU?

      • Jeanette Kwek, Head of the Centre for Strategic Futures, Government of Singapore

      • Peter Schmidt, President, NAT Section, European Economic and Social Committee

      • Duncan Cass-Beggs, Head of foresight, OECD

      • Jaana Tapanainen-Thiess, Secretary General, Government Report on the Future and Government Foresight Group, Prime Minister’s Office, Finland

  • -

    Take away from Day 1 and close

      • Stephen Quest, Chair, ESPAS and Director-General, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

    • End of day one.

Day 2 - Friday 19 November 2021

Global Trends to 2040: Europe’s strategic choices in a more disputed world

  • -

    Welcome

      • Anthony Teasdale, Director-General, European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS)

  • -

    Europe and the world in 2040: What kind of new international order?

    • Panel discussion

      • Yuichi Hosoya, Professor of International Politics, Keio University, Japan

      • Ian Lesser, Acting President of the German Marshall Fund

      • Harsh V Pant, Professor of International Relations, King's College London

      • Prof. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer, Executive Director, Europe and Eurasia, Open Society Foundations

      • Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House

    • Moderator

      • Shada Islam, Director, New Horizons Project; Fellow at the Vrije University Brussel; Visiting Professor, College of Europe

  • -

    Democracy and authoritarianism: How to reverse the drift to Caesarism?

    • Panel discussion

      • Sophie in ’t Veld, MEP, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament

      • Heather Grabbe, Director, Open Society European Policy Institute

      • Brigid Laffan, Former Director and Professor, Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute (EUI)

      • Lanxin Xiang, Professor of International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

      • Massimo Tommasoli, Director of Global Programmes, and Permanent Observer for International IDEA to the United Nations

    • Moderator

      • Guy Milton, Head of Analysis and Research Team, General Secretariat, Council of the EU

  • -

    How will AI change humanity and can we master our digital futures?

    • Panel discussion

      • Eva Kaili, MEP, Chair, Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA), European Parliament

      • Anthony Gooch, Chair, OECD Global Parliamentary Network

      • Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow, CEPS; Visiting Professor, College of Europe, Bruges

      • Vladimír Šucha, Senior Policy Adviser, UNESCO; former Director General, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission

      • Laura Nurski, Research Fellow, Bruegel

    • Moderator

      • Marcus Scheuren, Head of Unit, EP Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA)

  • -

    Tomorrow's world - and its risks, opportunities and choices for Europe (Part 1)

    • In conversation

      • Federica Mogherini, Rector, College of Europe; former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission; former Italian foreign minister

    • Commentary

      • Pierre Vimont, Former French Ambassador to US and EU

      • Jim Cloos, Secretary-General, Trans European Policy Studies Association

    • Moderator

  • -

    How best to build back better? Towards a greener, fairer recovery

  • -

    Tomorrow's world - and its risks, opportunities and choices for Europe (Part 2)

    • Panel discussion

      • Florence Gaub, Deputy Director, EU Institute of Security Studies

      • James Crabtree, Executive Director, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Asia

      • Hervé Delphin, Head of Strategic Policy Planning at the European External Action Service (EEAS)

      • Kristi Raik, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the ICDS

      • Ricardo Borges de Castro, Associate Director and Head of the Europe in the World Programme, European Policy Centre

    • Moderator

      • David O’Sullivan, Former Secretary General, European Commission, and former EU Ambassador to United States

  • -

    Transatlantic foresight 2040: Comparing and assessing scenarios for common challenges ahead

    • In conversation

      • Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Inter-institutional Relations and Foresight, European Commission

      • Maria Langan-Riekhof, Director of the Strategic Futures Group at the National Intelligence Council, United States

    • Commentary

      • Florence Gaub, Deputy Director, EU Institute of Security Studies

      • Bruce Stokes, Executive Director, Transatlantic Task Force, German Marshall Fund (GMF)

    • Moderator

  • -

    Europe, America and the Indo-Pacific: The geopolitics of the future

    • In conversation

  • -

    Conference take-aways and next steps for foresight in Europe

    • Panel discussion

      • Klaus Welle, Secretary-General of the European Parliament

      • Stephen Quest, Chair, ESPAS and Director-General, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

      • Didier Seeuws, Director-General, General Secretariat of the Council of the EU

      • Helena König, Deputy Secretary General, European External Action Service (EEAS)

    • Moderator

  • -

    Concluding remarks