#FUTaf20 – The Programme

In moderated panel discussions and digital roundtables, distinguished speakers from around the world will be presenting new approaches and future scenarios, exchanging views on trends in digitisation, and developing ideas for shaping the policies of tomorrow in a transdisciplinary dialogue with the online community.
Germany’s Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas will be opening the one-day online conference in Berlin, followed by opening remarks by Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice.

Future Affairs Berlin 2020 – Topics and Speakers 

Decoupling the Internet - Taking Sides or Chances?
10:30 - 11:45 a.m. (CET)
The world witnesses rising competition among nations for technological superiority. A potential de-coupling and fragmentation into techno-spheres will have far reaching consequences on both our societies and the global game of power. Can the EU in a polarized global set-up offer a ‘third option’ based on shared democratic values and human rights? Where can Europe be a partner for the world in digitisation and artificial intelligence? Jaron Lanier, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra and Kim Jørgensen will discuss these and other questions. Moderation: Christoph Röckerath.

Building Resilience in Cybersecurity
1:00 - 2:15 p.m. (CET)
Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe have made progress in countering global cybersecurity threats. Resilience policies provide a solid base for other cybersecurity policy instruments. Louise Marie Hurel, Agnieszka Wierzbicka and Algirde Pipikaite will be discussing and analyzing policies and instruments already in place and also explore ways forward for interregional resilience cooperation. Moderation: Nathalie Van Raemdonck.

Data Protection & Digital Rights
3:30 - 4:45 p.m. (CET)
Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe undertake efforts aimed at giving their citizens more power to decide how and for what purpose data is collected online, and how governments can give their citizens actionable digital rights. Both regions also face considerable challenges in achieving these objectives, driven for example by resource-poor enforcement, industry opposition and conflicts of interest by governments hesitant to limit their own authority. Katitza Rodriguez, Estelle Massé, Emmanuel Letouzé and Eduardo Bertoni will shed light on major challenges as well as on the options to overcome them, including potential learnings to be shared between the regions. Moderation: Eduardo Magrani.

On 14  December 2020, we will broadcast Future Affairs 2020 from 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. (CET) in a freely accessible live stream on www.future-affairs.de, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Check out the complete programme here.