The Summer Summit returns on 20 June to Brussels and online.
Europe’s economic security hinges on its access to critical technologies and on its innovative power. To promote this security, we need successful European companies, scalable markets, and strong alliances with like-minded nations. Today, Europe faces an alarming shortage of leading tech firms, comprising only 11% of the world’s top tech companies and a mere 8% of unicorns. It’s time to address this common challenge with urgency.
Watch the replays of the sessions below:
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, the leading digital technology industry association representing over 45,000 digital companies in Europe.
She is a member of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum and High-Level Forum on European Standardisation. She is also a member of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity). She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Gaia-X.
Formerly, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl served as a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of NATO on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies. She was also a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, as well as a member of the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce, a board member of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the European Parliament-led European Internet Forum.
In March 2023, Cecilia received the Ukraine Peace Prize on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE for its work supporting Ukraine during the war.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry. She previously held international positions at IBM and Oracle as well as with SMEs, building businesses across Europe and China and founding the global SAP implementation company and cloud provider GlobeIT. She served as Board Member of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Board of the Danish ICT association (ITB).
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General,
DIGITALEUROPE
Bio to be updated soon
João Rui Ferreira
Secretary of State for Economy,
Portugal
Since 1995 Denis has been a career European Commission official, having held positions in the monetary, international economic affairs and internal market directorate generals of the EU Executive. He served as advisor to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and a Deputy chief of staff to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. Afterwards he headed the WTO division and then the Strategy division in the Directorate General for Trade in the European Commission.
Between 2015 and 2020 he acted as Director for “WTO, Legal Affairs and Trade in Goods” in the Directorate General for Trade in the European Commission. In July 2020 he was appointed Deputy Director General and Chief Trade Enforcement Officer in the Directorate General for Trade in the European Commission.
Denis Redonnet
Deputy Director General,
DG TRADE,
European Commission
Ann Mettler has more than two decades of experience in high-level public policy and strategy, operating at the intersection of technology, innovation, foresight and entrepreneurship.
At Breakthrough Energy, Ann is working with European partners to accelerate clean tech innovation in the pursuit of climate neutrality and a net-zero emissions future. Previously, she served as Director-General at the European Commission where she ran the internal strategy department, reporting directly to the President. An entrepreneur at heart, Ann set up her own think tank which she ran for more than a decade. Her career started at the World Economic Forum where she led the Europe department. If she is not busy pondering the state of the world, she loves spending time with family and friends, tending to her garden and walking her dog.
Ann has lived and worked in Germany, Greece, the United States, Switzerland and Belgium. She holds MA degrees in political science and European law and economics, and graduated with distinction from the University of New Mexico, USA, and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Bonn, Germany.
Ann Mettler
Vice-President, Europe, Breakthrough Energy
Luuk van Middelaar (1973) is a political theorist and historian. He is a professor of EU law at Leiden University and a political commentator for NRC Handelsblad. The author of the prizewinning book The Passage to Europe, he published more recently Alarums & Excursions: Improvising Politics on the European Stage (2019) and Pandemonium (2021) – all available in multiple languages, as well as Le Réveil géopolitique de l’Europe (2022) in French. Van Middelaar published his first book, Politicide, in 1999. He was the chief speechwriter and a close advisor to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy (2010-2014). Since 2018, he is a member of the Dutch Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV). In 2022, he founded the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics.
Luuk van Middelaar
Founder,
Brussels Institute of Geopolitics
Kathrin Watson joined Bosch in Brussels as the Head of EU Affairs Office in 2018. Since September 2023 she is the Head of Political Affairs and Government Relations.
Prior to Bosch, Mrs Watson has been working as advisor at the German Energy and Water Industry Association (BDEW) in Brussels where she was responsible for the topics renewable energy, energy efficiency, competition law and environment policy at EU level. She obtained a master degree in International Politics from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a master degree in Communication, Economics and Political Science from the University of Aachen.
Kathrin Watson
Head of Political Affairs and Government Relation,
Bosch
Note: All session timings below are in Central European Summer Time (CEST)
12:30 – 13:30
Networking lunch
13:30 – 13:50
Opening Keynote conversation: The role of technology in Europe’s economic security
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President ‘Europe Fit for the Digital Age’, European Commission
13:50 – 14:15
Presentation of DIGITALEUROPE’s new report
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General DIGITALEUROPE
14:15 – 15:15
High-level panel: Europe’s Tech Landscape: Strengths, Weaknesses, and the Road Ahead
Moderated by: Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General DIGITALEUROPE
Denis Redonnet, Deputy Director General, DG TRADE, European Commission
Ann Mettler, Vice-President, Europe, Breakthrough Energy
Luuk van Middelaar, Founder, Brussels Institute of Geopolitics
Kathrin Watson, Head of Political Affairs and Government Relation, Bosch
15:15 – 15:40
Fireside Chat: Enhancing Europe’s Economic Security
João Rui Ferreira, Secretary of State for Economy, Portugal
Didier Reynders has been EU Commissioner for Justice since 2019. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister for Belgium, having been Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Minister of Defence, and Minister of Finance prior to this.
His responsibilities include contributing to legislation towards a coordinated approach on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence; leading on consumer empowerment and protection and protecting citizens’ rights; and maximising the potential of new digital technologies to improve the EU’s justice systems, amongst others.
He is a graduate in Law from the University of Liège and a Lecturer/Visiting Professor (Liège, Louvain, Bruxelles).
Didier Reynders
European Commissioner
for Justice
Minister van Huffelen’s CV can be viewed here.
Alexandra van Huffelen
Minister for Digitalisation, Netherlands
Ms. Carme Artigas Brugal Artigas Brugal is a Spanish businesswoman and a recognized expert in Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and technological innovation, with more than 25 years of experience in the technology sector. She was appointed as Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in January 2020. In 2006, she co-founded and served as the CEO at Synergic Partners, a pioneer company in Europe specialized in Big Data/ AI that was acquired by Telefónica in 2015 where she kept serving as CEO until end of 2018. Since January 2019 she has been providing high level strategic advice and has become a board advisor for several international companies and institutions. Artigas Brugal is a member of the Data Innovation Network of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University NYC and of the Board of Directors at the Spanish Association of Directors (AED). She has been appointed by the University of Stanford (California) as ambassador in Madrid of the Conference “Women in Data Science” (WIDS).
Carme Artigas
Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, Spain
The in person element of the event will take place at the MGallery Le Louise, Brussels. In person places are strictly limited and by application only, so please only arrange travel to the event once you have confirmation from the event team following your application.
The event will be live streamed, and details of how to join the online platform will be sent in the week prior to the event to those registered for virtual participation.
If you are interested in knowing how you can get involved in the #DESummerSummit, or for any information, please contact
Kivanç Akil, Associate Director for Events & Executive Coordination
+32 473 36 17 54 / kivanc.akil@digitaleurope.org