Note: This is a provisional agenda and timings are subject to change.
All session timings below are in CET.
12:30-13:00
Registration, Platform and Venue Open
13:00-13:15
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
13:15-13:30
13:30-14:10
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the decisive technology of Europe’s economic future, not only for productivity and innovation, but for the resilience of the infrastructure and industries that underpin modern society. From energy systems and transport corridors to healthcare, manufacturing and digital networks, the question is whether Europe will shape the AI transformation on its own terms.
DIGITALEUROPE’s AI & Tech Declaration, now signed by more than 70 CEOs ready to invest and scale in Europe, reflects a growing consensus: competitiveness will depend on Europe’s ability to move from fragmented pilots to coordinated deployment at scale. That requires cross-border investment, modern procurement models and a serious commitment to dual-use technologies that strengthen both industrial leadership and strategic readiness.
Yet Europe cannot lead through investment alone. Speed and simplicity will be equally decisive. The Commission’s Apply AI Strategy and the recent AI omnibus proposal offer a pivotal opportunity to streamline the AI Act framework, reduce compliance overload and enable rapid uptake of trustworthy AI across the single market.
This session explores how Europe can combine oversight with agility, and turn AI ambition into industrial execution.
Jeff Campbell
SVP & Chief Government Strategy Officer, Cisco
Clara Chappaz
Ambassador for Digital Affairs and Artifical Intelligence, France
Liisa-Ly Pakosta
Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs, Estonia
MEP Alex Agius Saliba
Vice-President of the S&D Group (Digital Agenda) and Rapporteur for Opinion in the IMCO Committee on the Digital Omnibus
14:10-14:40
14:40-14:50
Europe’s competitiveness in the coming decade will also rest on the strength of the economic systems that underpin its industrial capacity. As global fragmentation accelerates and digital infrastructure becomes increasingly strategic, questions of payments and financial resilience are moving closer to the heart of Europe’s digital agenda.
In this keynote address, Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis will reflect on Europe’s efforts to modernise its economic foundations, including the role of the digital euro in a rapidly evolving financial and geopolitical landscape.
Valdis Dombrovskis
Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification
14:50-15:30
Europe’s competitiveness is being tested as never before. Geopolitical fragmentation, intensifying global tariffs and subsidies, and the relentless pace of technological change are reshaping the rules of economic power. In this new world of disorder, digital capacity is the foundation of Europe’s ability to act, compete and protect its way of life.
The question is blunt: can Europe turn its digital ambitions into real industrial strength, or will it remain dependent on technologies, supply chains and platforms built elsewhere?
This high-level discussion explores what it will take to move from strategic vision into concrete results. It focuses on the practical levers of competitiveness, scaling critical technologies, mobilising investment, cutting regulatory friction and deepening the single market, and on the choices that could unlock Europe’s next phase of growth.
Drawing on the emerging consensus around Europe’s competitiveness agenda – including Mario Draghi’s call for bold industrial renewal – speakers will examine how digital technologies can become a true catalyst for European productivity, resilience and global influence.
In an era defined by strategic competition, Europe’s digital future will not be declared. It will be built through investment, capability and the courage to simplify and scale.
Mauro Macchi
CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Accenture
Mirjam Storim
Head of Strategy & Technology Relations, Siemens
15:30-15:55
Europe’s digital future will not be secured through ‘strategies,’ but through the ability to invest, deploy and scale critical technologies on its soil. At a time when AI is becoming the engine of industrial transformation and a pillar of resilience in an increasingly contested world, Europe must move faster from ambition to execution.
The European AI & Tech Declaration, launched by DIGITALEUROPE and now backed by a growing coalition of over 70 CEOs, is a signal of readiness: European industry stands prepared to invest in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and the dual-use innovations that will define the next decade of competitiveness and security.
This session brings together EU senior business leaders and policymakers to mark a turning point, from fragmented initiatives to coordinated action. This session will focus on what Europe needs to unlock large-scale deployment: investment frameworks that match global competitors, procurement models that create demand at home and a regulatory environment that enables innovation rather than slowing it down.
More than a statement of intent, the Declaration is a call for Europe to build the conditions for global digital champions, and to turn technological leadership into economic strength and strategic autonomy.
15:55-16:00
Robert Jozic
Vice President Digital Strategy, Schwarz Group
16:00-16:15
In this keynote conversation, Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen joins Masters of Digital at a pivotal moment for Europe’s digital agenda. As the EU seeks to strengthen its technological sovereignty whilst remaining innovative and globally connected, the margin for error is narrowing.
The discussion will reflect on what it means for Europe to build real capability: scaling trusted technologies, mobilising investment and ensuring that regulation supports innovation rather than holding it back.
With competitiveness, security and simplification rising to the top of Europe’s priorities, this conversation marks a moment to take stock of what Europe must get right, and how fast it must move.
Henna Virkkunen
Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
16:15-17:00
Europe’s competitiveness will be measured by the innovators it enables to scale. Europe must ensure that its most promising digital companies can grow into global champions, building the next generation of platforms, AI solutions and dual-use technologies that strengthen both prosperity and resilience.
The Future Unicorn Award celebrates Europe’s rising tech powerhouses: ambitious startups and scaleups pushing the boundaries of innovation in critical domains. These companies shape Europe’s digital future from the ground up, creating jobs, attracting investment and proving that Europe can compete at the frontier.
This session brings together political leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to spotlight the conditions that Europe’s next unicorns need to scale and thrive: access to capital, a single market that truly works, smarter procurement that rewards innovation and a regulatory environment that supports growth rather than fragmentation.
At a time when global competition for talent and technology is fierce, Europe must back its builders. The Future Unicorn Award is a statement of confidence that Europe’s next digital champions are already emerging, and that the continent is ready to help them scale.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
Henna Virkkunen
Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy
Merete Clausen
Deputy Director General, European Investment Fund (EIF)
Tom Wehmeier
Partner, Head of Intelligence, Atomico
17:00-18:00
09:15-09:20
Peter Weckesser
Chief Digital Officer, Schneider Electric and President, DIGITALEUROPE
09:20-09:40
The next wave of European digital transformation will be built on capital: patient, strategic investment that can turn emerging technologies into real infrastructure, deployment and industrial strength.
Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), joins Masters of Digital as Europe confronts the widening gap between ambition and execution. From AI factories and secure cloud and edge capacity to cyber resilience, next-generation connectivity, dual-use innovation, the challenge is no longer vision but financing models fit for scale. The EIB is increasingly becoming central to that shift: crowding in private investment, backing strategic industries and shaping new European investment vehicles capable of operating at the speed and scale the moment demands.
This conversation will explore what it takes to fund the digital backbone of the next decade, and how Europe can build an investment pipeline worthy of its technological aspirations.
Nadia Calviño
President, European Investment Bank
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
09:40-10:00
At a time when skills, resilience and innovation are becoming strategic assets, expanding who gets to build and govern the digital world is essential.
This session spotlights ELEVATE, DIGITALEUROPE’s pan-European network connecting women leaders across the public and private sectors who are driving Europe’s digital transformation. It also marks the launch of a new programme designed to translate leadership into practical capability, drawing directly on experience from trainers already active in Ukraine.
The initiative will support women in developing high-impact skills in two critical areas: becoming drone pilots and delivering tactical medicine to citizens, capabilities that sit at the intersection of technology, preparedness and societal resilience.
In an era where digital tools increasingly serve both civilian and security needs, Europe’s talent pipeline must be broader, stronger and more inclusive. This conversation is about unlocking leadership, building real-world skills, and ensuring that Europe is powered by the full spectrum of its people.
Roxana Mînzatu
Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
10:00-10:05
10:05–10:45
Europe’s digital economy runs on invisible foundations: the networks, cloud capacity and edge infrastructure that carry data, power AI and connect industries in real time. As demand accelerates – from advanced manufacturing to critical public services – communications infrastructure is strategic terrain.
This session explores how Europe can strengthen the digital backbone that underpins innovation, competitiveness and security. Next-generation connectivity, trusted cloud and edge solutions, and resilient infrastructure are essential not only for economic growth, but for Europe’s ability to withstand disruption in an increasingly contested world.
The challenge is twofold: safeguarding critical systems against rising threats, whilst ensuring that regulation and investment frameworks support rapid deployment rather than fragmentation. Building a future-proof digital foundation will require smarter coordination between policymakers and industry, clearer signals for long-term investment and an approach to interoperability that keeps Europe secure.
A competitive Europe will be built on infrastructure that is resilient, trusted and ready for the next decades.
MEP Pilar del Castillo Vera
EPP, Spain, Member of the ITRE Committee
Dr Luise Hölscher
State Secretary,
Federal Ministry of Digital and Public Administration,
Germany
Audrey Scozzaro Ferrazzini
Vice-President Government Affairs, Qualcomm
Dariusz Standerski
Secretary of State,
Ministry of Digital Affairs in Poland
AI is moving rapidly from the margins of healthcare into its core, improving efficiency in overstretched systems, enabling earlier diagnoses, powering new generations of medical devices and personalised therapies, and giving clinicians real-time insights that were unimaginable a decade ago.
It is also becoming a major engine of innovation and investment in Europe, attracting over €2.5 billion in startup venture capital in the past five years. Yet despite this momentum, adoption remains uneven. Fragmented rules, slow pathways to deployment and regulatory uncertainty risk holding back solutions that could strengthen both patient outcomes and Europe’s health-industrial base.
This discussion brings together policymakers, regulators and industry leaders to explore where AI is most promising, what conditions innovators need to scale and how regulators can enable trustworthy progress across the full healthcare and drug development lifecycle.
From the Apply AI Strategy and the digital omnibus package, to the European Health Data Space, the Biotech Act and the Commission’s recent efforts to streamline the implementation of the Medical Devices Regulation, the EU has a unique opportunity to make AI an integral part of health systems.
Dr Peter Arlett
Head, Data Analytics and Methods Task Force, European Medicines Agency
Annick Faes
VP IT and CIO Medical Devices EMEA, Johnson & Johnson
Bartek Madej
Head, Digital Health International and Europe IT, BMS
Marco Marsella
Acting Deputy Director General for Health, DG SANTE, European Commission
10:40-11:05
11:05-11:45
In an era of hybrid conflict, cybersecurity has become a core pillar of Europe’s societal and economic resilience. Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown how cyberattacks, infrastructure disruption and information operations can destabilise countries with alarming speed, often far from the physical frontline.
Europe’s challenge is to move beyond a model centred on compliance and towards one built on real capability: preparedness, coordination and trust across borders. Resilience is not built on paperwork. It is built on readiness.
The upcoming revision of the Cybersecurity Act, alongside the implementation of the EU’s wider cyber framework and the digital omnibus simplification agenda, marks a critical inflection point. Done right, it can reduce fragmentation across the single market, ease unnecessary burdens on companies and align security with competitiveness.
This session brings together EU and international policymakers and industry leaders to define what a future-ready European cybersecurity architecture must deliver, from effective public–private cooperation in times of crisis, to the investments needed in skills, infrastructure and response capacity.
Jean Charles Ellermann-Kingombe
Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber, NATO
Joost Elstak
VP Missions, ICEYE
Juhan Lepassaar
Executive Director, ENISA
Nanna-Louise Linde
Vice President of European Government Affairs, Microsoft
Karianne Tung
Minister of Digitalisation and Public Governance, Norway
Europe’s clean-energy transition is entering a decisive phase. Electrification is accelerating, power grids are under strain and digital infrastructure – from AI systems to data centres, is becoming integral to how the energy system operates.
AI and real-time data are reshaping the energy value chain: enabling smarter demand management, more resilient grids and faster integration of renewables. The transition is no longer just industrial, it is digital.
As EU action intensifies on grids, energy efficiency and AI-enabled energy management, momentum is building for closer collaboration between industry and policymakers. The challenge is deployment: mobilising investment, accelerating infrastructure build-out and creating regulatory conditions that reward innovation at scale.
This session explores where Europe can move fastest, from AI applications that stabilize grids to the role of data-centres in a secure, efficient energy system, and how coordinated investment and industrial coordination can unlock cross-border scale.
Electrification will drive Europe’s climate pathway. Digital infrastructure will determine whether it delivers.
Niamh Gallagher
Country Lead, AWS Ireland and EMEA Director, Infrastructure Public Policy
MEP Bruno Tobback
S&D, Belgium, Member of the ITRE Committee
Peter Weckesser
Chief Digital Officer, Schneider Electric and President, DIGITALEUROPE
11:45-13:10
13:10-13:30
Europe’s shift to a net-zero economy is inseparable from its digital transformation. Energy systems are becoming smarter, decentralised and data driven, whilst digital technologies are becoming more energy dependent and infrastructure heavy. For European industry, the twin transition is no longer a concept, it is the operating reality.
This keynote conversation explores the deepening interplay between energy policy and digital innovation, and how technology can help deliver a more efficient, resilient and competitive economy in Europe. From AI-enabled grid management and smarter industrial processes to connectivity and data tools that optimise consumption, digital solutions are increasingly central to meeting Europe’s climate ambitions whilst strengthening its industrial base.
Speakers will reflect on the practical choices needed to turn the Green Deal Industrial Plan into deployment across sectors: investing in smart infrastructure, accelerating digital energy applications and aligning climate ambition with Europe’s digital strategy.
The discussion will also address how Europe can mitigate high energy costs, strengthen security of supply and unlock innovation across the value chain.
The next energy system will not be built with electrons alone but on data, intelligence and infrastructure working together.
Dan Jørgensen
Commissioner for Energy and Housing
Alexandros Paterakis
Deputy CEO, Executive Board Member of Digital & Advanced Services, PPC Group
Sabine Erlinghagen
CEO, Grid Software, Siemens
Peter Weckesser
Chief Digital Officer, Schneider Electric and President,
DIGITALEUROPE
13:30-13:40
Ukraine has shown, under the most extreme conditions imaginable, that digital resilience is a matter of national survival.
From maintaining government services under attack to defending critical infrastructure against relentless cyber operations, the country has operated on the digital frontline of modern warfare. Technology has become both shield and lifeline: enabling continuity, coordination and resistance even in the face of sustained hybrid warfare.
In this keynote, Valeriya Ionan, Advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, reflects on the lessons Europe cannot afford to ignore. As digital systems underpin energy networks, communications, logistics and democratic stability, the line between civilian infrastructure and strategic vulnerability is disappearing.
Ukraine’s experience is defined by speed, innovation and real-time resilience. This keynote is a wake-up call for Europe: digital capability is no longer optional, it is a core pillar of security, sovereignty and long-term strength.
Valeriya Ionan
Advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine
13:40-14:25
Cyberattacks on energy networks, disruptions to communications and interference with logistics and supply chains are testing Europe’s critical infrastructure in real time. As digital technologies become central to how societies function and defend themselves, resilience has moved to the front line of European security.
This high-level session brings together military, government and industry leaders to examine how digital innovation and dual-use technologies can strengthen Europe’s preparedness whilst reinforcing its competitiveness. The focus is on deployment, not on doctrine: how to move emerging technologies into operational use and build stronger links between civilian and defence domains.
Drawing on lessons from recent conflicts and disruptions, the discussion will explore what is holding trusted digital capabilities back – from procurement and investment gaps to fragmented national approaches – and what must change to close Europe’s vulnerabilities.
Europe’s next advantage will come from technologies that serve both prosperity and protection. The challenge is to scale them with speed, trust and coordination.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
General Seán Clancy
Chair, European Military Committee
Benedikt Franke
CEO and Vice-Chair, Munich Security Conference
Valeriya Ionan
Advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine
Giuseppe Targia
SVP, Space and Defence, Nokia and Chair of the DIGITALEUROPE Defence Executive Council
LtGen Michael Vetter
Head of the Cyber/Information Technology Department and Chief Information Officer,
Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin
14:25-14:40
14:40-14:50
Europe does not lack innovation. It lacks the capital to scale it. The gap between invention and industrial deployment remains one of the continent’s most persistent vulnerabilities, at a time when global competitors mobilise capital at unprecedented speed.
In this keynote, Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque, addresses a central question for Europe’s digital future: how to build investment pathways that can move faster, go bigger and back strategic technologies at scale ?
From AI deployment and secure digital infrastructure to dual-use innovation and next-generation industrial capacity, the next decade will require financing models matching Europe’s ambitions. Strengthening Europe’s capital markets, unlocking private investment and enabling long-term risk-taking will be essential to turning technological ambition into economic strength.
Maria Luís Albuquerque
Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union
14:50-14:55
Claudia Herben
Vice President and Global Head of Technology, MedTech Surgery and MedTech Digital Surgery,
Johnson & Johnson
14:55-15:25
The transatlantic partnership remains a cornerstone of the global digital economy, but it is under strain. As technology drives economic power and national security, cooperation is increasingly shaped by strategic competition, domestic politics and a more transactional approach to industrial policy.
Europe and the United States continue to align on many priorities, from AI safety to cyber resilience. Yet recent policy shifts – on subsidies, supply chains and regulatory approaches – have also introduced friction, raising difficult questions about fairness, reciprocity and long-term trust.
This fireside chat explores how both sides can protect what works whilst confronting what has changed. It will examine where transatlantic coordination delivers results, and where divergence risks hardening into lasting fragmentation.
The discussion will also look at how Europe and the US can maintain an open and innovative digital relationship whilst addressing strategic dependencies, securing critical technologies and reinforcing a rules-based digital order.
The Atlantic remains a bridge, but bridges require constant maintenance.
Andrew Puzder
Ambassador of the United States to the European Union
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
15:25-15:40
Hendrik Bourgeois
Senior Vice President Public Policy and Government Affairs, Mastercard
15:40-16:00
Ireland has long been one of Europe’s most dynamic digital economies, combining openness to innovation with a strong focus on skills, enterprise and modern public administration.
In this keynote conversation, Minister Jack Chambers joins Masters of Digital as Ireland prepares to take on the EU’s next rotating Presidency – a pivotal moment to help shape Europe’s agenda on digital policy, investment and simplification.
The discussion will explore how governments can create the conditions for innovation to scale: smarter infrastructure spending, effective digitalisation of public services and reforms that reduce friction for businesses. It will also consider how national strategies can contribute to wider European priorities, from AI adoption and connectivity to resilience and industrial renewal.
Jack Chambers
Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service, Reform and Digitalisation, Ireland
Casper Klynge
VP, Head of Government Partnerships & Public Policy EMEA, Zscaler
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE