Think & Do 2025 – Control / Alt / Lead
Join our annual flagship event — a day dedicated to connecting our future-focused work with European policy priorities.
Register your interestThink & Do is CFG’s annual flagship event — a day dedicated to connecting our future-focused work with European policy priorities.
This is where policymakers, technologists, and thought leaders come together to make sense of the challenges emerging from today’s tech landscape — and to turn this critical thinking into practical steps forward.
In a time of technological disruption and political uncertainty, Europe has the desire, resources and scale to lead an industrial strategy of innovation for the public interest.
This year’s edition “Control / Alt / Lead” explores how Europe can move from reacting to shaping the next chapter of the global tech landscape, and how policymakers can bridge the gap between insights and action, between values and practice.
Across three thematic tracks, Think & Do 2025 will spark conversations on:
- Maintaining Europe’s agency to safeguard our security and support long-term competitiveness (Control);
- Charting a Europe-led course in governing emerging tech (Alt); and
- How we can move from consumers to contributors in shaping the direction that emerging tech takes (Lead).
9:00 – 9:30
Welcome and registration
9:30 – 9:35
Opening remarks
9:35 – 10:10
Keynote with Q&A
Does Europe have agency in the technology agenda?
A keynote conversation on why Europe must seize this generational moment to shape the tech agenda.
10:10 – 11:00
Plenary
Is geopolitical readiness possible without technological readiness?
A plenary discussion on how Europe can match its geopolitical ambitions with genuine technological readiness.
11:00 – 11:30
Break
Coffee and art exhibition
11:30 – 11:40
Presentation
AI & everyday fears: What 10,000 people told us
Reporting on a large-scale public opinion study on how citizens in five countries perceive AI in relation to their everyday life issues.
11:40 – 12:30
Debate
“This house believes that Europe cannot be both sovereign and competitive on technology”
An Oxford-style debate that takes on a widely disputed dilemma in European tech policy: whether sovereignty and tech competitiveness can co-exist.
12:30 – 13:30
Break
Lunch and art exhibition
13:30 – 15:00
Workshops
Breakout sessions
Advanced AI: Geopolitics of AGI – Can Europe thrive in an age of instability?
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Roundtable discussion on whether Europe can help set the rules for defense AI
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Explore how Europe can also build its own capabilities for a more resilient future
Biotech and Technology Foresight: How faster science could build a secure future
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Virtual lab experience showing how we can anticipate risks and strengthen resilience before threats emerge
- Discover how science is accelerating with purpose
Climate Interventions: Who gets to dim the sun? Why Europe must shape the debate
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Scenario-based workshop on Europe’s future role in governing Solar Radiation Modification (SRM)
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Engage in a constructive dialogue on climate interventions and global governance
Neurotech: Mind the Future
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Interactive role-playing session to imagine tomorrow’s neurotechnologies
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Explore what they could mean for society and democracy
These breakout sessions run simultaneously.
15:00 – 15:30
Break
Coffee and art exhibition
15:30 – 16:30
Plenary
Designing the Brussels Effect 2.0
A conversation on what it really means to lead in technology and build a legacy for European citizens.
16:30 – 16:50
Fireside chat
Control/Alt/Lead: Bringing the future home
A candid forward-looking exchange on how policymakers can keep sight of the long game in the midst of accelerating tech development.
16:50-17:00
Closing remarks
17:00-18:00
Reception
Speakers :
Mathias Cormann – Secretary-General – OECD
Ann Sander Nielsen-Danish Presidency Chair for Cyber and Digital Diplomacy
Anu Bradford – Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organisation, Columbia University and author of “The Brussels Effect”
Maria Farrell – Writer on technology, politics and policy
Rafal Kierzenkowski – Head of the Strategic Foresight Unit – OECD
Javier Espinoza – Europe Executive Editor at The Capitol Forum
Thomas Auger-Member of Cabinet of EVP Teresa Ribera
Robin Wauters – Chief Operating Officer and Board Member, European Startup Network, and Founding member of EU-INC
Julius E.O. Fintelmann– Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, The European Correspondent
Philip Trippenbach-Strategy Director- Seismic Foundation
Sana Afouaiz– Founder & Director- Womenpreneur Initiative
Serpil Tascioglu– former Director of Top Sectors & Industrial Policy, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs
Jérôme Van Biervliet – Managing Director, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB)
Chloe Teevan-Head of Digital Economy and Governance, European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM)
Georgiana Dragomir – Deputy Head, Office the Chief Scientist – Strategy and Policy Branch, NATO
Gilberto Morishaw – Co-director, Creative Regenerative Futures Foundation
Henri Van Soest – Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
At Think & Do 2025, we invite you to reflect on big ideas but more importantly, turn our thinking into action for our current and future generations.