Technology meets democracy in Copenhagen

With global power dynamics shifting and emerging technologies advancing at record speed, it’s never been more important to examine the relationship between tech and democracy. What risks are we facing? What new opportunities could we unlock? And how can democratic systems help steer emerging tech development in the right direction (and vice versa)?

These are the kinds of questions our teams work on every day—and they were at the heart of our contribution to the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2025, where CFG was proud to partner with hosts the Alliance for Democracies.

About the Copenhagen Democracy Summit

Founded by former NATO Secretary General and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Copenhagen Democracy Summit is a major platform for leaders working to strengthen democracy worldwide. Past speakers have included Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The 2025 edition was the seventh iteration of this important event, and the first to have an official content partner helping to shape the agenda – a role CFG was proud to fill. This year’s line-up featured high-level voices like Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, European Commissioners Michael McGrath and Kaja Kallas, and Former President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen.

CFG was proud to co-organise day two, the Tech and Democracy Day, alongside hosts Alliance of Democracies. 

Alongside dozens of bilateral meetings, the CFG team were a driving force at this event, delivering: 

• A scene-setting introductory talk on the main stage  by Chief Program Officer Velislava Petrova – ‘Tech challenges of tomorrow’ – which established the tone of the day, asking participants to reject fear as a strategy and instead work to turn uncertainty into preparedness.

• A spotlight session on the main stage by Neurotechnology Director Virginia Mahieu – ‘How neurotech can (re)define privacy and democratic agency in the digital age’ – which challenged the audience to imagine a future shaped by neuro-devices that may help us manage burnout and reduce stress, but that could also be used to manipulate emotional triggers and destabilise democracies.

• An invite-only lunch workshop in the CEO room, led by Governance Director Maria Koomen, featuring remarks by Danish Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre, CFG Senior Fellow Pawel Swieboda, and Stanford University Fellow Marietje Schaake – ‘Shaping the Future of Democracy & Tech’. Participants explored our four priority technologies and their potential impact on democracies, and, with the guidance  of tech and democracy experts onsite, they envisioned ideal futures with these technologies, identified the democratic values at stake if we don’t achieve those futures, and mapped values-based pathways to achieve those envisioned futures.

• Participation by Tech Foresight Director Jakob Graabak  in a high-level roundtable discussion ‘Rearming for Democracy’, convened by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. To coincide with this, our Technology Foresight team released an exciting new project ‘Strategic innovation for European security’ that covers 10 promising technologies that could bolster both European security and prosperity.
• Interactive information booths from our Advanced AI, Climate Interventions, and Neurotechnology programs  at the Tech Impact Corner in the foyer – a place where hordes of summit participants tried out neurotech devices, learned about the vulnerabilities and manipulative qualities of advanced AI models, and discussed solar radiation modification research needs with our team.

On the first evening, we were also delighted to host a side event, “When democracy and technology win”, featuring Irish thinker and writer Maria Farrell. 

It was an event of firsts. The first of our regular informal event series Tech & Tonic to take place outside of Brussels, and the first-ever evening session at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit. CFG’s Maria Koomen hosted a fireside chat which laid out some big questions, like what does it mean for both democracy and technology to win – and what’s at stake if only one does? The fireside chat sparked many animated conversations amongst the more than 100 attendees, proving that there was plenty of appetite for discussing these important topics – even after a full day of speeches and panels, setting the tone for a lively day two focused on technology.

The world at a crossroads

There is never an easy time to plan for the future. It was clear in Copenhagen that the world has become more complex, with the once relatively siloed topics of foreign affairs, security,  technology, and democracy now mixing together into new and surprising formations.

Innovation has brought and will continue to bring huge benefits to present and future generations. Technology has the power to accelerate anything it touches: inclusion, innovation, and progress—but also division, control, and harm. Events like the Copenhagen Democracy Summit bring these issues to the fore. To ensure that technology truly serves the prosperity of future generations, we must secure it’s safe, equitable, and ethical use. This  is not a compromise on immediate financial returns, but  an insurance policy for sustainable public investment and a legacy for the generations that follow. 

It is all too easy to forget that long-term perspective  in the face of the many crises in front of us. It is easy to retreat into comfort zones – be they national, sectoral or personal – and to ignore the messy complexity of charting a path towards shared prosperity. 

But, ultimately, that only exacerbates the challenges we face around emerging technologies. They are difficult to govern not just because they evolve quickly, but because they don’t respect siloes, defying the traditional policy architectures, spanning across Ministries, Department, and Agencies. To ensure that technology truly serves the prosperity of future generations, we cannot rely on old habits and outdated institutions.

We often have to remind people that we don’t have all the answers – nobody does! But we are committed to asking the right questions. To embrace diverse points of view and rigorously examine evidence. One of the best ways to do that is at summits such as this, gathering together activists, thinkers, policymakers, funders, technologists, artists and many others in a common space, embracing our diversity of opinion while staying committed to a defence of what binds us together.

Democracy has never been only about the individual. It is about the collective. About doing your part—not just for your rights, but for our shared future. Not just the freedom to choose, but the wisdom to choose well. And at the Centre for Future Generations, we are doing our part.