News
New Project: “Turning Digital Ambition into Competitiveness”
Despite a strong innovation base, the EU continues struggling to scale innovation and translate technological advances into economic growth. Therefore, Aspen Germany is excited to launch the new project “Turning Digital Ambition into Competitiveness: A Trilateral EU Futures Initiative on Competitiveness”. The project will bring together 24 decision makers from Germany, Italy, and Poland for a structured foresight process to explore how innovation can strengthen the EU’s digital competitiveness.
Global Meeting for Youth and Sports
Sport can strengthen social cohesion, build trust, and promote healthy communities, but access to sport remains unequal and insufficient. Project Play, an initiative of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program, is working to change this. In November, Aspen partners from around the world will gather in New York for the first Project Play Global Meeting hosted by Aspen Institute México to explore how children’s rights can help build stronger, more inclusive sport systems.
Aspen Leadership Experience in Annecy
Aspen Germany’s Mareike Hadler, Senior Manager Finance and HR, had the opportunity to participate in the Aspen France Executive Leadership Seminar in September 2026.
Events
- Breakfast Discussion “Generation Waiting? Gen Z, Democratic Mobilization, and the Future of EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans”
- Disengaged? Hardly. In Serbia, the largest wave of student-led protests in decades has reshaped domestic politics. Students will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections with a list of their own. At the same time, EU enlargement has regained geopolitical momentum. Yet the region presents an uneven picture. Albania and Montenegro are making unprecedented progress toward accession, […]
- Oct 15, 2026
- International Press Roundtable: The German Question Revisited: Leadership and Responsibility in EU Foreign Policy
- Germany is expected to play a central role in shaping European foreign and security policy – yet, how it exercises that role remains contested. As geopolitical tensions rise and expectations from European partners grow, Berlin faces increasing pressure to define its approach to leadership, balancing ambition with caution. These questions are becoming more urgent, with […]
- Oct 26, 2026
- Collective Redress, Product Liability, and Litigation Funding in Europe: Balancing Consumer Protection, Innovation, and Competitiveness
- Hollywood loves the David-and-Goliath story: the individual taking on a powerful corporation, armed with little more than determination and the promise that justice will prevail. In real life, however, the picture is far more complicated. Who should bear the cost of bringing complex claims to court? How much support should consumers receive when challenging powerful […]
- Nov 03, 2026
Publications
Animal Health and Welfare in Swine and Poultry Production
How can animal health and welfare be improved while ensuring that farms remain economically viable? The new publication by the 2026 cohort of the U.S.-German Forum Future Agriculture presents joint policy recommendations developed by 17 agricultural stakeholders from Germany and the United States on the interconnected issue areas of economic viability of welfare improvements, animal health systems and biosecurity, and trust and transparency.
Four Years After Russia’s Attack: Potential for Peace in Ukraine?
Four years after Russia’s invasion, the publication examines the conditions for a lasting peace – and why stronger support for Ukraine remains essential.
From Efficiency to Security
This publication highlights how security is reshaping global trade policy—and why we are seeing not a sudden paradigm shift, but a gradual transformation with far-reaching implications for global trade rules.
Podcasts
Episode 84: Xi Meets Trump: The Race to Shape Tomorrow’s World Order
With Dana Heide, Handelsblatt’s U.S. correspondent in Washington, D.C., and previously the newspaper’s China correspondent in Beijing and Mikko Huotari, Director of the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), we discuss the strategic goals of Washington and Beijing, their race for technological dominance, and what these developments mean for Europe and the global order.
Episode 83: Who Sets the Course? America’s Political Parties Ahead of the Midterms
With Helena Wittlich, U.S. correspondent for Der Tagesspiegel in New York, and Julius van de Laar, America expert and campaign strategist, we discuss what Democrats and Republicans stand for in 2026, which internal power struggles are shaping the primaries, and how the rules for the midterms are currently changing.
EP82: America 250: Who Tells the American Story?
With Dr. Petra Dolata, Associate Professor of History at the University of Calgary (Canada), and Dr. Petra Gödde, Professor of Transnational History and the History of U.S. Foreign Relations at Temple University (Philadelphia, USA) and co-editor of the academic journal Diplomatic History, we discuss the 250th anniversary of American independence, the major transformations in U.S. history, and why history is so heavily politicized in the United States.
Programs
Digital
The Digital Program deals with the far-reaching social transformation processes of digitalization.
Europe
The Europe programs focuses on the future of Europe with a particular focus on the Western Balkans, EU enlargement, and questions of strategic autonomy.
Leadership
The Aspen Leadership Program facilitates exchange between people in leadership positions to foster values-based leadership.
Public
The Public Program provides a forum for open and constructive dialogue between decision-makers and a broader audience on a wide range of current global challenges.
Transatlantic
The Transatlantic Program facilitates an open, values-based dialogue on key challenges facing the transatlantic partnership.
About
The Aspen Institute Germany is an independent, non-partisan organization committed to promoting values-based leadership and open discourse on society, policy and global challenges.
Our Mission
The Aspen Institute Germany promotes values-based leadership, constructive dialog among conflicting parties, and Euro-Atlantic cooperation to support and enhance a strong open society.
Our history
The Aspen Institute Germany was founded in 1974 by Shepard Stone as the first Aspen Institute outside the United States. Founded in the midst of the Cold War, it promoted U.S.-German dialog with the Eastern Bloc.
Our Team
Director Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner has led the Aspen team since January 2021. Our Transatlantic, Digital, Public and Europe Programs are being supported by a team of currently 21 staff members.
Aspen international
In addition to the founding institute in the USA, the global Aspen network includes independent institutes in Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), India (New Delhi), Italy (Rome), Japan (Tokyo), Mexico (Mexico City), New Zealand (Queenstown), Romania (Bucharest), Spain (Madrid), UK (London), and Ukraine (Kyiv).
