Aspen AI Berlin Conference 2021

The Aspen Institute Germany held its fourth annual AI Conference on December 1 and 2, 2021. During the hybrid Aspen Berlin Conference on Artificial Intelligence, participants from across the world came together in a hybrid setting for discussion formats including keynotes, two-on-one conversations and panel discussions, taking place in English.
The COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed political discussions on key issues ranging from technological sovereignty and communication infrastructures to the faster digital transformation of public services, businesses, work, and education. But as countries work to transition out of this pandemic, a key questions is how prepared they are for the next crisis? Can the current political momentum, which was fueled by painful and costly lessons learnt, be sustained? Building resilience is more than reacting to crises quickly but should mean the ability to use crises to transform societies and to make these more crisis-resistant for the future. As countries work to transition out of this pandemic, one of the key questions is, how well prepared will they be for the next crisis, and the ones after that? Can the current political momentum, built on painful and costly lessons learned, be sustained?
Although resilience is not a new concept, it needs to be rethought. It is not just about reacting quickly to crises, but the ability to use crises to transform societies and to make them more crisis-resistant for the future.
The overarching questions of the Aspen Berlin AI Conference was therefore: how can we make our societies more resilient? How can the resilience of complex socio-technical and socio-economic systems – also across borders – be supported? And what role can artificial intelligence play in this? We explored these and more questions with top policymakers, innovators, philosophers, academics, and representatives from business, media, and civil society at #AspenAI21.

Videos

Speakers & Moderators

• Martin Barkman
  • Senior Vice President, Global Head of Solution Management and Digital Supply Chain, SAP
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• Ivana Bartoletti
  • Global Data Privacy Officer, Wipro; Visiting Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute
  • 
• Dr. Grischa Beier
  • Research Group Leader, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)
  • 
• Dr. Johanna Börsch-Supan
  • Director Strategy and Program, Vodafone Germany Foundation
  • 
• Dr. Benedetta Brevini
  • Journalist, Media Reformer and Associate, Professor of Communication at the University of Sydney
  • 
• Alexander Britz
  • Head of Digital Business Transformation and Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft
  • 
• Prof. Joanna Bryson, PhD
  • Professor of Ethics and Technology, Hertie School
  • 
• Dr. Anna Christmann, MdB
  • Member of the German Bundestag, Alliance 90/The Greens, Photo: Deutscher Bundestag/Inga Haar
  • 
• Eva Katharina Deininger
  • Managing Director, xtracake GmbH
  • 
• Georgi Dimitrov
  • Head of the Digital Education Department, European Commission
  • 
• Liesyl Franz
  • Acting Deputy Coordinator in the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, U.S. Department of State
  • 
• Dr. Andrei Heinke
  • Vice President Corporate Foresight and Megatrends, Robert Bosch GmbH
  • 
• Rudi Hoogvliet
  • State Secretary for Media Policy and Representative of the State Baden-Württemberg to the Federal Government
  • 
• Carla Hustedt
  • Director Center for Digital Society, Stiftung Mercator, Photo: Marzena Skubatz
  • 
• Rebeca Grynspan
  • Secretary General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  • 
• Marion Jansen
  • Director, Trade and Agriculture Directorate OECD
  • 
• Corinna Krezer
  • Senior Managing Director, Health & Public Service Client Group Lead (Austria, Germany, Switzerland), Accenture
  • 
• Vérane Meyer
  • Head of Digital Policy Division, Heinrich Böll Foundation
  • 
• Stormy-Annika Mildner
  • Executive Director, Aspen Institute Germany
  • 
• Molly Montgomery
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. State Department
  • 
• L. Daniel Mullaney
  • Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East, Office of the United States Trade Representative
  • 
• Prof. Dr. Niels Pinkwart
  • Head of the Research Department Educational Technology Lab, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Germany
  • 
• Gabriela Ramos
  • Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences, UNESO
  • 
• Sabine von der Recke
  • Board Member, OHB System AG, Photo: Bettina Conradi
  • 
• Denis Redonnet
  • Deputy Director General and Chief Trade Enforcement Officer, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission
  • 
• Kathrin Röschel
  • Head of School at German International School of Silicon Valley, United States
  • 
• Bettina Stark-Watzinger, MdB
  • Head of the FDP’s National Parliamentary Group, Board Member of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom
  • 
• Arne Schönbohm
  • President, Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)
  • 
• Dr. Soumya Swaminatha
  • WHO Chief Scientist, Switzerland
  • 
• Hasit Thankey
  • Head of Enablement and Resilience Section, Defence Policy and Planning Division, NATO
  • 
• Renaud Vedel
  • Ministerial Coordinator for Artificial Intelligence of France
  • 
• Matthias Johannes Wachter
  • Head of Department, International Cooperation, Security Policy, Raw Materials and Space, Federation of German Industries (BDI)
  • 
• Sandra Weeser, MdB
  • Member of the German Bundestag and Member of the federal executive committee, FDP
  • 
• Dr. Wolf Prieß
  • Director Program Area Economics, Herz Foundation
  • 
• Lars Zimmermann
  • Board Member, Govtech Campus Deutschland e.V
  • 

Agenda

Sponsors & Partners

The Aspen Institute Germany would like to thank its co-hosts for their generous support of this conference:

This conference has also been generously supported by our partners: