- July 08, 2026
- ; 8:30
- -
- July 08, 2026
- ; 10:30
Europe’s security environment is undergoing a profound transformation. Russia’s war against Ukraine, growing cyber aggression by state and non-state actors, increasing pressure on critical infrastructure, and Europe’s dependence on external technology providers have exposed how deeply interconnected security, technology, and economic stability have become. In this environment, resilience is no longer simply the ability to withstand shocks. Rather, it has become the capacity of states and societies to anticipate disruption, maintain core functions under pressure, recover quickly, and adapt to an increasingly permanent condition of instability.
At the center of this challenge lies the resilience of strategic infrastructure. Digital networks, defense systems, and cloud technologies now underpin virtually every aspect of governance, economic activity, and military capability. Disruption in one domain can rapidly cascade into others, turning cyber incidents, technological dependencies, or infrastructure failures into broader societal and security crises. As a result, resilience can no longer be addressed in isolated policy silos. It must be approached as a cross-sectoral and cross-border challenge requiring coordination between governments, industry, and international partners.
European institutions and NATO have begun to address these challenges. Initiatives such as the EU Cybersecurity Blueprint, debates around European cloud sovereignty, and growing attention to digital infrastructure within NATO defense planning reflect a recognition that technological capabilities are central to Europe’s resilience and security. However, important gaps remain between strategic policy frameworks and operational implementation. Questions about how governments, allies, and technology providers should coordinate in practice – particularly when responding to cyber incidents affecting critical infrastructure – remain insufficiently addressed.
The Format
Against this backdrop, the European Resilience Roundtables: Cyber, Defense & Cloud as Strategic Infrastructure brings together policy makers, industry representatives, defense experts, and members of the broader policy community to examine how European states are strengthening resilience across three interconnected domains.
Discussions will focus on two key questions: how cyber resilience, defense capabilities, and cloud infrastructure can be integrated into a coherent operational framework, and what it means in practice to treat cloud infrastructure as strategic infrastructure for national security, economic resilience, and allied interoperability. Participants will explore pathways for joint incident response, improved public–private cooperation, governance arrangements that enable faster and more secure decision-making, and procurement frameworks that balance sovereignty, security, and innovation.
The roundtable forms part of a broader European series organized by the Aspen Institute Germany in partnership with the Aspen International Partners in Europe and Microsoft. Held in Madrid, Berlin, Warsaw, and Brussels, the initiative will generate country-specific insights that feed into a consolidated European Resilience Report presented to key EU stakeholders.
The Topics
The roundtable will focus on three interconnected dimensions of European resilience: First, discussions on cyberspace resilience will examine how states and institutions can strengthen the protection of critical networks and digital systems against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Particular attention will be paid to cyberattacks, espionage, and hybrid operations targeting critical infrastructure and democratic institutions, as well as to questions of operational continuity, crisis response, and public-private cooperation.
• What are currently the most critical vulnerabilities in Europe’s cyber and digital infrastructure, and how are cyber threats against critical infrastructure evolving?
• Where do the biggest gaps exist in cyber-defense coordination between governments, NATO, EU institutions, and industry?
• How can governance models and public-private cooperation be strengthened to enable faster decision-making, joint threat detection, and coordinated crisis response?
Second, the workshop will address the resilience of defense modernization and defense digital infrastructure, exploring the growing dependence of modern armed forces on digital systems, secure communications, data platforms, and software-enabled capabilities. Discussions will focus on how European states can ensure military readiness and interoperability while addressing challenges related to cybersecurity, technological dependencies, procurement, and the rapid pace of technological change.
• How dependent are modern armed forces on resilient digital infrastructure, and what are the key vulnerabilities affecting military readiness today?
• How can cyber resilience, defense modernization, and digital infrastructure strategies be better aligned at the national and EU level?
• What role should interoperability, procurement, and cooperation between governments, NATO, and industry play in strengthening Europe’s defense resilience?
Third, participants will examine cloud infrastructure resilience and the strategic role of cloud technologies as the backbone of government services, economic activity, and increasingly also defense operations. The conversation will explore both the opportunities cloud infrastructure creates for scalability and interoperability, as well as the vulnerabilities linked to concentration risks, supply chain dependencies, governance, and data control. In this context, questions of technological sovereignty, trusted partnerships, and strategic autonomy will play a central role.
• Why should cloud infrastructure be treated as critical strategic infrastructure for Europe, particularly in the context of security and defense?
• What are the implications and risks of relying on cloud providers for security-critical systems and sensitive data?
• How can European governments design procurement and governance frameworks that balance sovereignty, resilience, interoperability, and innovation while strengthening public-private cooperation?
Panelists
• Britta Jacob, Head of Government Relations, ARX Robotics
• Felix Kroll, Cyber Coordinator of the German Federal Foreign Office
• Dr. Philipp Müller, Vice President for Business Development, DriveLock SE & Fellow, TUM Think Tank
• Major General, Dr. Volker Pötzsch, Chief of Staff Cyber and Information Domain Service Command
• Henri Schmidt, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Member of the German Bundestag
• Dr. Sebastian Seedorf, Head of the Division for National Security Policy and Constitutional Law, Federal Chancellery
