Europe is at a crossroads. While the US and China dictate the infrastructure of the future, Europe is grappling with a defining question: Can we transform 27 national strategies into a single, high-performance European growth engine?
Are we playing to win – or just playing not to lose?
The race in AI is global – and ruthless. Europe is investing heavily, but are we building an ecosystem that truly scales, or one fragmented by national interests and prestige projects?
When the power over data, standards, and the public discourse lies outside EU borders, strategic control over your business follows with it. For Danish tech leaders, this is not a distant concern — it’s a call to shape the race itself.
From the “Valley of Death” to European Scale
Unlike the U.S. innovation hub Silicon Valley, Europe has built something of a “Valley of Death,” where academic research rarely makes its way into the business world.
How do we build a Danish and European ecosystem that fuels global growth stories within AI, quantum technologies and advanced software?
Is it time for a Chief Geopolitical Officer?
Over 80% of Europe’s digital infrastructure depends on imported technologies. Nearly 70% of our cloud market is dominated by players outside the EU.
In a world defined by instability and technological protectionism, geopolitical insight is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity for navigating your company’s risk profile.
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Mogens Dahl Concert Hall
Snorresgade 22, 2300 Copenhagen S
SPEAKERS
Andrea Renda is Adjuntct Professor at the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute, in Florence (Italy). He is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the CEPS Unit on Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy (GRID). Andrea is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics and was Adjunct Professor of Law and Economics at Duke Law School (United States) for Academic Year 2016/2017. He is also Visiting Professor of Competition Policy and the Digital Economy at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium). He is also a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science, and a CITI Fellow at Columbia University’s Centre for Tele-Information.
He is a member of the EU High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence; a member of advisory group on Economic and Societal Impacts of Research (ESIR), for the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation; and since October 2020, a member of the European Parliament’s STOA international Advisory Board.
His current research interests include regulation and policy evaluation, regulatory governance, innovation and competition policies, and the ethical and policy challenges of emerging digital technologies, in particular Artificial Intelligence. A very prolific author and keynote speaker, Andrea provides regular advice to several institutions, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the OECD, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and many more.
Dr. Maaike Okano-Heijmans is a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, where she leads the ‘Geopolitics of Technology and Digitalisation’ programme.
Her focus is on EU-Asia relations, with a special focus on China, Japan and the Indo-Pacific. Digital connectivity, economic security and open strategic autonomy in the digital domain, feature large in her publications and outreach.
A key question underlying much of her work is how the fourth industrial revolution reshapes international relations, and what this means for the European Union and its member states.
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen is a Danish native born in 1960 and receiving his school education in United Kingdom and Denmark.
In 1986, Professor Thomsen graduated from University of Copenhagen where he later also obtained his PhD and DSc degrees within the pharmacology of experimental therapeutics. After three years of pharmacological research at Leo Pharma, he joined Novo Nordisk A/S where he was head of Growth Hormone research, Diabetes R&D, Global Drug Discovery and, since 2000, Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer. In this role, he was responsible for global drug and device research, CMC and global development, medical affairs, regulatory and safety within Novo Nordisk. During his tenure, more than 20 innovative medicines were developed and approved. On 1 March 2021, Mads was appointed CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Professor Thomsen has chaired Danish Research Council programmes within endocrinology and served as President of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences. Professor Thomsen has been board member of the Danish Technical University, Cellartis AB, Steno Diabetes Center, Symphogen A/S, and Chairman of the Board of the University of Copenhagen and Steno Diabetes Center. Today, he serves as vice chairman of the board of BB Biotech, Switzerland, and the BioInnovation Institute (BII), Denmark. In 2024, Professor Thomsen became member of the American Academy of Achievement Academy’s Golden Plate Awards Council.
Professor Thomsen has also served as a member of the editorial boards of international, peer-reviewed journals. Since 2000, he has served as adjunct professor of pharmacology at the Faculty of Health at University of Copenhagen. In 2024, Professor Thomsen was The American Academy of Achievement guest of honor and recipient of the Golden Plate Award for the development of semaglutide.
At a national level, Professor Thomsen has acted as Chairman of the Danish Biotech, Research and Innovation Centre during its establishment, as well as on governmental committees, e.g. as Chairman of the working group ‘to create the next generation of life science companies’ under the Life Science Council, the Danish Government’s Growth Team for Life Science, and revision of the Danish system for post-graduate studies. His scientific publications include books, chapters and scientific papers within pharmacology, immunology, endocrinology and haemostasis.
Natasha Friis Saxberg is the CEO at the Danish ICT Industry Association, representing around 800 IT and telecom companies.
She has worked with technology, innovation and entrepreneurship for almost three decades. Natasha has helped organizations build and execute their digital strategies, been an associated Partner & Digital Futurist at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.
As an entrepreneur she founded several global SaaS startups. Natasha has written books about technology, including Homo Digitalis that maps the science behind human digital behavior. She has helped ICT companies enter and scale on the US market. She has worked with corporate venture since 2015, developing new digital growth opportunities and discovered future profit pools, latest at Maersk Growth, as Head of Technology & Venture Development.
She holds positions on multiple boards including Clever A/S and Carl Ras A/S. She is Deputy Chair in the Foundation for Social Responsibility, Chair of the Innovation Fund Denmark’s Grand Solutions program for quantum technology, and Deputy Chair of the Danish Quantum. Community. Natasha is also Digital Sage at the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV).
Natasha holds several nominations as one of the most influential women in Tech in Europe. She is the winner of the Women in Tech Award (2020).
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