NTNU European Conference
The 9th edition NTNU European Conference
24th of September 2025 | THE RESIDENCE PALACE | In-person event with streaming
In a rapidly changing world, with increasing pressure on the sustainable prosperity and competitiveness of Europe, the arrival of a new European Commission ushers in an evolved set of political guidelines for shaping the continued prosperity of the European Union’s strength and unity in the years ahead. Community & democratic values, security, and resilience are key components in the new plan presented by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in 2024. Investment, efficient implementation, and impactful measures are needed to ensure the perpetuation of Europe’s social model and market economy in a continually shifting geo- political and economic world.
In this 9th edition of the NTNU European Conference we focus our attention on the challenges and opportunities ahead. We explore how the evolution of the guidelines and priorities set out by the commission together with the potential of technology as a facilitating tool can shape the future for European civil society and competitiveness on the global stage. More specifically, we explore this within the strategic thematic areas: Civil security, Communities, and Ocean & Coast.
Speakers and Panelists
(Further updates coming)
Signe Ratso
Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
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2025 Conference Programme
08:30 Registration desk opens
Welcoming coffee and pastries
09:00 Opening plenary
The blossoming European Political and Strategic Landscape: challenges, complementarities and the role of R&I in a reinforced Approach to Competitiveness.
In its first year of activity, the European Commission (EC) has worked intensively to design the next political framework of reference, to realise the objectives listed in the Commissions political guidelines “Europe’s Choice” and focused on keywords such as compete, innovate and produce.
The first major initiative launched was the Competitiveness Compass, built on the three pillars of the Draghi Report: i. closing the innovation gap, ii. a joint decarbonisation and competitiveness plan iii. increasing security and reducing dependencies, all aimed to settle the EC work until the end of its mandate.
Intensive legislative activity is on-going, resulting in the definition and launch of several acts that are currently designing a new European political and strategic framework. All are expected to have an impact on the future R&I priorities and the role that R&I actors and industry will play in contributing to it.
In this first session of the conference, we will analyse and discuss the policy and strategic framework that is part of composing the future framework, the challenges to be solved, and the interrelations between different policies together with the way R&I stakeholders can contribute to realising the different objectives, achieving the impact desired.
Decarbonisation, digitalisation, sustainability, Security and Democracy will be among the themes addressed, with a view to pave the way to more detailed discussions in the subsequent parallel sessions.
(Detailed programme coming soon)
10:30 Coffee break
10:45 Parallel sessions
PARALLEL SESSION 1: Ocean, Coast & Civil Security
Securing Europe’s Blue Future: Leveraging Data for a Secure and Resilient Blue Europe
The European Commission, under President Ursula von der Leyen, has emphasised the importance of keeping and reinforcing European leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of its broader strategic goals. This includes initiatives like the AI Factories Initiative and investments in supercomputing to boost innovation.
A key enabler of AI is data, and it’s untapped potential needs to be fully exploited. Access to data is a major driver for competitiveness, but also essential for productivity and societal innovations, especially in sectors like the Blue Economy, where enhanced data collection and analysis can revolutionise areas such as water management, underwater robotics, and environmental and civil security. Moreover, access to data is a major driver for competitiveness, but also essential for productivity and societal innovations.
Europe is a major power for ocean, coast and waters – as a manager, a value creator and a knowledge region. As Europe stands at the forefront of a technological shift, with new observation platforms and AI unlocking unprecedented insights into our oceans, are we ready to welcome “an ocean of data”?
From a civil security standpoint, recent incidents—such as the 2022 Nord Stream II sabotage and the 2024 Eastlink 2 disruption—have highlighted the urgent need for enhanced surveillance and protection of critical seabed infrastructure. Simultaneously, the emergence of unregulated “dark fleets,” operating without active transponders, undermines economic sanctions, and poses a serious threat to European security and environmental integrity.
This session will explore:
- How can Europe leverage technological advances to strengthen its role as a leading blue region?
- How can we use new technology to make blue research more efficient and relevant?
- Who should govern and benefit from this data?
- How to navigate the dual-use dilemma of emerging technologies?
(Detailed programme coming soon)
PARALLEL SESSION 2: Community
Beyond Democratic Resilience in a Digital Society: Challenges and Opportunities
Community and democratic values are key concerns in a rapidly changing world. The European model with its democratic structures, principles of participation and reduction of inequality is under pressure.
Digitalization of, or in, society is high on the agenda of the European union, and the European Commission has defined 2020 to 2030 as Europe’s Digital Decade highlighting the possibilities and the challenges associated with digital transformation. This session will pursue the role of digitalization for democracy and community building, or more specifically, digitalization related to democratic resilience. Digitalization can increase participation, uphold or further develop democratic structures and trust, or it can reinforce exclusion mechanisms, distrust and disinformation and lead to democratic erosion.
Interdisciplinary research plays a vital role in understanding the mechanisms at play. The research community can contribute in describing the challenges from individual to societal level, pinpointing possible solutions for securing democratic resilience, and, not least, enable a way forward for a democratic, just and open society.
In this session key actors will provide input and participate in a debate.
(Detailed programme coming soon)
12:15 Networking lunch
13:30 Closing plenary
The new R&I funding framework: an appropriate tool for approaching EU future challenges?
The new R&I funding framework is finally revealed and will be the subject of an intense debate towards its finalisation and implementation after the end of Horizon Europe. It encompasses a set of new approaches and a rationalised set of funding instruments with a definite shift toward higher TRL funded activities in line with the political intention to increase Europe’s competitiveness.
Is it fulfilling the expectations of the R&I and industrial stakeholders? Does it pose specific challenges that need to be addressed to make it more impactful? Is it still a good tool for the different typologies of R&I players or it is more favourable to a subset of them? Is it inclusive in terms of thematic coverage?
These and other questions will be discussed in the final panel that will benefit of the input of the preceding parallel sessions as a contribution to the discussion that will be held.
(Detailed programme coming soon)
15:00 End of Conference
Practical Information
Venue
The Residence Palace
Venue contact: Maïcky Mohr, maicky.mohr@Residencepalace.be
- Phone: +32 2 235 21 11 (reception)
- Map
Contact
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via kaja.b.w.istad@ntnu.no or call us:
- +47 995 00 769
Practical information NTNU Brussels office
Organising Committee
About the Conference
The NTNU European Conference is an event introduced in the Brussels Arena in 2016. It aims to facilitate discussions on R&I and Education policies and strategies between stakeholders.
The conference has grown in siginificance and popularity with increasing registrations and attendance over the years, becoming an arena of interaction between policymakers and representatives of higher education, industry, research, innovation as well as the civil society.