PANEL A1: Land Forces

Chair: Nana Brink, Member of Executive Board, Women in International Security Germany (WIIS.de)

Introduction: Dr Thomas Kaufmann, Vice President International, GDELS, Managing Director, GDELS Germany

  • Lieutenant General Dr Christian Freuding, Chief of the German Army
  • Brigadier General Nerijus Stankevičius, Chief Lithuanian Land Forces
  • Dr Frank Dürrbeck, Partner, PwC
  • N.N., Patria

PANEL A2: Future Air Combat Capabilities

Chair: Lieutenant General Günter Katz, Chief of the Air Force Forces Command, Germany

Introduction: N.N., RTX*

  • Manuel Kiefer, Head of NATO/EU Defence, Global Business, Airbus Defence and Space
  • Dr Philipp Kerth, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hypersonica
  • Sir Gerry Mayhew, Senior Military Advisor, BAE Systems
  • Lieutenant General Carl-Johan Edström, Deputy Chief of Defence, Sweden

PANEL A3: Naval Forces: “The NATO Maritime Strategy”

Chair: Jessica Nies, Vice President, Section Head Berlin, German Society for Security Policy

Introduction: Johannes Arlt, Senior Vice President, STARK

  • Rear Admiral Richard Kesten, Chief of Staff German Navy Command
  • Captain Tadas Jablonskis, Commander Lithuanian Navy
  • Commodore Jon Wikingsson, Deputy Commander CTF Baltic, Sweden
  • Sebastian Bauer, Vice President Business Development & Marketing, Elbit Systems
  • Commodore (LH) Jeroen van Zanten, DCOS OPS, MARCOM
  • Ian Kahraman, Managing Director, Accenture

PANEL A4: Cyber- Information Forces

Chair: Major General Armin Fleischmann, Head of Planning CIR and Digitization of the Bundeswehr, German Cyber and Information Domain Service

Introduction: Marcel Taubert, Vice President Defence & Space, secunet Security Networks AG

  • Major General Dr Volker Pötzsch, COS, Cyber and Information Force Command
  • Antanas Aleknavičius, Director, National Cyber Security Centre, Lithuania
  • Fulvio Arreghini, Director Sales, INFODAS
  • Harald Mannheim, Head of Defence, Schwarz Digits
  • Sandra Joyce, Vice President Google Threat Intelligence, Google Cloud

PANEL A5: Total Defence

Chair: Lieutenant General (ret.) Martin Schelleis, President, Maltese Relief Service

Introduction: Nicholas Palmer, Senior Director Customer Architecture, Elastic

  • Tomas Godliauskas, former Viceminister Ministry of Defence (2024-2026), Lithuania
  • Dirk Herber, State Secretary of the Interior, Rhineland-Palatinate
  • Dr Wolfgang Zink, Partner, PwC
  • Jörg Katzenberger, VP Head of Governmental Business Germany, Airbus Helicopters
  • lic.iur. Jörg M. Haas, Manager/Coordinator Civil Defense, Internal and External Security, PD – Berater der öffentlichen Hand
  • Fei-Fan Lin, Deputy Secretary-General, National Security Council, Taiwan

PANEL A6: A resilient healthcare system for CBRN incidents

Chair: Major General (MC) Dr Almut Nolte, Deputy Surgeon General Commander of the Bundeswehr, Joint Medical Service, Director for Operations and Health Care Directorate

Introduction: Dr Simon Goeller, Country President, Sandoz

  • Max Müller, SVP, Head of Global Public Affairs, Bayer
  • Sven Reichenwagen, Product Developer Disinfection and Cleaning, Ziu
  • Brigadier General (MC) Prof. Dr. Kai Kehe, Commissioner for Research and Science, SanAkBw, Germany
  • Colonel Stephan Saalow, Commander, Bundeswehr CBRN Defence Command
  • Ines Perea, Head of Directorate 61, Health Security, Resilience, Federal Ministry of Health, Germany
  • Giulio Gullotta, Head of the Civil Protection Equipment Division, Federal Office for Civil Protection, Germany
  • Prof Dr Leif Erik Sander, Medical Director, Department of Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

PANEL A7: Procurement

Chair: Dr Hans-Christoph Atzpodien, CEO, German Security and Defence Industry Association

Introduction: Kyrre Lohne, Senior Head, International Relations, Kongsberg

  • Vice Admiral Carsten Stawitzki, Head of Armaments Department, Ministry of Defence, Germany
  • Dovydas Palaima, National Armament Director, Lithuania
  • Helmut Rauch, CEO, DIEHL Defence
  • Dr Jörg Hennemann, Head of Defence, Science & Technology, Schmidt & Bender
  • Timo Pesonen, Director-General, DG for Defence Industry and Space, European Commission
  • Alexander Ziegler, EVP Defense, Safran Electronics & Defense

PANEL A8: UAS and Counter-UAS

Chair: Dr Matthias Schmuck, Senior Expert Drones, Germany

Introduction: Robert Czajkowski, Managing Director, WB Germany

  • Mike Wakefield, Partner, Co-Lead of the Holland & Knight National Security & Defense Industry Group
  • N.N., KPMG
  • N.N., Ukraine
  • Tim Mak, Arsenal, USA
  • Colonel Marco De Santis*, Commander 41st IMINT Regiment “Cordenons”, Italy
  • Stuart Dee, Research Leader, Defence, Security, and Justice and Co-Director, Defence Economics & Acquisition, Rand Europe
  • Zhen-Wei Chiang, Executive Director, Drone Diplomacy Task Force, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan

PANEL A9 MBDA: Deep Precision Strike – A European Capability?

Chair: Guido Brendler, MBDA

Introduction: N.N.,

  • General Ingo Gerhartz, Commander Joint Force Command Brunssum

PANEL B1: Total Defence in Practice: Synchronizing Military Enablement with National Civil Preparedness

Chair: Lieutenant General Gerald Funke, Commander of the Bundeswehr Joint Support Command Headquarters

Introduction: Dr Philip Mayrhofer, CEO, Maltego

  • Arūnas Dzidzevičius, DCOS Support Lithuanian Defence Staff
  • Dr Lucas Sy, Partner, Strategy&
  • Major General Michael B. Lalor, Commander 21st Theater Sustainment Command, USA
  • Angelo Conigliello, CTO for EMFA, Dell Technologies
  • Bernhard Osburg, Member of the Management Board for Freight Transport, Deutsche Bahn and CEO, DB Cargo

PANEL B2: From Operational Need to Military Advantage: The Role of Military R&D

Chair: Prof Wolfgang Koch, Chief Scientist, Head Sensor & Data Information Fusion, Fraunhofer Institut, FKIE

Introduction: N.N., PTC

  • Prof Artūras Medeišis, Dean of the Faculty of Electronics, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
  • Lukas Wittwer, CEO Germany & Austria, Consulteer
  • N.N., Elbit Systems
  • Dr Agata Swiatkiewicz, Executive Officer C5I STC, NATO Science and Technology Organization
  • Lieutenant General (ret.) Dr Ansgar Rieks, former Vice Chief, German Air Force

PANEL B3: The Use of AI in the Military

Chair: Prof Dr Stefan Pickl, Chair for Operations Research, University of the Bundeswehr, Munich

Introduction: Dr Scott Mongeau, Defence Solutions Lead, Google Cloud

  • Maik Kammermann, Head of the Division for Research, Innovation, and AI at the German Federal Ministry of Defence
  • Jean-David Malo, Director for the European Research Area and Innovation at DG RTD, European Commission
  • Jaimy Reuter, Director Consulting Services, CGI
  • Dr Stefan Taing, CEO Munich Innovation Labs, a Rohde & Schwarz company
  • Frank Dirksen, Chief Commercial Officer, Helsing

PANEL B4: From Dependence to resilience: Europe and the future of critical raw materials

Chair: Silvia Petig, President, Women in International Security (WIIS)

Introduction: N.N.

  • Dr Hans-Jürgen Völz, Chief Economist and member of the executive management, Der Mittelstand BVMW
  • Andreas Seitz, Managing Director, TDW Gesellschaft für verteidigungstechnische Wirksysteme
  • Anne Lauenroth, Senior Expert Raw Materials, BDI
  • Inga Carry, Police & Public Affairs Advisor, Senior Expert Critical Raw Material
  • Paraskevi Papantonion, Head of Unit Defence Single Market & Hybrid Threats, European Commission

PANEL B5 Extended (13.30 – 15.30): Innovation of Armed Forces

Chair: Lieutenant General Michael Vetter, Chief CIS and Innovation, German MoD

Introduction: Christopher Gaube, Head of Defense Germany, Capgemini

  • Andreas Reinecke, Head of Defence Digital and Cyber, Airbus Defence and Space
  • Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
  • Rear Admiral Christian Bock, Head of the Innovationcentre of the Bundeswehr, Germany
  • Colonel Laurynas Ivanauskas, Deputy Commander, Training and Doctrine Command, Lithuania
  • Frank Gramüller-Heinz, Director Public Sector & Defence Germany, SUSE
  • Lars Ruth, Partner, Defense, Security & Justice, Sector Lead, Deloitte

PANEL B6: Progress of the Military Use of Space

Chair: Brigadier General Volker Samanns, Head of Joint Air Power and Space Staff, IA PSSE, International Military Staff, NATO

Introduction: Prof Ulrich Walter, Senior Executive Advisor, Deloitte

  • Major General Michael Traut, Commander, German Space Command
  • Brigadier General Jorge Farré Basurte, Deputy Director, EU Satellite Centre
  • Holmes Liao, Senior Advisor of Taiwan Space Agency
  • Sven Sünberg, Managing Director, MBS
  • Tom Segert, CEO, Berlin Space Technologies
  • Brigadier General Christopher Fernengel, Commander, U.S. Space Forces in Europe and Space Forces Africa
  • Prof Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, Chairwoman Executive Board, German Aerospace Center

PANEL B7: Hybrid Warfare Threats

Chair: Thomas Schroll, Director COI Strategy & Defence, European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats

Introduction: N.N., Terra Quantum*

  • Julius Katinas, Deputy Director Defence Intelligence and Security Service (AOTD), Ministry of National Defence, Lithuania
  • George Scutaru, CEO New Strategy Center, former national Security Advisor to the President of Romania
  • Jason Klitenic, Partner, Chair of the Holland & Knight National Security & Defense Industry Group
  • N.N., Microsoft*
  • Colonel Sönke Marahrens, Head of Department CDigBw, Germany

PANEL B8: Military Mobility

Chair: Tomas Husak, Director of Directorate A, Defence Policy in the Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space, EU

Introduction: Dr Vesta von Bossel, Partner, PwC

  • Eric Voss, CEO DFNZ
  • Dr Ieva Karpavičiūtė, Defence Advisor, EU Permanent Representation, Lithuania
  • Major General Ralph Christian Meyer, Director Logistic & Resources, International Military Staff, NATO

*speakers requested