3. November

08.00 Opening of the Exhibition / Registration

08.30 Announcements, National Anthems

08.45 Welcome to the Congress

Dr Eva-Charlotte Proll, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Behörden Spiegel & Dr Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Member of the European Parliament and Congress President BSC

09.00 OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE - Opening Ceremony

Gitanas Nausėda, President, Republic of Lithuania

09.20 INTERVIEW / Q+A BY THE AUDITORIUM European NATO pillar towards safe Europe and safer world

Chair: Dr Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Member of the European Parliament and Congress President BSC

  • Kęstutis Budrys, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lithuania
  • Florian Hahn, Minister of State, Federal Foreign Office, Germany
  • Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space, European Commission

10.00 Keynote

Special Guest

10.30 Breaking the Innovation Barrier: How to scale Europe’s Defence & Resilience Adaptation and Delivery at Speed

Anna Lena Hohmann, Senior Manager, PwC
10.50 Coffee Break

11.30 Sovereign Digitalisation as a Security Imperative. Building Resilience Together in a World of Multipolar Threats.

Prof Dr Martin Kaloudis, Executive Vice President, Bechtle

11.50 HIGH-LEVEL DEBATE Deterrence through Vigilance: How to contain the Russian interference

Chair: Dr Eva-Charlotte Proll, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Behörden Spiegel

  • Ejup Maqedonic, Minister of Defence, Kosovo
  • H.E. Ambassador Dr Detlef Wächter, German Permanent Representative to NATO
  • Lieutenant General Remigijus Baltrėnas, Director General of the International Military Staff, NATO
  • General Ingo Gerhartz, Commander, Joint Force Command Brunssum
  • Lieutenant General (ret.) Frederick Benjamin Hodges, former Commanding General US Army Europe

13.00 Lunchtime
15.45 Coffee Break

16.15 Balancing Immediate Needs with Long-Term Sovereignty: Hard Choices for European Defence

Dr Michael Schoellhorn, CEO, Airbus Defence and Space

16.35 Keynote & Q+A

Air Chief Marshal Sir John Stringer KCB CBE, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO

17.00 LEADERS’ TALK “The Central Region as the litmus test for a credible Defence”

Chair: Admiral (ret.) Rob Bauer, former Chairman, NATO Military Committee

  • General Raimundas Vaikšnoras, Chief of Defence, Lithuania
  • Lieutenant General Medical Corps Dr Nicole Schilling, Vice Chief of Defence Germany
  • Lieutenant General Dariusz Parylak, Commander, Multinational Corps Northeast, NATO
  • Lieutenant General Johnny Lindfors, Military Representative Sweden, NATO
  • Air Chief Marshal Sir John Stringer KCB CBE, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO

18.00 A Positive Vision for Mission Readiness in an Overextended Environment

Fatih Cam, Managing Director, Atos Germany

18.20 HIGH-LEVEL DEBATE Credible engagement in the South

Chair: Javier Colomina, Special Representative for the Southern Neighbourhood, NATO

  • Major General Paolo Sandri, Deputy Chief of Cabinet and Head of the Office for Military Policy, Ministry of Defence, Italy
  • Lieutenant General Iulian Berdila, Deputy Chief of Defence for Operations and Training, Ministry of National Defence, Romania
  • Lieutenant General Nuno Lemos Pires, National Defence Policy Director, Ministry of Defence, Portugal
  • Dr Enver Hoxhaj, Member of Parliament and former Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Kosovo

19.20 Buffet & Networking

BSC STARTUP CHALLENGE, 3 November 2026

Sponsored by PwC

16:00 Introduction
16:05 Pitch & Evaluation
16:50 Summary & Award Ceremony

4. November

08.00 Opening of the Exhibition

08.30 OPENING OF THE 2ND CONFERENCE DAY WITH DISCUSSION/Q+A/MOU

Boris Pistorius, Minister of Defence, Germany & Robertas Kaunas, Minister of Defence, Lithuania

09.20 Keynote

Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board and President Digital Industries, Siemens

09.50 Keynote and Q+A by Auditorium

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chairman, NATO Military Committee

10.15 HIGH-LEVEL DEBATE “Europe and NATO: Together Strong”

Chair: Dr Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Member of the European Parliament and Congress President BSC

  • H.E. Matthew G. Whitaker, U.S. Ambassador to NATO
  • Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chairman, NATO Military Committee
  • David Cvach, Deputy Secretary General for Peace, Security and Defense, EEAS
  • Guido Brendler, Member of the Board, MBDA Germany
  • Nuno Melo, Minister of National Defence, Portugal
  • Airis Rikveilis, State Secretary Ministry of Defence, Latvia

11:15 Coffee Break

11.40 Al Didn’t Just Change Security It Changes the Enemy

Morton Swimmer, Principal Threat Researcher, Forward Threat Research AI and Data, Trend AI

12.00 TAKING STOCK DISCUSSION Innovation and European Capability Development

Chair: Michael Gahler, MEP

  • Lieutenant General Stefano Cont, Director for Capability Armament & Planning, European Defence Agency
  • Dr Andreas Schwarz, Head of Cabinet to Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva for Startups, Research and Innovation, European Commission
  • Dr Christoph Erdmann, Managing Director, Secusmart
  • Oleg Dunda, Member of Parliament of Ukraine

13.00 Lunch time

15.30 INTERVIEW / Q+A BY THE AUDITORIUM

Chair: Reinhard Wolski, Major General (ret) and Chairman BSC

  • Ambassador Francois Chihchung Wu, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan
  • Lieutenant General Jih-Sheng Hsieh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, Ministry of Defence, Taiwan
  • Fei-Fan Lin, Deputy Secretary-General, National Security Council, Taiwan

16.00 Coffee Break

16.15 Two Seas, One Security: Strengthening Europe’s Defence Through Baltic-Mediterranean Cooperation

Gabriele Gambarara, Vice President & Board Member, ELT Group

16.35 WINNER-PITCH – START-UP CHALLENGE PRESENTATION

16.45 HIGH-LEVEL DEBATE Harmonizing Europe and Indo-Pacific Priorities

Chair: Dr Tobias Lindner, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (ret.)

  • H.E. Ambassador Mitsuko Shino, Japan
  • H.E. Ambassador Maria Castillo Fernandez, EU Special Envoy for the Indo Pacific
  • H.E. Ambassador Natasha Smith, Australia
  • Robert Peters, Acting Director of the Allison Center of National Security, Heritage Foundation

17.45 Handover Ceremony to the next Partner Nation

18.05 Closing Session and Farewell

Major General (ret.) Reinhard Wolski, Chairman BSC
18.25 End of Congress

BSC STARTUP CHALLENGE, 4 November 2026

Sponsored by PwC

11:15 Introduction
11:20 Pitch & Evaluation
12:05 Summary and Award Ceremony
16:35 Winner Pitch on the main stage

*speakers requested