50 Leaders Devise Strategies to Shape a Better Future at Our Tech & Foresight Summit 2024

Yesterday, we were honored to welcome over 50 leaders from the private, public and academic sectors to IE Tower for our Tech & Foresight Summit 2024, a participatory conference where every guest had the opportunity to express their views about the future from a variety of perspectives.

The day started with an insightful conversation on geopolitics between Enrico Letta (Dean of IE University's School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs and former Prime Minister of Italy), Manuel de la Rocha (Secretary of State and Director of the Bureau of Economic Affairs and G20 of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Spain), Markus Reinisch (Vice President for Public Policy in Europe at Meta), Bárbara Navarro (Head of Research, Public Policy and Institutional Relations at Banco Santander), Irene Blázquez (Director of the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University) and the rest of the participants.

To address current geopolitical challenges, it was suggested, the European Union should develop a comprehensive tech diplomacy strategy, add a “fifth freedom” of movement for knowledge and innovation, deepen the integration of the single market in key fields like finance and telecom, promote deep tech as a strategic sector for the future and increase investment in research, development and innovation.

Next we had an exchange of views on the governance of tech with José Ignacio Torreblanca (Director of the Madrid Office at the European Council on Foreign Relations), Juan Santaló (Professor of Strategic Management at IE University), Elena Yndurain (Startups and Scaleups Executive Advisor at QuanaSys), Purvi Parekh (Managing Director and founder of Anakiya) and the audience.

Speakers emphasized the need for policies that boost innovation in Europe, the challenges faced by states as they lose control of capabilities that are at the core of statecraft (for example, satellites) and the crucial importance of measuring and evaluating the economic and social impact of regulations.

The day concluded with a collective intelligence foresight workshop on topics such as how to ensure long term prosperity in a world with finite resources or how to integrate human life with emerging technologies.

The workshop, as well as the roundtables, will feed a report to be published soon with the future global scenarios and resilience strategies identified by participants.

Thank you to our partners at Meta for believing in our vision, and to everyone who joined our Summit for generously sharing their wisdom and inspiring us all to shape a promising future for humanity.