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For the start of Conference Week I on 22 August and thus the official opening of the European Forum Alpbach, we are expecting Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna and another high-level guest of state. Also featuring in Conference Week I, Katarína Mathernová, Deputy Director General of the European Commission and Head of the Support Group for Ukraine, will be talking about the situation in Ukraine six months after Russia began to attack Ukraine. The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama will join us to discuss together with Gerda Holzinger-Burgstaller, CEO of ERSTE Bank, and political scientist Barbara Prainsack what constitutes a good life for all and how to achieve such a goal. During a hike Austrian Federal Minister for Climate Protection Leonore Gewessler and Professor in the Economics at University College London (UCL), Mariana Mazzucato, will exchange their ideas on the changing economic systems. Former Prime Minister of Hungary Gordon Bajnai and the Governor of the Croatian National Bank Boris Vujčić will be discussing disrupted supply chains and weaponised economic dependencies. Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Alexander Schallenberg and Norbert Totschnig, Austrian Federal Minister for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism will join sessions on food security and the geopolitical awakening of the EU. To the programme for Conference Week I

Conference Week II TEC will be curated by AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) and ORF Radio Ö1; here, too, the contents are based on our theme of the year: The New Europe. Particular focus lies on information war, energy transition, health technologies and the securing of global value chains. Other topics addressed include political challenges in tackling the crisis and the role of the arts in the necessary transformation of society and economy. Carla Seidel, Vice President of BASF, Bernd Rech, Scientific Managing Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Sabine Herlitschka, CEO of Infineon Technologies Austria AG, and Peter Schwab, Member of the Board of voestalpine AG, will be talking about fundamental requirements for the future energy system. Cyber-security specialist Volker Kozok and journalist and political scientist Susanne Spahn will be joining Lieutenant Colonel Markus Reisner and Professor Matthias C. Kettemann to discuss the battlefield internet. To the programme for Conference Week II

During the second week, we will be exploring matters in further depth. In smaller innovative formats, Austrian and international stakeholders will be working on selected topics and developing ideas and solutions for Europe’s future; hikes, workshops and discussion events will round off the day programme.

28 August is entirely dedicated to the next generation. Young activists from different regions all over the world will be giving accounts about their experience fighting authoritarian regimes. Furthermore, our honorary guest Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will be discussing with young experts how to cope with simultaneous crises in the areas of climate, health and security.

Lab Week I will be welcoming Nobel Prize recipient Joseph Stiglitz and think tanker Alexander Barkawi as well as Johanna Nyman, Head of the Alliance of Financial Inclusion. They will address the question of how to achieve fair financial policies in times of high inflation and low interest rates. Additionally, five central bank governors will be talking about the challenges inflation poses to national banks and about how to deal with them. On a hike with Austrian Major General Bruno Hofbauer and other security experts, Martin Selmayr, Head of the European Commission Representation in Austria, will be discussing the military capabilities of the EU. Jillian C. York, Director for International Freedom of Expression (Electronic Frontier Foundation) will be talking to media manager Gerhard Zeiler and UNO Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming about means and ways to fight disinformation. To the programme for Lab Week I

One of the highlights during Lab Week II will be the session “Uneasy Partners?”, in which Ivan Krastev, Head of the Centre for Liberal Strategy, will be discussing with European Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi, Austrian Minister of Justice Alma Zadić and Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) Michael O’Flaherty, how the EU is handling the rising trend of authoritarianism. Gerald Haug, President of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, will be speaking to Tara Shirvani from the Climate Advisory Group about geoengineering. Also in Lab Week II, Austrian ministers Magnus Brunner and Karoline Edtstadler are expected to join. In the session “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall”, top-level speakers from Africa, America and Asia will be sharing how they perceive the EU as a foreign policy player on the world stage. In addition, Rachel Rizzo from the Atlantic Council, Tania Latici from the European External Action Service and Mircea Geoană (tbc), Deputy Secretary-General of the NATO, will be discussing the future of the transatlantic partnership and EU-NATO relations. Indy Johar, Founding Director of Dark Matter Labs, and US-American writer Kim Stanley Robinson are also expected for the Lab Week II programme. To the programme for Lab Week II

An integral part of the European Forum Alpbach is dedicated to Arts & Culture. The following artists and installations will accompany the participants throughout the period:

Start By Listening: What does Alpbach sound like, and what new worlds of sound will emerge during this year’s event? The original sounds of the village and its people will meet the surprising sound messages of the international scholarship holders from all over the world. Musician Clemens Wenger (5/8erl in Ehrʼn, JazzWerkstatt Vienna) will collect these sound recordings in his project and make the village and the valley resound in various soundscapes.

With her installation The Common Separation, Theresa Hattinger invites you to keep on questioning your own decisions and associations. As a multidisciplinary designer and artist, she is convinced that opinions are rather more a question of socialisation than the result of a conscious decision. Details Arts & Culture at the EFA22