Presentation "Hidden Costs of Untrusted Vendors in 5G Networks"
2021-03-16 14:00 - 15:30 (Europe/Berlin) | Online
Presentation of the Policy Paper “The Hidden Costs of Untrusted Vendors in 5G Networks”

The introduction of the 5G mobile communications standard will bring about a technological revolution for business, industry and society. As a result, trustworthiness and sovereignty over this new supercritical infrastructure are being hotly debated on a national and European level. To lead Europe into a secure future, adequate regulation of 5G networks, how to build and how to manage them is needed. Countries expect a high degree of trustworthiness from those providing 5G. If untrusted companies will play a role in setting up 5G networks in Europe, considerable costs can be expected. Only some of these costs are incurred by the mobile network operators. Many of the costs will be borne by other sections of society, such as telecommunications customers or taxpayers, who, without further regulation, have no input on the selection of network equipment provider. Against this backdrop, BIGS worked together with a multidisciplinary group of authors from France, Germany, Italy and Portugal in order to reveal the hidden costs of these untrustworthy network vendors and, insofar as possible, calculate the costs.

The conceptual framework, identification of various cost categories as well as some quantifications are laid out in a policy paper and four country studies for the respective home countries of the authors. These studies and more information on the authors can be found here.

Register here for the event.

Authors:

Prof. Dr. Christian Dörr, Dr. Enrico Frumento, Carlos Oliveira, Gianmarco Panza, Stefan Rausch, Dr. Johannes P. Rieckmann, Dr. Tim H. Stuchtey, Dr. Reda Yaich

China and Network Great Power Ambitions
2021-05-03 16:00 - 17:15 | Online
PizzaSeminar: China and Network Great Power Ambitions

Discussions about the security of 5G networks in Germany always include the question of whether Chinese technology providers should be allowed to participate in the construction of the networks. Emily de la Bruyère and Nathan Picarsic from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies have analysed how the issue of IT and communication security is talked about in China itself. It turns out that the messages to the outside world and to the domestic market are quite different. Externally, there is a call for free markets, openness, cooperation and interdependence, suggesting that companies like Huawei should be treated like other private sector actors and welcomed into foreign networks. The domestic Chinese discourse, on the other hand, emphasises the limits of free markets and the dangers of dependence on foreign technologies. It also suggests that commercial communication networks can be used to aggressively project power and influence, and that international technical standards provide a means to cement such power and influence. In this virtual PizzaSeminar, Emily de la Bruyère and Nathan Picarsic present their findings on the Chinese communication strategy.

Please register via email to info@bigs-potsdam.org

About the speakers:

Emily de la Bruyère is a co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a geopolitical consultancy, as well as a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Her work focuses on China’s standardization ambitions, military-civil fusion strategy, and platform geopolitics, as well as their implications for global security and the economic order. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University and a Master of Arts from Sciences Po, Paris, where she was a Michel David-Weill fellow.

Nathan Picarsic is a co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a geopolitical consultancy, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). His research focuses on industrial policy and the Chinese Communist Party’s asymmetric orientation for global economic and security competitions. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College and has completed executive education programs through Harvard Business School and the Defense Acquisition University

Wunderbar Together: Reconnecting the Transatlantic Digital Economy – The Role of Trust in 5G
2021-06-16 18:00 - 19:00 | Online
Wunderbar Together: Reconnecting the Transatlantic Digital Economy – The Role of Trust in 5G

Date: 16th of June 2021
Time: 18:00 CEST
Registration: Click here

Ultra-fast 5G broadband cellular connectivity will advance a host of the technologies of the future, including Industry 4.0, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, drones, and telemedicine. However, the commercial opportunities offered by 5G are accompanied by security concerns about dependencies and vulnerabilities if new networks are built using proprietary technologies from potentially untrustworthy vendors, such as telecommunications equipment providers from China. Both the United States and Germany are strengthening their IT security, but opinions in Washington and Berlin diverge over how to shape digital policies in the context of economic and strategic competition with China. As both countries chart their 5G policies to support a widening array of future digital transformations of societies and economies, they have important opportunities to cooperate but will also need to carefully manage their differences.
Our distinguished speakers, Stephen C. Anderson, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and Stephan Mayer, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Member of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag, will discuss the respective U.S. and German government approaches to 5G network security, offer their perspectives on economic, technological, and geostrategic competition with China, and examine the implications of policy convergence and divergence in these areas for the transatlantic relationship.
Access the full invitation here.

Panelists:

Stephan Mayer was born in Burghausen in 1973 and graduated from the König-Karlmann-Gymnasium in Altötting. From 1993 to 1997, Stephan Mayer studied law at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Since 1993, Stephan Mayer has been a member of the district executive of the Mittelstands-Union of the Christian Social Union (CSU). From 1998 to 2000, Stephan Mayer completed his legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Munich and the Government of Upper Bavaria. Following this, Stephan Mayer worked as a lawyer in the law firm Salzberger, Reiter, Mandlsberger & Kollegen Mühldorf from 2000 to 2009. Since 2002, Stephan Mayer has been a member of the German Bundestag as well as deputy parliamentary group chairman of the Altötting district parliamentary group, and since 2008 he has also been a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Expellees (BdV). From 2009 to 2018, Stephan Mayer worked as a lawyer at the law firm Nachmann Rechtsanwalt GmbH in Munich. From 2010 to 2018, Stephan Mayer was president of the THW-Bundesvereinigung e. V. (THW). In 2013, Stephan Mayer was elected by the members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group as Chairman of the Working Group for domestic affairs and thus as the new domestic policy spokesman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and has since been considered an expert on migration and security issues. On March 14, 2018, Stephan Mayer was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Home Affairs. There he is mainly responsible for migration, integration, EU coordination, (border) security and civil protection, among other topics.

Stephen C. Anderson is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. In this capacity, he leads development of international Internet, data, and privacy policies and related negotiations with foreign governments. Previously, Mr. Anderson was Director of the Office of Specialized and Technical Agencies in the State Department’s Bureau for International Organization Affairs. In that role, he was responsible for U.S. relations with over 40 specialized UN agencies, funds and programs, and was the lead U.S. negotiator of the successful U.S. effort to reform the Universal Postal Union’s remuneration system for the ecommerce era. In 2017, Mr. Anderson was the State Department Visiting Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar, where he helped restore full diplomatic relations after a 2009 coup. He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan focused mainly on the management of provincial reconstruction teams. Mr. Anderson has also been posted to Mexico, Germany, Guatemala, Argentina, and Italy since joining the Foreign Service in 1994. He is the recipient of numerous State Department superior and meritorious honor awards.

The Underestimated Risk of Cyber Supply Chain Attacks
2021-08-19 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
The Underestimated Risk of Cyber Supply Chain Attacks
Despite the fact that there are still some serious security gaps, many companies perceive IT and cyber security now as part of their risk management. However, the quality of the technical and organizational measures and the available budget vary considerably. This is partly due to a lack of awareness of certain security issues at the decision-making levels and an assessment of the cost-benefit calculation. IT and cyber security is often not recognized in everyday work, and if it is, then only as an additional workload. What companies do perceive, however, is the damage that occurs when their own company is affected.
Dealing with supply chain attacks is not a new issue, but one that is still often underestimated. Supply chain attacks are often not taken into account in risk assessments and thus the opportunity to identify dependencies, build up suitable redundancies and better protect both interfaces and vulnerabilities of suppliers is missed.
In cyber supply chain attacks, attackers target vulnerabilities in supply chains for their malicious purposes. On December 13, 2020, FireEye reported the discovery of a widespread supply chain attack in which SolarWind’s Orion business software updates were trojanized to spread malware. ORION is an IT monitoring and management software used by the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies, as well as many government agencies. Affected entities include government agencies as well as organizations in the consulting, technology, telecommunications, healthcare and oil and gas industries on four continents. According to SolarWinds, the vulnerability is likely the result of a sophisticated, targeted and manual supply chain attack by an unknown nation-state.
Symantec reported a 78% increase in supply chain attacks in 2018 in its 2019 Internet Security Threat Report, with the top 20 observed groups being particularly active. Well-known groups such as Dragonfly have been using targeted suppliers to gain access to specific companies since 2011, with the targets in this case primarily located in the energy sector.
Against this background, BIGS, in cooperation with VTT Finland, one of the leading research institutions in Europe, has taken a closer look at the ecosystem of supply chains and considered the financial impact of attacks on them. We would like to present the main findings of this analysis in the familiar format of the PizzaSeminar, on August 19 from 12:00 – 14:00 at the IABG in Berlin Mitte.

Registration via mail to info@bigs-potsdam.org

Speakers:
Esther Kern (Research Fellow at BIGS)
Alexander Szanto (Research Fellow at BIGS)

Wunderbar Together: Reconnecting the Transatlantic Digital Economy – The Role of Trust in AI
2021-10-28 16:00 - 17:00 | Online
Wunderbar Together: Reconnecting the Transatlantic Digital Economy – The Role of Trust in AI

Date: 28th of October 2021
Start: 16:00 CEST
Registration: Click here

The American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University (AICGS) and the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security (BIGS) invite you to our upcoming public webinar “Reconnecting the Transatlantic Digital Economy—The Role of Trust in AI”. Artificial intelligence is a promising but also contested emerging technology for economic productivity, social interactions, and national security. Its significance is accentuated by the growing systemic competition that China, one of the world’s top AI innovators, presents to the United States and the European Union. Germany and the United States have considerable interest in harvesting AI’s potential and, at the same time, in preventing the development and use of AI systems that are contrary to liberal democratic values. More recently, the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council launched at the end of September offers one promising avenue for transatlantic cooperation on AI governance.
We are delighted to welcome as speakers for this event Stephen C. Anderson, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and Andreas Könen, Director-General for Cyber and Information Security in the German Federal Ministry of the Interior. They will discuss the respective U.S. and German government approaches to AI innovation, regulation, and governance, offer their perspectives on the commercial, values, and security implications of AI deployment, and examine the strategic implications of policy convergence and divergence in these areas for the transatlantic relationship.
This public webinar is part of the Wunderbar Together 2021 Initiative supported by the German Foreign Office.

Panelists:

Andreas Könen is the Director General of the department CI – Cyber and Information security at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI). Previously he was the Head of Directorate IT II – IT and cyber security; secure information technology and ÖS III Cyber security in the field of law enforcement and domestic intelligence at the German Federal Ministry of the interior. Before this he was the Vice President of the German “Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)”. Mr Könen, a graduate mathematician, joined the BSI in 2006, taking on the post as the head of the executive staff of the BSI Director General. In 2009 he became the head of the division “Security in Applications and Critical Infrastructures” and subsequently head of the department “Security Consulting and Coordination”. Prior to BSI, Mr Könen held various positions in the field of information technology within the German Federal Administration, including executive functions.

Stephen C. Anderson is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. In this capacity, he leads development of international Internet, data, and privacy policies and related negotiations with foreign governments. Previously, Mr. Anderson was Director of the Office of Specialized and Technical Agencies in the State Department’s Bureau for International Organization Affairs. In that role, he was responsible for U.S. relations with over 40 specialized UN agencies, funds and programs, and was the lead U.S. negotiator of the successful U.S. effort to reform the Universal Postal Union’s remuneration system for the ecommerce era. In 2017, Mr. Anderson was the State Department Visiting Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar, where he helped restore full diplomatic relations after a 2009 coup. He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan focused mainly on the management of provincial reconstruction teams. Mr. Anderson has also been posted to Mexico, Germany, Guatemala, Argentina, and Italy since joining the Foreign Service in 1994. He is the recipient of numerous State Department superior and meritorious honor awards.

The Costs of Illicit Trade
2022-02-08 12:00 - 13:30 | Online
Illegal trade is associated with lost profits for other actors, tax evasion and other harmful effects. To date, the costs of such activities have mostly been viewed through the lens of national accounts, but the effects on economic activity as a whole have not been considered. After some opening remarks by Jürgen Storbeck, Dr. Johannes Rieckmann will present an alternative econometric estimation approach relating data on drug seizures in continental Europe to a set of macroeconomic variables. We show that a marginal increase in illicit trade is associated with a decrease in economic growth, the number of students in tertiary education, and spending on research and development.
The virtual PizzaSeminar will take place via Zoom. To register please send an email to info@bigs-potsdam.org.

Speakers:
Jürgen Storbeck is a lawyer with a long career at the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Interpol, and various UN and EU bodies. He was founding Director and until 2004 the first Executive Director of Europol. Subsequently, Jürgen Storbeck was the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s Commissioner for Security Cooperation with the Gulf States and, from 2006, Head of the Police Department at the Brandenburg Ministry of the Interior. Since 2012, he has been active in the management of various international and national projects on criminal law, crime prevention and security, as well as in various think tanks and scientific advisory boards.
Dr. Johannes Rieckmann has been employed at BIGS as Senior Research Fellow since August 2015. He engages in economics of cyber-security, regulatory policy regarding public and private provision of security services, economic costs of extremism and of violence against police officers and first responders, and improvement of resilience of cash logistics in times of emergency and crises.

CyberFactory#1 German National Demonstration
2022-04-26 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
The hybrid event can be attended in-person in Berlin Mitte or via Zoom, please register by email to info@bigs-potsdam.org by April 25.

Note: The main language of the event will be German.

The factory of the future should be automated, interconnected and at the same time secure. To meet these requirements, however, a number of technical solutions must be devised. In particular, the aspect of security is often still neglected. The CyberFactory#1 project therefore aims at combining resilience against cyber and cyber-physical threats with optimization of manufacturing processes from the outset.
CyberFactory#1 is an international ITEA3 project in which BIGS is working with 27 partners from Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland, and Turkey to develop key capabilities for the factory of the future. In particular, key capabilities will be developed in the areas of (1) modelling and simulation of the factory of the future and its elements; (2) optimization of the factory of the future; and (3) methods to improve the resilience of the factory of the future to cyber and cyber-physical threats. The applicability of the results will be demonstrated in realistic use cases.
Among the German partners, end users (ASTI Mobile Robotics, Alstom), solution providers (Airbus CyberSecurity, LISA) and research institutions (OFFIS, Fraunhofer AISEC, the Berlin University of Applied Sciences) are working together on a single use case. It deals with a fleet of automated guided vehicle (AGVs), so-called transport robots. The goal of the CyberFactory#1 project for this use case is to increase the resilience of the fleet and to optimize the behaviour of the fleet.
In our PizzaSeminar we would like to present the partners’ work on the use case and discuss the developed key capabilities with you. If you are interested, please register by email to info@bigs-potsdam.org by April 25 indicating whether you would like to participate on-site in Berlin Mitte or via Zoom. For on-site participation a COVID-19 rapid test (2G Plus) is required, the pizza however is included as usual. The exact location of the PizzaSeminar or the Zoom link will be provided after registration.

The Role of Planning in Crisis Management Civilian Operations
2023-06-07 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
When considering planning for crisis management civilian operations, there is still a certain amount of confusion about its definition and a certain amount of speculation about its usefulness. Indeed, planning is generally confused with a series of neighbouring terminology and often assessed as a pure bureaucratic burden.
In the course of this PizzaSeminar, BIGS Visiting Fellow Xavier Denis will propose a definition of planning. He will further demonstrate the added value of deploying crisis management civilian operations along a formalized planning process.
This PizzaSeminar will take place in person at IABG, Friedrichstraße 185, Haus E, 10117 Berlin. The main language of the event is English.

About the speaker:
Xavier Denis is a former Brigadier General with the French Gendarmerie. During the course of his career, Xavier Denis has led operational units on the ground in France and its overseas territories and has headed several headquarters services. He also held a number of positions in international entities for example with the UN, with the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina and with the French Delegation to the OSCE. From 2013, first as a seconded national expert then a temporary agent with the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels, he has been involved in operational and politico-strategic planning of CSDP missions. In addition, since December 2019, he fulfils the position of coordinator for EU stabilisation actions. In parallel to his operational and planning duties, Xavier Denis had a substantial involvement in teaching.

Central Bank Digital Currencies: the Geopolitical Competition to Control the Flow of Money
2023-06-09 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are a relatively new form of currencies expected to become widespread in the coming years but not yet well understood. Some aspects that need consideration in the discussion on CBDCs are the security of the money supply, access to the financial system, and the geo-economic power that being a currency issuer gives, as well as the tension between the public and private sector with the rise of cryptocurrencies and new ways to avoid formal institutions.
CBDCs might provide answer to this tension between the private and public sectors, but they also create new security dilemmas. These include the risk of hacking, citizen privacy and the potential breakdown of digital systems in crisis situations. Central banks are also faced with new questions as to how to implement proper anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regulations within this new technology.
This PizzaSeminar will take place in person at IABG, Friedrichstraße 185, Haus E, 10117 Berlin. The main language of the event is English.

About the speaker:
Rebecca Singer worked the past five months as a student researcher at BIGS. During this time, she finished her thesis for the Masters of Arts in International Trade and Economic Diplomacy and the Masters of Arts in International Policy and Development with a Certification in Financial Crime Management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

The role of single wagonload transport in freight resilience and sustainability.
2023-07-05 12:00 - 14:00
Single wagonload transport is of central importance to the German industry. It provides a tightly meshed, green transport network that ensures the resilient and sustainable transport of goods by rail. In addition, the German government’s climate protection targets include a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and climate neutrality by 2045. Against the backdrop of existing capacity bottlenecks on rail and road and the continuing growth in the transport market, targeted support measures are needed, especially for environmentally friendly single wagonload transport. In a new study commissioned by DB Cargo AG, we describe how this can be achieved and which financing instruments should be considered.
We invite you to join us for the presentation of the study and discussion of the recommendations for action during a lunch seminar at Il Punto (Neustädtische Kirchstraße 6, 10117 Berlin) on July 5, 2023. Digital participation is also possible. Please note, the event will be held in German.

Cybersecurity and economic diplomacy: the role of data embassies in promoting trade and investment in Germany
2023-07-07 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
View the recording

During this PizzaSeminar, Ransom Ngenge will discuss the potential benefits of data embassies within the context of Germany’s digital economy, which is driven by the increasing significance of data as a vital economic asset.
On the one hand, accepting to host data embassies of other countries on its national territory can bring various benefits to Germany, including strengthening international cooperation and fostering economic growth. On the other hand, Germany can exploit the opportunity to open data embassies overseas that will strengthen its data security and solidify its status as a pioneer in data protection and digital diplomacy. Data embassies constitute the foreseeable standard practise in preserving the sovereignty and ensuring the continuity of states in the event of natural or man-made disasters, and by incorporating the idea into its National Cybersecurity Strategy, Germany would be strengthening its position as a trusted global partner in the digital realm.
The PizzaSeminar will be a hybrid event and participation is possible at BIGS Potsdam (Dianstraße 46, 14482 Potsdam) or via Zoom. The main language of the event is English.

About the speaker:
Ransom Ngenge is a Visiting Fellow at BIGS and a third year Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and Public Administration at the Pedagogical University of Krakow. His research centres on cybersecurity. Other areas of interest include qualitative research, scientific writing and publishing, conflict analysis and peacebuilding, higher and special education with a focus on developing countries, and grant writing with a focus on Horizon Europe.

The Internet Identifiers as a Factor of Regional and Global Security
2023-10-13 12:15 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
Register Here

The provision of the “Internet” as a decentralized infrastructure for almost all areas of life in our society is a regulatory issue that has not yet been adequately resolved. This is accompanied by numerous security and privacy problems, which Internet users have to circumvent largely on their own. Even the numerous attempts at regulation have done little to change this.
Michael Yakushev of the Institute for the Development of Public Digital Networks (IEDN) has been working on the very fundamental organizational and governance issues of the Internet for many years. In his talk, he will outline the importance of IP addresses, especially from a security perspective. You are cordially invited to attend this presentation on October 13, which will be held in English. The PizzaSeminar will take place at IABG’s office in Berlin-Mitte and via Zoom.

About the speaker:

Michael Yakushev is an expert on international law and global Internet Governance. He was a member of G8 Okinawa Digital Opportunities Task Force (2000-2001), the Working Group on Internet Governance under UN Secretary General (2004-2005) and Council of Europe Working Group on Cross-Border Internet Issues. Between 2014 and 2017 he was the Vice President of ICANN on Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Since 2022 he is the Scientific Advisor of IEDN (based in Berlin).

Robots, Underdogs, and DARPA’s Grand Challenges
2023-12-15 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
Register Here

Even when researchers are not sitting in an ivory tower, it is a challenge to translate the results of research into marketable products. The BIGS has been involved in projects with great results that were not subsequently brought to market maturity. We are therefore delighted to welcome Chris Hayter, a proven expert in the field of innovation policy, for a pizza seminar. Chris Hayter is Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GeorgiaTech) and conducts research on innovation policy and entrepreneurship at universities. In this context, he also examined the role of DARPA.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) finances and coordinates research projects for the US armed forces, from which civilian applications are often derived. Well-known research institutes, companies and universities take part in the competitions organized by DARPA, as well as lesser-known teams and start-ups. This was the case in the Grand Challenges in 2004, 2005 and 2007, where the task was to send an autonomous vehicle on a race through the desert and an urban environment.
In this PizzaSeminar, Chris Hayter will give an insight into how the Grand Challenges have shaped the research field of autonomous driving and what lessons can be learned from them for research and innovation policy, perhaps also for Germany and its numerous funding agencies. The language of this PizzaSeminar is English, participation is possible in person or via Zoom. Please register via the link above.

About the speaker:
Chris Hayter is an Associate Professor with the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on entrepreneurship within universities and its social and commercial impact, career transitions among university postdocs, and the effectiveness of entrepreneurship and technology development policies and programs. Chris is also co-founder of Tractiv, a software startup that solves for security-related data transmission issues in the financial services and media industries. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, he spent nine years at the Arizona State University School of Public Affairs. For 15 years he also served as a science and entrepreneurship policy advisor with organizations such as the National Academies, Council of Competitiveness, National Governors Association, and New York Academy of Sciences. Chris received his PhD from George Washington University and is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

Dynamics of the Global Arms Trade: Between National Security, Economic Interests, and International Norms
2024-05-27 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
Register Here

Arms exports (as well as imports) are a constant topic of controversy in German politics, combining economic logic, foreign policy considerations and ethical aspects. Following the proclamation of the “Zeitenwende”, the topic has undergone a realignment. In this PizzaSeminar we are therefore going to take a closer look at the complex dynamics of the international arms trade. Adelaide Baronchelli, Assistant Professor at the University of Turin, will present the results of her latest research on this topic and provide additional insights into the significant ramifications of the arms trade on global security, including its implications for interstate conflicts, civil unrest and governmental stability. Moreover, she will explain the complexities of arms control regulations and how major exporters comply with international norms.
We look forward to discussing this important and current topic with you on 27 May. The PizzaSeminar will be held in English this time, participation is possible both on site and digitally.

About the Speaker:
Adelaide Baronchelli is an assistant professor at the Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis”, University of Turin. She took a MSc in Economics at the University of Essex and a Ph.D in Institutions and Policies from the Catholic University of Milan. Her research interests are in Peace Economics, International Economics and Political Economy. Her recent works are about the impact of arms embargoes on the international trade of small arms and on the interplay between the arms trade and US foreign policy.

The Security Situation in Ukraine: Lessons for Foreign Investments
2024-09-16 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
Register Here

Since the start of this year, BIGS has been a partner in the Horizon Europe project CEDAR, which aims to provide “Common European Data Spaces and Robust AI for Transparent Public Governance”. One of the three case studies of the project deals with the “Transparent Management of Foreign Aid for Rebuilding Ukraine” and serves as the occasion for our next PizzaSeminar.
We look forward to welcoming our Ukrainian project partners from SK Security, YouControl and Save Ukraine 2030 to Berlin on 16 September. In addition to insights into their work at CEDAR, they will present the current security and political situation in Ukraine and talk about the challenges and potential for foreign investment. Legal aspects and the security of investments will also be discussed. Following the presentations there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
As usual, the PizzaSeminar will take place on the premises of IABG at Friedrichstraße 185 in Berlin Mitte. The event will be held in English. If you are interested, please register via the link above.

About the Speakers:
Olena Sukmanova, Supervisory Board Member of Safe Ukraine 2030 and Partner at Sayenko Kharenko
Olena Sukmanova heads Sayenko Kharenko’s litigation practice and has over 20 years of experience in resolving complex legal disputes and conflicts. Her specialties include anti-raiding and the protection of business and foreign investments. Before joining Sayenko Kharenko, Olena held senior positions in major banks and industrial holdings and served as the First Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine. In this role, she worked on EU integration, negotiated EU macro-financial assistance, and developed proposals in the areas of justice, freedom, and security. Olena is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Safe Ukraine 2030, an NGO focused on developing capacities and capabilities for security and justice and promoting the implementation of EU standards in the Ukrainian security sector. An active speaker and participant in professional and business events, Olena is recognized as an influential opinion leader.

Daniel Globa, Deputy Director for Legal Affairs, YouControl
Daniel Globa is an accomplished legal professional with over two decades of experience in commercial and civil law, tax law, intellectual property law, and labor law. He currently serves as the Deputy Director for Legal Affairs at YouControl, Ukraine’s leading provider of open data analytics solutions. Previously, Daniel held various positions in business associations and government agencies, focusing on drafting and monitoring legislation and providing legal advice. His previous roles include Head of Department at the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine and Head of the Legislative Drafting Department at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Daniel is also a war veteran who served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces after 2022. He holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Affairs from the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, a Master’s Degree in Law from the National Academy of Management, and a Specialist’s Degree in Law from Kyiv National University. His extensive legal background and diverse experience make him a valuable asset in any defense and security-related discussion.

Viktor Drobotenko, CEO, SK Security
Viktor Drobotenko is a retired police colonel and seasoned security professional with extensive experience in both the public and private security sectors. He spent a significant part of his career in international peacekeeping operations under the UN umbrella and concluded his law enforcement career by coordinating international cooperation in the prevention and investigation of transnational organized cybercrime with the Ukrainian Cyberpolice. For the past five years, Viktor has been leading SK Security, a prominent Ukrainian security consulting company specializing in security situation monitoring and forecasting, corporate intelligence, and investigations. With a deep knowledge of the latest developments in information technologies, Viktor is passionate about modern technology applications in security. His extensive network of contacts in defense, public/private security, and business sectors provides him with a comprehensive understanding of Ukraine’s security situation and insights from the ongoing conflict. Viktor shares his expertise at various business and professional events, discussions, and awareness training sessions.

Foreign Investments to Ukraine: Transparent Business Practices
2024-12-04 12:00 - 14:00 | Online
In September, BIGS organised a PizzaSeminar in Berlin to discuss the security situation in Ukraine and the lessons for foreign investments with our Ukrainian CEDAR partners. Due to the high interest in this topic and some requests to learn more about the tools of our partner organisations, we want to offer the possibility for YouControl to present their solution in more detail to the BIGS community. YouControl is a Ukrainian company that develops open-data solutions for screening businesses and individuals. It allows the user to verify not only Ukrainian counterparts but also to investige connections and to identify ultimate beneficial owners. The event will focus on tools for background checks on business partners, screening procedures for companies as well as business and journalistic investigations.
Join us on December 4th for a discussion on conducting transparent and secure business operations with Ukraine and beyond. Gain insights into the solution offered by YouControl and as always we will have plenty of time for questions. Working language of the event is English.

Register here

About the speaker:

Mykhailo Horobtsov, Chief Product Officer at YouControl
Mykhailo Horobtsov is a seasoned professional with a solid product management background and a proven track record in various international and Ukrainian IT companies. During the last 14 years of industry experience, his career has been a testament to his versatility, as he has developed and managed digital products with various business models, from subscription-based and one-time purchases to web and mobile apps and even ecosystems. For the last 3+ years, he let his teams release 8 open data based products and transform YouControl into the product ecosystem, which includes compliance, background checks, connections, and KYC and KYB solutions. Mykhailo is a Google for Startups alumni and holds a Master’s degree in International Economics. Mykhailo is an open data solutions and product management mentor for various startups and acceleration programs. He is also a Product Management lecturer and course author at Projector Institute.

Disinformation, Political Extremism and the Costs – An econometric analysis within the FERMI project
2025-06-11 12:00 - 14:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
The number of politically motivated crimes (politisch motivierte Kriminalität, PMK) in Germany is on the rise. The German Ministry of the Interior’s recently presented figures point towards a sharp increase across the entire spectrum of the phenomenon. But is there a link between politically motivated crime and disinformation? And if so, what are the effects? The FERMI* project investigates the connection between disinformation and political extremism by analysing the offline risks of disinformation. As part of this project, BIGS has analysed the economic consequences of political extremism in several European countries.
In our next PizzaSeminar, following an introduction to the FERMI platform developed within the project given by Dr. Tobias Mattes, Dr. Adelaide Baronchelli will present the methodology and the results of the econometric analysis. The discussion focuses on how extremism—particularly in the form of extremist crimes—can be measured and integrated into a within country analysis. Using Germany and Spain as reference cases, the seminar outlines the approach adopted within the FERMI project to construct a comparative dataset and explore how political extremism may influence economic welfare.
This PizzaSeminar will take place in English. Participation is possible both in person in Berlin Friedrichstraße and online. Please register via the button below.

Register here

*The Horizon Europe project FERMI develops a framework to detect and monitor the way that Disinformation spreads, both in terms of locations and within different segments of the society, and supports Police Authorities to put in place relevant security countermeasures. Within the project, BIGS focuses on a methodology to make the costs associated with disinformation and its most visible effects in the form of extremism, more transparent and predictable.

About the speakers:
Dr. Adelaide Baronchelli is Senior Research Fellow at BIGS, where she works mainly on the Horizon Europe projects FERMI and CEDAR. Prior to this, she has been an assistant professor at the Department of Economics and Statistics at the University of Turin and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Verona. She obtained an MSc in Economics from the University of Essex and a Ph.D. in Institutions and Policies from the Catholic University of Milan.

Dr. Tobias Mattes is an experienced Police Officer and Researcher. He has been a Bavarian State Police (BSP) Officer since 1999. Between 2007 and 2009 he completed his studies at the University of Applied Sciences for Legal Administration and Legal Affairs Bavaria (Department Police Management and Policing) (BayHfoeD). Later he studied at the German Police University (DHPol), completing the courses in 2018 with a focus on Cybercrime, Radicalization and Extremism. As scientific researcher he is participating and coordinating several Horizon Europe and ISF projects and is member of the Security Advisory Board of the EU projects FERMI, Perivallion and RESONANT. Since 2019 he holds the rank of Chief-Superintendent in the BSP and leads a criminal police department. Further he holds a PhD in the field of Radicalisation and Counterterrorism.

FERMI Final Conference
2025-09-16 09:00 - 16:00 | Berlin-Mitte, Berlin, 10117, Deutschland
For most of us, disinformation seems to be largely an online phenomenon encountered on social media platforms and dubious news sites. However, for law enforcement agencies, the effects of online disinformation can also be seen in offline crimes, such as when false information is used to incite physical violence.
Horizon Europe project FERMI (Fake News Risk Mitigator) examined the nexus between disinformation and crime and developed a set of tools aimed to support law-enforcement agencies in curbing criminal actions resulting from the spread of false messaging by violent extremists. After three years of intense work the project is coming to an end, and we are pleased to invite you to attend the
FERMI Final Conference
on September 16th, 2025,
9am – 4pm
at Humboldt University,
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin.
In three panels, leading experts from academia, technical partners and end-users will present not only the main results of the Fermi project but also insights into technology-driven solutions and the challenges facing practitioners. The agenda can be accessed here.
Participation is possible both in person and online. Please register until September 12th via the link below.

Register here

About the project:
The Horizon Europe project FERMI developd a framework to detect and monitor the way that disinformation spreads, both in terms of locations and within different segments of the society, and supports Police Authorities to put in place relevant security countermeasures. Within the project, BIGS focused on a methodology to make the costs associated with disinformation and its most visible effects in the form of extremism, more transparent and predictable.

The Effect of Terrorism on Public Attitudes and Individual Well-Being in Great Britain
2025-09-18 12:00 - 14:00
How do terrorist attacks make us feel? Beyond the immediate victims and their loved ones, these events often trigger strong emotional and political reactions across society. Not without reason: The aim of terrorist acts is by definition to coerce a response – a change in policy or a change in behaviour – to advance the chosen cause. Yet, the emotional effect on the population has received surprisingly little attention.
In our upcoming PizzaSeminar, Vincenzo Bove, Professor at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, will present research into the emotional and social consequences of terrorism in Great Britain. His presentation will address how major attacks lead to sharp emotional shifts that spill over into attitudes about issues such as security and immigration. These findings provide an important window into how psychological responses shape public opinion and influence policy debates long after the attacks themselves. The seminar will explore the mechanisms behind these changes and together we will discuss what they mean for resilience and democratic discourse.
The Pizza Seminar is part of our FERMI project, in which we aim to measure the effects of disinformation. The PizzaSeminar will be held in English, participation is possible both in person in Berlin-Mitte, Friedrichstraße 185 and online. As usual, there will be time for questions and discussion after the presentation. Please register via the button below.

Register Here

About the speaker:
Vincenzo Bove is Professor of Economics at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca. He is also Honorary Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) at the University of Warwick and RAND Europe Associate. His research expertise lies in the fields of political economy and conflict resolution. His current research interests include civil-military relations, defence economics, international migration, military interventions, UN peacekeeping operations and terrorism. His research has been funded by the AXA Research Fund, the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Swedish Research Council.
