The 13th Aspen Annual Conference will take place on 29 January 2026 in Prague, at the Prague Crossroads Centre, bringing together approximately 300 leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society. Organized by Aspen Institute Central Europe, the conference is one of the key platforms for transatlantic dialogue in Central Europe.
Keynote speakers of the 2026 edition include Lord David Cameron, former Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom; Mari Kiviniemi, former Prime Minister of Finland; and Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner. Taking place amid significant geopolitical shifts, security challenges, and rapid technological change, the conference will assess the future role of the transatlantic partnership in maintaining global stability, prosperity, and innovation.
Alongside the keynote speakers, the conference will host a distinguished group of international and Czech participants, including Lt. Gen. (Ret.) DeAnna Burt, former U.S. Deputy Chief of Space Operations; Jaya Baloo, globally recognized cybersecurity expert and former CISO of Avast; Jozef Síkela, European Commissioner; Miloš Vystrčil, President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; Robert Plaga, Minister of Education; and Jan Švejnar, leading global economist, founder of CERGE-EI, and professor at Columbia University in New York, alongside many other experts.
The program is structured around five thematic areas central to the future of transatlantic cooperation: geopolitics and strategy, economic competitiveness, education, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and energy security.
The Aspen Annual Conference is a flagship event of Aspen Institute Central Europe and has been held annually since the Institute’s founding in Prague in 2012. Over the years, it has welcomed prominent global leaders and thinkers, including Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine; Alexander Stubb, former Prime Minister and President of Finland; Petr Pavel, President of the Czech Republic; Andrej Kiska, former President of Slovakia; Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of Estonia; Petr Fiala, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic; Timothy Garton Ash, Professor at the University of Oxford; and Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission.