24-25 June 2025 I had the opportunity to attend the German-American Trade and Tech Conference, Navigating Global Disruptions: Trade, Technology and Transatlantic Cooperation. The conference was organized by the Aspen Institute Germany and took place at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the Federal Government.
Through the conference, the sketch of a new digital imperative to deal with contemporary challenges emerged.
From Efficiency to Resilience: Navigating the New Digital Era
After two decades obsessed with fast implementation, we’re witnessing a strategic pivot toward resiliency and redundancy—driven by geopolitical tensions and the mounting failures of hastily delivered, poorly strategized technology. This shift goes beyond technology and encompasses how we strategize national security, economic competitiveness, architect international cooperation, and the very foundations of our digital infrastructure.
The Cultural Shift: Cybersecurity as More Than Technology
No longer confined to IT departments, cybersecurity is emerging as both a managerial responsibility and a cultural transformation. An organization’s digital security posture now reflects its values, strategic vision, and priorities. This shift underscores that cybersecurity isn’t just about firewalls and encryption—it’s about leadership, accountability, and shared purpose across the enterprise.
The EU Cyber Resilience Act, along with ISO and BSI frameworks, explicitly require security by design and by default and elevate cyber resilience to a board-level priority. Standards and frameworks are reinforcing this transition. ISO/IEC 27001:2022, for example, highlights the managerial imperative by requiring top leadership to actively support and guide the information security management system (ISMS).
ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Control 5.3 Explained | ISMS.online
ISO 27001 Clause 5.3: Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities
Similarly, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) advances this agenda through its Handbuch für das Management von Cyber-Risiken, which encourages executives to treat cybersecurity as a business-wide risk.
ACS – Management von Cyberrisiken
Changing priorities in Digitalization: Resiliency and Redundancy after two decades of focus on efficiency and execution
Business and political leaders, as well as practitioners are increasingly becoming cognizant of the imperative to focus on resiliency and redundancy after a digitalization culture fixated on “build it, break it, fix it.” IBM released its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report revealing the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.88 million in 2024.
IBM Report: Escalating Data Breach Disruption Pushes Costs to New Highs
This shift represents more than just a technical upgrade—it signals a deeper realignment of our research and development priorities and realization of the necessity to build fault-tolerant systems, and proactive risk assessment frameworks.
The challenge is not only technological but also philosophical: how do we build systems that are both innovative and resilient, agile yet secure? The answers will define the next generation of digital infrastructure.
Global Governance: Three Approaches to Governing Digitalization
The international landscape reveals three distinct approaches to AI and digital governance:
The United States champions a market-centric model, emphasizing innovation and competitive dynamics to drive technological advancement. This approach prioritizes economic growth and technological leadership through private sector innovation.
China implements a state-centric framework, where government direction and strategic planning guide technological development. This model emphasizes national coordination and long-term strategic objectives.
Europe pursues a human-centric approach, prioritizing individual rights, ethical considerations, and societal impact. This is exemplified by initiatives like the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence.
These divergent philosophies create both opportunities for cooperation and challenges for establishing universal standards and AI accords. There is also the UN-driven Global Digital Compact.
The Economics of Resilience
The shift toward resilience comes with significant economic implications. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has historically been deflationary, driving down costs across industries. However, building resilient systems requires investment in redundancy, security measures, and robust supply chains—all of which increase costs.
This economic reality forces governments and organizations to carefully balance efficiency gains with security requirements. The question becomes: how much are we willing to pay for resilience, and how do we optimize this investment?
Technological Sovereignty: Emergence of US & Chinese “Stacks,” while Europe struggles
The global technology landscape is fragmenting into distinct ecosystems. We’re seeing the emergence of potentially separate technology stacks—one centered around China, another around the United States and its allies. Europe’s attempts at technological sovereignty, such as the Gaia-X initiative, have struggled to gain significant traction, raising questions about the continent’s ability to maintain technological independence.
Factors such as fragmented markets, structure of financing innovation with greater focus on public funding and less aggressive venture capital, and slower coordination across member states have limited Europe’s ability to offer a unified and compelling alternative stack on the global stage.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) and Horizon Europe are the EU’s main public funding programs. In 2025, the EIC will allocate over €1.4 billion to deep tech and strategic scale-ups, while Horizon Europe will invest €7.3 billion in R&D focused on green and digital transitions, health, and competitiveness—part of its €95 billion budget for 2021–2027.
Despite progress, Europe still trails the U.S. and China in venture capital and risk appetite. Public funding helps fill the gap, but scaling strategic tech and AI globally will require far greater private capital mobilization.
EU Framework Programmes – Science Europe
Supply chain resilience has become a strategic imperative
Supply chain resilience has become a strategic imperative. The lack of viable, secure supply chains poses national security risks and economic vulnerabilities. Organizations must now consider not just the cost and efficiency of their supply chains, but their security, resilience, and geopolitical implications.
The Path Forward: For aerospace, digital and beyond
Technology itself is not the goal—it’s a tool for achieving strategic objectives.
Too often, organizations and governments become fixated on specific technologies without clearly defining their strategic goals.
Aerospace:
Emerging technologies in aerospace—including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), digital twin technology, and vertical take-off capabilities—will reshape both civilian and military applications. Space re-entry technologies and ecosystem competition will define the next phase of space-based security infrastructure.
Key enabling technologies:
- Zero-trust architecture as a foundation for security
- Process intelligence to understand and optimize complex systems
Beyond technology:
- Inclusive approaches that consider all stakeholders of users, across geography, “social classes,” identities and beyond.
- Trust-building mechanisms that enable cooperation while maintaining security.
- Moving quick, while maintaining security how can we keep up the pace while being secure and resilient?
Building Common Ground
As we navigate this transition from efficiency to resilience, success will depend not just on technological capabilities, but on our ability to build systems that are secure, inclusive, and aligned with our strategic objectives. The organizations and nations that master this balance will shape the digital future.
The question isn’t whether we can afford to invest in resilience—it’s whether we can afford not to. In an interconnected world where digital infrastructure underpins everything from economic activity to national security, resilience isn’t just a technical requirement—it’s a strategic imperative.
Special thanks to Aspen Institute Germany
A personal highlight was 🎤 was my impromptu participation in the “Sky High Stakes: The Future of Aerospace and Transport” panel with Jan Dittberner, Lars Purkarthofer, Clayton Swope, Marie-Christine von Hahn and the incredible Stormy-Annika Mildner, as shown in the photo above, courtesy of the Aspen Institute Germany Team.
When I first started writing about making money from data, I never imagined it would bring me to global conversations like this. 🌍💬
🙏 Thank you Aspen Institute Germany for making me part of your family and including me in this amazing conference. Thanks to all the inspiring people I met and listened to. Please feel free to connect and reach out!
