VICESSE is honoured to welcome Dr. Georgios Kolliarakis for a Brownbag discussion on the 12th of June. An Abstract of the his presentation is as follows:

An increasing number of emerging technologies and their convergence across the ICT, biological, chemical, etc. fields has the potential to be used both for beneficial as well as for malicious purposes. A European Union shift towards more strategic R&D policies that foster synergies among the civil, space, and defence domains appears necessary in order to strengthen European autonomy and capacity to act within an ongoing tense geopolitical context. Cutting-edge innovation is key to raising the level of national security and citizens' protection. At the same time, the globalized character of R&D value chains, and the involvement of a rising number of RTOs, SMEs and university research institutes in those chains generate a challenge of unprecedented scale: How to protect those technologies from illicit, intended or non-intended, diversion and misuse. In that respect, it is crucial to become aware and get a better control of a "double criticality" associated with emerging dual-use technology R&D, on the one hand, and the challenges of controlling the risk of their international transfer.

In regards to Dr. Georgios Kolliarakis himself, it is notable that Dr Georgios Kolliarakis works with the German Council on Foreign Relations and has a long track record in security policy analysis. He advises national ministries and international bodies – including the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and the OECD – on issues of anticipatory security governance, strategic foresight, and the transfer of evidence to policy. He is a member of the International Network for Government Science Advice, the European Association for the Studies of Science and Technology and belongs to the DIN Standard Interdisciplinary Working Committee on Artificial Intelligence, and to the European External Action Service/Foreign Policy Instrument Dual Use and International Security programme experts.