CERIS workshop on Strategic Autonomy for Critical Entities

Our society relies on critical infrastructure to provide essential services. Challenges ranging from natural disasters to hybrid attacks have made the technological and strategic autonomy of critical entities a political necessity.

The European Union has increasingly emphasised the need to strengthen its capacity to act without excessive reliance on non-European actors. The 2023 European Economic Security Strategy translated this ambition into a risk-management framework. It identifies vulnerabilities stemming from strategic dependencies, technology leakage, foreign interference and critical supply-chain vulnerabilities. Strategic autonomy should not only protect Europe’s critical assets and essential services, but simultaneously help Europe become more innovative, productive and competitive.

This workshop will explore the importance of strategic autonomy, cybersecurity and physical resilience of critical entities from social, technological, legal and economic angles. It will examine the mechanisms and stress points affecting critical entities that may create vulnerabilities linked to over-reliance on non-European suppliers.