International Security Forum Bonn 2025
October 29th - November 1st, 2025
The International Security Forum Bonn has long served as a platform to convene distinguished international experts and practitioners in the fields of security and foreign policy to debate the future of transatlantic relations and key challenges in international politics. In 2025, the Forum placed a particular focus on the transformation of European security dynamics and the strategic implications of space policy. The aim remained to identify effective approaches for a resilient German, European, and transatlantic foreign and security policy, and to develop comprehensive strategic responses to emerging global threats.
The ISFB consisted of a transatlantic conference day, the Main Day (October 29th), which focused on European security relations, followed by the Bonn Future Lab on Strategic Foresight (October 30th - November 1st), which addressed strategic challenges with a particular emphasis on the future of space security and governance.
We are honored that the International Security Forum Bonn 2025 ran under the patronage of the Minister for Federal, European and International Affairs and Media of North Rhine-Westphalia and Head of the State Chancellery, Nathanael Liminski. During the Main Day, held under the title “Ruptures Waiting for Responses. Reconsidering European Security Relations,” international experts gathered in Bonn to assess the evolving European security architecture in light of deepening geopolitical fragmentation. What shifts are underway within the Transatlantic Alliance? How should German, European, and American foreign and security policy adapt to a landscape shaped by uncertainty, multipolarity, and war on the EU’s borders?
One panel also addressed the state of Middle Eastern geopolitics, examining regional rivalries and emerging opportunities for cooperation. Another panel revisited the strategic role of so-called middle powers in a world increasingly focused on Great Power competition — asking what potential these actors hold for rebalancing and stabilizing international security cooperation in times of geopolitical volatility.
The Main Day was followed by Bonn Future Lab on Strategic Foresight. In 2025, we had the great privilege to run the Bonn Future Lab unter the aegis of Federal Minister Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space. The format consisted of two main elements: First, an international conference day focused on the theme “Securing a Sustainable Space.” Discussions explored space as a critical domain for security, economic development, and multilateral governance. This was ensued by an intensive Strategic Foresight Workshop, where young professionals (“decision-makers of the day after tomorrow”) engaged with methods of strategic foresight after being introduced to key challenges by high-level expert panels. The Bonn Future Lab is part of the broader research initiative Sicherheitsforschung NRW.
More information about the International Security Forum 2025 can be found below.
Opening and Words of Welcome
Prof. Dr. Volker Kronenberg
Speaker and Director of CASSIS
Prof. Dr. Birgit U. Münch
Vice Rector for International Affairs of the University of Bonn
Keynote 1 “Transatlantic Security – Time for a Requiem?“
Ambassador retd. Daniel Benjamin, President of the American Academy in Berlin
Keynote 2 “Awake at Last? German Security Policies in the Age of Polycrisis“
Ms. Sara Nanni, MP, Spokesperson for Security Policy for the BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN Parliamentary Group
Panel 1: “The Goals are Known, But the Path Is Unclear – Reconsidering European Security Relations“
- Dr. Hans-Peter Bartels, German Society for Security Policy (GSP)
- Ambassador retd. Claude-France Arnould, Brussels Institute for Geopolitics
- Prof. Dr. Artur Gruszczak, Jagiellonian University Krakow
- Dr. Sarah Kirchberger, Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK)
Chair: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schlie, CASSIS
Panel 2 “Responding to Technological Ruptures. Digital Dependencies during Geopolitical Rivalries”
- Ms. Julia Ebert, Vodafone Institute
- Dr. Sven Herpig, Interface
- Prof. Dr. Paul Timmers, European University Cyprus
- PD Dr. Laura Mahrenbach, Technical University Munich & Quincy Institute (USA)
Chair: Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer, CASSIS
Panel 3 “Between Normalization and Conflagration: Decoding the Middle East’s Competing Futures“
- Dr. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG) & CASSIS
- PD Dr. Evelyn Bokler-Völkel, CASSIS
- Dr. Gedaliah Afterman, Abba Eban Institute & CASSIS
- Dr. Désirée Kaiser, University of Bonn
Chair: Ambassador retd. Prof. James D. Bindenagel, CASSIS
Opening and Words of Welcome
Dr. Enrico Fels
Managing Director of CASSIS
Keynote 1: "Rise up! The Strategic Necessity of Advancing the European Space Economy"
Matthias Wachter, Managing Director at NewSpace Initiative, Federation of German Industries (BDI)
Panel 1: "Strategic Conditions for a Sustainable European Space Industry"
- Ms. Sabine von der Recke, OHB Systems AG
- Dr. Susanne Heckrodt, German Space Agency
- Prof. Dr. Bruno Reynaud De Sousa, University of Minho
- Dr. Susann Lüdtke, Lüdtke Intelligence & Analytics
Chair: Prof. Géraud Gaillard, International Space University
Keynote 2: "Space as an Indispensable Ecosystem for Sustaining Security"
Maj. Gen. Michael Traut, Head of the German Bundeswehr's Space Command
Panel 2: "Space Between Securitization and the Astropolitical Needs for Security"
- Dr. Béatrice Hainaut, Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l’Ecole Militaire (IRSEM)
- PD Dr. Antje Nötzold, University of the Bundeswehr Munich & CASSIS
- Prof. Dr. Bleddyn Bowen, Durham University
- Mr. Tal Inbar, Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance
Chair: Dr. Gilles Rabin, Hic et Nunc
Keynote 3: “Ensuring Governance and Governability of a Sustainable Space in an Age of Astropolitik”
Dr. Gerald Braun, Permanent Deputy to the Director of Security and Special Assignments, German Space Agency at DLR
Panel 3: “Space Governance amidst the Decay of Multilateralism”
- Prof. Dr. Mai’a Cross, Northeastern University Boston
- Dr. Kunhan Li, Digital Economic Security Lab (DIESL), Aalto University
- Ms. Juliana Süß, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)
- Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dr. h.c. Stephan Hobe, Director of the Institute for Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law at the University of Cologne
Chair: Mr. Jens Schroeter, ArianeGroup
Evening Reception
At the Academy for International Affairs NRW (AIA)
Welcome
Dr. Mayssoun Zein Al Din, Director of the Academy for International Affairs NRW (AIA)
Dinner Speech on "Europe's Future in Space"
State Secretary Paul F. Höller, Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Chair: PD Dr. Antje Nötzold, University of the Bundeswehr Munich & CASSIS
Friday, October 31st
Welcome
Dr. Enrico Fels, Managing Director of CASSIS
Wake-Up Call: "Auf Wiedervorlage. Über die außen- und sicherheitspolitische Strategiefähigkeit der Bundesregierung"
- Prof. Dr. René Bantes, Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis (INT)
- Dr. Henning Riecke, Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik (BAKS)
- Dr. Olaf Theiler, Bundeswehr Planning Office
Chair: Sibel Öztürk-Baştanoğlu, Hanns Seidel Foundation
- Recap & introduction
- Information on the workshop schedule
- Methodology: Strategic foresight
- Key factors & projections
- Presentation of the environmental analysis
- Selection of key factors and projections
- Development of scenarios
Saturday, November 1st
- Development of scenarios (cont.)
- Presentation of scenarios
- Methodology: Strategy development
- Development of strategies
"Sharktank of the Futures"
Presentation of scenarios and strategies with practitioners and experts
- Dr. Julia Leininger, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
- Katja Grünfeld, Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law at the University of Cologne
- Dr. Arne Sönnichsen, Institut für qualifizierende Innovationsforschung und -beratung (IQIB)
- Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, CASSIS
