September 3rd-4th, 2021

6th ZAGREB SECURITY FORUM 2021

Grand Strategy, Foresight and Hybrid Threats 21st Century - Making Society and Critical Infrastructure Resilient


Organized by Hybrid Warfare Research Institute & St. George Association


Due to the latest decision by Croatian national authorities, persons who are going to attend conferences in closed areas, do not need to wear a medical/face protection mask in case that all attendees have a valid EU Digital Covid – 19 certificate.

Therefore, with all other anti-pandemic measures, we are going to organize a system for the EU Digital Covid 19 certificate checking.

Everyone has to have VALID EU DIGITAL COVID 19 certificate.

ec.europa.eu eu-digital-covid-certificate_hr

ec.europa.eu eu-digital-covid-certificate_en

ec.europa.eu eu-digital-covid-certificate_de


 

Day 0: Thursday, September 2nd, 2021


 

20:00  Dinner for Speakers, Panel Chairs, and Guests of Honor  (Invitation only)

 

 


Day 1: Friday, September 3rd, 2021


08:30 – 09:00   Arrival and Registration

09:00 - 09:30  Opening Ceremony – in memory of Prof.Dr. Miroslav Tuđman


Assist.Prof. Gordan Akrap, Hybrid Warfare Research Institute, Zagreb

Mr. Holger Haibach, Head of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Office in Zagreb

Lt. General Mate Pađen, Commandant of the Croatian Defence Academy "Dr. Franjo Tuđman"


09:30- 11.00  Keynote Speakers

Prof.Dr. Shlomo Shpiro, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

Dr. Johannes Gold, KAS Berlin, Germany

Mr. Tomislav Dulibić, State secretary, Ministry of Health, Croatia

Mr. Frano Matušić, State secretary, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Croatia

Mr. Elmar Brok, former member of European Parliament and chairman of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs

Mrs. Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President (2019-2024) of European Commission for Democracy and Demography

Mr. Andrej Plenković, President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia (tbc)


11:00-11:15  Coffee Break

 

11:15-13:15  Panel I

Strategic Foresight and Hybrid Threats

Chair: General (ret.) Mirko Šundov, PhD

Lieutenant General Dr. Florian Coldea, “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, Romania: Intelligence Challenges in Countering Hybrid Threats

Prof.Dr. Shlomo Shpiro, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel: Foresight, Technology, and Hybrid Crisi Management - Lessons Learned from Corona and Afghanistan (online)

Prof.Dr.Gilliam de Valk, University of Leiden: Hybrid warfare and the Grey Zone: to deal with the Shaping of the environment through the concept of Augmented Intelligence

Dr. Vira Ratsiborynska, Free University Brussels (VUB), Belgium: Role of Foresight in Grand Strategy Planning, Development and Training

 

13:15-14:15  Lunch (one non-alcoholic beverage included)

 

14:15-16:15  Panel II

Strategic Challenges and Hybrid Threats to Freedom and Society

Chair: Hrvoje Sagrak, INFODOM, Croatia

Expert commentator/Challenger: Dr. Dorthe Bach Nyemann, Royal Danish Defence College, Denmark (online)

Dr. Jose L. Diego, Ivan L. Martinez, Valencia Local Police: EU – Hybnet

Gen. (res.) Ephraim Lapid, PhD, The Europa Institute, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat - Gan, Israel: Lessons of the Israeli Defense Establishment in Coping with COVID-19 (online)

Prof.Dr. Aleksandra Gasztold, University of Warsaw; Dr. Przemysław Gasztold, War Studies University, Poland: Vulnerability, Risk Analysis and Resilience Management in Critical Infrastructures in Poland and Germany

Prof. Dr. Slavko Vidović, INFODOM group, Prof.Dr. Neven Vrček, Faculty of organisation and informatics, University of Zagreb, Hrvoje Sagrak, CEO INFODOM Zagreb, Croatia: Resilience and Agility in Smart Industry Infrastructure as a Strategic Protection Tool Against Emerging Security Challenges

Col. (ret.) Martti Kari, PhD, Faculty of Information Technology in the University of Jyväskylä: Strategic Culture as a Tool for Foreseeing Hybrid Threats: Russia as a Case Study


16:15-16:40 Coffee Break

 

16.40-18.40 Panel III

NATO and Hybrid Threats

Chair: Assist.Prof. Gordan Akrap, Hybrid Warfare Research Institute, Zagreb

Expert commentator: Neil Chuka, Strategic Analyst/Defence Research and Development Canada Centre for Operational Research and Analysis, Department of National Defence, Canada (online)

Prof. Dr. Yantsislav Yanakiev, Bulgarian Defence Institute “Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov”: Strengthening Societal Resilience of the Allies on the Eastern Flank of NATO as a Means to Protect from Hybrid Threats (online)

Dr. Gintaras Labutis, Military Academy of Lithuania: The Analysis of Foresight Techniques at Lithuanian Armed Forces Long-Term Planning 

Dr. Laris Gaiser: Chinese hybrid warfare approach and the logic of strategy

Dr. Andrew N. Liaropoulos, Assistant Professor, University of Piraeus, RIEAS, Greece: Digital authoritarianism ‘Made in China’: A techno-dystopian future

Dr. Paul Charon, Director for Intelligence, Strategic Foresight and Hybrid Threats at the Institute for Strategic Research: Operation "Infektion 2.0", a deepening of the russianisation of Chinese disinformation campaigns

 


20:00 - Networking dinner for all Forum participants, (two non-alcoholic beverages included)

 


Day 2: Saturday, September 4th, 2021


10.00-11.30 Panel IV

Hybrid Threats and Election Influence Operations – Lessons learned? 

Session Under Chatham House Rules

Chair: Assist.Prof. Gordan Akrap, Prof.Dr. Shlomo Shpiro

Dr. Jerko Livaja, Ministry of the Internal Affairs of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton: Decentralized Security Systems in Hybrid War Conditions with an Emphasis on the Security System in Bosnia and Herzegovina (online)

Ljubomir Filipović, Analyst, Montenegro: Analysis of the foreign malign influence in the Montenegrin election campaign, including the church protests 2019-2020

 

11.30-13.00 Panel V

Hybrid Threats Domains of Appearance

Chair: Prof. Dr. Mladen Vedriš, University of Zagreb

David Snetselaar, The Netherlands Defence Academy and Utrecht University: Governing and Securing Vital Knowledge Warning against hybrid threats in R&D

Athanassios Kosmopoulos, Ministry of Digital Governance, Greece: Preventing and responding to hybrid threats: The Holistic Immunity model

Dr. Barak Bouks, The Europa Institute, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat - Gan, Israel: Hamas' Confrontations with Israel through the Prism of Live Coverage in a Formal TV News Channel (online)

Dr. Maxime Audinet, Institute of Strategic Studies (IRSEM, Paris): Discrediting the French presence? Russia’s informational influence in French-speaking Subsaharan Africa.

13:00-14:00  Lunch (one non-alcoholic beverage included)


14.00-15.30 Panel VI

Young Researchers and Hybrid Threats Resiliency

Chair: ir. Yvan de Mesmaeker, ECSA, Belgium

Rebecca R. Farulli, German Marshall Fund of the United States: Strategic Foresight and Hybrid Threats

Eleni Kapsokoli, University of Piraeus: Western Balkan Jihadism: The Cyber Terror in the EU’s Neighborhood

Michael Wyss, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences at ETH Zurich: The Evolution of Proxy Warfare in the Middle East

Tarik Solmaz: Understanding the Essence of Contemporary Revisionism: Going Beyond Hybrid Warfare 



15.30-16.00 Forum Conclusions

Future Challenges, Joint Responses

Co-chairs: Assist.Prof. Gordan Akrap, Prof. Dr. Shlomo Shpiro

The aim of this session is to integrate the lessons learned from the individual presentations of the previous two days, both in terms of threat analysis and of networked responses. Furthermore, this session will facilitate a wider discussion on the needs for joint capacity building, intensive inter-operability, and mutual multi-level crisis assistance.

 

  • End of the Forum

 


Important COVID-19 information:

  • Forum will be organised according to that-time pandemic situation in a hybrid way – “in situ” and online (via Cisco Webex communication application).
  • Forum will be, just like last one, organised with highest possible epidemiological standards – after last Forum there was no SARS-CoV-2 incidents and infections in the present auditorium.
  • Organizer of the Forum are going to cover accommodation expenses for all speakers;
  • Every activity (conference halls, restaurants, coffee breaks, rooms) are going to be organised in a Hotel due to the disease prevention.
  • Entrance to the Forum area will be allowed only for persons with VALID EU DIGITAL COVID-19 certificate, our ID accreditation and after temperature checking.
  • Forum organizers are reserving the right to change the Program according to the necessities.

 



 

 

 

 

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