Finland and Atlantic Council convene experts to chart a safe course through intensifying ‘techgeopolitics’

In a new paper launched today, authors from the Atlantic Council and Finnish Foreign Ministry examine the transformation of technology and work, and evaluate the transition’s geopolitical impact.

Building on the report’s findings, the Embassy of Finland and the Atlantic Council convened senior experts and policy-makers, including Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger, Atlantic Council CEO Fred Kempe, and Finnish Permanent State Secretary Matti Anttonen, to seek ways to galvanize emerging tech to empower people, prosperity, and democracy.

New technologies are increasingly at the heart of global rivalry. Technological changes pose serious legal, ethical and social questions about human rights and competition. Great powers, the United States and China in particular, are striving for digital supremacy while the European Union seeks to exert its normative power.

The independent report paints a rather bleak picture of the pressure the latest industrial revolution puts on democratic systems and the global order. The authors urge democratic societies to mitigate the negative externalities with better cooperation, regulation and social policies.

“Technological leaps help us tackle climate, health, and other global challenges, but they also inevitably transform the very foundations of local and international politics. The urgent challenge now is to bring policy-making up to speed with the rapid advancement in technology. Strong transatlantic partnerships will be essential to keeping technology human-centric and founded on democratic principles”, said Matti Anttonen, Permanent State Secretary at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Today’s event, co-organized by the Embassy of Finland and the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center, brought together close to 100 people from the administration, academia and the media. The event is part of Finland’s contribution to the Summit for Democracy. The public livestream, which covers the report launch, two panel presentations, and a keynote speech featuring Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, can be accessed as a recording at https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/livestream-galvanizing-emerging-tech-to-empower-people-prosperity-and-democracy/(Link to another website.)

The independent report “Unpacking the Geopolitics of Technology: Galvanizing emerging tech to empower people, prosperity, and democracy” is available online on the same page.

For more information and interview requests, please contact:
Pasi Rajala, Press counselor, Embassy of Finland, pasi.rajala (at) formin.fi