As Europe seeks to consolidate its leadership in the global digital economy, data centres are emerging as the backbone of competitiveness and innovation, powering not only digitalisation and cloud services but also the rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence across industries.

At the same time, these infrastructures are highly resource-intensive, consuming significant amounts of electricity and water for cooling. Europe faces the challenge of aligning the growth of AI-driven innovation with its sustainability and decarbonisation objectives. This panel will explore current and future solutions for integrating AI-enabled data centres sustainably into the European energy system and examine how EU legislation can support these efforts.

Pipelines, terminals, grids, and data centres have become strategic assets in a world of drones, cyber intrusions, and hybrid threats. Energy infrastructure is no longer only regulated and financed. It is now a frontline element of Europe’s security landscape.

This discussion will bring together defence, energy, and industry voices to look at how Europe protects and hardens its energy backbone. It will explore hybrid threat scenarios, dual-use technologies, risk mapping, resilience standards, and the respective roles of public authorities and private operators in planning, prevention, and response.

Electrification is the foundation of Europe’s decarbonisation and competitiveness strategy. Yet many grids were not built for this scale and speed of change. Investment needs are huge, timelines are tight, and delays can derail business plans.

This session will look at how Europe can upgrade and extend its grid infrastructure while keeping the system reliable and affordable. It will cover interconnections, smarter planning, storage integration, and new flexibility tools, always from the perspective of project pipelines and industrial needs.

Innovative projects and high-growth cleantech companies too often lose precious months or years in complex permitting and fragmented rules. Simpler rules are essential for scaling clean technologies and supporting innovative companies. The 2026 Energy Omnibus and innovation agenda aim to change that by cutting red tape and making life easier for SMEs and scaleups.

This panel will focus on simplification that makes a tangible difference on the ground: shorter procedures, clearer criteria, one-stop shops, better alignment across borders. Entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers will discuss where progress is real, where it is still stuck, and what is needed next.

Europe faces a strategic challenge: strengthening energy security and strategic autonomy while accelerating the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon energy system. Geopolitical tensions, market volatility and rising demand are reshaping Europe’s energy landscape, increasing external vulnerabilities but also creating a window of opportunity for the EU to lead globally in clean technologies and sustainable energy models. Building on the Antwerp Declaration, this panel will examine how Europe can safeguard its energy future by diversifying its energy mix, reinforcing resilience, maintaining affordability for industry and consumers, and leveraging the clean energy transition to drive innovation, enhance technological leadership, and shape global sustainability standards. It will also discuss how Europe can balance its ambition for greater autonomy with the need for deeper cross-border cooperation, positioning the EU as a global leader in the green economy.

Energy infrastructure is a cornerstone of the European Union’s strategic autonomy, competitiveness, and economic resilience. As the EU accelerates electrification, scales up renewable energy generation, and diversifies energy carriers, the central challenge is no longer ambition, but the capacity to deliver at speed and at scale across Member States. Europe’s energy transition depends on an integrated, cross-border approach that connects offshore energy hubs, reinforced electricity grids, hydrogen and CO₂ networks, and industrial demand centres into a coherent European system.

This session explores how coordinated infrastructure investment, technological innovation, and enhanced cooperation between Member States can strengthen Europe’s energy backbone. It will examine how EU-level policy frameworks, private investment, and cross-border governance must align to ensure security of supply, affordability for citizens and industry, and long-term competitiveness. By focusing on delivery and system integration, the discussion will highlight how Europe can turn its energy transition into a strategic advantage for its economy and its global position.

Hydrogen in Europe is shifting from vision to execution. The EU aims to produce 10 million tonnes and import 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually by 2030, with the expectation that hydrogen will meet around 10% of Europe’s energy demand by 2050. As a result, hydrogen is becoming a strategic pillar of the Green Deal and REPowerEU. Yet fundamental questions remain about where hydrogen genuinely creates more value than direct electrification, how quickly infrastructure can scale, and how early projects will manage and recover the green premium in a competitive global market.

This session will explore concrete European use cases now emerging in freight corridors, ports, airports, and industrial clusters, where hydrogen is being tested for heavy road transport, clean shipping fuels, synthetic aviation fuels, and the decarbonisation of steel, chemicals, and refining. It will ask which of these applications can become bankable, replicable, and scalable by 2030.

In a world of tighter resources, climate stress, and geopolitical risk, waste streams and water are becoming strategic assets. Circular models and resource efficiency are not just environmental add-ons; they are tools to stabilise costs and secure inputs.

This panel will explore how industrial players use secondary raw materials, advanced recycling, and smarter water management to strengthen resilience and support clean technology deployment. Speakers will share practical experiences from sectors that already see circularity as part of their competitiveness playbook.

This panel will unpack how tariff reforms, energy taxation, demand-side flexibility, and local energy markets can translate into real savings and new business opportunities. Companies and policymakers will share concrete examples of cost-cutting, risk reduction, and value creation.forward electrification and clean solutions.

This panel will unpack how tariff reforms, energy taxation, demand-side flexibility, and local energy markets can translate into real savings and new business opportunities. Companies and policymakers will share concrete examples of cost cutting, risk reduction, and value creation.