High-Level Conference “Democratic Resilience, AI, and Cognitive Security” organised by the NATO Defense College Foundation, in cooperation with the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Council on Environmental Economics and Development (ICEED), Fondazione CSF, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
According to the 2026 Media Literacy Index (Open Society Institute, Sofia), the Western Balkans remains among the least resilient regions in Europe to disinformation. Persistent gaps in early warning, detection and analytical capacities (particularly in OSINT, AI assisted analysis and network tracing), leave local actors largely reactive, reinforcing the asymmetry between low-cost manipulation and resource-intensive defence.
The event will bring together young researchers, experts, institutional representatives, and senior decision-makers to discuss the key challenges related to democratic resilience, information integrity, and the growing impact of emerging technologies and hybrid threats in the Balkans and Black Sea region, also in light of their implications for European Union security and policies.
See the programme of the Conference (PDF).
You can follow the afternoon session of the Conference on YouTube.
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