Sovereign by Design: Control, Resilience and Innovation (w/ The AI Collective and NEA)

Welcome to a joint event - AI Collective and NEA (Network for Enterprise Architects) adressing the important subject of Sovereignty

In an increasingly digital, connected, and uncertain world, organisations are becoming more dependent on technology, data, infrastructure, platforms, and global supply chains.

This raises an important question:

What does sovereignty mean for organisations today?

This session takes a broader look at sovereignty from different perspectives—including data, technology, infrastructure, security, resilience, regulation, and strategic autonomy.

From Dependency to Deliberate Choice

Most organisations rely on a complex ecosystem of cloud providers, software vendors, data platforms, hardware suppliers, and external partners.

The challenge is not necessarily to eliminate dependencies. It is to understand them—and make deliberate choices about where control, independence, resilience, and trust matter most.

Our starting point is simple:

Sovereignty is about knowing what needs to be controlled, protected, governed, and owned—and where collaboration and external dependency create value.

We will explore three connected perspectives:

01 — Data and Information Sovereignty

Where does critical data reside? Who can access it? How is it governed, protected, and used?

02 — Technology and Infrastructure Sovereignty

Which systems, platforms, infrastructure, and capabilities are critical to control? Where are organisations dependent on suppliers or global ecosystems?

03 — Strategic and Operational Sovereignty

How can organisations balance innovation, efficiency, security, resilience, compliance, and long-term freedom of action?

Different Perspectives on Sovereignty

Sovereignty means different things to different organisations.

For some, it is about protecting sensitive data. For others, it is about operational resilience, regulatory compliance, cyber security, access to critical infrastructure, or reducing dependency on a small number of powerful providers.

It is not about becoming independent from every supplier.

It is about understanding which dependencies are acceptable, which introduce risk, and which capabilities must remain under your control.

The key question is:

What do we need to govern ourselves in order to remain secure, resilient, competitive, and able to act?

Speakers

We are delighted to welcome leaders who will share perspectives from technology, infrastructure, security, biometrics, and enterprise innovation:

• Mats Thulin, Axis
• Lars Larsson Lundsten, Elastisys
• Roger Pettersson, Precise Biometrics
• Jonas Hörström, Qliq
• Benny Olsson, CTO, Norce

Together, they will discuss how sovereignty is shaping technology choices, business strategy, security, innovation, and the future of digital infrastructure.

Moderator

Philippe Höij, DFRNT

Who Should Attend?

• CDOs, CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs
• Technology, data, and infrastructure leaders
• Enterprise architects
• Cybersecurity, risk, legal, and compliance professionals
• Business and transformation leaders
• Engineering and product leaders
• Public-sector and critical-infrastructure professionals
• Anyone interested in digital resilience, strategic autonomy, and long-term technology choices

If you are considering how data, technology, infrastructure, security, and external dependency affect your organisation’s future, this session is for you.

What to Expect

A practical and interactive discussion on a timely and increasingly important topic.

The conversation will hover around questions that leaders need to consider:

• What are our most critical assets and capabilities?
• What dependencies do we have today?
• Which dependencies create value, and which create unacceptable risk?
• How can we innovate while protecting security, resilience, and freedom of action?
• What choices should we make now to remain flexible in the future?

Agenda

Part 1

17:00–17:30 | Registration, Networking & Pizza :)

Part 2

17:30–17:40 | Welcome to NEA and AI Collective - joint event

Part 3

17:40–18:30 | Panel Discussion: Sovereignty—Different Perspectives

Part 4

18:30–19:30 | Discussion & Audience Insights

Part 5

19:30–19:45 | Thank You & Closing 🙂
And for those who would like to continue the conversation, you are very welcome to stay a little longer, grab something to eat, and connect with others in the room.

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As always, food and drink, engaging conversation, and incredible company will all be provided!

Please be advised: Unfortunately, space is very limited at these community events and we can not always accept everyone we would like to. If you are not accepted to this event, please keep applying! We appreciate your application tremendously and we are looking forward to seeing you at a future event very soon!

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The AI Collective is a global non-profit building the human layer for the AI era. We unite 200,000+ leaders, builders, and stakeholders across 100+ forums worldwide to democratize the frontier, build trust, and coordinate how society navigates the rapid acceleration of technological progress.

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