17
Digital Sovereignty – Competing Frontiers
- Topic: Defense
- Time: 17.02.2026, 17:00 to 17:45
- Location: Main Stage
- Language:
In this panel, four experts step into the role of a state and argue unapologetically from that national perspective. Representing China, the United States, Europe, and North Korea, they confront each other on what digital sovereignty truly means in a fragmented and increasingly weaponised digital world. The discussion moves beyond theory into power, control, dependency, and strategic survival. What emerges is not consensus, but a raw comparison of values, interests, and red lines shaping the future of cyberspace. The audience is invited to witness how the same term can justify openness, control, resilience, isolation, or dominance, depending on who defines it.
Speaker
Nathalie Gratzer
Nathalie Gratzer is the Swiss contribution to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) and a Strategy Researcher specialising in critical information infrastructure protection. At CCDCOE, she advances public private partnerships to strengthen collective capabilities in cyberspace operations. With a Master’s degree in Business Information Systems and as an officer in the Cyber Battalion 42 of the Swiss Armed Forces, she bridges policy, technology, and operational practice. Her work is driven by a clear ambition: enabling proactive cyber defence while safeguarding trust, transparency, and international stability.
Reto Vogt
Journalist & expert in AI and technology Since 2026, he has been Chief Program Officer at MAZ Lucerne, where he designs training and continuing education programs. Previously, he headed the Digital Media and AI division there and was editor-in-chief of inside-it.ch. He has many years of experience in tech journalism, advises media companies on the strategic use of AI, and regularly appears as a keynote speaker and moderator on topics related to the digital future.
Jiro Minier
Jiro Minier leads the Threat Intelligence Research & Analysis team at the Deutsche Cyber-Sicherheitsorganisation (DCSO), a Berlin-based cybersecurity competence center, with a personal research focus on China-nexus cyberespionage activity. He is actively involved in the policy sphere, including as a NextGen Fellow at the NATO Defense College and as a member of the German Marshall Fund’s Young Strategists Forum. He has held prior fellowships with Virtual Routes and the Centre for International Security at the Hertie School in Berlin and holds degrees from the LSE and University of Cambridge.
Philipp Leo
Philipp Leo is a cyber risk expert and partner at Leo & Muhly Cyber Advisory. He advises national and international authorities and organisations, combining technical expertise with experience in business, administration and defence. As an international speaker, he talks about digitalisation, information security and digital resilience. He also chairs the Cyber Officers' Association.