B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s/B/r/u/s/s/e/l/s///I/n/s/t/i/t/u/t/e///f/o/r///G/e/o/p/o/l/i/t/i/c/s

12 Mar 2025
Book launch

Tech sovereignty – What does it mean?

“World Builders” by Bruno Maçães and expert panel on AI and geopolitics

Wed 12 Mar 2025, 17h30

Avenue Palmerston 4, Brussels
REGISTER HERE

Add to Calendar

Join us for the launch of World Builders: Technology and the New Geopolitics by Bruno Maçães, followed by an in-depth discussion on tech sovereignty featuring the author and two other leading thinkers in geopolitics and technology, Ophélie Coelho and Daniel Mügge.

The event will be followed by a reception. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Programme

17h00
Doors open

17h30
Part 1: Book launch – Bruno Maçães in conversation with Luuk van Middelaar
Part 2: Panel – Tech Sovereignty: What Does It Mean?

Panelists

Bruno Maçães, a political philosopher, has taught at universities in Seoul and Berlin and served as Portugal’s Secretary of State for European Affairs during the eurozone crisis. Alongside World Builders (2025), he has authored several books, including Geopolitics for the End Time (2021) and The Dawn of Eurasia (2018). As a consultant, he advises the world’s largest companies on geopolitics and technology. A foreign correspondent for New Statesman, he has reported from Ukraine during the war.

Ophélie Coelho is an independent researcher specializing in digital geopolitics. A member of the scientific council at the Observatory of Public Ethics and the Rousseau Institute, she has authored several key reports on the topic. She is also the author of Géopolitique du numérique: l'impérialisme à pas de géants (2023).

Daniel Mügge is Professor of Political Arithmetic at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). As leader of the NWO Vici project RegulAite, he investigates how the EU governs artificial intelligence and how these politics are shaped by global geopolitical and economic competition. At the UvA, he is also co-founder of the research platform and the research priority area AI & Politics. Before starting his work on AI, Daniel explored the political underbelly of macroeconomic statistics with his FickleFormulas project. A political economist by training, he has been a visiting researcher at Harvard’s Center for European Studies, the London School of Economics and the Freie Universität Berlin, his alma mater.

Concept & Context

Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping global power dynamics. While Europe has been a global leader in AI regulation with the AI Act and the Digital Services Act, it has struggled to cultivate a competitive homegrown tech sector capable of rivaling the US and China.

Without a robust European AI and tech sphere, Europe risks ceding control over critical technologies, potentially compromising its democratic resilience and strategic autonomy. How can Europe strike the right balance between regulation and competitiveness? What does true tech sovereignty mean in today’s world?

About the book

In World Builders, Bruno Maçães argues that geopolitics is no longer just about controlling territory—it’s about creating it. In this new technologically advanced era, great powers seek to build entire worlds for others to inhabit, controlling the rules and shaping the future.

From technology wars between China and the U.S. to the energy transition, pandemics, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, Maçães connects the dots to unveil a new global reality. In the future, he argues, the metaverse and artificial intelligence won’t just shape the world—they will be the world. How will power and sovereignty function in this new reality?

Book launch in collaboration with Cambridge University Press & Waterstones