Europe’s next chapter: how to unlock growth, steer innovation, and govern AI in a contested world

Fri 20 February

TBC

Europe is at a crossroads: slower growth, rising geopolitical pressure, and accelerating technological change are forcing hard choices. Europe’s next chapter is a political and policy-focused panel exploring what Europe should prioritise next, and how leaders can actually deliver.

The discussion will focus on strategy, trade-offs, and execution: Europe’s competitiveness agenda, innovation and industrial policy, the politics of reform, and the governance choices around AI that will shape prosperity, sovereignty, and democratic resilience for decades to come.

Guest speakers

Gabriel Attal is currently General Secretary of Renaissance, the principal centrist, pro-European party in President Emmanuel Macron’s political family, and leads the Renaissance group in the French National Assembly, where he represents the Hauts-de-Seine constituency.

The Rt Hon Liam Booth-Smith is a British political adviser and member of the House of Lords, with experience at the centre of UK government and at the frontier of emerging technology policy.

Dr Gillian Tett was elected to serve as Provost to King’s College, Cambridge, in 2023. Gillian also writes weekly columns covering economic, financial, political, and social issues for the US Financial Times and is the co-founder of FT Moral Money.

Dame Menna Rawlings became President of Queens’ College Cambridge, on 1 October 2025. This followed a long career in diplomacy and public service. Previously, Menna was British Ambassador to France and to Monaco (2021-2025) and British High Commissioner to Australia (2015-2019).

Organiser and opening remarks

Hugo Martin de Faure is an MPhil in Public Policy student at the Bennett School of Public Policy Cambridge, focused on technology policy, state capacity, and frontier innovation governance. He is a graduate of INSEAD and EHL.

This is a student led event, supported by the Bennett School of Public Policy.

Cost: Free - booking required