Our second annual Digital Policy Leadership Summit took place 6-7 March, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium!
The Summit was a two-day community event focused on supporting emerging policy leaders. The event brought together experienced policy practitioners with those seeking to deepen and improve their skills and knowledge.
The Event Agenda was co-created with participants before and during the Summit, and the Group Photos captured the energy well...
The Summit was structured around peer knowledge sharing, relationship building and skills development as we welcomed in new voices and worked to both broaden and deepen the community of practitioners working on digital policy issues in the European context. We employed Aspiration’s interactive and participatory approach to convenings, and the agenda was developed in collaboration with participants.
The Summit explored a range of policy and leadership-relevant skills, strategies and topics, including:
- Explorations of "leadership", and how intersectional perspectives such as feminism, social and racial justice analyses challenge the idea of the "typical" Brussels technocrat;
- Crafting strategies to increase the impact of our collective efforts for human rights, racial, climate, and social justice, and sharing best practices for bridging movements;
- Exchanging best practices and learnings for career development, including insights on how to overcome imposter syndrome and finding the right mentor;
- Exploring essential policy skills such as building and refining narrative, and various approaches to self-care and sustainability in policy work;
- Discussing civil society responses to facilitate global actions of solidarity around Gaza, Sudan, and the Congo;
- Deep dives on policy priorities for 2024: what to expect and how to prepare for the next EU mandate; effectively implementing the DSA; what's next for AI in the EU; incorporating a climate justice lens on digital policy; and more.
About those who attended the Digital Policy Leadership Summit
The Summit provided an opportunity to engage in a dynamic exchange of ideas, build meaningful connections, and contribute to shaping the future of digital policy leadership in the European context and beyond. Attributes of the group included:
- New to or aspiring to be in a digital policy role;
- Identifying with a frontline community or network directly impacted by digital policy decisionmaking in Europe and globally;
- Active in an adjacent field and wanting to learn more about digital policy; or
- A seasoned digital policy practitioner looking to support emerging leaders
Interested in participating in the next Summit? Sign up to stay informed on program updates and offerings by emailing policyleadership-updates@aspirationtech.org.