Technology, Economic Security & Strategic Capability
The geopolitical environment has changed fundamentally. Strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, economic fragmentation, artificial intelligence, defence capability, infrastructure vulnerability and the race for technological advantage are reshaping how countries protect prosperity, resilience and influence.
For New Zealand and Australia, the challenge has gone beyond defence and diplomacy. The challenge now is how smaller advanced economies can stay economically credible, technologically capable and strategically connected in a harder and faster moving world.
The Aspen NZ Security Forum brings together leaders across business, technology, investment, defence, infrastructure, government and strategic advisory to examine these shifts in a trusted and highly interactive environment.
Hosted by the Aspen Institute New Zealand, the Forum combines Aspen moderated dialogue with frontier thinking, cross-sector participation and strategic relationship-building.
Forum Themes
The Forum will open with a geopolitical assessment examining the strategic shifts reshaping the Indo-Pacific, the erosion of old assumptions, and the implications for New Zealand’s security, prosperity and long-term positioning.
Pacific Stability, Maritime Security & Strategic Access
The changing balance of power across the Pacific, maritime security, infrastructure competition, critical logistics and the strategic importance of regional access, alliances and resilience.
AI, Cyber & the New Strategic Advantage
Artificial intelligence, cyber resilience, trusted systems and digital infrastructure, and why technological capability now sits at the centre of national power, economic resilience and defence advantage.
Defence Capability, Deterrence & Dual-Use Innovation
The future of defence capability and preparedness, including aerospace, autonomous systems, advanced manufacturing and the expanding role of dual-use technology and private-sector innovation.
Economic Security, Energy & Trusted Supply Chains
How trade exposure, energy resilience, food systems and trusted supply chains are reshaping economic security, strategic investment and national resilience.
The Aspen NZ Security Forum follows the format of the US Aspen Security Forum - widely regarded as the US's foremost national security and foreign policy gathering - bringing that same model of candid, high-level dialogue to the New Zealand, Australia and Pacific context.
The Forum runs across multiple discussion formats: strategic provocations, moderated dialogue tables, fireside conversations and breakout discussions, all structured to draw out cross-sector exchange.
The programme also includes a leadership dinner on Thursday evening, by invitation, and a closing reception on Friday, included to build the networks and relationships that carry forward beyond the Forum.