On June 24^th, CSCD’s Ambassadors Lounge hosted a Conference on Cyber Security, made possible in collaboration with the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Danish Parliament, MP Mr. Martin Lidegaard, and the Israeli Embassy and His Excellency Mr. David Akov.

The conference focussed on Israeli cyber capabilities and the Danish lessons that can be learnt from it.

It was a pleasure to be back with a physical conference and it was an honour to welcome our participating guests, prominent speakers, and excellencies – we have been looking forward to this day for a long time!

The conference subject, Cyber Security, is a topic in rapid development around the globe and with the current challenges worldwide, focus on cyber security and cyber infrastructure has never been more demanding or more vital.

Three leading Israeli cyber experts were brought to Denmark: Mr. Ram Levi (one of the architects of the cyber array in the Israeli PMO), Brig. General Ms. Sharon Nir (former Israeli military Head of Cyber and Communications School), and Mr. Shmulik Rotshas who represented Cyberstar (the first company to offer maritime cyber protection services). They shared their insights as to why Israel has become a global powerhouse and leading country in the field of cyber – relying on its strength in both security and technology.

We learned that 40% of all private cyber investments in the World are invested – in absolute numbers – in Israeli companies and that a third of the World’s unicorn cyber companies – private start-ups worth at least $1 billion – are Israeli. Today, cyber accounts for 15% of Israeli high-tech exports, which is about half of the total exports of the State of Israel and is still growing.

Our prominent Israeli guests were joined by Danish top experts: CEO & Founder of the Praesidio Group, Ms. Susanne Skov Diemer, Market Director in the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Anders Thomsen, Rear Admiral (retired) Mr. Torben Ørting Jørgensen, and Partner at Deloitte and Head of Detect and Response – Cyber Risk Advisory Denmark, Mr. Martin Wang Nexø, who each shared their unique perspectives from their vast experience and heightened the panel discussions even further.

The panellists touched upon crucial aspects of cyber security relevant in Denmark specifically, namely the eco-system and governmental role in establishing viable cyber protection, especially in the private sector against which 95% of cyber attacks are directed, and they discussed general cyber awareness in society and cyber training in the military and academia, and the need of a strong political prioritization of the issue, with examples of maritime cyber-attacks and lessons deduced after the Maersk attach in 2017.

We are honoured that such prominent experts took part in the conference to share their knowledge and discuss matters affected by – and related to – Cyber Security, and the opportunities this represents to National, Regional and Global interests. 

Our skilled moderators, Mr. Kristian Mouritzen from the Berlingske Group and Prof. Karen Lund Pedersen from DIIS, led the conference and panel discussions with grace, before guests filled with new knowledge and eager to know more concluded the day with on-point questions for discussion in the Q&A-session, where the moderators skilfully tied it all together with answers from the panel of speakers.

By the end of the successful conference, we had a graduation ceremony for the CSCD Youth Academy students, that received their certificates of completion on this day.  

The CSCD Youth Academy is our newest initiative launched this spring, with the purpose to foster diplomatic dialogue and cultural exchange between top talented Danish students – with a special interest in diplomacy and foreign policy – and Ambassadors in Copenhagen.

This semester we had the exquisite honour to visit the embassies of; Croatia – Argentina – China – Serbia – and Slovenia, which generously invited our selected students to their embassies and have shown them the inside world of diplomacy, to build bridges between diplomacy and top talented students who will be the future Danish Diplomats, Policy Makers, and Stake Holders of Denmark.

We call this rare concept “Have Tea with the Ambassador” and will continue after the summer with five new embassies.

It was great to be back with a conference in physical form and we are deeply grateful to all parties who contributed to the success of the conference, which we humbly hope may serve as both inspiration and a knowledge-sharing source for better and more resilient preparedness against cyber-attacks in Denmark and other countries, especially under the current trying times.

It is – as always – your kind support, which makes all this possible, and we look forward to many more activities that we are currently planning for the rest of 2022.

Click here to read more about the CSCD Youth Academy

Click here for Upcoming Events

Click here to read more about the Ambassadors Lounge

We are excited to present our newest conference on Cyber Security, Markets, Infrastructure, and Cooperation, in close collaboration with Mr. Martin Lidegaard, the Danish Parliament, and the Israeli Embassy in Denmark – exclusively through CSCD’s Ambassadors Lounge. We will dive into Israel’s perspective as a cyber world leader, cyber connections in the World, and G2G cooperation with other countries, while our experts investigate the cyber markets and their needs, protection of critical infrastructure, the green agenda, and how all this relates to the current state of the World.

Our expert panel will discuss topics affected by and related to cyber topics and the opportunities this represents to Danish and EU/World interests and will share their extensive knowledge through a series of exclusive talks followed by a discussion to be rounded up with a Q&A and networking with refreshments. The conference offers a unique opportunity to gain insights into Cyber Security, as seen through Diplomatic, Business, and Scientific lenses.

Venue: the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)

Date and time: June 24^th, 2022 | 9.00-13.00

Full program and registration: [click here]

The talks will be under the Chatham House Rule and followed by a Q&A session and networking with refreshments.

As a guest, you get a unique opportunity for networking in the company of Ambassadors, Diplomats, Political Decision-makers, Business Stakeholders, University Researchers and other high-level VIPs.

We look forward to welcoming you to a unique conference to boost your knowledge and build on possibilities for the future.

Fostering Global Citizenship and Diplomatic Skills with Ambassadors

Dear Most Valued CSCD-friends

As many of you have been waiting for and have requested, we are now pleased to announce the launch of our new initiative: CSCD Youth Academy.

CSCD Youth Academy is an initiative affiliated with CSCD (Center for Science and Commercial Diplomacy) that offers students with a sincere interest in diplomacy and international affairs a unique opportunity to visit embassies and gain first-hand insights into globally significant issues – hereby introducing the CSCD concept ”Have Tea with the Ambassador”.

We have held meetings with several distinguished ambassadors who have committed themselves to CSCD Youth Academy and given their invaluable consent to be part of this mutually beneficial initiative that will create a network between embassies and future leaders and diplomats of Denmark.

We extend our deepfelt appreciations and thanks to all our partners, particularly to the two leading student organisations in Denmark, ID (International Debate) and POLIS (POLitical science, It-management, and Social sciences):

The application window* is currently open, and we are scrutinizing the incoming applications from talented students and young professionals.

*Application deadline for the current semester is February 28th, 2022, at 00.00.

Click to read more: [Read More], or go directly to the application form: [Application Form]

We are delighted to present the CSCD Youth Academy, which will foster Global Citizenship and Diplomatic Skills, and we are looking very much forward to this collaboration.

***

For further information or if you have any questions on how to become a partner, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

We wish you a Merry Christmas and send you our best wishes for a blessed New Year filled with good health and success.

We look forward to a new year with exciting news, where we will introduce our new initiative “CSCD Youth Academy” and further upcoming activities (more to follow in our newsletter). We are deeply grateful for your continued and invaluable support in these challenging times.

Stay safe and enjoy the Holidays.

With the warmest seasonal greetings,
the CSCD-team

Dear CSCD friends and colleagues 

CSCD’s Science Diplomacy section is currently collaborating on a global covid-19 data collection project. The collaboration is led and carried out by our Global Associate member, Professor Henrik Hansson, from Stockholm University. The research project is a large-scale study on Covid-19 impact on education and is currently the largest study of its kind. It already has more than 8500 responses from 71 countries, and the data collection is open until the end of April 2021. 

The results will be the most up-to-date information from students, professors, educators, scholars, education management, and policymakers’ points of view; both on the current situation and on the future. It will therefore provide a good basis for policy decisions and the plan is to co-author the national report with local researchers in each country.

Your assistance is kindly needed
We therefore kindly request you to send this information to your higher education and university network and ask them to respond and disseminate the survey to their university staff, students, and/or university network. This will help us get solid information from as many countries as possible, as we at CSCD believe it is beneficial for all countries around the globe to be represented in the data collection, so a country-specific report can be prepared and no country is left out due to lack of data. It is therefore highly appreciated if this message can reach out and every contribution is valued.  

The survey is available in 11 languages through this link (please feel free to share): 
Global Online Survey on the COVID-19 Impacts on Education and Needs for Distance Education and Digital Solutions — ICDE

In case of any queries or uncertainties, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you need detailed information regarding the data collection, you are also welcome to contact Prof. Hansson directly by email: [email protected]

We thank you for your time and wish you all a most pleasant day and week.

Best regards
Dr. Shahamak Rezaei 
Founding CEO

The support for our upcoming Danish Diplomatic Seminar has been overwhelming, and we are deeply grateful to all involved who make it possible to carry out our deepest intention of bringing you exclusivity in high-quality knowledge. Many Ambassadors and diplomatic staff of embassies in Copenhagen have been supporting and assisting us beyond what we could have hoped for. 

It is therefore with a heavy heart that we give this announcement. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are under restrictions for a maximum number of participants per square meter that give limitations to how the seminar can be carried out, particularly in connection with breaks, lunch and dinner. We have therefore been forced to either limit participants to a very small number or postpone the event. A task that we deeply regret. 

We believe that the message from our highly esteemed speakers is too important to not be communicated indiscriminately to all who have expressed their wish to participate – which we under the current circumstances and recent development with new announcements on gatherings and events from the Danish Health Authorities, regrettably are not permitted to deliver.

However, we are determined to seek ways to hold the seminar as soon as it is permitted by the coronavirus situation. In consultation with our highly esteemed speakers, we have therefore agreed to postpone the seminar towards the end of 2020/beginning of 2021.

We have waited till the last minute in hopes that the situation would improve. However, under the current perspectives with the last few days of increase in COVID-19 infections, we see no other option. The health issue and safety of our speakers and guests remain our highest concern, and we see it necessary to be as cooperative and cautious as we possibly can with restrictions and Health Authorities. We deeply regret having to postpone and hope you will support our decision.  

We are expecting to reschedule the seminar very shortly and will announce new dates accordingly.

In the meantime, we wish you all good health and a pleasant day.

Dear most valued CSCD-friend

Your security and wellbeing are our highest concerns.

As announced we have been planning events for spring 2020, but given the current pandemic/COVID-19 situation, we have decided to postpone all events for March and April and pause event activity to help reduce the risk of exposure during social events.

We will resume our event activities as soon as possible and aim to be back during May unless further postponement will be needed. We are closely following the latest developments to reschedule accordingly, and we are looking very much forward to inviting you as soon as the events are rescheduled.

Your kind support and understanding are deeply appreciated, and we thank you for your valued patience.