Munich Security Conference 2023: One Month to Go

• In addition to the largest US Congressional Delegation in its 60-year history, the MSC will welcome a particularly prominent group of global leaders and key decision-makers.

• Global and systemic challenges, the war in Ukraine, the Zeitenwende as well as the strategic importance of improving relations with countries in the “Global South” will be at the heart of the MSC 2023.

• The official program will once again be accompanied by a multitude of public outreach events to carry the debates beyond the confines of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. 

• Media representatives can still register for press accreditation until January 31. 

• The Munich Security Report 2023 will be launched on February 13. 

From February 17 to 19, 2023, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) will once again bring together around 500 heads of state and government, leading international decision-makers, and experts in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof to discuss a wide range of security challenges. On Friday, global cross-cutting issues will take center stage, ranging from accountability and nuclear security to climate change, technology, and trade. Global governance, systemic competition, and conflict hotspots will be discussed on Saturday. On Sunday, the focus will be on German and European responses to global and regional challenges. As always, the detailed agenda of the MSC 2023 will not be published until the eve of the conference. 

As in years past, the overall program will be divided into main program (curated by the MSC), side events (hosted by leading organizations from around the world), and public outreach events. Together, these components will seek to offer space for as many relevant and consequential debates as possible.  

The main program will feature panel discussions and conversations in several spaces throughout the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. In addition to the traditional main stages, roundtables, and townhall, the MSC will introduce a so-called Public Square as an additional venue for particularly interactive debates. The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will once again serve as institutional partner for the discussions in the townhall which will focus on key aspects of multilateral development cooperation and human security.  

All formats are governed by the Munich Rule which calls for maximum interaction between speakers and other participants. 

In addition to the official conference program, a variety of public side events will carry the debates beyond the confines of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. Detailed information will be available on our website and our social media channels from next week on. 

• The Security and Literature Series focuses on the analytical and predictive role of literature in national and international security. The series spans four evenings, commencing on Wednesday, February 15, and ending on Saturday, February 18. All events will take place at the Literaturhaus München (Salvatorplatz 1, 80333 Munich) and will be live-streamed.  

• Together with the Technical University Munich, the MSC will once again host prominent speakers for in-depth debates with students. We are particularly pleased that George Soros, the Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations, has kindly agreed to open the series with a keynote address on the eve of the MSC 2023.  

• The MSC’s own Zeitenwende on tour will make a stop at the townhall in the Komödie of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in the afternoon of February 16. Expect prominent guests ready to engage with the public on the future of German foreign and security policy. The event will be live-streamed.  

• The MSC’s Innovation Night 2023, co-hosted with the Cyber Innovation Hub of the Federal Armed Forces, will take place in the evening of February 16 in the main conference hall of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof and will offer an opportunity to discuss the latest developments in software-defined defense and military innovation. It will feature selected speakers from NATO’s Innovation Board and offer a stage both for a number of high-profile start-up pitches and the launch of the second edition of the Defense Innovation Survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group in preparation for the MSC 2023. The event will be live-streamed.  

• Also on the eve of the conference, the MSC and the Munich Chamber Orchestra will host the traditional opening concert at Munich’s famous Cuvilliés Theatre (Residenzstraße 1, 80539 Munich). In addition to pieces performed by prominent solo artists and the orchestra, expect a high-ranking panel on the Zeitenwende.   

To engage even further with the broader public, the MSC will once again support two so-called hubs with their own three-day-long programming within the framework of the MSC 2023: 

• The BMW Foundation will host its Responsible Leaders Hub to enrich and open up the debate about responsible leadership, good governance, multilateralism and sustainability during the MSC 2023. The Hub at Lenbachplatz 7 will showcase the Foundation’s initiatives and ambition to drive the sustainable transformation of our societies, kicking off its political program work in 2023. Further information can be found here. If you are interested in the program, please contact the BMW Foundation: rld-munich2023@bmw-foundation.org.  

• The Amerikahaus Munich, the MSC’s office home, hosts its Youth Engagement Hub to provide a unique opportunity for exchange between young members of the public and high-level decision-makers from around the world. Youth Hub events are open to the general public as well as MSC participants and observers, and take place at the Amerikahaus (Karolinenplatz 3, 80333 Munich). Further information can be found here. 

We are looking forward to welcoming journalists from all over the world to Munich. Media representatives can apply for press accreditation via our Press Accreditation Portal until January 31. We recommend uploading all required supporting documents as early as possible.  

Please visit our Media Hub for more information on the accreditation process and participation in the MSC 2023 as a media representative. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. 

The new Munich Security Report (MSR) will be presented just days ahead of the MSC 2023 on February 13 at the Federal Press Conference (Schiffbauerdamm 40, 10117 Berlin). The launch will take place between 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. and can be followed via live-stream on our website. The MSC Chairman Ambassador Christoph Heusgen and Tobias Bunde, our Director of Research & Policy, will present this year’s MSR which will again serve as the basis for discussion at the conference in Munich and contains exclusive data and visualizations on current security policy issues. 

Our brand new Zeitenwende Podcast is now available in German on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Podimo, CastBox and on our website. In this new podcast as part of the Zeitenwende on tour initiative, Lisa Marie Ullrich (Director of Programs) and Nico Lange (Senior Fellow) talk to citizens from all over Germany, representatives from politics and society, and security policy experts about developments in foreign and security policy. 

The next townhall event of the “Zeitenwende on tour” will take place in Leipzig on January 31 and will offer another good opportunity to discuss the Zeitenwende in German foreign and security policy with experts and policy-makers, such as Armin Schuster, Minister of the Interior, Saxony; Merle Spellerberg, Member of the Defence Committee and Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Alliance 90/The Greens Parliamentary Group, German Bundestag; Tytti Tuppurainen, Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering of the Republic of Finland; Ambassador Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference; Hannah Suppa, Editor-in-Chief of the Leipziger Volkszeitung; Aylin Matlé, Research Fellow, Center for Security and Defense, German Council on Foreign Relations, moderated by Nora Müller, Executive Director International Affairs, Körber Stiftung. Register here for the townhall. 

For updates and insights, follow @MunSecConf on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and subscribe to our newsletter. To join the debates online, use the hashtag #MSC2023 and tag us @MunSecConf. Selected panels and press conferences will be broadcast on the MSC’s social media channels.