Franco-German Forum for the Future

On 17 June 2026, the German and French Ministers for Digital Affairs, Dr Karsten Wildberger and Anne Le Hénanff, launched the new Franco-German Forum for the Future at the VivaTech innovation and tech fair in Paris.

The Forum for the Future will serve as an overarching platform for networking and contact-building formats aimed at implementing and further developing the two countries’ joint digital agenda notably on digital sovereignty. The new Forum for the Future will be coordinated on both sides by the digital ministries. It will involve companies, researchers and policy officers from both countries.

The overarching objectives are as follows:

• To move forward with the dialogue between the digital ecosystems in France and Germany in particular on the topic of digital sovereignty.
• To support the implementation of digital policy projects by both governments, with a focus on the decisions of the Franco-German Ministerial Councils.
• To act as a driving force at EU level on issues pertaining to digital sovereignty.

The initial tasks of the Forum for the Future, aimed at bringing together key players from both countries to foster synergies, will focus on the following topics:

1. A catalogue of sovereign alternatives to assist procurers of digital solutions;
2. Development of a compatible methodology for measuring the economic impact of digital dependencies on businesses.

An initial event on the latter task will take place on the margins of VivaTech on 18 June, in collaboration with the European Network for Technological Resilience & Sovereignty (ETRS). Both digital ministers will participate.

The Franco-German Forum for the Future is enshrined in Article 22 of the Aachen Treaty, which was signed by both governments in January 2019 to deepen bilateral cooperation. With the Franco-German Economic Agenda, both governments decided in August 2025 to realign the Forum on digital policy issues.

Contact:  zukunftswerk@bmds.bund.de