Forum Europe and RUSI Host High-Level Roundtable on High-Risk ICT Supply Chain Management

On 3 February 2026, Forum Europe, in partnership with The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), convened an interactive roundtable discussion in Brussels titled: “Who’s Afraid of High-Risk IT Vendors? How European countries are managing their ICT Supply chains”.

The session centered on critical new research examining how European countries manage high-risk ICT vendors within the public sector and across critical national infrastructure. To find out more about the event visit the event website.

The event generated significant engagement, attracting a distinguished cohort of participants. We were pleased to welcome attachės from Permanent Representations of Member States to the EU, high level members of diplomatic missions and national government as well as senior officials from the European Parliament and European Commission. They were joined by leading representatives from corporate organisations, prominent think tanks, and academia.

The proceedings commenced with a comprehensive overview of the research report, presented by Jamie MacColl, Senior Research Fellow at RUSI. This was followed by opening remarks from the following esteemed speakers:

• Bart Groothuis, Member, European Parliament
• Emil Lidén, Deputy Director, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden
• Rebecca Arcesati, Lead Analyst, MERICS
• Guido Lobrano, Director General for Europe, ITI - Information Technology Industry Council

The subsequent table-wide discussion was expertly moderated by Joseph Jarnecki, Research Fellow at RUSI. To facilitate an open and candid exchange of views, the session was conducted under the Chatham House Rule.

The roundtable concluded with a networking reception, providing further opportunity for delegates to engage on the discussion themes. Following the success of this event, we look forward to the official publication of the research report in early March 2026 and will ensure all attendees are notified of its release.

Forum Europe is delighted to continue its successful collaboration with RUSI and looks forward to future joint initiatives.