PROGRAM

Wednesday 28 January 2026

12.15-13.15     Lunch 

13.15-14.15    Introduction and roundtable of the principal investigators of the three organizing projects Nana de Graaff(ReGlobe project, Professor at VU Amsterdam), Marijn Hoijtink (Platform Wars project, Associate Professor at University of Antwerp) and Antonio Calcara (CODE project, Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

14.15-14.30     Break

14.30-15.10    Cloud Procurement and Responsibility in Defense Innovation (Antonio Calcara, Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Mahmoud Javadi, PhD Researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel) 

                        Discussant: Nana de Graaff & Laszlo Steinwärder

15.10-15.50    Friend or Foe? Changing state-firm relations in the EU’s geoeconomic turn (Floor Doppen, PhD Researcher at University of Antwerpen)

                        Discussants: Antonio Calcara & Adam Tyler

15.50-16.30    The Platform Political Economy of War: The intermediation, consolidation and capitalisation of Defence Tech (Jasper van der Kist, Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Antwerp)

                        Discussants: Jasa Veselinovic & Riccardo Bosticco

16.30-17.00     Coffee break 

17.00-17.40    Compete at Cooperation? The Determinants and Dynamics of US and Chinese Space Partnerships (Thi Phuong Thao Pham, PhD Researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

                        Discussants: Marijn Hoijtink & Eric Zhang

17.40-18.20    Designing Industrial Policy Under Contested Interdependence: The European Chips Act Between Specialisation and Self-Sufficiency (Riccardo Bosticco, PhD Researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

                        Discussants: Marijn Hoijtink & Floor Doppen

18.20-19.00    Biotech, the EU’s Geoeconomic Turn, and the US-China Rivalry (Jasa Veselinovic, Postdoctoral Researcher at VU Amsterdam)

                        Discussants: Jasper van der Kist & Thi Phuong Thao Pham

19.45               Dinner 

Thursday 29 January 2026

09.00-09.40    Military-Oriented Tech Capital and the Reconfiguration of the Pentagon Acquisition System (Laszlo Steinwärder, PhD Researcher at University of Antwerp)

                        Discussants: Nana de Graaf & Mahmoud Javadi

09.40-10.20    Imagining Europe’s Chip Future: Elite Contestation in EU Semiconductor Policy-Making (Adam Tyler, PhD Researcher at VU Amsterdam)

                        Discussants: Antonio Calcara & Milutin Djuraskovic (University of Antwerp)

10.20-11.00    Algorithmic Total War: A Historical-Material Approach (Benjamin Johnson, Assistant Professor at University of Groningen)

                        Discussants: Jasper van der Kist & Leevi Saari

11.00-11.30     Coffee Break

11.30-12.10    Standardisation as a tool for industrial policy: evidence from Chinese domestic standards on 5G (Eric Zhang, PhD Researcher at Critical InfraLab)

                        Discussants: Jasa Veselinovic & Fer Avar (University of Antwerp)

12.10-12.50    Corporate Chameleons in a Double Bind – Mechanisms of Corporate Agency in Times of Weaponized Interdependence (Leevi Saari, PhD Researcher University of Amsterdam)

                        Discussants: Benjamin Johnson & Fer Avar

13.00               Wrap up lunch