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Global Europe 2050 - The World and Europe up to 2050: EU Policies and Research Priorities

28 November 2011, European Commission, 73 Rue Archimède, Brussels, Belgium



On 28 November 2011, the European Commission organized a conference in Brussels on "Global Europe 2050".

This conference presented the results of a European foresight expert group year-long work. The focus of this expert group was "The World and Europe up to 2050: EU policies and research priorities". "Global Europe 2050" is line with the EU report published two years ago and entitled "The World in 2025". But "Global Europe 2050" has a longer-term perspective to tackle issues such as natural resources availability, infrastructures and territorial dynamics.

This work is original as the three scenarios "Nobody cares", "EU under threats" and "EU Renaissance" have been quantified. De facto, the narrative is accompanied by figures concerning e.g. the share of EU GDP or CO2 emissions in 2050 in the three different scenarios.

At the conference, the report has firstly been presented: methodology, scenarios, quantification, and future research and innovation. In the second part of the day, some specific questions relevant for the EU were discussed such as ageing population, climate change policy, new geopolitical context, and research and innovation consequences. The conference also addressed the "weak signals and wild cards". This foresight conference was an opportunity for EU policy makers, national authorities, stakeholders and academics to meet, interact and to exchange on the main long-term future issues of Europe in a global context.