Willemijn Aerdts

Opening day 1

Europe’s cyber resilience critically depends on the rapid, trusted, and inclusive collaboration of diverse stakeholders. The 2026 ONE Conference serves as a vital nexus, intentionally bringing together government, industry, and academia—from hackers to policymakers—to forge connections and collectively strengthen European sovereignty. Leanne Joseph opened the event by framing its two-day program around six key themes, all unified by this ambition to bolster digital defenses through cross-sectoral engagement. This unique convergence of expertise acknowledges that fragmented efforts are insufficient against an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape, establishing a foundational premise for shared responsibility and coordinated action. The imperative for cooperation intensifies as digital interdependence transforms every societal connection into a potential vulnerability. Jan van Zanen, Mayor of The Hague, underscored this reality, explaining how the very networks enabling modern life also create gateways for sophisticated criminals and state-sponsored actors. The accelerating pace of artificial intelligence and quantum computing further compresses response times, making the threat more pervasive and immediate. Since vulnerabilities inherently transcend organizational and national borders, no single institution possesses the capacity to respond effectively in isolation. The Hague, as an international city of peace and justice, positions itself as a natural epicenter for this essential cybersecurity cooperation, leveraging its robust security cluster, European innovation, and dedicated educational investments to become a global cybersecurity capital. Shifting from the necessity of collaboration to the urgency of action, Willemijn Aerdts highlighted the shrinking window between vulnerability discovery and exploitation, exacerbated by AI. She emphasized that smaller suppliers now represent critical entry points into larger digital supply chains, demanding a proactive, multi-pronged defense strategy. Her proposed response involves three core pillars: significantly increasing the pace of collective defense mechanisms, embedding intrinsic security into products throughout their entire lifecycle, and cultivating a highly skilled, AI-ready workforce. Furthermore, Aerdts stressed that diversity is not merely an ethical consideration but a strategic cybersecurity imperative, asserting that overlooking female talent in STEM fields is a luxury the Netherlands, and Europe, cannot afford. The session concluded with an optimistic call to action, urging participants to view technological change not with fear, but as an opportunity for proactive engagement. The path forward involves dedicated knowledge exchange, the formation of robust cross-sector partnerships, and the collaborative creation of secure, resilient European digital products. The core message resonated: genuine security cannot be engineered by any single institution in isolation. Instead, it emerges from a continuous, integrated effort across all sectors, fostering a collective defense posture that is agile, resilient, and inclusive against evolving cyber threats.