Jakob Hensing

Featuring an overview of key findings and recommendations by myself and comments by Prof. James Giordano

@gppi.bsky.social

Action Potentials (Launch Event) Against the backdrop of intense global competition over technology leadership, a new GPPi report examines how advances in neurotechnology matter for Germany’s and Europe’s foreign and security policy....

📣 Online launch event: Action Potentials - Neurotechnology, Brain-Computer Interfaces and Implications for Germany’s and Europe’s Foreign & Security Policy

📆 13 October 2025
⌚ 16:00-17:00 CET
💻 Online via Zoom

Jakob Hensing, DAAD/AGI Research Fellow AGI is pleased to welcome Jakob Hensing as a DAAD/AGI Research Fellow in Fall 2025. His permanent position is at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, where he …

AGI is pleased to welcome @jhensing.bsky.social as a DAAD/AGI Research Fellow in Fall 2025. At AGI, he will research U.S. techno-economic statecraft to understand how the positions and expertise of industry stakeholders feature in the U.S. policy process. americangerman.institute/2025/09/jako...

Action Potentials Neurotechnology, Brain-Computer Interfaces, and Implications for Germany’s and Europe’s Foreign & Security Policy

New report out: 🧠 Neurotech, Brain-Computer Interfaces, and Implications for Germany's and Europe's Foreign & Security Policy. Result of surely one of the most fascinating projects I have worked on in the last years, which really shifted some of my assumptions of what the future could look like.

Biotechnology: Advancing Germany’s and Europe’s Security This policy brief examines the profound implications of technological advancements in biotechnologies for Germany’s and Europe’s foreign and security policy.

🧬NEW POLICY BRIEF: GPPi's Florian Klumpp, Aaranya Alexander & @jhensing.bsky.social examine the implications of rapid advancements in biotechnology — especially synthetic biology — for Germany’s & Europe’s foreign & security policy & offer recommendations for policymakers: gppi.net/2025/07/18/b...

Jobs & Internships

🔔 Internship Alert! GPPi is seeking an intern for our project on the strategic and security implications of critical and emerging technologies. ‼️ Apply now: gppi.net/about/jobs-i...
@jhensing.bsky.social @tbenner.bsky.social

Quantum Technologies and European Security As the race for global tech supremacy intensifies, the three quantum tech subfields — sensing, communications and computing — are becoming increasingly relevant to national and economic security. Eu...

References to quantum technology's security relevance are common, incl. in the EU’s new "Quantum Europe Strategy."

What security issues does this technology raise? How will quantum sensing, communication & computing be used in the future?

Find out: gppi.net/2025/07/07/q...

@jhensing.bsky.social

#DFS2025: Economic Security and Critical Tech in Trump 2.0

⏳Last chance to register! Join @jankaoertel.bsky.social, @ @Geoffrey Gertz & @jhensing.bsky.social for our online event: “Economic Security and Critical Tech in Trump 2.0”

🗓 May 7 | 🕒 15:00 CEST | 📍 Zoom

🔗 Full details + signup below 👇
#DFS2025

gppi.net/2025/04/07/d...

Germany Needs to Rethink Competitiveness for a Hostile World Incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to strengthen German industry, but his thinking is stuck in the past. The key question is how to make Germany and the EU thrive in the age of systemic c...

New from @tbenner.bsky.social and @jhensing.bsky.social: Friedrich Merz wants to strengthen German industry, but his thinking is stuck in the past. His government needs to make Germany and the EU thrive in the age of systemic competition.

ip-quarterly.com/en/germany-n...

Event Registration: #DFS2025 Economic Security and Critical Tech in Trump 2.0 Event Timing: May 7th, 2025 at 3pm CET Event Address: Online, via Zoom Contact us at jhensing@gppi.net

SAVE THE DATE for a discussion on "Economic Security & Critical Tech in Trump 2.0" with @jankaoertel.bsky.social (@ecfr.eu), Geoffrey Gertz (CNAS) & @jhensing.bsky.social (GPPi) as part of @baks.bund.de's #DFS2025:

🗓 May 7 | 🕒 15:00–16:00 CEST | 📍 Online

🔗 Register: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Neurotechnology: A New Frontier for Prosperity and Security in Germany and Europe?

Neurotech is advancing fast — with major implications for foreign, security, and economic policy. @jhensing.bsky.social & Andreas Faika explore why Germany & Europe need policies that consider the military and data, cyber & economic security aspects of this frontier tech. 🧠 gppi.net/2025/03/27/n...

Europas wehrhafte Wirtschaft Deutschland muss nicht nur wettbewerbsfähiger werden. Sondern gegenüber den USA und China vor allem seine Systemwettbewerbsfähigkeit stärken!

Warum das alte Denken in Wettbewerbsfähigkeit nicht mehr ausreicht und welche Investitionen in Systemwettbewerbsfähigkeit wir vornehmen sollten: dazu mehr im Essay von @jhensing.bsky.social & mir in der aktuellen Wirtschaftswoche.
gppi.net/2025/03/14/e...
.

Towards inclusive EU governance of neurotechnologies - Centre for Future Generations Our report explores ethical and regulatory challenges in Neurotechnology, highlights key grey areas, and makes recommendations for EU governance of Neurotech devices.

Very much enjoyed today's workshop on neurotechnology from a foreign and security policy perspective organized by @jhensing.bsky.social, featuring a presentation of this report by the Centre for Future Generations on the governance challenges of neurotechnology. Worth a read.

cfg.eu/towards-incl...

3) EU-Binnenmarkt weiter vertiefen und D strukturell weniger abhängig von Exporten außerhalb EU machen
4) Investitionen in Verteidigung und Infrastruktur so steuern, dass Nachfrageeffekt europäische Produktion stärkt
5) Verteilungsfragen als zentral für resilientes Wirtschaftsmodell erkennen

Das heißt:
1) Pragmatische Maßnahmen zum Schutz von Schlüsselsektoren vor unfairem Wettbewerb ergreifen
2) EU-Instrumente gegen wirtschaftliche Zwangsausübung weiterentwickeln und in die eigene "strategische Unverzichtbarkeit" in Schlüsseltechnologien investieren

Europas wehrhafte Wirtschaft

Wettbewerbsfähigkeit reicht nicht mehr - Deutschland und Europa müssen "systemwettbewerbsfähig" werden.

Neues Essay von @tbenner.bsky.social und mir in der @wirtschaftswoche.bsky.social.

emagazin.wiwo.de/epaper/wirts...

Truth well told, by Gideon Rose. @americanacademy.bsky.social

Germany Votes: Recommended Reading for the 2025 Election A curated a selection of reading, listening & viewing recommendations to help you grapple with some of the issues at stake in Germany's 2025 election.

🇩🇪🗳️ Germany heads to the polls on Feb 23 so GPPi experts have curated a list of pre-election must-reads (& watches, listens) 🔗 gppi.net/2025/02/17/g...

With recommendations from: @tbenner.bsky.social, @bressansar.bsky.social, Gelila Enbaye, @jhensing.bsky.social, Karla Kröner & @jlehmann.bsky.social

🔥 Ideas of Energy Ep.3: Helen Thompson's captivating talk on “Energy and War & Peace” unpacked the profound connections between energy & geopolitics throughout history.

Next👉 gppi.net/2024/10/11/e...

@dezernatzukunft.bsky.social @andreabinder.bsky.social @jhensing.bsky.social @maxkrahe.bsky.social

This was again part of our @gppi.bsky.social project on critical and emerging technologies, funded by @diplo.de.

A key topic was the idea of “economic security standards” for trade to be co-developed with partners – in my personal view, a welcome attempt to find a better alternative to doggedly insisting on WTO rules when the two largest players have clearly abandoned core assumptions of this framework.

Very happy to briefly have Tim @ruehlig.bsky.social back in Berlin for a discussion on what’s next for the European and German agenda on China and critical technologies, given the new Commission and Trump’s impending inauguration.

Tencent and CATL have said they will ask for reconsideration and may take legal action - will be interesting see how this plays out and what the process may reveal about the evidentiary thresholds that the US now applies to those questions. 3/3

While surely also a signaling exercise, the sheer length of that list and the appearance of relative household names like Tencent or CATL demonstrates how murky the boundary of what is military-related activity has become due to disruptive tech development and Chinese "military-civil fusion". 2/3

Pentagon reveals 134 "Chinese military companies" operating in US New list includes a major smartphone maker and China's largest company.

A few quotes from me in this Newsweek piece on the updated Pentagon list of "Chinese military companies" operating in the US. 1/3

www.newsweek.com/pentagon-rev...

Europe Is Ready to Team Up on China—if Trump Is A U.S.-EU trade war could derail a combined effort to face down China.

"Trump has a crucial choice to make. If he decides to impose across-the-board tariffs on Europe, he will pull the rug out from under the feet of von der Leyen and empower the pro-Beijing voices across Europe."

New piece by @tbenner.bsky.social, Florian Klumpp and myself in @foreignpolicy.com

“As Large of a Lead as Possible”? With Donald Trump’s inauguration around the corner, we took stock of the Biden administration’s track record on Critical and Emerging Technologies. How effective were the US measures to promote and pr...

GPPi’s @jhensing.bsky.social & Florian Klumpp examined the Biden administration’s track record on Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET).

Did the measures achieve the objectives to extend the US tech edge over China & boost US national security through tech policy?

➡️ gppi.net/2024/12/18/t...

@cfg-thinktank.bsky.social

Thanks to Velislava Petrova of the Centre for Future Generations (CFG) and Philipp Heuermann of Ginkgo Bioworks for excellent inputs, as well as to participants from various ministries, MP and parliamentary faction offices, industry, science, and think tanks for many valuable contributions.

"Biotechnology, Security, and Sovereignty: Strategic Priorities for Germany and the EU" - that was the last discussion round we hosted in 2024 in our @gppi.bsky.social project on Critical & Emerging Technologies.