Technological disruption, climate change, and geopolitical competition are influencing the global innovation landscape. From July 22 to 24, 2025, CAPRI, CAPRI USA, the University of Virginia, and Copenhagen Business School convened leading thinkers at Carlsberg Akademi for the inaugural trilateral conference, Reimagining Entrepreneurship & Innovation for the 21st Century.
Opening with a keynote by Denmark’s Tech Ambassador, Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard, the 3-day event explored how democratic societies can harness entrepreneurship and innovation to manage industrial policy, AI governance, green transitions, and inclusive growth. Experts compared the Asia Pacific’s quest for resilient approaches, Europe’s regulatory models, and US industrial policy and shifting innovation agenda, especially in the face of intensifying US–China rivalry.
Across continents, entrepreneurship must move beyond chasing “unicorns” to create social value, and democratic governments should more proactively shape markets that protect the public interest.
Read reflections by the speakers in Global Innovation Reimagined
Opening Keynote
Ambassador Meldgaard reflected on the ways geopolitics, innovation, and governance intersect in an era of fragmentation. Although globalization persists, she argued, the world is fragmenting along ideological and technological lines, making governance more complex. Europe’s efforts, such as GDPR and the EU Chips Act, illustrate both the promise and limits of democratic regulation as a competitive asset. She also underscored the importance of universities in building inclusive innovation systems and called for democratic societies to reclaim leadership in shaping technological futures that are open, secure, and resilient.
Panel 1: The Future of Sustainable and Secure Energy
This panel explored how energy security, climate goals, and geopolitics are becoming increasingly intertwined. They noted that ambitious net-zero pledges often clash with political polarization, economic constraints, and public mistrust, with Taiwan’s debates over nuclear power as a prime example. They warned against techno-nationalism in clean energy supply chains, cautioning that full decoupling from China could undermine collective climate action. The panelists agreed that energy policy is no longer just about emissions and climate crisis but also about industrial strategy, national resilience, and democratic governance.
Panel 2: Reimagining Industrial Policy for Innovation and Inclusion
The panelists examined the resurgence of industrial policy and its evolving purposes, particularly as democracies seek to balance competitiveness, security, and inclusivity. They observed that East Asia’s approach of catch-up growth through subsidies and R&D may no longer suffice for today’s innovation-driven needs. Effective strategies must extend beyond national borders, especially around critical minerals and clean energy supply chains. Highlighting Taiwan’s success in global value chains through specialization, the discussion concluded that sustainable innovation requires ecosystems built for SMEs and long-term resilience, rather than chasing Silicon Valley-style “unicorns.”
Panel 3: Entrepreneurialism and Innovation in Democratic Societies
This session questioned prevailing narratives of entrepreneurship in democracies as a universal path to empowerment. They argued that the dominant US model, which celebrates individualism, often obscures systemic inequities, from access to capital to the shifting of risk onto precarious workers. Although the European systems are buffered by social safety nets, neoliberal pressures have nonetheless encouraged deregulation and inequality. The panel concluded that entrepreneurship can support democracy only when embedded in inclusive institutions and inclusive public policies that distribute risks and rewards fairly.
Panel 4: Financing Women-led Entrepreneurship and Innovation
This all-women panel exposed the persistent structural barriers women face in accessing venture capital and shaping innovation ecosystems. Despite the growth of women-led ventures, funding processes remain biased and concentrated in male-dominated sectors; cultural and institutional biases persist, and the scope of gender-responsive funding remains limited, even in Europe. The speakers argued that measures such as mentorship and quotas alone are insufficient, calling instead for inclusive investment strategies and financial frameworks to ensure that women-led ventures are not only supported but also thrive.
Panel 5: Governing Capitalist Democracies in the Age of AI
This discussion highlighted the dual challenge of governing AI and governing with AI. As private firms consolidate power over data and computational capacity, democratic states struggle to regulate or even keep pace. This imbalance, the experts warned, threatens institutional legitimacy and public trust. While Europe is moving forward with risk-based frameworks such as the AI Act, many regions lag behind. The panel questioned whether “trustworthy AI” is too narrow a frame, emphasizing the need for accountability and democratic oversight. Eventually, all panelists agreed that effective AI governance requires democratic legitimacy, public investment in shared infrastructure, and international cooperation to ensure socially beneficial outcomes.
Panel 6: Cultivating Entrepreneurship from Communities to the Global Level
In this panel, the speakers challenged the dominance of the Silicon Valley model and highlighted how inequality and identity shape entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurship, they urged, should be redefined in a way that values dignity, resilience, and social impact over scale and speed. They stressed that grassroots innovations often emerge from necessity but remain undervalued by traditional metrics of success. Such models also often face structural barriers in financing and infrastructure that limit their scale and growth. The panel concluded that entrepreneurship and innovation must enshrine principles of inclusivity and community participation.
Closing Plenary
This concluding session reflected on the value tensions running across the conference: individualism vs. collectivism, competition vs. regulation, innovation vs. sustainability, and meritocracy vs. structural hierarchy. These contradictions, panelists noted, lie at the heart of democratic capitalism in an age of AI and geopolitical flux. As US policy shifts are forcing democratic societies to rethink the balance between capitalism and democracy, policy choices will be shaped by the values societies prioritize. Ultimately, in the face of accelerating technological and geopolitical change, navigating today’s transformations will require democratic governments to reconcile these competing pressures.
Co-hosts
