ATHENE Distinguished Lecture with Florian Schütz, Director of the Swiss National Cyber­security Center

Florian Schütz, Director of the Swiss National Cyber­security Center, is our guest at the ATHENE Distinguished Lecture Series. In his keynote speech, he will discuss the topic of "Technologie und Geopolitik sowie deren Aus­wirkungen auf nationale Cyberstrategien". After a discussion with moderator Prof. Dr. Haya Schulmann, he will open up the floor to questions from the audience. 

ATHENE / Fraunhofer SIT at Hannover Messe

Product piracy and cyberattacks on connected vehicles are among the most pressing challenges facing both industry and consumers. At this year's Hannover Messe, ATHENE researchers from Fraunhofer SIT are presenting two practical solutions that are specifically designed to counter these threats. Their projects SmartID and ELISA demonstrate how security research has a tangible economic and social impact.

foundersXchange April 2026

Mentoring Matters – Learning from Experience
The upcoming foundersXchange is dedicated to a topic that is crucial for start-ups and founders at every stage of their business: mentoring. Whether you’re just starting out or already growing, experience, honest feedback and the right kind of dialogue can make all the difference.

The event will centre on a practical presentation by Philo Boras (founder of Aurora Life Science) and Martin Lacher (Managing Director of Lacher Großküchen GmbH), who will explain how their mentoring relationship came about and what concrete benefits – ranging from personal development to business growth – it has brought to both parties.

CAST/GI IT Security PhD Award 2026

CAST e.V. and the ‘Security, Safety and Reliability’ division of the German Informatics Society (GI) are awarding a prize for outstanding achievement in the field of IT security.

ATHENE Distinguished Lecture with Claudia Plattner, BSI

Claudia Plattner, President of the Federal Office for Information Security, is our guest at the ATHENE Distinguished Lecture Series. In her keynote speech, she will discuss the topic of "Auf dem Weg zur Cybernation Deutschland". After a discussion with moderator Prof. Dr. Haya Schulmann, she will open up the floor to questions from the audience. 

CAST Workshop: ID:SMART 2026

ID:SMART Workshop is an annual face-to-face conference that fosters networking and technical updates within the European community of electronic identities, wallets, smart cards and hardware security modules (HSMs). Previously known as Smartcard-Workshop, it has been the reference event for hands-on researchers, standardization group members, decision-makers and experts from companies and government administration since 1991.

The 2026 ID:SMART edition will be held on 18-19 February 2026 in Darmstadt, Germany. Conference language will be English, including all presentations.

ATHENE Distinguished Lecture with Lucas Schmitz, Member of the Hessian State Parliament

Lucas Schmitz, Member of the Hessian State Parliament, spokesperson for the CDU parliamentary group on science and the arts, is our guest at the ATHENE Distinguished Lecture Series. In his keynote speech, he will discuss the topic of "Forschungssicherheit in Zeiten globaler Systemkonkurrenz“. After his lecture, he will take part in a discussion with Prof. Dr. Haya Schulmann, the moderator, before engaging in a dialogue with the audience.

foundersXchange Februar 2026

Grants: Founders just wanna have Funds

The first edition of foundersXchange 2026 is being organised by the ATHENE Digital Hub Cyber­security. Under the slogan “Funding: Founders just wanna have funds”, the various funding programmes from the foundersXchange network will be presented.

Are you feeling lost in the maze of funding options? With the funding navigator, you will find the right funding programme - from insightful talks, to discussions about funding with experts and other founders.

ATHENE Distinguished Lecture with Prof. Dr. Antonio, DFKI | Saarland University

Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger, CEO of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and Professor at Saarland University, is our guest at the ATHENE Distinguished Lecture Series. After his lecture, he will take part in a discussion with Prof. Dr. Haya Schulmann, the moderator, before engaging in a dialogue with the audience. In his keynote he talks about "KI und Europa und KI Transfer im Allgemeinen".

Lecture Series Secure Critical Infrastructures

Franz Lantenhammer, retired lieutenant colonel, CERT BW and NATO CERT, will speak today on "The role of cybersecurity exercises in protecting CRITIS." The series of events will focus on various critical infrastructures and their security challenges. Speakers from research institutions, companies, authorities or operators of critical infrastructures have been invited to give expert presentations on individual facets of the topic. The "Secure Critical Infrastructures" lecture series, which is being offered for the 10th time at TU Darmstadt, is organized by ATHENE scientists Prof. Matthias Hollick and Prof. Christian Reuter as well as Prof. Jens Ivo Engels.