| Event showcased Europe’s leading suppliers of security technology and solutions |
ASIS International held its 14th European Security Conference & Exhibition on 29-31 March 2015 at the Messe Frankfurt Congress Centre in Frankfurt, Germany. Almost 500 attendees from 46 countries gathered to take part in a rich programme composed of exciting networking events, key industry presentations with exceptional keynote speakers and an industry exhibition showcasing Europe’s leading suppliers of security technology and solutions.
The event kicked off on Sunday 29 March with professional tours of the Headquarters of Deutsche Bank and the Operation and Security Center at the Messe Frankfurt and meetings of the European Advisory Council of ASIS International and the organisation’s region and chapter officers. This was, followed by the Welcome Party – Powered by Nedap.
Countermeasures against crime and espionage
On Monday 30 March, the conference opened with a keynote presentation by Dr. Thomas de Maizière, Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany. The Minister gave a comprehensive overview of the security situation in particular for industry and introduced the economic security architecture in Germany. This included focus areas of the security authorities such as countermeasures against crime and espionage, also in cyberspace.
This was followed by a day of educational sessions on topics such as “the future of security technology”, “protecting soft targets from hardline Terror”, “social media - how does policing respond to mass data in crisis” and “eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons – the security challenges for the OPCW”.
In the evening delegates gathered for the President’s Reception, hosted by ASIS President Dave Tyson CPP and sponsored by Tyco Integrated Fire & Security at the Palmengarten Gesellschaftshaus.
Keynote presentation on security excellence
Professor Martin Gill, Britain’s foremost criminologist, opened the next day’s programme with a though provoking keynote presentation on security excellence, after which the conference continued with sessions such as “the rise of the jihadists - the second stage of the Arab Spring”, “security awareness - sharing best practices” and “a pharmaceutical's approach to mitigating the insider threat”.
The conference was closed by Axel Petri, SVP Group Security Governance at Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany, who spoke about the impact of the Snowden revelations on the telecoms industry and need to regain the trust of the consumer.
Both conference days also featured a CSO Roundtable Summit, organised by the CSO Roundtable, the forum for the most senior security officers of the world’s leading organisations within ASIS International.