Benelux Thought Leadership Summit and Awards

The Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs) is pleased to be working in association SecuMedia BV to deliver the Benelux Thought Leadership Summit and OSPA Awards presentation on Tuesday 6 September 2022 at Indegenhousz in Breda. 

The Thought Leadership Summit provides a unique platform for security providers, stakeholders and buyers, to come together to discuss and debate key issues relative to the security sector.

The programme has an impressive line-up of speakers covering a wide range of topics relevant to the whole security industry including:

• Is security really deserving a place at the ‘high table’?

Eva Mueller - Global HR Business Partner, Hilti Corporation

The security sector has been evolving speedily in recent years. Rather than being seen as advisors on the edge of organisations security leaders are arguing that they are core to business, facilitating business operations, protecting the organisation by being business savvy, just like other corporate professionals. But is that how others view security? In this talk Eva, a HR professional, who has worked closely with security teams, talks about the journey to corporate acceptance from the viewpoint of a different discipline. It will be argued that any seat with business leaders has to be earned, it is a long process, and can be a cumbersome one, what does it take to get there and what are crucial triggers that need to be activated to be successful? This session will discuss:

• Are security professionals perceived as corporate equals?
• Has the security function really adapted to the demands of modern business?
• What are the key barriers and how can they be overcome?

• Understanding the real security implications of the Russia-Ukraine war: panel discussion

Panellists:

Glenn C Schoen - founder and owner of Boardroom@Crisis BV (B@C)

Nele Eykens - Corporate Security Manager, Umicore and Chair ASIS Benelux Chapter

Remco Spithoven - Professor of Social Security, Saxion University of Applied Sciences

The Russian invasion has changed the threat landscape for organisations as well as countries. According to the U.S. military, the "Gerasimov Doctrine" represents a new type of warfare where all means are to be used to destabilize opponents.  This then will include cyber, physical and economic threats, legal warfare as well geo-political operations.  This panel discussion will debate:

• How will these play out?
• What will the long term fall out be?
• How should the security sector be responding?

• Tackling drug trafficking in the Benelux: what is working and what isn’t?

Letizia Paoli - Chair of the Department Criminal Law and Criminology, KU Leuven (Belgium)

The Netherlands and Belgium have since the 1990s become a worldwide hub for illegal drug production and trafficking. In particular, thanks for the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, they have become the main entry point for cocaine coming from Latin America. The Netherlands has also emerged as the main continental producer of cannabis and ecstasy, with a growing share of the Dutch production and associated harms spilling over the Belgium.

In this talk Letizia Paoli, chair of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology at the KU Leuven (Belgium), will first sketch the Netherlands and Belgium’s role in contemporary illegal drug markets and assess the harms associated with such role. She will then review what the Dutch, Belgian and European law enforcement and other government agencies have been doing to tackle the booming illegal trade. Lastly, she will consider what can and what cannot be done to minimize both the incidence of drug production and trafficking and the associated harms by law enforcement and other government agencies and by the private sector.

Doors to the Thought Leadership Summit will open at 14:00; the summit will end at 17:00 and the OSPAs awards presentation will follow with drinks and canapés.

Places are limited so don’t delay. Book your place for €60 at:  Attend 2022 - Benelux OSPAs (theospas.com)

There are numerous promotional opportunities associated with the event which can be viewed here.