The 62nd Munich Security Conference opened on 13 February 2026 in Munich, Germany, and this year’s gathering feels different from past editions.

For decades, Munich was about jets, troops, and treaties. Today, cyber and AI are no longer peripheral; they are part of the architecture of security itself.

Cyber risks, digital infrastructure, and emerging technologies like AI now sit alongside tanks and treaties on the agenda as European leaders try to make sense of a world where digital threats and geopolitical tensions are deeply intertwined.

Sponsors of the conference, such as the Tech Strategy Initiative, explicitly include technological frontier issues in the program, signalling that debates once confined to tech policy circles have broken into mainstream security discourse.

On day one, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz laid out a blunt message: the post-World War II order is fraying, and Europe can’t take its digital or geopolitical armour for granted.

In this context, cyber threats and disinformation campaigns sit side-by-side with missiles on the agenda, and delegates acted accordingly.

One of the most striking takeaways from early sessions was the call from Germany’s intelligence leadership for greater latitude to counter hybrid threats, especially cyber attacks and digital sabotage linked to geopolitical rivals.

That marks a clear recognition that state security no longer stops at the network perimeter.

Europe is still wrestling with its identity in this new era. France’s Emmanuel Macron used his keynote to stress that Europe must become a geopolitical power, an assertion that encompasses not just tanks and diplomacy but also domestic tech capabilities and digital resilience.

Tech is now a strategic front

Behind the diplomatic language lies a subtler shift: technology is being woven into Europe’s strategic autonomy narrative.

For years, EU policy focused on digital sovereignty through regulation, the AI Act, data protection, and competition law. In Munich, those topics are now being discussed in direct relation to security and defence priorities. Officials and experts are framing AI and cyber resilience not just as economic or ethical issues, but as core national security concerns.

Cyber, in particular, has shed its niche status. While not all panels are formal conference sessions, side events and adjacent tracks like the Munich Cyber Security Conference reflect a broader realisation: traditional defence without a digital strategy is obsolete.

Defense analysts note that critical infrastructure, from power grids to military supply chains, is already being targeted with an intensity that demands coordinated public-private responses.

This shift has real consequences for European tech. If governments treat cyber and AI as strategic assets, they will push industry to meet security standards beyond compliance, incentivise homeland innovation over outsourcing, and push for interoperable defence technologies.

For European startups and tech leaders, that could change investment flows and R&D priorities in the next decade.

Europe between alliances and autonomy

At Munich, the political undercurrents are as telling as the formal speeches. European leaders acknowledge that old alliances, especially with the United States, remain crucial but can’t be the sole guarantor of security. 

That affects tech policy too. A pivot toward autonomy could mean tailoring AI standards to European norms, investing in sovereign semiconductor supply chains, and crafting digital infrastructure less dependent on external cloud and data platforms.

It also means Europe may push for security cooperation mechanisms akin to intelligence-sharing networks that historically excluded it. For example, European cyber chiefs are openly discussing options like an EU “own Five Eyes” model to coordinate multinational defence.

What the 2026 Munich Security Conference shows most clearly is how Europe is rethinking its place in a world where digital and geopolitical risks can no longer be separated.

Discussions here reinforce a shift in how policymakers, defence chiefs and industry leaders alike view modern threats: not as abstract data problems, but as strategic concerns that shape alliances, domestic policy choices and industrial priorities alike.

From calls for stronger cyber capabilities to renewed emphasis on strategic autonomy and technological resilience, this year’s gathering points to a future where technology is no longer an accessory to security policy but one of its pillars.

For Europe’s tech ecosystem, that means regulatory agendas, investment flows, and public-private cooperation will be shaped not just by innovation goals but by national and collective security imperatives.