Con ocasión de la visita a Madrid en el mes de junio del pasado año de James McGann, presidente de Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP), el vicepresidente ejecutivo de la Fundación Alternativas, Nicolás Sartorius, propuso, en presencia del presidente Pere Portabella y los miembros del Patronato Juan Manuel Eguigaray, Jesús Ruiz-Huerta, Diego López Garrido, Marian Ahumada y Javier Solana, así como de Vicente Palacio, director del Observatorio de Político Exterior, y Carlos Carnero, director gerente, la celebración en Madrid de la reunión europea anual de think tanks en abril de 2019.

Dicha propuesta ha sido aceptada con ocasión de la Cumbre de este año, que tuvo lugar recientemente en Berlín y la que asistió Carlos Carnero en representación de la Fundación Alternativas. La reunión del próximo año en Madrid será organizada conjuntamente por la Fundación Alternativas y el Real Instituto Elcano. Este acuerdo es una prueba más del relieve y prestigio que la Fundación Alternativas está adquiriendo a nivel internacional.

CARTA DE JAMES MCGANN

Dear 2018 European Summit Participant,

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in the Europe Think Tank Summit and worked towards making it a great success. The level and quality of the participation by representatives from the leading think tanks in the region was exceptional! Over 90 senior executives presidents, secretary generals, directors and vice presidents attended from more than 40 countries throughout Europe and beyond. 

We want to extend our deep appreciation to Paul Linnarz, Martina Kaiser and the entire Konrad Adenauer Stiftung staff for the exceptional job they did in helping to organize the Europe Summit. All of this would not have been possible without the help and generosity of the Planning Committee. 

While complex and vexing challenges lie ahead, there was a clear commitment by the participants to work together to meet the enduring and emerging policy issues that confront policymakers and the public across the European region. We should all be very encouraged by the promise of the women and young scholars who participated in the Summit and the wise men and women who came together to share their knowledge and best practices for how to promote greater understanding and cooperation in Europe and other regions of the world.    

We have received a dozen or more email messages and calls from Summit participants who have expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to participate in what they saw as an extremely timely and important gathering. 

The recent revelations concerning Cambridge Analytica and the role it played in the Brexit vote and the US election underscores how relevant the Summit theme was: Closing the Gap Between Knowledge, Policy and Good Governance in the Digital Age and particularly the session that focused on understanding the impact of social media and AI on politics, public opinion, and voting patterns.

Finally, we want to thank each and every one of you for generously giving up some of your time to join us in Berlin and for providing the leadership and support for the Summit. As mentioned at the closing of the Summit, in these troubled times we need to forge closer ties and work together to understand and effectively respond to those who would take us to dark and dangerous place. Our joint efforts have achieved that goal. 

We look forward to seeing you at the 2019 European Think Tank Summit in Spain!

If you would like to submit a quote for attribution about the Summit, we will include a series of quotes at the end of the Summit reports from the participants. 

Please let us know if there are any comments regarding your biography or your title that you would like us to amend before distributing the final version of the Summit Booklet. 

Kind Regards,

Jim McGann & ETTS team