The Kiel Conference has used the momentum provided by Kiel Week to establish a conference format aimed at raising the awareness for the maritime domain as well as strengthening the ties between military, academia, politics, and industry. It has also drawn from Kiel’s chequered heritage as a significant naval and maritime city. Rich in naval history, Kiel is not only a major Baltic sea port and namesake to the famous Kiel Canal but also home to the ISPK, the COE CSW, the German Navy’s Flotilla 1, the GEOMAR, leading German shipyards, and the famous Kiel Week.

In each iteration of the conference a specific maritime region is selected and used as a case to discuss a broad range of security challenges. These can be of geostrategic, political, legal, military, economic, or technological nature. Hence, the Kiel Conference has served as a bridge between political-strategic and geopolitical concerns and has brought together professionals from the military with thought leaders from academia, industry, and politics.The accomplishment of two successful conferences in 2015 and 2016 helped create the Kiel Seapower Series in 2017.

Kiel Conference 2016 - Focus: High North
Kiel Conference 2015 - Baltic Sea Focus

The Kiel Conference was organized by

The Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) provides research, analysis and commentary on conflicts and strategic issues. ISPK is committed to furthering the security policy discourse in Germany and abroad by way of focused, interdisciplinary, policy-oriented research.

In Cooperation with

The Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters (COE CSW) at Kiel naval base provides Joint and Combined Subject Matter Expertise in the range of operations in confined and shallow waters (CSW) for NATO and the nations participating in the COE CSW in order to advance future developments and in particular to support NATO Transformation.