European Forum Alpbach

Official Logo
Congress Center Alpbach

The European Forum Alpbach was founded in 1945 by Otto Molden, who had been active in the Austrian resistance movement. More than 4,000 people from over 70 countries accept the invitation to participate in the European Forum Alpbach each year. Participation is open to all interested parties. The events are held in the small village of Alpbach.

Program

The program is divided into three main parts

Seminar Week

Up to 16 seminars are devoted to various scientific disciplines. Scientists gather for six half-day meetings. The seminar week provides an interdisciplinary conversation and offers the possibility of intensive discussions among experts. Plenary sessions on scientific, political and economic issues round out the program.

Alpbach Symposia

Czech president Václav Klaus at the 2005 Forum

Over the course of the two- to three-day conferences, internationally speakers diskuss topics such as the built environment, education, the financial markets, health, politics, law, technology and the economy. A range of breakout sessions offer participants the opportunity to delve deeper into indiviudal subject areas. The Forum also comprises shorter events such as the Tyrol Day and an interactive simulation game concerning the decision-making process in the EU.

Alpbach Summer School Courses

Summer school courses dedicated to the topics of "Entrepreneurship", "Facilitation and Participatory Leadership", "European Law and European Integration" and "European Health Care and Social Systems in Transition" are provided for advanced students and recent graduates.

Accompanying the program of the European Forum Alpbach throughout is a comprehensive schedule of arts and culture. In exhibitions, concerts and lectures, young artists in particular are offered the opportunity to present their work to the public. There are also the spontaneously organized "fireside chats" in which sensitive issues can be openly discussed with well-known personalities.

European Forum Alpbach 2015

For the 70th anniversary of the European Forum Alpbach, hundreds of participants from different backgrounds will gather in Alpbach from August 19 to September 4, 2015, to explore and discuss the many facets of “InEquality”.

President of the European Forum Alpbach

Alpbach Initiative Groups and Clubs

European Forum Alpbach at the Belgrade Law School (Serbia)

Former participants of the European Forum Alpbach founded initiative groups and clubs in more than 20 European countries (mostly in CEE) in order to work together for the constant advancement of the forum. These groups and clubs promote the 'spirit of Alpbach' in their home countries and universities and organise interdisciplinary events and lectures. They are considered to be sister organisations of the forum and most of them are giving out annual scholarships for students to attend the European Forum Alpbach.

Currently, there are initiative groups in Armenia (Yerevan), Albania (Tirana), Austria (Graz, Linz and Vienna), Belgium (Brussels), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo), Bulgaria (Sofia), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin and Cologne), Hungary (Budapest), Kosovo (Pristina), Macedonia (Skopje), Moldova (Chişinău), Montenegro (Podgorica), Poland (Warsaw), Serbia (Belgrade), Romania (Bucharest), Ukraine (Kiev, Lviv) and Austria/Italy/Slovenia (Senza Confini). Clubs exist in Austria (Alpbachtal, Burgenland, Lower Austria, Styria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg), Croatia (Zagreb), Italy (South Tyrol and Trentino), Russia (Moscow), Switzerland (Geneva) and Turkey (Istanbul). There is also a specific Club Alpbach Medica for students of medicine.

Past Speakers

External links

Media related to European Forum Alpbach at Wikimedia Commons