ASIS 2013 European Conference & Exhibition

ASIS International held its 12th European Security Conference & Exhibition on 14-16 April 2013 at the Swedish Congress & Exhibition Centre. 403 senior security professionals from 37 countries were registered for the event.

On Sunday 14 April, the programme started with a professional tour of the Gothenburg Casino, giving insights on the challenges they face in securing this historical building. The Welcome Drink gathered the delegates in the exhibition area where Geoff Craighead CPP, President of ASIS, welcomed all to the event.

On 15 April, the conference programme kicked off with the presentation of Klas Friberg, Head of the National Bureau of Investigation of the Swedish Police (Rikskriminalpolisen), at the opening plenary session. Mr. Friberg presented measures aimed at combating organised crime in Sweden. 18 educational sessions were the on offer to the conference delegates, with topics from cyber security (Axel Petri, Senior Vice President Group Security Policy of Deutsche Telekom AG (Germany) on Cyber Security - of Hares, Tortoises and Hedgehogs) to Crime and Fraud Management (Torsten Wolf, Group Head of Crime and Fraud Prevention, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd, Switzerland - A framework for Managing Crime & Fraud) or environmental activists threats (Barrie Millett, Head of Business Resilience, E.ON, UK, Environmental Single Issue Activism - a Real Threat to Business or Minor Distraction).

The first day was closed by the President's Reception held at the Gothenburg City Hall.
On the second day, Fadel Soliman, Director of the Bridges Foundation, attempted to demystify the concept of Jihad and explained how it is not synonymous to terrorism. The second conference day also featured 15 educational sessions provided by high-level speakers that included Berndt Rif, CPP, Senior Policy Adviser Security Operations of the Dutch Central Bank (The Netherlands) on Pre-employment and In-employment Screening: The Israëli Approach, Prof. Martin Gill, Director of Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International, UK on Criminals and security professionals, who now has the upper hand?, as well as Charles Randolph, Senior Director - Executive Protection and Intelligence of Microsoft (USA) on Perspectives on the Modern Global Executive Protection Environment.

The conference was closed by Anders Groenli, Special Adviser for Strategic Security Risk Management at Norges Bank (the Central Bank of Norway), who discussed the Oslo 22 July 2011 terrorist attack and its impact on current security thinking. In addition, sessions designed especially for Chief Security Officers (CSOs) were organised by the CSO Roundtable, the ASIS forum for the most senior security professionals from the largest and most influential organisations in the world. The event also featured an exhibition where 30 sponsors and exhibitors presented their products and services to security professionals. It was supported by 13 media partners from all over Europe and 4 supporting organisations.