The Aspen Institute Central Europe is the Central European partner of the Aspen Institute global network. It is a non-partisan platform for policy innovation, value-based leadership, and international cooperation. To this ends our Institute holds seminars, policy meetings, and public conferences designed to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue in the region and to enhance responsible leadership. 

The Aspen Institute Central Europe is administered by the Board of Directors, headed by the President Ivan Hodáč and Vice-President Michael Žantovský. The Chair of the Supervisory Board is Pepper de Callier; the Executive Director is Jiří Schneider.

The Aspen Institute Central Europe is a branch office of the Aspen Institute US without being financially supported by it. It is a public benefit organization. Members of the board are not paid and their functions are honorary.

Team | Board of Directors | Supervisory Board | International Advisory Board

Global Aspen Network

The Aspen Institute has international partners in the Czech Republic (Prague), France, (Paris), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Rome), Romania (Bucharest), Spain (Madrid), India (New Delhi), Japan (Tokyo), México (Mexico City) and Ukraine (Kyiv). These centers conduct independently developed and supported programs, conferences, and seminars on region-specific issues, global challenges, and leadership development. Each partner works closely with the Aspen Institute’s headquarters to develop unique programming but to stay true to Aspen’s mission of value-based leadership and enlightened dialogue.

Our international partners focus on the development of leadership networks and informed dialogue about the values and principles of democracy and the rule of law, as well as a wide array of economic, financial, social, and political topics. The centers host seminars, workshops, conferences, and policy programs for high-level leaders and decision-makers to encourage discussion and debate on global and foreign policy, defense, and trade issues as well as current political and international affairs.

Find our partners in:

NORTH AMERICA

• Washington, DC · The Aspen Institute
• Mexico City · Aspen Institute México

EUROPE

• Paris · Institut Aspen France
• Berlin · Aspen Institute Germany
• Rome · Aspen Institute Italia
• Bucharest · Institute Aspen Romania
• Madrid · Aspen Institute España
• Kyiv · Aspen Institute Kyiv

ASIA

• New Delhi · Ananta Aspen Centre
• Tokyo · Aspen Institute Japan

Brief History

Aspen Institute Central Europe was established in 2012 in Prague as a regional platform for Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Since January 2017 it is called the Aspen Institute Central Europe.

The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization based in the United States. It was established in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies, founded by Chicago businessman Walter Paepcke (1896-1960). Paepcke was inspired by Aspen, Colorado’s great natural beauty, and envisioned it as an ideal gathering place for thinkers, leaders, artists and musicians from all over the world to step away from their daily routines and reflect on the underlying values of society and culture.

In 1949, Paepcke set out to make this dream a reality, making Aspen the site for the 200th birthday celebration of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This gathering attracted prominent intellectuals and decision-makers, and gave forth the idea of Executive Seminar – a seminar designed as a forum based on the writings of great thinkers of the past and present. Through reading and discussing selections from the works of classic and modern writers, leaders better understand the human challenges facing the organizations and communities they serve.

“The Executive Seminar was not intended to make a corporate treasurer a more skilled corporate treasurer, but to help a leader gain access to his or her own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and more self-fulfilling,” said Walter Paepcke.

During the 1960s and 70s, the Institute initiated new programs and events in an effort “to extend the meaning of humanistic studies.” This included a wide range of programs that concentrated on education, communications, justice, science, technology, the environment and international affairs.

Today, the Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners.

Information above taken from the Aspen Institute US website