# German American Conference at Harvard

The German American Conference at Harvard (GAC) is a student-led conference organized on a yearly basis since 2008. The conference brings together American and German leaders from business, politics, and academia with students. By building a community of aspiring and established leaders in the United States and Germany, the conference aims at bettering transatlantic relations. According to the German newspaper Handelsblatt the German American conference has developed into an important "transatlantic summit".
Until 2014 the conference was called German Conference at Harvard.

## List of Conferences

| Year | Theme | Dates |
| 2008 | Germany in the Modern World | 12 April |
| 2009 | Division and Unity | 19-20 February |
| 2010 | Addressing Global Challenges: Directions for a New Decade | 19-20 February |
| 2011 | Future | 18-19 February |
| 2012 | Decidedly Indecisive? The German Angst of Leadership | 17-18 February |
| 2013 | The End of the West as we Know It? | 15-16 February |
| 2014 | The US and Germany: Drifting Apart? | 14-15 February |
| 2015 | Germany and the U.S.: Building Our Future | 30-31 October |
| 2017 | Connecting Future Generations | 7-9 April |
| 2018 | In Our Own Hands | 5-7 October |
| 2019 | Breaking Barriers | 1-3 November |
| 2020 | Neustart | October - November (Virtual Event Series) |
| 2021 | The Future of Problem Solving | 21-24 October |
| 2022 | If not now, when? | 28-30 October |
| 2023 | Think Beyond | 27-29 October |
| 2024 | Hard Conversations | 15-17 November |
There was no conference in 2016 because the conference date was moved from fall 2016 to spring 2017.

## Innovation Lounge

Since 2015 the German American Conference at Harvard features an Innovation Lounge. Participants are given the chance to interact with Startups, Think Tanks and industry leaders from both sides of the Atlantic. The German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche has described this Innovation Lounge as a "Schlaraffenland" for startups.

## Former Speakers

(selection)
* Norbert Lammert, Former president of the German Bundestag
* Frank-Walter Steinmeier, former Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs
* Sigmar Gabriel, former Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany
* Wolfgang Schmidt, Federal Minister for Special Affairs, Head of the Chancellery
* Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, former German Federal Minister of Defense
* Yves Leterme, Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, former Prime Minister of Belgium
* Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference
* General Wesley Clark
* Robert Zoellick, 11th President of the World Bank
* General Michael Hayden, Former Director of CIA & NSA
* Frank Mattern, Director of McKinsey & Company and Global Head of Recruiting
* Dr. Miriam Meckel, Chief Editor, WirtschaftsWoche
* Thomas Gottschalk, German TV Host and Entertainer
* Dr. Peter Wittig, German Ambassador to the U.S.
* Ska Keller, Vice-president and Spokesperson for migration of the Green Group in the European Parliament
* Ingo Zamperoni, former U.S. Correspondent of ARD and ARD news anchor
* Kai Diekmann, former Chief Editor BILD
* Ranga Yogeshwar, German TV Host & Scientist
* Prof. Claudia Kemfert, Head of the department of energy, transportation and environment at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin / DIW Berlin
* Stephan Gemkow, CEO Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH