Held under Chatham House rules, the discussion brought together leaders across research, policy, industry, and media to examine how trust is shaped by transparency, governance, and communication practices. Participants emphasized that in an increasingly complex and fragmented information landscape, strengthening trust requires more than scientific excellence. It depends on aligning incentives, improving access to reliable evidence, and building systems that connect knowledge to action across sectors and societies.

Over 65% of the European cloud market is in the hands of US companies. There are no significant social media platforms in European hands. Although a global leader in the 1990s, Europe’s share in semiconductor production has fallen to just 10% of the global market. Risk-capital investments are US dominated. These are just a few indications of how the EU is losing its strategic digital autonomy.

Given the unprecedented times and the need to lay foundations for the new, post-COVID world, we are asking prominent policymakers what they most need from scientists, and how they could most effectively assimilate scientific information. This knowledge will enable us to develop insightful and actionable material for Policy Labs, which will lead to further science-based policy reforms.