16th Global Governance & Integrity Forum

This milestone anniversary builds upon a rich 16-year history. Sixteen years ago, Prof. Dr. Bartosz Makowicz initiated the first German-Polish Forum for Law and Business in Warsaw, creating an interdisciplinary platform combining legal, economic, communication, and cultural studies perspectives to address emerging governance and compliance challenges. Over the years, the event evolved through the German-Polish Compliance Forum (hosted, among other places, at the Warsaw Stock Exchange) and later expanded across Europe as the European Compliance Forum, with editions held in major capitals such as Lisbon, before developing into today’s Global Governance & Integrity Forum.
This year’s conference highlighted this international growth across multiple sectors. The Forum gathered more than 150 participants from business, academia, and public administration, alongside over 30 speakers from across Europe and around the globe. For the first time, more than 20 compliance organizations from Europe and Latin America joined as official partners. Reflecting Viadrina’s cross-border profile, the event featured a dedicated focus on Ukraine, welcoming active contributions from Ukrainian practitioners, researchers, and a young Ukrainian compliance organization discussing institutional integrity and future reconstruction efforts. Furthermore, high-level keynotes were delivered by representatives of prominent global institutions, including the OECD, UN Global Compact, and Transparency International.
The panels addressed key topics and emerging research fields:
-       Geopolitical Crises & Supply-Chain Compliance: The impact of geopolitical fragmentation on international sanctions regimes, cross-border partner screening, and resilient global supply chains.
-       Regulatory Frameworks: Critical insights into the new European Anti-Corruption Directive and the ongoing reform of EU Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
-       Whistleblowing & Internal Investigations: Modern procedural challenges, institutional safeguards, and best practices in conducting fair internal investigations.
-       Artificial Intelligence: The growing role of AI as both a tool facilitating compliance solutions and a source of legal liabilities under the European AI Act, including risks of uncontrolled model autonomy.
We would like to thank all speakers, partner organizations, and participants for their contributions to this year’s Forum.