Standing With Us
Partners
The institutions, chambers, foundations and societies that make the conference possible.
Our Partners
ADS Group
ADS was formed in 2009 from the merger of the Society of British Aerospace Companies, the Defence Manufacturers Association and the Association of Police and Public Security Suppliers. It represents more than 1,700 companies, Airbus, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce among them, in sectors that added £42.2 billion to the UK economy in 2024 and employ 443,000 people directly. It runs the Farnborough International Airshow.
Visit websiteBritish Chamber of Commerce in Germany
Founded in 1919, the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany is the largest British-German business association in Europe: some 600 member organisations, 5,000 personal contacts, offices in Berlin and London, and regional committees across both countries. Its calendar includes the German British Business Summit each October, the SHeconomy series and the annual German-British Business Outlook survey. Its patrons are the German and British ambassadors.
Visit websiteCambridge University German Society
The Cambridge University German Society was founded in 1908 and looks back on more than a century of Anglo-German friendship in the university. Conceived as a meeting place for German and British students alike, it today connects a community of over 4,000 students and alumni through talks, cultural events and social gatherings. Its founding purpose, intercultural dialogue and friendship across the two countries, is the same impulse that underlies this conference.
Visit websiteDeutsch-Britische Gesellschaft
Founded in Düsseldorf in 1949 by Lilo Milchsack and six fellow citizens, the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft convened the first Königswinter talks a year later, still its flagship conference. Thirteen regional societies now stage some 120 events a year. Its Young Königswinter Conference reached its 66th edition in 2026, and its new Königswinter Future Lab opened with Foreign Minister Wadephul and Foreign Secretary Cooper.
Visit websiteDeutsche Industrie- und Handelskammer
The DIHK traces its origins to the Deutscher Handelstag, founded in Heidelberg in 1861 by 91 chambers pressing for common currency, tariffs, weights and measures. It is today the umbrella body of Germany's 79 regional chambers, representing some three million businesses, and since 2023 a corporation under public law. It carries the dual vocational training system and maintains the AHK network abroad.
Visit websiteDeutsche-Britische Industrie- und Handelskammer
Founded in London in 1971, the German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce is the UK arm of the worldwide AHK network, coordinated by the DIHK across some 90 countries. Around 800 British and German member firms belong to it, and it advises roughly 8,000 companies a year on market entry, trade and investment in both directions. It also runs its own business school, ECBM.
Visit websiteDitchley Foundation
Established in 1958 by Sir David Wills at Ditchley Park, the Oxfordshire house Churchill used as a wartime retreat 'when the moon is high', the Foundation was endowed to study international relations 'by the conference method'. It still runs monthly invitation-only, off-the-record conferences there across four themes: geopolitics, democracy, technology, and energy and climate, deliberately mixing established leaders with emerging talent.
Visit websiteGemeinnützige Hertie Stiftung
Established in 1974 on the estate of Georg Karg, head of the Hertie department-store group, it is one of Germany's largest independent foundations, with €1.1 billion in assets and €25–30 million disbursed annually. Some €9 million a year goes to brain research, funding the Hertie Institute in Tübingen and Hertie AI. In democracy it founded the Hertie School and runs Jugend debattiert.
Visit websiteGTAI - Germany Trade & Invest
Germany Trade and Invest - Gesellschaft für Außenwirtschaft und Standortmarketing mbH (GTAI), the successor to the German Office for Foreign Trade (bfai) since January 1, 2009, is a limited liability company (GmbH) wholly owned by the federal government of Germany; it is assigned to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Visit websiteJugend debattiert
Launched as a Hertie-Stiftung pilot in 2001 and rolled out nationwide a year later under Federal President Johannes Rau, Jugend debattiert is Germany's national schools debating competition. Run with the Heinz Nixdorf Stiftung and the education ministries of all sixteen Länder, it takes pupils from year eight through school, regional and state rounds, often staged in state parliaments, to a national final.
Visit websiteLynn Capital Partners
Lynn Capital Partners is a business advisory and finance firm founded by Angela Lynn. It works with owner-managed businesses along two strands: 'The Plan', covering financial reporting, internal controls, operational documentation and capital readiness; and 'The Capital', arranging business lines of credit, equipment finance and real-estate transactions of up to $20 million. Its stated purpose is to build the financial foundation that positions businesses for growth.
Visit websiteOffice of the Free State of Bavaria in the United Kingdom
Bavaria's London office is the first Bavarian representation in the United Kingdom since the nineteenth century, operational from February 2022 and formally opened in May 2023. Run by the Bavarian State Chancellery from Stratford Place under director Maja Klimaschewski, it is the first port of call for Bavarian-British investment and works across science, innovation, education, youth exchange and culture. Bilateral trade exceeds €11 billion a year.
Visit websiteOxford Diplomatic Society
The Oxford Diplomatic Society was founded in 2020 by Tiril Høye Rahn, Nico Han and Munib Mesinovic to give students direct access to the practice of diplomacy. In a few years it has grown to around 1,000 members and more than fifty speaker events, alongside embassy visits, practitioner workshops, its own Academy and a Board of Excellencies of serving and former diplomats. Its subject matter is the conference's subject matter.
Visit websiteOxford Europeanist Society
The Oxford Europeanist Society (EUSOC) was founded to 'rekindle the European spirit in Oxford' after the Brexit referendum, and today brings together more than 200 members from across the continent, making it one of the University's most international societies. Through talks, panels and fireside chats it connects students with policymakers, diplomats and academics, drawing on ties to the European Parliament, the Commission and think tanks across Europe.
Visit websiteOxford Law Society
Established in 1870, the Oxford Law Society is among the University's oldest student societies. It connects students with firms, chambers and the judiciary through careers evenings, panels and skills workshops, and publishes the termly magazine Verdict, to which Baroness Hale, Cherie Blair and Lord Goldsmith have contributed, alongside the Oxford Undergraduate Law & Policy Review. Past presidents include Sir Brian Leveson and Nicola Horlick.
Visit websiteOxford Politics Society
The Oxford Politics Society is a student-run, non-partisan society dedicated to the broad discussion of political ideas and practice. It hosts speaker events with figures from politics and public life, Lord Hague among recent guests, supports students seeking careers in politics and policy, and publishes its own magazine, The Oxford Exchange. Its non-partisan, cross-spectrum approach mirrors the conference's own.
Visit websiteOxford University German Society
The Oxford University German Society is one of the oldest student-run societies, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1911 a group of German and British students founded the ‘Hanover Club’ as a forum for discussion of ‘topics of interest and importance to both nations’. The Club, which existed until 1913, was also meant to foster friendships between German and British students.
Visit websiteStudienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
Founded in Dresden in 1925, dissolved by the National Socialists in 1934 and re-established in Cologne in 1948, it is Germany's oldest and most prestigious scholarship organisation. It currently funds around 13,100 students and 1,300 doctoral researchers, fewer than 0.35 per cent of German students. Beyond the stipend come summer academies, research colleges, language courses and career programmes. It is explicitly non-political and non-denominational.
Visit websiteThe Oxford Guild
Founded in 1897, the Oxford Guild is the University's business society and describes itself as the oldest and largest professional student society in Oxford, the UK and Europe, with tens of thousands of members. It runs over one hundred events each year, careers talks, conferences, mentoring and networking evenings, connecting students directly with employers and practitioners. Its reach into the commercial world complements the conference's business and innovation strands.
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