Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

Aspen Institute Opens Nominations for Technology Leaders Initiative

75 years after convening leaders in the atomic age, the Aspen Institute launches a new initiative for those shaping our next digital era; nominations open now through March 1

Washington, DC, January 20, 2026 – The Aspen Institute today opened nominations for the Technology Leaders Initiative, a two-year fellowship experience designed for senior technology leaders ready to reflect more deeply on the responsibilities that come with shaping this new digital landscape. Part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN), the initiative continues the Institute’s 75-year commitment to developing values-driven leaders by inviting participants to examine a defining challenge of this era: how leaders creating powerful technologies ensure their work advances the well-being of people and society.  

Seventy-five years ago, when the atomic bomb forced humanity to reckon with unprecedented destructive capability, the Aspen Institute gathered world leaders to contemplate what came next. Today, as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and other frontier technologies are poised to fundamentally alter human power, the Institute is convening the pioneers steering these forces to wrestle with their own moment of transformation.

“We’re at a point where individual technology leaders wield influence that rivals nation-states,” said Dar Vanderbeck, Vice President, AGLN at the Aspen Institute. “For 75 years, the Aspen Institute has been the place where leaders step back from the immediate pressures of their work to examine what their power means and how to wield it responsibly. Now, as AI and other frontier technologies concentrate capability in the hands of a few, we’re creating the space for leaders at the forefront of advancement to confront the hardest questions before the answers become irreversible.”

The Technology Leaders Initiative emerged from conversations among technology and finance leaders across the AGLN who recognized a critical gap: while global alliances focus on products and policies, few spaces exist for technology leaders to speak candidly about what’s happening on the front lines – the concentration of power, the unintended consequences, the breakdown of institutional structures.

“We’re at a moment where technological capability has outpaced our frameworks for leadership. The current narrative is caught between techno-utopia and techno-dystopia. Both diminish our agency as leaders,” said Jen Zhu Scott, Co-Founder of the Technology Leaders Initiative, CEO of Power Dynamics, and Aspen China Fellow. “This initiative is about creating space for the large, constructive arguments about our shared future that transcend national, digital, and party borders.” 

The program seeks senior leaders steering frontier technology companies: builders, innovators, and scalers. Ideal candidates will be at an inflection point – those operating at influential intersections across the technology ecosystem who recognize their decisions now carry meaningful implications for society’s future. The initiative will bring together 20 senior leaders from across the global technology ecosystem for four week-long seminars over two years. Nominations are now open by invitation and will close on March 1, 2026.

The program is supported by the partnership of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford. 

Learn more at aspeninstitute.org/tli. 

About the Technology Leaders Initiative

The Technology Leaders Initiative is a program of the Aspen Global Leadership Network designed to support influential leaders in the global technology ecosystem as they navigate the concentrated power, ethical complexity, and global trust gaps defining the digital age. The two-year program brings together senior technology leaders for structured dialogue, reflection, and collaboration to meet the leadership needs of our new digital age. aspeninstitute.org/programs/tech-leaders-initiative


About the Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit aspeninstitute.org.

Contact:

Samantha Cherry
Associate Director, Communications and Community Engagement
Aspen Institute
[email protected]