ESSC 2025: Aarhus to host Europe’s leading conference on the future of social welfare
ESSC 2025: Aarhus to host Europe’s leading conference on the future of social welfare
In June 2025, the concert hall Musikhuset in Aarhus will set the stage for one of Europe’s most important conferences on social policy, welfare technology, and professional innovation. Over three days, more than 700 decision-makers, practitioners, researchers, and tech partners from across Europe will gather for the 33rd edition of The European Social Services Conference - this year under the timely theme: Where Care Meets Tech.
The conference is a flagship event during Denmark’s EU Presidency and highlights how technological development and human presence are not opposites, but mutually reinforcing forces in shaping tomorrow’s welfare systems.
The event is organized by the European Social Network in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing, the Ministry for Elderly Affairs, the Central Denmark Region, and Aarhus Municipality.
Meeting at the crossroads of empathy and innovation
The programme revolves around two central themes: relational welfare and welfare technology. The first explores how trust-building relationships, empathy, and collaboration between professionals and citizens are key to empowering people and delivering meaningful support. The second addresses how digital tools and new technologies can enhance those relationships - by freeing up time, supporting independence, improving data-driven decisions, and making services more flexible and dignified.
Through keynote speeches, breakout sessions, citizen panels, innovation showcases, and study visits to local initiatives in Aarhus, participants will engage with both practical solutions and strategic questions. What does it mean to be truly present in a digital age? How do we maintain dignity in tech-supported care? And how do we design a welfare system that is both sustainable and deeply human?
Denmark sets the agenda
The conference will officially open with a keynote address by Mette Kierkgaard, Denmark’s Minister for Elderly Affairs, who sees ESSC as a vital meeting point - especially as eldercare takes center stage in Denmark’s political reforms. She states:
“I’m incredibly pleased that, as part of Denmark’s EU Presidency, we’ve secured ESSC 2025 for Aarhus next year. Welfare technology is developing rapidly. In our new senior reform, we’ve proposed making much greater use of existing welfare technologies. Conferences like this are crucial for professionals in elderly care to meet, exchange ideas, and learn from one another.”
An invitation to shape the future - Together
ESSC 2025 will be a vibrant hub for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and co-creation across sectors, disciplines, and borders. Local government leaders will meet tech developers, researchers will engage with frontline professionals, and civil society will connect with policymakers. The common goal: to co-create a future of care where both people and technology are given space to thrive.
Read more about the conference and join the conversation on the future of social services here: European Social Services Conference
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