16 years of compliance research: Viadrina strengthens its international profile

Since ancient times, change has been regarded as one of the few constants. For interdisciplinary governance and compliance research at Viadrina, this insight is more relevant than ever: it must keep pace with a reality that is changing at an ever-increasing rate.

When Prof. Dr Bartosz Makowicz began establishing a research focus on compliance at Viadrina 16 years ago – which later gave rise to the Viadrina Compliance Centre – he organised the first German-Polish Forum for Law and Business in the Polish capital, in cooperation with the University of Warsaw. This interdisciplinary approach combined perspectives from law, economics, communication and cultural studies in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of developments within organisations of all kinds – particularly businesses – and to derive effective solutions from this. In Germany at that time, compliance was gaining in importance, primarily as a result of high-profile corruption cases and sanctions imposed by US authorities against German companies. In Poland, meanwhile, modern corporate governance standards emerged following the country’s accession to the EU, with solutions developed in Germany also being adopted.

In the years that followed, the conference addressed current issues in governance and compliance on an annual basis, evolved into the German-Polish Compliance Forum and was hosted on several occasions at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, amongst other venues. It later evolved into the English-language European Compliance Forum, which was also held in other European capitals, such as Lisbon. Finally, partly due to its growing European and international profile, the event developed into the Global Governance & Integrity Forum with a scope extending beyond Europe. Even during the pandemic, it continued uninterrupted in what was, at the time, an innovative digital format.

International perspectives at Viadrina

This year’s 16th edition was special in several respects. More than 30 speakers from Europe and other parts of the world, as well as over 150 participants from business, academia and the public sector, gathered at Viadrina. For the first time, more than 20 compliance organisations from Europe and Latin America were also involved as event partners. Particularly noteworthy, not least in the context of strengthening Viadrina’s profile in this field, was the active involvement of Ukrainian speakers and the young Ukrainian compliance organisation. High-level speakers from international organisations such as the UN Global Compact, the OECD and Transparency International were invited to deliver keynote addresses.

New compliance risks and new fields of research

Above all, however, the forum demonstrated that governance and compliance are more relevant today than ever before, thereby opening up new fields of research for the Viadrina Compliance Centre. Topics discussed included the consequences of geopolitical crises for supply chain compliance, sanctions and the cross-border vetting of business partners, the new European anti-corruption directive, the reform of EU money laundering regulations, and current challenges relating to whistleblowing and internal investigations. In all these areas, the use of artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important and must be factored into governance and compliance structures and processes. At the same time, the use of AI brings with it new legal risks and compliance requirements, particularly with regard to the implementation of the European AI Regulation and the uncontrolled autonomisation of AI models.

Impetus for further research and cooperation

The conference underscored Viadrina’s internationally established position as a centre for interdisciplinary governance and compliance research. Collaboration with compliance organisations and researchers from other universities also opens up prospects for further joint research projects.

Text: Bartosz Jagura, Translated by Deepl and edited