Leopold Schmertzing

Leopold Schmertzing is a strategic foresight and security policy analyst with more than a decade of experience advising high-level decision makers. He has built foresight structures for the European Parliament, contributed to foresight capacity in the Austrian and German governments, and worked with international organizations and think tanks to enhance preparedness for future challenges.

Until late 2024, he served as Head of Content at the European Forum Alpbach, where he led program development and focussed on strategic reform. Before that, he spent seven years in the European Parliament, producing foresight-driven policy advice and shaping the institution’s long-term strategic thinking. Earlier engagements included the OSCE, the Austrian Foreign and Defence Ministries, and leading policy institutes.

He studied Political Science and History at the University of Vienna, and Strategic Studies and International Economics at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He recently submitted his dissertation at the University of Vienna on the “foresight–policy gap,” analysing why foresight succeeds or fails to inform national security policy in democratic states.