The Young Bled Strategic Forum is a unique meeting place for diverse young leaders, offering them a platform to share their visions, exchange ideas and network with other prominent young politicians, activists, diplomats and academic from all over the world. Each year, it attracts a group of young leaders and engages them in interactive discussions on pressing challenges and addresses inventive approaches to developing creative solutions. As a generator of ideas, the Young Bled Strategic Forum has become an engine of change.

The Young Bled Strategic Forum model is growing and changing every year. Topics change and ideas evolve, but the main objectives of the Young Bled Strategic Forum are clear. Young Bled Strategic Forum aims to bring together the most prominent young leaders from Slovenia and abroad and offer them a creative atmosphere for discussion and networking.

Each year, the Young Bled Strategic Forum focuses on a contemporary challenge and explores different ground-up solutions to address the challange. 

The main theme of the 2024 edition of the Young Bled Strategic Forum (working title: Restoring Common Ground) is a reference to the title of the 2024 edition of the Bled Strategic Forum international conference (Parallel Realities). In essence, at this year’s Young Bled Strategic Forum, participants will be looking for ways to make our realities converge once again so that a space for positive social action can re-emerge. You can find more information on the theme of the 13th Young Bled Strategic Forum here. 

At the moment we are still designing the programme of the Young Bled Strategic Forum 2024. The programme will not be finished before July as the final outline will also depend on the profile of the select participants.

Anyone aged between 18 and 35 committed to creating positive change in society.

Explore the main theme of Young Bled Strategic Forum and source ground-up solutions for select contemporary challenge in collaboration and in discussion with other participants and world-renowned experts.

Hang out with and befriend some 40 thought-provoking, up-and-coming, interesting, ambitious, and diverse young leaders from all over the world.

Because the attendance is free, and all the costs of your participation are covered by us! Young Bled Strategic Forum is possible because of donations and funds from generous partners and sponsors. This way we can enable participation to whomever, regardless of their socio-economic status. The costs covered include transportation, accommodation, and meals at the Young Bled Strategic Forum and the Bled Strategic Forum.

To apply for Young Bled Strategic Forum you have to fill-out online application form available here.

As per tradition, we extended the applications!

The new deadline for applications is 9 June, 23:59.  

You are encouraged to apply as soon as possible since we will review applications on a rolling basis. 

We are looking for young people committed to creating positive change in society. If you are an activist, engineer, diplomat, philosopher, community organizer, writer, project manager, social media influencer, politician, teacher, architect, physician, researcher, entrepreneur, professional athlete, coder, diplomat, designer — whatever your calling or profession — if your mind is set on practical, bottom-up change, you can be a Young Bled Strategic Forum participant.

The main aim is to select a diverse group of passionate, bright, and curious/savy individuals. In the selection process, we will prioritize diversity in terms of geography, gender, age, experience, and knowledge.

The Young Bled Strategic Forum selection committee will select the participants based on the submitted application forms. 

They will be paying special attention to the longer written elements of the application form to filter out the best applicants. 

There is no participation fee and all the costs of your participation are covered by us. This includes the cost of transportation, accommodation, and meals at the Young Bled Strategic Forum and the Bled Strategic Forum. Young Bled Strategic Forum is possible because of donations and funds from generous partners and sponsors. This way we can enable participation to whomever, regardless of their socio-economic status.

The participants chosen, as well as all the other applicants, will receive an email with more information by 26 June.

The Bled Strategic Forum international conference is the leading international conference in Central and South-Eastern Europe. After concluding the Young Bled Strategic Forum programme in Pokljuka, participants will move to Bled, where they will have the opportunity to attend the Bled Strategic Forum.

We believe that youth perspectives are crucial at international conferences like the Bled Strategic Forum. Therefore, Young Bled Strategic Forum participants will have the opportunity to actively participate in the conference in the following ways:

1. As speakers in discussions: Selected Young Bled Strategic Forum participants will have the chance to speak in discussions.
2. During the Q&A sessions: Young Bled Strategic Forum participants will be given priority to comment or ask questions during the Q&A portions of the discussions.
3. Young Bled Strategic Forum powered discussions: For the first time, we are organizing discussions powered by the Young Bled Strategic Forum, featuring themes and topics related to Young Bled Strategic Forum for Bled Strategic Forum audience.

We have an Instagram account dedicated entirely to Young Bled Strategic Forum.

Otherwise, you can follow Young Bled Strategic Forum on Bled Strategic Forum’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Feel free to contact us at young@bledstrategicforum.org with any additional questions.