The European Central Bank’s annual gathering in Sintra, Portugal wrapped up this week with a clear message: Europe’s central bankers are thinking hard about innovation, and they want everyone to know it. Boris Vujčić, who took over as ECB Vice-President in January 2026 after succeeding Luis de Guindos, chaired the multi-day event that ran from June 29 to July 1.
The theme this year was “Shaping Europe’s future: innovation, growth and stability.”
What actually happened in Sintra
Vujčić led multiple sessions on June 30, steering discussions on two topics: accelerating European growth through innovation and the impact of migration on productivity.
The forum also featured dedicated panels on artificial intelligence’s implications for financial stability. Tokenisation, the process of representing real-world assets as digital tokens on a blockchain, also got its own spotlight.
