About the event

Uniting the global community of special operations forces

Global SOF Symposium - Europe is an annual symposium and exhibition which brings the Special Operations Forces (SOF) audience together to network, explore topical developments and do business.

The Global SOF Foundation is a non-profit organisation that aims to build and grow an international network of military, government, commercial, and educational stakeholders in order to advance SOF capabilities and partnerships to confront global and networked threats. It hosts a series of US-based events, and launched its European Symposium in 2016.

Alongside a three-day educational programme featuring many world-leading speakers from the special forces sector, the event welcomes a varied selection of industry exhibitors. Participating organisations share their latest products and services supporting special operations forces across Europe and beyond.

Watch highlights from the 2019 event in Brussels.

Previous exhibitors

Previous speakers

Audience Profile

Previous locations

Each year, the event moves to a different European location to maximise engagement with local special operations forces, wider military and government personnel.

2016: Vilnius, Lithuania

2017: Bucharest, Romania

2018 Madrid, Spain

2019: Brussels, Belgium

As the event heads to Poland for the first time, find out more about the 2021 venue here.

Future Growth

Clarion Events’ Defence and Security division has been selected by the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation (GSF) to coordinate and deliver its European based event from October 2021.

With a proven track record of growing association-owned events, Clarion will aim to add value for exhibitors, sponsors and delegates alike to attract a wider audience of special operations stakeholders to the show.