Agenda

GFCC President, the Honorable Deborah L. Wince-Smith, welcomes participants to the second day of the 2022 Global Innovation Summit.

Kostas Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens, welcomes participants to Athens and the 2022 Global Innovation Summit, and shares his perspective on the city’s journey into the future.

The Greek Minister of Finance welcomes participants to the 2022 Global Innovation Summit and comments on Greece's dynamic path throughout history and future programs to build a competitive economy.

The Global Competitiveness Award – Industry Leadership honors business leaders who helped to strengthen competitiveness at the local, regional, or national levels and/or created a new industry or a transformational business model with global relevance.

The GFCC and its members are proud to launch its annual flagship publication, the Global Competitiveness Principles. First established in 2010, the Global Competitiveness Principles offer an overarching framework for national strategies aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to foster innovation, competitiveness, and prosperity in the 21st century. Every year, GFCC members in more than 30 countries review the Principles to adapt its content in face of today’s critical productivity and prosperity challenges. This year's edition focuses on place-based innovation and supporting initiatives to strengthen innovation ecosystems and improve local, regional, and national competitiveness.

Societies are overconsuming the natural resources available on the planet that are critical for guaranteeing the prosperity of present and future generations and ensuring global health. It is critical to design and implement new economic models that couple future growth with the preservation of natural assets. This session will include a presentation on the global impacts of the climate crisis and a conversation about the models and initiatives that are needed to couple economic growth with the stewardship of planet Earth and its natural resources.

The principals of the global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC), Delphi Economic Forum and the Council on Competitiveness of Greece welcome participants to the 2022 Global Innovation Summit and share their perspectives on how the event can present new opportunities to improve competitiveness today and in the future.

GFCC's Executive Director introduces the agenda for the day and tells participants what to expect from the discussions.

Today's world is marked by disruption and uncertainty. Citizens across the globe face complex social and economic realities and continually experience new professional and personal challenges. In such a turbulent environment, perceptions of life and wellbeing are in flux. In this session, Mr. Jim Clifton, Chairman of Gallup, will comment on a new datapoint revealing citizens' perceptions of their lives and wellbeing, and the implications of such scenario for the global competitiveness landscape.

The war in Ukraine, persistently high inflation levels, new global security threats, and other critical geopolitical and economic developments have caused a shift in competitiveness priorities. Making sense of these transformations is essential for policymakers and business leaders. In this session, GFCC Board Members will review the state of competitiveness today, highlighting the factors shaping future competitiveness strategies and the changing dynamics in which countries and businesses operate.

Place-based innovation has become a key topic among policymakers and business leaders across the globe. To advance innovation at the local/regional level, cities and regions need to understand, connect, leverage and further develop the assets they have in hand, creating value, connecting and differentiating the place in the national and global scenarios. In this conversation, leaders who work at the sub-national level will discuss relevant models to energize local/regional innovation ecosystems, drive cross-sector collaboration, prepare the workforce and promote economic transformation. The goal is to draw lessons from relevant global experiences.

The energy transition has the potential to reshape the future and make energy markets safer and less dependent on geopolitical setbacks. But the road ahead can be bumpy. The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine caused energy prices to skyrocket and placed economies in Europe and other parts of the world in uncertain scenarios for growth and recovery. In this conversation, GFCC Chairman talks to the Greek Minister of Environment and Energy about the green transition in the country, discussing new reforms to decarbonize the grid and make energy networks more resilient and supply secure.

The world faces a series of simultaneous crises that bring new challenges for future growth. In this session, the former Prime Minister of Greece, Lucas Papademos, will review how developments in the global economy and financial markets will likely affect future growth prospects and competitiveness dynamics across nations. Prime Minister Papademos will highlight the role of reforms and innovation in fostering growth and review the key levers and opportunities to propel economies and societies into the future.

Human lifespan has significantly increased in recent years. By 2050, more than 2 billion people will be over 60, with the global average life expectancy around 72 years. But living longer is not a synonym for living well. People need to be able to age while maintaining good health. The Hevolution Foundation, headquartered in Riyadh, is a first-of-its-kind non-profit organization incentivizing research and entrepreneurship in the emerging field of health span science. The organization leverages multidisciplinary expertise across several knowledge areas fields to fulfill its vision of driving scientific progress in aging and supporting innovation in life sciences and medicine. In this session, Hevolutions’ CEO will present on the nexus connecting health, innovation, and sustainability.

Energy transition is the process through which we will shift the global energy supply from fossil to zero-carbon energy sources. Such a process will require investment and the deployment of new technologies, business models, policy, and regulatory frameworks – to be feasible and sustainable, such investments will require sound economic rationality. New global risks and sharp increases in energy prices have added complexity to that equation, in such a way that energy transition today needs to be fundamentally coupled with energy security - the affordable and reliable supply of energy. In this session, panelists will discuss how the world can address energy challenges and opportunities.

Innovation is a key driver for productivity, future growth, and economic prosperity. OECD research shows that innovation accounts for more than 50 percent of economic growth in member countries. Greece has been implementing initiatives to boost innovation and advance the knowledge economy. 

Human intelligence is the most underutilized resource in the globe. Most of the people in the world are excluded from the innovation economy. Economies would substantially profit from providing the infrastructures, skills and frameworks needed to include people into the innovation economy and unleashing the potential for value creation, but that requires strategic drive, investments, partnerships and commitment. In this conversation, industry, academia, and government leaders will discuss the on-the-ground strategies that can be used to include more people in the knowledge and innovation economies.

Roberto Alvarez, Executive Director, GFCC

Roberto Alvarez, Executive Director, GFCC

As Greece continues to move past the debt crisis, mechanisms have been implemented within the government to promote innovation. In this session, the Deputy Minister of Development will review recent achievements and, particularly, explain the plans and initiatives to accelerate economic transformation and position Greece among the most innovative nations in the globe.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the health industry, with the introduction of mRNA technologies into the market and a drastic reduction in the time to market for new vaccines. The speed observed in the development and deployment of vaccines is unprecedented and should become the standard across industries, as the GFCC has proposed in the 2021 report, Frame the Future: Guidelines and Recommendations for Future Competitiveness. But the challenges are mounting, as pandemics and epidemics become more frequent, raising the global awareness about the need for countries, organizations, and communities to be prepared for the next health crises. In this high-profile conversation, health technology leaders, will discuss the future of vaccines and health preparedness.

Social capital is essential to advance innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth. All types of initiatives to further those complex agendas require the convincement, mobilization, and engagement of various stakeholders. And partnership-building is much smoother and easier when trust, the ultimate social glue, is in place. This panel conversation will discuss the secrets to building trust, and strengthening social capital in practice, creating the social fabric needed to advance innovation and competitiveness efforts.

Cross sector collaboration and partnerships are essential to knowledge translation into economic value, improvements in institutions and the business environment, economic development, creating a thriving innovation economy and anything else we can think about. Alliances across industry, government, civil society, and academia are an essential feature for all successful economic and social transformation cases worldwide. But such partnerships depend on various elements – leadership, the existence of legal frameworks that are conducive for cross-sector circulation of resources, investments to connect stakeholders and, ultimately, trust. Our panelists will discuss how to build successful and long-lasting alliances.

Local innovation ecosystems are complex fabrics that evolve over time and include stakeholders from all sectors of the economy. Successful ecosystems resemble rainforests, with diversity, connections, feedbacks, metabolism. It is not enough to have isolated resources (players, infrastructures, expertise, capital etc.) in place, as the performance of innovation ecosystems is a function of the level of connections and interactions among them. To advance local innovation, there is a need for purposeful initiatives to connect stakeholders and weave local ecosystems.

Innovation is becoming increasingly systematized, being turned from art to science. In this session, participants will hear first-hand about key trends, tools, and best practices to accelerate innovation ecosystems worldwide,... Read More

Innovation is more easily talked than done and, in most cases, implementing transformative initiatives to advance innovation is time-consuming and comes with lots of challenges. To build initiatives that can have impact at scale and change economic realities, leaders need to have a clear understanding about innovation processes, the existing opportunity areas, global benchmarks, the characteristics of local ecosystems and be able to create a compelling vision to mobilize the attention and the efforts of partners. This panel will review and draw lessons from initiatives and strategies to accelerate innovation in different countries.

Coming out of the Greek financial crisis, Greece officials have had to rethink using its unique assets of cultural heritage, architectural phenomena, and rich history to innovate its economy. The roots of innovation are in culture, content, art, design, and new thinking: all things Greece has had throughout world history. In a one-on-one conversation, the Deputy Greek Minister of Tourism will discuss Greek’s current model for tourism and share insights on the future of the Greek tourism industry.

Regional markets can serve as a lever to give scale and foster the sophistication of businesses, serving as a step toward global markets. At the same time, there are opportunities to connect science and technology resources across countries in a region. In this session, panelists will converse on how blocs of countries and regions can work to build up innovation and competitiveness profiles.

Steve Ashby, Director, Pacific Northwest National Lab, U.S.A.
Moderator: Kandeh Yumkellah, GFCC Distinguished Fellow

Humanity has entered a time in which shocks are becoming more frequent and extreme. The climate crisis is threatening societies by shifting weather patterns and increasing the frequency and severity of extreme events. In parallel, the possibility of a new pandemic has not yet been discarded, and the fast-forwarded digitalization during COVID-19 raised new threats of cyberattacks. Humanity must think ahead of future crises to build resilience. In this session, panelists will share examples, recommendations and insights to improve crisis preparedness and build resilience in government, industry, community.

The Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils will bring the 2022 GIS to a formal close. During this time, the GIS 2023 will be announced, including where it will be hosted. The GFCC will be joined on stage by the leaders of the next GIS host country.

The Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils and the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, will host an exclusive reception for GFCC members and GFCC fellows. This will be an opportunity to network and hear about recent advancements in Athens.

Universities are fundamental growth engines for the innovation economy and must work in partnership with industry, government, and civil society to realize that potential. In this workshop, participants will develop new connections, exchange best practices, and develop and share ideas on how universities can better partner with other sectors, further innovation, and act as engines of economic growth.

Yorgos Goletsis, Member of the Board, ETEPH S.A., Associate Professor University of Ioannina, Greece
Simos Anastasopoulos, President, CompeteGR, Greece
Symeon Tsomokos, Founder & President, Delphi Economic Forum (DEF), Greece

Deborah Wince-Smith, President, GFCC, USA

This session will introduce workshop participants to the agenda and the dynamics.

In this session, participants will be introduced to the key initiatives in place to connect industry, university, government, and civil society in Ioannina.

Established in 2016, the GFCC University and Research Leadership Forum serves as a living think tank for identifying and discussing trends and generating ideas for optimizing the university and research... Read More

There is a wide variety of models and solutions for industry-university partnerships and collaboration, as mapped and highlighted in the GFCC Optimizing Innovation Alliances report, among others. The toolkit and the possibilities for universities to partner with industry – and government labs – continue to expand, but the requirements and expectations about such partnerships keep evolving. Industry and universities are increasingly asked to collaborate and deliver results at speed, to solve local and global problems. In this session, workshop participants will review best practices to accelerate industry-university partnerships, covering aspects such as organizational setups, culture, leadership, incentive schemes, and more.

Big research and transformational technology projects are increasingly important in addressing global challenges. Moonshot projects mobilize attention and resources and can deliver bold results for complex problems. They also require new tools and methods, which find applications in other fields. Nevertheless, involving industry in bold and risky projects requires specific frameworks and models. In this session, workshop participants will review the opportunities and challenges to translate advanced research and transformational technology projects into commercial applications.

Roberto Alvarez, Executive Director, GFCC, USA Deborah Wince-Smith, President, GFCC, USA Yorgos Goletsis, Member of the Board, ETEPH S.A.