The Asia Innovation Initiative is:
- An exclusive (by-invitation only) annual event bringing together key stakeholders from Asia - the businessand political leaders, top academic and media personalities - to focus on the innovations, initiatives, and new partnerships needed to sustain Asia's long-term economic growth and social progress, and to contribute each year new perspectives and new orientations;
- A privileged framework for creating new opportunities for publicfprivate partnerships and fruitful interaction between the brightest and best young entrepreneurs and the established business leaders and investors,
helping to foster future business developments in the region; - A catalyst for initiatives and action that will reach into corporate boardrooms, national policy-making processes and opinion-making circles all over the region;
- An opportunity to be part of a pan-Asian debate on the best ways for the region to assume a leadership role and its due place in the new global environment of the 21st century;
- A privileged platform for networking among business leaders, senior policy-makers, opinion leaders and renowned experts;
- A context to discuss economic and business strategies with business leaders and experts from industrialized democracies as well as from emerging giants ? China and India;
- A high impact and high "take home value" event for economic and political decision-makers.
Creating value in ‘exponentiaI proportions’
All Asian economies are confronted with the challenge of harnessing innovation to successfully compete in the global economy. However, the "soft" infrastructure needs - Human resources development, IT and technology, capital markets ? are as, if not more, crucial to the region's future, and as urgent.
- Who will the next entrepreneurial champions in the region be, and how will they boost Asia's innovation capabilities?
- What kind of innovations should Asian countries look for to enhance the human resources that will be necessary to sustain their growth?
- How can innovative investment vehicles and new financial engineering mechanisms be created and how can innovative publicfprivate partnerships help mobilize the necessary resources?
- Where will be the most rewarding areas for growth in the coming decade?
- How will Asian organizations build world-class practice in business, processes and technology?
These are among the issues and challenges that every country in Asia needs to find ways to address effectively.
These are the issues at the core of the 2nd edition of the Asia Innovation Initiative.
On our agenda
The theme for the 2008 meeting is "Sustaining Asia's Pillars of Growth" and will focus on Asian capital markets, Asia's green growth challenge and developing Asia's brainpower capabilities. From the rapidly growing capital markets of Shanghai and Singapore, to the battered capital markets of Tokyo, Asian capital markets face serious challenges in attracting global investors. The second pillar will focus on efforts to develop new businesses and industries that balance and promote both environmental and infrastructure priorities, while the third pillar will focus on how Asia can build its brainpower capacity as well as a culture of innovation in order to build world class practices in business, processes and technology.
