Impressions from the Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) 2011

The Annual Meeting of the New Champions,14-16.09.2011, which reflected the results of months of preparations and efforts, brought together people from various fields and sectors for inspiring discussions. Even if the Forum is already preparing for the next big event, the Annual Meeting 2012 in Davos-Klosters, here are some thoughts on a few of the events that took place at the Summer Davos 2011.

The AMNC 2011 week kicked-off with welcome dinners and get-togethers among the different communities and participants. The Technology Pioneers dinner was organized together with the ITTC community, highlighting the new class of Technology Pioneers 2012 and celebrating the beginning of the Meeting.

After Professor Klaus Schwab and Premier Wen Jiabao officially opened the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2011, the Technology Pioneers were invited to join their first private session: an interactive joint-session with the Social Entrepreneurs. Even though these two communities face different issues and challenges within their different fields of activity, what often brings them together is their passion for entrepreneurship, which is a key driver to success for these groups. The interactions and discussion took off easily and just a few minutes into the session the room was already filled with conversation and exchanging of ideas and opinions.

 

As part of the “Meet the Leader” session, Technology Pioneers met with Kai-Fu Lee, an author and a blog writer, as well as the founder of Innovation Works, the president of Google China and a former Microsoft and Apple employee, for one-on-one discussions in a more intimate setting, excluding any press or participants from other communities to discuss what it takes to make it as a small business in today's increasingly complex world with a particular focus on the differences in opportunities, investment and culture between China and the West.                                                                                          The Technology Pioneers private session “Meet the Leader” was first initiated in Davos this year when Bill Gates took the lead to discuss and explore the challenges and opportunities for young, fast-growing companies, with a particular focus on how entrepreneurship can best be leveraged in today's complex environment to drive innovation, create employment and have a long-term impact on society.

 

“Taking Innovation to Market” was one of the sessions that I personally found among the most interesting where Technology Pioneers take the stage to expose their companies, what they are doing, how they are doing it and the difficulties that they are facing. They were then challenged by a number of people in the room and asked to underline the solutions identified during the breakout period to help address these challenges.

The Technology Pioneers were also included in the public programme as speakers within their respective fields of expertise. These sessions were extremely interesting, as they not only provided a platform for the community to speak about their activities, but also to see how the Technology Pioneers inspire other Forum members and participants. To some they play the key role to new solutions, a source of inspiration and fearless enthusiasm, to others they are experienced (serial) entrepreneurs that they look up to.

Apart from the official meetings and activities in the Congress Centre the meetings and talks outside the official programme were as important and inspiring. The Congress Centre provided a number of areas dedicated to the different communities where participants could meet up after sessions, or just go and see who is sitting in the lounge area next door to network and exchange ideas.

 

Looking back to that week, I have a hard time realizing that all this (and a lot more) happened in just a few days, and that as soon as one starts to get the hang of things, it is already over. The good thing is that the next one is just around the corner..

 

(More information on the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, including session summaries, is available at: http://www.weforum.org/events/annual-meeting-new-champions-2011).