DP at Int'l conference

Development Poles was present at transatlantic conference in Cadenabbia, Italy where global pressing challenges facing the transatlantinc community were analized.

Foto: Tjark Egenhoff

This year DevPoles was present at the transatlantic conference organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in villa "La Collina" overlooking Lake Como north of Milan analyzed the challenges that lie ahead for Europe and the US in the upcoming months: With the US presidential elections ahead, concerns were raised about a more populist tone on both sides of the Atlantic. The willingness to push for further free trade deals, like TTIP, seem to be in peril. The critical view on expanding transatlantic trade and the negotiation on common rules and standards should be closely watched since it will affect one of the most important trade routes in the world.

The meeting, where high-level participants from politics, business and civil society come together once a year, started off with a discussion on the political panorama of transatlantic relations. Naturally, the US 2016 Presidential elections were at the center stage of the debate with special attention on the expected changes for transatlantic relations in case of a Clinton or a Trump Presidency. Implications for the common security community were also analyzed.

One of the main topics was innovation policy and how to provide growth on both sides of the Atlantic. Stunning insights into what makes Silicon Valley tick were offered by two start-up entrepreneurs: Understanding the changes and disruptions expected by the rapid development in technology are crucial for both public policy and business.

An in-depth interview with CEO Mike Fernandez, founder of Quant6 – a start-up that partners with leading academic research institutions and corporations to spin technologies out into new companies – will soon follow. The interview with Mike will focus on what drives innovation, the role of the public and the private sectors to achieve an innovative environment and how conducting business will change in the coming years.

Tjark Egenhoff is currenlty Senior Governance Advisor at DevPoles.


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