Why the Global Innovation Summit?

Innovation is the heart of economic growth. However, only a few regions, like Silicon Valley, have been able to build enduring innovation ecosystems — human networks that generate extraordinary creativity and economic output. The Global Innovation Summit is focused on solving one of the overarching questions of our time: how do we intentionally grow innovation ecosystems in new places?

Our vision in 20 years is to make geography irrelevant. Every innovator should have a fair chance to pursue a dream, wherever he or she happens to live.

Why is innovation so constrained?

How can leaders cause more innovation to happen? What are the effective levers to turn interesting inventions into practical innovations? Leaders are eagerly searching for solutions. Policymakers around the world seek to grow economies faster. Corporate executives seek to design and build new products that disrupt markets, drive revenues, and promote social well-being. Entrepreneurs and scientists seek to commercialize new technologies in new markets. Investors are hunting for world-changing opportunities, wherever in the world they may be.

But what is the recipe for systemic innovation?

The answer matters because emerging markets are the future of the world economy. As Fareed Zakaria writes, “We are now living through the third great power shift of the modern era. It could be called ‘the rise of the rest.’” The ten fastest growing economies over the next 40 years and almost all of the world's booming mega-cities will be in emerging markets. Executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and firms who ignore the development of new markets for innovation do so at their own peril. All sectors — from information technology and healthcare to energy, agriculture, and water — will be affected. The summit will link global decision-makers, both in Silicon Valley and the rest of the world.

Click here to read the GIS Concept Summary.

 

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Practical Tools for Visionary Leaders

We are convening a major invitation-only gathering of leading entrepreneurs, executives, scientists, inventors, venture capitalists, journalists, investors, policy makers, social entrepreneurs, and innovation thought leaders. The Summit is designed for those who are ready to take action in cultivating new innovation ecosystems. The Summit will be organized around three main themes:

  • Assessing, measuring, benchmarking, and mapping innovative capacity

  • Designing real-life, real-time prototype solutions to catalyze innovative growth

  • Implementing and experimenting with projects to build dynamic innovation ecosystems

Leaders will share experiences, successes, and failures, and develop foundations for best practice. The Summit will focus on the critical elements of all successful innovation ecosystems, including the fostering of trust, innovation-friendly culture, linkages and networking, technology transfer, capital formation, leadership, partnership development, and mentorship. More than mere speeches, the Summit offers insights from leaders, case studies, and roundtable discussions with practitioners, coupled with abundant networking time for emerging market leaders to mingle with Silicon Valley executives and global influencers. Most importantly, the Summit provides practical tools for cultivating dynamic innovation ecosystems.

The Summit follows the publication of a groundbreaking book on innovation ecosystems, The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley, by Victor W. Hwang & Greg Horowitt.

visit the website: www.therainforestbook.com.

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What is the origin of the GIS?

The Global Innovation Summit follows in the footsteps of the highly successful 2007 and 2009 World Bank’s Global Forums on Science, Technology & Innovation. Those events convened over 300 high-level delegates from over 30 countries. Our team, which organized those World Bank events, is taking that powerful legacy and expanding its impact even further with the GIS.

2009 Global Forum (click here)

2007 Global Forum (click here)

 

Why and how will this Global Innovation Summit (GIS) differ from other summits?

  • The GIS will not focus on building one or two dynamic enterprises but in building dynamic innovation ecosystems in individual countries or regions that can nurture the development of many generations of innovative enterprises. We believe that this is the best path to inclusive, sustainable, and sustained development.

  • We believe that we will be able to offer new, different, and more effective policy prescriptions for building dynamic innovation ecosystems. Our focus is on enhancing the quality of the connections, linkages, and relationships between people and institutions, rather than the stock of institutions per se. It's fairly easy for officials in emerging markets to build the same set of institutions in their home country as they see in Silicon Valley. But these institutions will not, and cannot, generate the same economic development results because they are not embedded in the same web of personal and professional trust-based relationships that are so prevalent in Silicon Valley. Explaining this in detail and showing officials in emerging economies how to weave an effective web of trust-based personal and professional relationships will be one of the Summit's major contributions and one of the features that differentiates this event from so many others.

  • We will unveil new mechanisms for community based financing of new and existing innovative enterprises. This will give emerging market officials new potential tools for supporting and financing innovative SMEs.

  • A large number of organizations (MIT D Lab, USAID's Grand Challenges, Grand Challenges Canada, Scientists Without Borders, to name just a few) are developing new technologies specifically designed for emerging markets. But these technologies will remain an inert "bridge to nowhere" if we do not also develop effective diffusion or commercialization mechanisms. The GIS will discuss innovative mechanisms for accomplishing this task. These diffusion mechanisms can be especially powerful when combined with the community based financing mechanisms mentioned in the previous bullet point.

  • It is important to unbundle the value creating services provided by VCs from the financing provided by VCs. Not every job creating, dynamic business will be a candidate for VC financing. But many of these businesses could benefit from the mentoring, networking and other value creating services that VCs routinely provide to their portfolio companies. The GIS will discuss how this can be accomplished.

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Will There Be Satellite Sections to Discuss Specific Sectors?

Yes. We hope to organize sections around such issues as clean drinking water, food security, ICT, clean energy, and health. Each section would bring together entrepreneurs, financiers, corporate players, aid agencies, NGOs, foundations, policy makers, and other interested stakeholders. The objective would be to discuss in depth how the innovation ecosystem ideas broached at the Summit could be applied in that specific sector.

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I Don’t Live or Do Much Business in an Emerging Market. Why Should I Take Time From My Busy Schedule To Attend This Event?

There are at least two compelling answers to these questions:

  • We expect to assemble top leaders from emerging markets in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. It would take weeks of travel and cost thousands of dollars to meet these leaders individually. We will assemble them in one room where they will be available for two days of intensive discussion.

  • According to Business Insider, the ten fastest growing economies over the next 40 years and almost all of the world's booming mega-cities will be in emerging markets. Almost all of the global population growth will be concentrated in emerging markets and the lion's share of global GDP growth is will be located there as well. As the Economist pointed out recently Economic Focus: Why the Tail Wags the Dog, August 6 2011 at emerging markets as a group are set to overtake developed countries in a wide variety of economic indicators. This is the face of the future. Those who know how to capitalize on these emerging opportunities will succeed; those who don't risk being left behind. The Summit will explore what it will take to succeed in these new markets.

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