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11:00 am – 12:45 pm: «Local innovation, global competitiveness: what will come of tomorrow… »
Innovation is a key issue when it comes to growth and competitiveness of European companies. From “high tech” to “no tech”, the challenge of these small, large and very large companies is to remain in their markets and become highly performing in other markets, very attentive to customer requirements and aware of competitors. Which are the drives of innovation for these companies? Which threats affect our SME’s, and what opportunities risk being neglected? How can they innovate here in order to sell abroad? How can a company make the best of its creative resources to survive or become competitive (again)? These are the issues that will be discussed with:
 Jean-Claude Marcourt, Minister of Economy, Employment, Foreign Trade and Heritage
Candace Johnson, President of Johnson Paradigm Ventures
Nani Beccalli, CEO General Electric International
Rudy Aernoudt, Professor at the EHSAL and at the Hogeschool of Gand
Didier Mattivi, CEO of IP Trade
Moderator: Cathy Smith, ITN World News
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1:30 pm – 3:00 pm: «How to deal with the indefinites of the future»
Jacques Attali will approach the history of the next fifty years by “unveiling” how relations between countries will evolve and what demographic disruptions we will witness, the movements of populations, the changes in employment, the new forms of market that will change our everyday life. He will also reveal how extraordinary technical progress will radically modify our ways to work, be entertained and educated, but also health, culture and political systems.
Proposed within the framework of CréaWAL and, in particular, of the launch of the ‘Club des Gazelles de Trends Tendances’, this conference will provide all essential elements required to understand the challenges of the future, the levers and the pitfalls of growth and will provide capital information for entrepreneurs eager to face the future: an important reflection to help ourselves in not being submerged by the indefiniteness of the future.
Jacques Attali, President of A&A and of Planète Finance
Moderator: Christine Scharff, journalist for Trends Tendances
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2:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Network of companies, Poles and Clusters : the resources for the development of my company
Many networks have been created in Wallonia: whether this is in the form of clusters or Pôles de Compétitivité, or in any other form, their objective of all of them is to contribute to the development of companies and the economic development of the region. This workshop will answer questions related to their operating methods, their resources and the benefits that they can expect, especially within the framework of the internationalisation of their business operations, as well as concerning the perspectives for Walloon companies and also for foreign companies.
Benoît Bayenet, Councillor for the Walloon Ministry of Economy, Employment, Foreign Trade and Heritage
Jacques Germay, General Manager of the MecaTech Pole
Luc Langer, General Manager of the Matrio Group
Luc Vandendorpe, Cabinet Leader at the Walloon Ministry of Economy, Employment, Foreign Trade and
Heritage
Michel Michiels, Moderator for the ARESA Cluster
Moderator: Dorian de Meeûs, Journalist for Canal Z
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3:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Network of companies, Poles and Clusters : the resources for the development of my company
The workshop, presented by the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN), aims at showing practical examples and methods of internationalisation of networks of companies, organised in “clusters”. The objective is to reinforce the thesis according to which belonging to a cluster is a key factor for the growth of companies and their competitiveness. The workshop will deal with the importance of developing the international dimension of regional networks. EBN proposes that European experts on clusters, representing high technology companies but also non technological companies, should speak of this topic. These experts will also illustrate the various fields of activities, development of the international dimension of these networks and will guide entrepreneurs along the road to growth and international markets.
Nikos Pantalos, DG Entreprises – European Commission
Glynis Whiting, CEO of West Midlands in Europe
David Wortley, MD of the Serious Game Institute, Coventry University Technology Park
Geoff Archenhold, Director of Business Development, Aston Science Park
Jean François Balducchi, CEO Atlanpole
Antonio Sfiligoj, CEO of Sviluppo Italia Friuli Venezia Giulia
Conclusions: Jean-Claude Ettinger, CEO of Solvay Entrepreneurs
Moderator: Jean Marie Wathelet, CEO of ADE
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3:30 pm – 5:00 pm: The great export: focus on Indian markets
This workshop will focus on Indian markets. Why should a company go to these markets? What space is there for Walloon companies? Which are the opportunities available in the various fields? How should they move? What kind of approach should we have to the Indian culture and Indian companies? One thing we do know is that India is the second most populated country in the world after China, with more than one billion inhabitants, half of whom are less than 25 years old, therefore it is definitely worth finding out more about them…
This workshop will be held by three experts and three company managers with specific experience in the Indian market:
Arundhati Virmani, Consultant and teacher
Johan Quartier, Vice President of the Belgian-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Eric Santkin, AEC AWEX
Carl Dujardin, CEO, Xsysys
Dale Emerson, General Coordinator , Archibel
Gianni Cauzzo, Business Development Manager, Magotteaux International SA
Moderator: Jean-Yves Huwart, Journalist for Trends Tendances
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6:00 pm – 7:30 pm: Globalization and rarity
Erik Orsenna will speak of his original vision of globalisation: agricultural productivity has never been so strong and famines have never been so frequent. The earth has never provided so many graduates and illiteracy has never been so highly developed. We have never been so rich and, at the same time, so poor. Rarities are less frequent nowadays. Erik Orsenna has inventoried these issues, searched for the reasons and, after many months of work, proposed a set of principles to escape this curse: urgent action, innovative choices, a preference for durable development, and the reorganisation of the international governance of resources.
Jean-Claude Marcourt, Minister of Economy, Employment, Foreign Trade and Heritage
Erik Orsenna, Writer
Moderator: Eric Winnen, dialectiq
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