Future Economic Dialogue at the Global Economic Symposium

International Conference in Rio de Janeiro, October 16 to 17, 2012

Economic and financial crises, demographic change, transboundary migration – many states confront similar social and economic problems today.  The roots of these problems are partly domestic and partly the result of the ongoing integration of formerly isolated markets and societies.  These challenges call for a rearrangement of both national and international institutions.  In order to support the quest for promising solutions and policy recommendations at the national and the international level, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has established the Future Economic Dialogue.

The principal theater of the project is the annual Global Economic Symposium (GES).  It serves as a meeting place for high-ranking experts from politics, economics, academia and civil society and aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange on the causes and consequences of global problems and on the detection and dissemination of practical solutions.  Since 2011, the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Leibnitz Information Center for Economics have jointly organized the GES.  This year’s symposium takes place in Rio de Janeiro from October 16 to 17, 2012.  The Fundação Getulio Vargas will be supporting the organization of the GES as a local host.

Rio de Janeiro

The overarching topic of the 2012 GES will be “Growth through Education and Innovation.” First and foremost, some 25 panels, roundtables and workshops will be dealing with the importance of education and innovation forshaping just and sustainable global governance structures. For more information on the program and the topics, please check out the GES 2012 webpage.

The websites of the Virtual Global Economic Symposium (Virtual GES) and Future Challenges will be used to animate the discussions at the conference.  Both platforms display a host of information about the topics of the Global Economic Symposium while simultaneously offering opportunities to contribute to solutions.