IMD Professor of Finance Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center makes an appeal to the world: “Governments, companies and society need to work together to bring down walls and solve our urgent problems. We need to put technology at the service of people.”
For the first time we see millennials teaching the older generations that came before. Generation Z sees value in communities, delivering value to society, and self-fulfillment. They will save trees at the expense of their salary. This is the opposite of the values of many older generations today, that lean more towards necessity first.
Prof Bris takes us on a world tour – global competitiveness, financial development and immigration. His latest research identifies the relationship between income inequality, social mobility and competitiveness. Looking at walls between the rich and poor, driven by migration, Bris discusses the example of western Europeans’ policies towards immigration.
“The US China trade war is nothing more than a conflict of technology dominance,” says Bris. The global share of AI investment and financing sees China cornering 60% and the USA 29%. This is a perfect example of how the power of technology can create political rifts and inequalities.
“With varying degrees of urgency, some walls can only be changed by a shift in mindset, like gender and the climate. Others require action, like trade wars and immigration,” he explains.
What’s the way forward? The finance professor takes a holistic view. Responsibility needs to be shared between individuals, governments, and corporate entities. We will have to move towards more inclusive prosperity, which ultimately is the backbone of competitiveness, says Bris.
For this we need to better educate and inform ourselves: On new technologies and new hybrid cultures. In other words, we must be better prepared for the future in all aspects of life – hopefully building the world that our children want.
Watch the full keynote speech from day 4 of Orchestrating Winning Performance Lausanne 2019 here.
