“New Global Order or New Global Mess? The World Upgraded: Vision and Responsibility” was the headline for this year EFNI held, as always, in one of Polish most beautiful cities, Sopot. And we were delighted to attend such a notable event.
Over 60 events: plenary sessions, panel discussions, counterpoints, night owl discussions or open meetings with the inhabitants of Sopot were attended by almost 1,400 guests, including nearly 200 panellists. Entrepreneurs, economists, politicians and authorities from the world of culture and science discussed the most important challenges for business and societies in a changing world, global trends and the future shape of the European Union.
An important event of the conference was the address by EFNI special guest, professor Dani Rodrik, an outstanding economist from Harvard University, who warned that further increase in inequalities in the USA and Europe is a threat to democratic countries.
Prime Ministers’ debate
The Prime Ministers’ debate received a lot of publicity too. It was held during the plenary session ‘Facing the Great Disruption: Europe in Search of its Place.’ The debate was attended by Jerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of Poland, Chair of the EFNI Programme Council and Committee on Industry, Research and Energy at the European Parliament, Jyrki Katainen, former Prime Minister of Finland, Vice President of the European Commission, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister of Italy and Herman Van Rompuy, former Prime Minister of Belgium.
Electronic Media
One of the subjects that related to innovation in media was a discussion with representatives from major publishers.
Editor in Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza about newspaper digitalisation challenges #efni2018 pic.twitter.com/QHV27gS6BO
— Michal Marcinik (@michalmarcinik) September 28, 2018
Special guests of the Closing Gala
The special guests of the EFNI Closing Gala, Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament, and Elżbieta Bieńkowska, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, were also received with great interest.
Pat Cox called on business representatives in the context of events in Europe and Poland, to wake up, not to sleep in the future, to get involved in the change process before it is too late.