Recognition
We are delighted to share that one of our own, Hajo Adam PhD’10Jun has been recognised by Poets & Quants in their “Top 40 Under 40″ listing of rising academic stars, who represent elite schools from around the world. These uncommon professors have excelled in research while overcoming the green-professor label in the classroom. To uncover this remarkable group of men and women, Poets&Quants asked B-school officials, faculty, students, and alumni for their top picks and put out an open nomination. To read more about the 40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs Under 40 In The World, click here and to read more about what Hajo has to say here. Please join us in congratulating Hajo who is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in Organisational Behavior at the Rice University, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business.
Congratulations also to alumnus BG Perry Lim Cheng Yeow MBA’09J, on his appointment as Chief of the Singapore Army. BG Lim, 41, joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1990, and was awarded the SAF (Overseas) and President’s Scholarship in 1991. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Starred First) (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He was then awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Postgraduate Scholarship in 2008 to pursue a Master of Business Administration in INSEAD, Singapore. Read more here.
Family Business Next Generation Career Bootcamp
From 28 to 30 March 2014, the world’s first Family Business Bootcamp was organised by the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise (WICFE) and Family Business Network (FBN) Academy. This bootcamp was designed by Professor S. Carlock who is one of the world’s leading family business experts, for next generation family members interested in governance in their family business.
Instead of the traditional lecture based model, this experiential learning based Bootcamp was about skills, attitude and sharing experiences with other next generation family business members. The Bootcamp explored the participants’ intellectual, emotional and spiritual connections to their family business and identified new options to make it a meaningful part of their life.
IAA Italy alumni events
By Massimo Scarcello AMP Nov‘13
The IAA Italy organised many interesting events covering a variety of topics during the first quarter of this year. Following are brief summaries of the events.
Event explores energy efficiency
“Energy Efficiency for residential areas: the new frontiers” was the last in a series of meetings organised by IAA Italy during the first quarter of 2014. It was held in Rome at the Auditorium ENEL on March 17.
Moderated by Francesca Gostinelli (VP Business and Operations Improvement, Enel), the roundtable consisted of the following participants: Gianfilippo Mancini (Managing Director, Divisione Generazione, Energy Managment and Italian Market, Enel), Ivan Maineri (VP Energy and EcoBusiness, Schneider Electric Italy), Flavio Borgna (South Europe Director, Ariston Thermo), Luca Parnasi (CEO, Parsitalia Real Estate), and Simone Lo Nostro (Head of Marketing, Supply, Energy Services and Corporate Sales).
Simone opened the meeting by providing two very clear examples from the Residential and Corporate Markets, and introduced the theme of energy efficiency as a driver for economic development and, therefore, as a driver for employment development.
Ivan Maineri and Flavio Borgna demonstrated how technological innovation, reliable technical performances and ease of products’ use (two of those had been illustrated from each participating company) allow for the continuous development of the business.
Luca Parnasi discussed energy efficiency in the real estate industry, and pointed out that such efficiency has gone from being a status symbol to becoming a real market need.
There is no doubt that the availability of energy efficiency and modular energy for all consumers represents a global opportunity. One example makes that clear: the acquisition by Google for $3.2 billion of Nest Labs (the latter produces a smart thermostat that connects to the web, is app-controllable and able to learn the habits of the user, thus optimizing energy consumption significantly).
Energy efficiency, as Gianfilippo Mancini stressed at the end of the meeting, involves technological innovation, competence development, realisation of successful products in different areas (home automation, real estate, appliances, services), the cooperation among several players, and last but not least, the removal of some cultural barriers to help with simplifying the process.
We are grateful for the fine hospitality provided by Enel. We wrapped up the IAA Italy event with a cocktail gathering during which all participants had the opportunity to continue to exchange ideas on the theme of our event.
Broadband in Italy the focus of session
“Which broadband network for the future of Italy” was the topic of an IAA Italy event held March 11 at the Milan office of law firm Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners. The meeting was moderated by Andrea Cabrini, Class CNBC Director, who was joined by four other important keynote speakers: Maurizio Dècina, Politecnico of Milan, Corrado Sciolla, President Europe and Latam of BT, Marinella Soldi, CEO of Discovery Italy and Discovery Southern Europe, and Alberto Trondoli, CEO of Metroweb.
“By 2020 mobile internet traffic will be 30 times higher than in 2010. This increase depends on the number of smartphones and tablets that will be in use and also on the increasing number of computers and devices that will use the internet to communicate. This may require more efficient and ubiquitous technology to carry the data.” These observations are from Digital agenda for Europe-Horizon 2020.
Here is another assessment:
“Smart cities, Internet of Things, Smart Environment, Virtual Continuum, Wearable Devices, Digital Home, TV Everywhere/multiscreen, e-Health, Cloud, and m-Commerce, are some terms that will become more and more familiar in everyday life. Moreover, they represent special opportunities in developing social (major employment, education, training and skill building) and economic capabilities (the internet economy will reach $4.3 trillion in the G-20 economies by 2016).” Source: BCG-The Connected World. March 2012)
These comments provided the framework for this interesting meeting on the development of broadband telecommunications networks.
With the thoughtful observations from the four keynote speakers, and thanks to the interesting questions from Andrea Cabrini, we were able to analyse the important issue of network evolution and how this is not only a technical challenge, but also an exciting opportunity to create value from the various national and international players (carriers, enablers, service providers, electrical device producers, and content producers) who might be interested.
The law firm Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners offered a wonderful cocktail to conclude this interesting evening.
Maximising tourism’s advantages
“Italy 2020, the unexpressed potential of Italy in Tourism” was the subject of a special IAA Italy event held February 10 at the prestigious Milan office of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The meeting was hosted by Nicola Pianon, senior partner BCG, and included three important keynote speakers: Gabriele Burgio, Alpitour President, Fabio Sattin, President and Co-founder, Private Equity Partners, and Ignazio Rocco, Senior Partner BCG.
Nicola discussed the expected world trends in demand for international tourism. He also referred to the impact on trade balances of different countries’ as tourist destinations, Italy’s competitive position in international tourism, and the importance of tourism to the Italian economy (€130 billion, about 9% of GDP, with 2.2 million employees representing 9.7% of total employment). Therefore there is significant potential growth in terms of incomes and new job opportunities. Source: strategic plan for the development of Italian tourism in 2013). Finally, he outlined the main strategic actions that will be useful to meet the challenges coming from international competitors.
The debate included the involvement of other keynote speakers who, thanks to their significant experience in their field, contributed to an understanding of the major drivers in the sector. They also answered many specific questions from INSEAD alumni in attendance.
To conclude the evening BCG provided a lovely cocktail gathering during which all the participants could share their impressions and ideas.
