Swiss Alumni Association, Geneva Chapter Event on 9 January, 2014
by Ludovic Choppin, MBA’12D
The INSEAD Alumni Association Switzerland kicked off the new year by attracting 80 alumni and other attendees to its evening conference and networking event entitled, “Talent & Innovation: two key drivers of economic growth”, featuring Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director for Global Indices at INSEAD, along with three other distinguished keynote speakers, namely Xavier Comtesse, Director of Avenir Suisse, the think-tank, Fathi Derder, Member of the Swiss National Council, and Joel Claret, Director at McKinsey.
Bruno’s presentation described the ideas behind the INSEAD Global Innovation Index (GII) and the new Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), along with the latest research results. He said, “There is no simple recipe for innovation, so we try to provide metrics”. Bruno believes the INSEAD indices have an impact because “numbers have less baggage than words.”
One of the “key factors in innovation is talent”, he said and the competition is fierce, it can come from anywhere around the globe, and yet the competition is taking place at the local level (certain cities attract talented people, rather than a country, “An innovator wants to go to a place where there are other innovators… It is the key thing about Silicon Valley. It is the key thing about Switzerland.”
Organised by IAAS Geneva Chapter volunteers, Leila Ojjeh, MBA ’01D and Ludovic Choppin, MBA ’12D, the event also included a lively panel discussion on Swiss strengths and challenges, which was reported in L’Agefi on 13 January, 2014.
INSEAD Tradition: Random Dinners
by Nancy LaTart, MBA ‘06J
The INSEAD Alumni Assocation France (IAAF) organised its latest edition of the Random Dinners on 25 January, 2014. Nearly 140 alumni, many joined by their spouse, participated in the 13 dinners hosted in and around Paris, and for the second year, in Lyon. As always, there was a fantastic mix of promotions, programmes, nationalities and industries.
The concept is simple: hosts sign up to organise a dinner at their home, and guests are assigned at random to a host. The host sets the programme for the evening, and guests are encouraged to participate in the meal by bringing along something to share. Everyone is invited to meet up for a post-dinner drink at a centrally located bar to share their Random Dinner experience with other participants. The main goal of the evening is to encourage connections within the alumni community in a relaxed and friendly environment.
The Random Dinners have proven to be a crowd-pleaser year after year and the alumni community looks forward to the event, traditionally held on a Saturday in late January. The IAAF hopes to have even more Guests, split amongst more hosts, and to expand the number of cities participating for the next edition the Random Dinners.
The event is supported by the IAAF Vice-President of Social & Events, Nancy LaTart; the IAAF Vice-President of Class Representatives, Basile Cayatte; and the IAAF President of Regions, Pierre Frecon.
The tradition of the Random Dinners is a longstanding one celebrated by many alumni globally. What other INSEAD traditions do you know of? Send us an email.
INSEAD-Luxembourg relations flourish as Dean Ilian Mihov visits Grand Duchy
by Marc Molitor, MBA ‘01J
Dean Ilian Mihov delivered a keynote lecture on “Emerging Markets: Trends, Risks and Opportunities” at a summit in Luxembourg on 20 November 2013, organised by the INSEAD Alumni Association Luxembourg in collaboration with the Association Luxembourgeoise des Ingénieurs (the Luxembourg Engineering Society) and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. The event was part of a daylong visit with alumni, media, business leaders and government officials.
Dean Mihov, the Novartis Chaired Professor of Management and Environment, shared his market insights during an evening conference, hosted at the Chamber of Commerce. The lecture engaged alumni and members of Luxembourg’s business community and government. Following the keynote, he joined alumni for a private dinner. Dean Mihov’s visit underscores INSEAD’s longstanding relationship with Luxembourg, a small country but one with many businesses and an international reach.
INSEAD has a longstanding relationship with Luxembourg and more than 250 alumni in the region—the majority of whom are senior executives and board members. Over the years, the school’s rigorous and diverse academic offerings in Luxembourg have included corporate governance programming, such as the highly regarded International Directors Programme (IDP). This is a unique educational experience created in partnership with the Luxembourg Institute of Directors (ILA), PwC and Russell Reynolds Associates. The programme is designed to provide cutting-edge knowledge that creates more effective directors for global business.
The lecture on 20 November by the Dean was intended both to build on the school’s activity in the region as well as advance discourse about emerging markets as an important driver in today’s global economy.
TMT Network: Big Data events in France, Singapore, US and Netherlands
By Vikas Pandurkar, Tapas Kuila, Ronny Roeller, Wim De Bruyne
Our inaugural global event on “Big Data” in cooperation with INSEAD eLab will be taking place in Paris (4 Feb, contact Fabien Astic), Singapore (17 Feb, contact Tapas Kuila), US (March – date tbc, contact Carlos Montemayor) and Amsterdam (May – date tbc, contact Benno Broer).
We now have a global member base of 2,000+ members on LinkedIn! This is a key enabler to globally and locally bringing together alumni and members of the INSEAD community. Not connected yet? Help us to grow the network even further by joining us on LinkedIn.
We are of course very excited with the traction the network is getting. A key element to grow further is to have more volunteers as champions in local NAAs and to also join the global core team.
Want to get more information? Contact us.
We look forward to meeting you at one of these events!
