WIC10 - Plenary 3
Annual Conferences, 17/08/2010
The global economic recovery led by emerging economies will continue, especially by the growing demand for goods and services from developed countries. In this context and under the theme "Investing in a more inclusive world: the role of innovation in food production and energy" the Third Plenary Session of the XV WAIPA World Investment Conference 2010 gathered distinguished speakers to express their views.
Wu Changqi, Associate Dean and Professor of Peking University, noted that "the world's population has grown significantly and consequently the demands have increased and diversified. Given this challenging situation, companies need a lot of innovation and knowledge for the development of new products and solutions. Investing in innovation and to exchange expertise globally, i.e., share knowledge and progress among nations is to provide a bright future".
Guillermo García, General Manager of Molinos Río de la Plata agreed with Changqi that the most important thing is constant innovation in companies and stressed the role it plays within the sector of food production: "We have a positive vision because the international financial crisis occurred, the best business opportunities opened by the insertion of larger volumes of our products in developed markets".
Sandra Yachelini, CEO of Microsoft Argentina and Uruguay said that "the technology industry itself is innovative and implies a constant growth. We annually invested $ 9.5 trillion into research and development and our major corporate challenges are to promote digital education, create new sources of employment (for example, generate 45000 new jobs over the next five years) and continue to drive innovation so that more people worldwide are included in the system".
William Best, President of the International Centre for Economic Development, also highlighted the importance of innovation and said: "The current economic developments pass through innovation, differentiated production, socially responsible actions, environmental care and job creation. That is, building an inclusive world to develop sustainable activities and grow in the short, medium and long term".
Finally, Marcelo Argüelles, Sidus Group Chairman and Biosidus affirmed that “to achieve this we must have a level of investment and financing that does not exist yet”.
As a general conclusion, speakers noted that "it is important that each government clearly defines its policies related to foreign direct investment income. Only in this way the development of their local economies can be fostered and we could encourage those industries most suitable for a real sustainable growth".
Mr. Alessandro TeixeiraApexBrasil, Brasil