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Venue

European Investment Bank
98-100, Boulevard Konrad Adenauer
L-2950 Luxembourg

Format

Luxembourg

Date

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Thursday, November 29, 2018

In cooperation with

Program

Time
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
13:30
Registration and Welcome Coffee
14:00
Opening Remarks
Andrew McDowell, Vice-President, European Investment Bank
Luis de Guindos, Vice-President, European Central Bank
14:30
Panel Session I: Investment in Europe: policies to support competitiveness as a new pulling factor

Nearly five years into the recovery, economic growth in Europe continues to be less dynamic than in the US and China. With challenges to competitiveness in Europe persisting, it is time for a shift in European policy focus. Weak productivity growth, inefficient allocation of resources, unexploited synergies, diverging economic dynamics and long-term prospects call for a stronger emphasis on policies that will enhance the competitiveness of European firms. Reviewing the evidence on recent investment activity in Europe, this panel will discuss the driving forces, constraints, critical gaps, and the available options to address them. Will recovery and market forces be enough to address the gaps? Should governments step up their policies to Support competitiveness and investment efforts? What strategies are needed? Should they target the regional, country or EU level? Can the focus on strengthening the competitiveness of European firms become the new pulling force for Europe?

Presentation of the key results of the 2018-2019 Investment Report

Chair: Debora Revoltella, Director of the Economics Department, European Investment Bank, and SUERF Council member
Pier Carlo Padoan, Former Finance Minister, Italy
Vítor Gaspar, Director, Fiscal Department, International Monetary Fund
Jonathan Haskel, Professor of Economics, Imperial College London
16:00
Coffee break
16:20
Panel Session II: Investment finance in Europe – a system fit for growth?

The extraordinary policies implemented in the last years have been successful in improving financial conditions throughout Europe and beyond. While normalisation of monetary policy has started, the long-term benefits of these policies are still materialising, with some process of financial re-integration within the EU and increased diversification in the forms of finance available. Looking forward, how self-sustained are these achievements? Is the European financial sector able to attract all available resources, transform and allocate them efficiently across countries, sectors and firms? Does the European market offer appropriate finance needed to support innovation and growth? Can long-term savings be more efficiently allocated to support growth? Is there enough equity demand and financing? What are the regulatory obstacles and how important are they?

Chair: Peter Praet, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
Colin Mayer, Professor, University of Oxford
Catherine L. Mann, Managing Director and Global Chief Economist, Citigroup
Claudio Borio, Head of Monetary and Economic Department, Bank for International Settlements
Jean-Pierre Mustier, CEO, UniCredit
18:00
Policy Address
Klaus Regling, Managing Director, European Stability Mechanism
18:30
Closing
19:30
Conference dinner (upon invitation only!)
Time
Thursday, 29 November 2018
08:30
Registration and Welcome Coffee
09:00
Opening remarks
Andrew McDowell, Vice-President, European Investment Bank
09:15
Keynote Address

The future of labor and the university system in Europe

Jean Tirole, Chairman, Toulouse School of Economics and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse - awarded with the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2014
09:45
Panel Session III: Digitalisation and Demand for skills: a market overview
Chair: Shirin Wheeler, Senior Media Officer and Principal Advisor International Media, European Investment Bank
Filip Geerts, Director General, European Association of Machine Tool Industries
Christel Heydemann, Member of the Executive Committee and President of Schneider Electric France
Jatsu Intxaurbe, Director of Innovation and Promotion, Batz Group
10:30
Coffee break
11:00
Parallel Sessions (first round)

Session A1 – Digitalisation – the Productivity Puzzle
Chair: Reinhilde Veugelers
, Professor in the Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, KULeuven
Eric Bartelsman, Professor of Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Diego Comin, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College
James Manyika, Chairman and Director, McKinsey
Giuseppe Nicoletti, Head of the Structural Policy Analysis Division, OECD

Session B1 -Skills – what causes the gaps in the EU?
Chair: Jan Svejnar
, Director of the Centre on Global Economic Governance, Columbia University
Maarten Goos, Professor of Economics, Utrecht University
Juan Francisco Jimeno, Head of Research Division, Bank of Spain
Klaus Zimmermann, GLO President, University of Bonn
Inez von Weitershausen, Associate Industrial Performance Centre, MIT

Session C1 – Macroeconomic benefits – moving towards more market based finance
Chair: Karel Lannoo, CEO, Centre for European Policy Studies
Olivier Garnier, Director General for Economics and International, Banque de France
Roger Havenith, Deputy CEO, European Investment Fund
Eli Noam, Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School
Boris Vujčić, Governor, Croatian National Bank

12:30
Lunch break
13:45
Parallel Sessions (second round)

Session A2 – Digital Transformation – enablers and consequences
Chair: Reinhilde Veugelers
, Professor in the Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, KULeuven
Steve Leonard, Founding CEO and MIT REAP Team Singapore Champion, SG Innovate
Laura Piovesan, Head of the Innovation and Competitiveness Department, Projects Directorate, European Investment Bank
Hugo Spowers, CEO, Riversimple Movement Ltd
Hans-Georg Schnauffer, Program Manager, Plattform Industrie 4.0

Session B2 – Skills in the CESEE region

Chair: Jan Svejnar, Director of the Centre on Global Economic Governance, Columbia University
Ralph de Haas, Director, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Laura Papi, Assistant Director European Department, International Monetary Fund
Hans Timmer, Chief Economist Central Europe World Bank

Session C2 – Understanding impediments and incentives to foster EU equity base
Chair: Karel Lannoo, CEO, Centre for European Policy Studies
Federico Galizia, Chief Risk Officer, Inter-American Development Bank
Cecile Mayer-Levi, Co-Head of Private Debt, Tikehau Capital
Giorgio Barba Navaretti, Professor of Economics, University of Milan
Martin Spolc, Head of Capital Markets Union, FISMA, European Commission

15:15
Coffee break
15:45
Panel Session IV: The EU competitiveness challenge: What lessons for policy?

The ongoing recovery offers a unique opportunity for Europe to focus on tackling structural problems and take action to improve its productivity and long-term competitiveness. Innovation and technological progress are the most important drivers of economic growth over the longer term – but does Europe have the right policies in place to enable and stimulate them? The panel will debate the policy options to meet the European challenges on technological transformation, skills, and financing. How can the specific financing needs of innovative firms be met best? What are the implications of technological change for skill policies? How can Europe facilitate the spread of innovation and its firms to push the technological frontier?

Chair: Andrew McDowell, Vice President, European Investment Bank
Sergei Guriev, Chief Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Robert Koopman, Chief Economist, World Trade Organisation
Karel Lannoo, CEO, Centre for European Policy Studies
Jan Svejnar, Director of the Centre on Global Economic Governance, Columbia University
Reinhilde Veugelers, Professor in the Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, KU Leuven
17:20
Closing Remarks
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President, European Investment Bank
17:35
Keynote speech