Innovation and Competitiveness: GTIPA Summit, 2023

The 2023 annual summit of the Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance (GTIPA) brings together high-level expert panels on technology and innovation policy to discuss the keys to subnational innovation competitiveness in Europe and South America, optimal ways to stimulate life sciences innovation, how digital technologies can drive decarbonization, and the possibilities for reimaging value chains in the global trading system.

This event will be live-streamed. Watch on this page or gtipa.org, or on participating member organizations’ websites.

Conference Agenda

9:00 AM CEST—Opening Remarks

• Hubertus Bardt, IW
• Stephen Ezell, ITIF

9:15 AM CEST—Welcome Address

• Norbert Lammert, Chair of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, former President of the Bundestag

9:30 AM CEST—Keynote: Accelerating Science With Artificial Intelligence: Why It Matters and the Role of Policy

• Alistair Nolan, Senior Policy Analyst, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD

9:50 AM CEST—Panel 1: Innovation Competitiveness Worldwide

Two new GTIPA reports will benchmark the regional innovation competitiveness of states and provinces in select countries across Europe, South America, and the United States to provide a frame of reference and guide for policymakers seeking to bolster the competitiveness of their regional economies. The “Transatlantic Subnational Innovation Competitiveness Index” covers states across Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and the United States. The “South American Subnational Innovation Competitiveness Index” compares states in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru to the United States.

• Stephen Ezell, ITIF
• Axel Plünnecke, IW
• Carolina Agurto Salazar, Fundación Idea
• Marija Risteska, CRPM
• Alvaro Monge, Macroconsult
• Presentation: Viktor Lazar, Professional Secretary to the President, Hungary National Research, Development and Innovation Office
• Moderator: Jan Hagemejer, CASE

11:15 AM CEST—Coffee Break

11:45 AM CEST—Keynote: Speeding-up Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

• Tobias Hackmann, Excellence Lead Healthcare Industries, Roche

12:00 PM CEST—Panel 2: Policies for Life Science Innovation

The life sciences industry is the world’s most R&D-intensive sector, annually investing nearly one-quarter of its revenues back into the R&D that generates discoveries leading to new medicines that save lives, extend them, or improve them. What can policymakers do to optimally support the life sciences sector in their economies? In particular, how should the EU and European nations reevaluate their policy approaches—especially new EU pharmaceutical regulations that would limit regulatory data protections for new medicines introduced on the continent? An expert panel also will explore how emerging technologies such as AI, gene editing, and personalized medicine are transforming research and development of innovative cures.

• Tobias Hackmann, Excellence Lead Healthcare Industries, Roche
• Claus Michelsen, VfA-Research Based Pharmaceutical Companies
• Mark Schultz, Geneva Network
• Andreas Hellman, Director of Outreach, Tax and Regulatory Policy
• Cornelia Yzer, Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
• Moderator: Jasmina Kirchhoff, German Economic Institute

1:30 PM CEST—Lunch Break

2:30 PM CEST—Keynote: The German Future Strategy

• Roland Philippi, Director-General Policy Issues and Strategies; Coordination, Federal Ministry of Education and Research

3:00 PM CEST—Panel 3: Digitally Enabled Decarbonisation: How Technology Can Be the Gamechanger

From AI to smart grids to Industry 4.0, digitally enabled technologies are enabling the drive toward decarbonization, whether it comes to adopting more efficient industrial manufacturing practices or powering up electric vehicles overnight when electricity is cheaper. How exactly are digital technologies enabling decarbonization, how can countries and communities facilitate the adoption and use of these technologies, and how can policymakers overcome obstacles to this pathway for decarbonization?

• Holger Lösch, Deputy Director General Executive Board, Federation of German Industries (BDI)
• Barbara Kolm, Director, Austrian Economics Center
• Stefan Niessen, Siemens Technology, Head of Technology Field Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure
• Jasmin Miah, Local Governments for Sustainability, ICLEI
• Christian Hübner, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
• Adoracion Navarro, Senior Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies
• Moderator: Pietro Paganini, Competere

4:30 PM CEST—Panel 4: Toward a More Resilient Globalization

The reorganization of global value chains has spurred a debate about the tradeoffs between resiliency, efficiency, sustainability, and self-sufficiency. But these goals aren’t necessarily in conflict, especially as modern digital and energy technologies enable new approaches to the global production of goods and services. How are companies and governments at the federal, state, and local levels positioning themselves to compete as global supply chains are reimagined in an era of technological and geopolitical change?

• Christian Forwick, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
• Jürgen Matthes, German Economic Institute
• Chris Hattingh, Center for Risk Analysis (CRA)
• Gunter Rieck Moncayo, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
• Zoltan Cséfalvay, MCC
• Marko Kovacevic, Center for Global Enterprise, Digital Supply Chain Institute
• Moderator: Syed Munir Khasru, IPAG

6:00 PM CEST—Closing Remarks