St. Gallen Symposium 2010 Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change Programme th 40 St. Gallen Symposium University of St. Gallen, Switzerland 6–7 May 2010 40 1 2 Editorial On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, the St. Gallen Content 3 Symposium addresses a topic of particular impor- tance: “Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change”, a sub- Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change ject that has consistently pervaded the history of the International Students’ Committee (ISC). Entre- Cluster A: How I did it – the background story preneurial cogitation is the fundamental principle which defi nes our student initiative, an initiative Cluster B: The push from below which has been in existence now for 40 years. The fi rst part of this brochure offers you a the- Cluster C: Fields of opportunities matic insight into the subject addressed at the 40th St. Gallen Symposium, an issue subdivided into Cluster D: Entrepreneurial environment four main topics. Differentiated comments and statements from speakers at the anniversary sym- Topic Leaders posium offer a broad thematic glimpse of the topics addressed and provide a foretaste of the dialogue Leaders of Tomorrow and contentious content of the symposium. The second half of this brochure contains a detailed pro- gramme which, through its revised structure, prima- Programme 6–7 May 2010 17 rily refl ects the ideas underlying this dialogue as the central element. Programme We would, at this point, like to express our heart- felt thanks to our numerous patrons and partners Thursday, 6 May 2010 both at home and abroad. The 40-year-old success story of the St. Gallen Symposium would never have Friday, 7 May 2010 been possible without their faithful intellectual and material support and commitment. Background Sessions On behalf of the 40th International Students’ Committee (ISC), we would like to wish you a fas- cinating and exciting read, and we look forward to General Information 29 welcoming you to St. Gallen in May. International Students’ Committee (ISC) Nicole Fässler Maximilian Jellinek St. Gallen Foundation for International Can Schnigula Studies Head of the Organising Committee 2009/10 Circle of Benefactors Donators Media Channel For further information please refer to our website www.stgallen-symposium.org and its Media Channel. 40th ST. GALLEN SYMPOSIUM 6–7 MAY 2010 3 Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change 4 innovation and the strength to make changes are rare qualities indeed. Can entrepreneurial thinking and action therefore put forward ideas that will alleviate the economic and social distortions of re- cent years? There is a lot to be said for this, since an ability to adapt to new economic circumstances and living conditions is a distinguishing feature at the heart of all entrepreneurial dealings. Frequently, entrepreneurs are strong personali- ties with unconventional life histories who have an infallible feel for radical change. Also, a generation of entrepreneurs is beginning to emerge who is es- pecially open to fresh ideas and new solutions, and who is also on the look out for opportunities be- yond the more obvious fi elds of economic activity. And fi nally, entrepreneurial thinking, while shak- ing existing political and social structures, is in turn being challenged by that same political and social system to adapt and change. Speaking of “the entrepreneur” is always tricky, as there is no clear-cut defi nition. One way of approaching this problem is to ask entrepre- neurs themselves what they think entrepreneur- ship is all about. Let us hear fi rst from the serial entrepreneur Morten Lund (DK) who covers this year’s topic in a most comprehensive way. He is young, he is famous for having co-founded the VoIP service Skype, he learnt the ups and downs of entrepreneurship the hard way and he is realistic about the outcome of entrepreneurial endeavours – even those of the St. Gallen Symposium. Morten Lund, there are a lot of investment oppor- tunities out there right now. You, as an entrepre- neur, must enjoy yourself a lot. I am bankrupt at the moment, so I cannot do a lot, but then, on the other hand, I can help other peo- For the 40th anniversary, the St. Gallen Symposium ple start mind-blowing businesses. In a downturn will take up a theme that in many respects has point- like this, most entrepreneurs move in the opposite Entrepreneurs – ed the way throughout its history. “Entrepreneurs – direction to the cycle. When everything collapsed Agents of Change” is not just a theme that has been two years ago, a lot of people tried to invest in specially chosen for the year 2010. Entrepreneur- start-ups they did not know anything about. Agents of Change ship has been at the heart of the St. Gallen Symposium from the outset: as an enterprising ini- How this? tiative run by the students and backed by a network The clever guys, they cashed in two and a half years of entrepreneurial fi gures from the business, aca- ago and they are now buying up like crazy from all Entrepreneurs play a key role in all economies around the world – as innovators, as demic and political spheres, the St. Gallen Sympo- the bankrupt guys like me. For real start-ups, like leaders and as the embodiment of a society’s values and ambitions. It therefore sium is concerned with the basic issues of today’s what I have been doing in technology, this time economic and social order. is, of course, amazing. The reason is that this tech- comes as no surprise that, in times of crisis, major hopes are pinned on them to In this context, the entrepreneur has a special nology is now mature. Both from the consumer guide the economy out of troubled waters. The rights or wrongs of this are open role to play. A drive to innovate and a permanent side, as people are using computers all the time to debate. In advance of the St. Gallen Symposium, let us have a look at the gen- search for new opportunities and markets makes and they buy a lot online, and from the technol- eral outline of this year’s topic and get warmed up for the “3 Days in May”. the entrepreneur one of the most dynamic ele- ogy side, where it has become so easy to develop ments within a social system. In an era marked by a website or a web service or to rent servers. For insecurity and anxiety, the entrepreneur’s drive, instance, you have the world’s biggest infrastruc- 40th ST. GALLEN SYMPOSIUM 6–7 MAY 2010 5 Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change 6 to break through or to fi nd the right people or to to buy this when it works, because they know how chose the right strategy or to fi nd the fi rst client to make a critical thing huge. That is why they have and adapt all of those things as you go along. You a big corporation. They do not believe they can be always have to acknowledge luck as part of your innovative at the same level, so they want to buy entrepreneurial success. as soon as an entrepreneur has started. And they are much better at the managing game when you And sometime you fail. get to a certain level. So I get in quick, get out quick, That is why I am apparently so interesting. A lot of it is true. Because it pretty often happens that you people tried what I tried, they have been catego- cannot say no if somebody wants to buy your stuff. rised either as geniuses or losers. If you are one The entrepreneurs in charge can get a lot of money, of those people in history who actually dares to and most of the entrepreneurs, me especially, will talk about the fact that you failed, it seems very take this money and do more of what they did be- Morten Lund (DK) strange. Ooh! If you are honest and talk about fail- fore, meaning turning ideas into reality. is an entrepreneur and ure, that seems to be very new. seed investor and has ture at Amazon which you can just tap into with line. I am facilitating a catapult. The best you can In your opinion, what is the best political and so- co-founded more than no set-up fee. So those two components, the e-side do now is to launch start-ups with good people, Do we need more of a failure culture? cial context for entrepreneurship? 50 high-tech start-ups. and the consumer side, work now and the devel- but you do have to have simply amazing, crazy, Maybe we do have to be more realistic. So when we Put crudely, the best model for entrepreneurship in In 2003, he invested opers and infrastructure are amazing, and then smart, good, cool, nice people, because these kinds have an entrepreneur symposium at St. Gallen, we history is the model of American society, because it in the communication combine this with the fact that you can actually of people can challenge SAP in one of their niches. could also have a failure symposium because fail- has created the Gates, the Carnegies and most of software Skype which But they have to be amazingly smart, hard work- ure is much, much more likely than success if you the biggest companies we know in a very short time. has over 500 million «It is the entrepreneur who has the ing, into their stuff and vibrant. And they have to The Americans can beat anyone and every start-up users today. He is a complement each other perfectly.