Abu Dhabi: Shaping the future and building strong foundations for tomorrow cannot be achieved without innovation and leadership. This was the message sent across by Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of Department of Transport, as he addressed Insead’s fifth edition of Global Leader’s Conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
“We know and value the power of knowledge, and its ability to change lives and transform nations. Therefore, we partner with global pioneers in every field possible. We work together to shape the future and build strong foundations for tomorrow. Now, this cannot be achieved without innovation and leadership,” he said.
Innovation and entrepreneurship were the primary focus at this year’s conference, which was held under the patronage and presence of Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, and in the presence of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, and in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Education Council.
Shaikh Sultan who was speaking to a diverse audience from senior business executives, academics and Insead students, highlighted how important innovation was to Abu Dhabi and its future, reminding the audience that the capital had made tremendous transformations in only a few decades.
“Let me assure you that the tremendous transformation witnessed in few decades in Abu Dhabi, is just the beginning. Although considerable milestones and notable progress have been made, the vision of our forefathers, the founders of this young and robust nation has a lot more to offer and to achieve,” he said.
“We view leadership in innovation as a must-have tool to navigate through the challenges that faces ambitions. In today’s business environment, innovation is not a luxury, and must be integrated in all business models, both in public and private sectors.”
Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the conference, Shaikh Sultan said: “The topic of innovation is very important to us, and we announced this is the innovation year for the whole of UAE. I wish that this conference will succeed in displaying the importance of innovation in the economy and human capital. This is really the future.”
His message was echoed through a series of dynamic presentations, with speakers relaying their own take on how innovation can change a business, each doing his/her best to keep the audience on the edge of their seat with new ways of exploring the subject.
“Today we were touching on innovation which comes hand in hand with entrepreneurship, because an innovator is usually always an entrepreneur,” said Andreas Jacobs, chairman of Insead. “Entrepreneurship is an important future trend. In the Middle East region we will see an amazing increase in education in general. Education is the basis of business and growth of business. With entrepreneurship you can make use of education so you can inspire people who are broadly educated to become more influential in business and the economy. The Middle East needs educated business people so that educated knowledge runs the economy and leads the economy growth.”
Insead officially opened its campus in Abu Dhabi in 2010 and was recently ranked globally number one for its multi-school EMBA programme and ranked number seven for its global EMBA programme.
