Joining the discussion at the Economist 23rd Roundtable with the Government of Greece

Alba's Dean Dr. Kostas Axarloglou actively participated in the Economist 23rd Roundtable with the Government of Greece  by joining the panel "Should Greece Growth Model Change? " along with Mr. Christos Dimas, Deputy minister of growth and investments, Greece , Mrs. Rania Ekaterinari, Chief executive officer and member of the BoD, Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations, Mr. Antony Barounas, Vice-president & general manager Europe & global telco accounts, Lenovo Mobile Business Group, Mr. Heracles Daskalopoulos ,Deputy general manager, Ethniki Insurance, Mr. George Stefanopoulos, General manager, Greek Mobiles Operators Association (EEKT) and shared his thoughts on the matter.

According to Dr. Axarloglou economic growth goes through investments that create new jobs, income, value to the society and tax revenue.  Besides the usual suspects (Tourism and Shipping), investment should be directed to support the emergence of new industries with focus on the global market place and the customer (customer centric). Value creation for the customer that rapidly reaches the customer in the global market place is a challenge for the country. However, a micro-multinational, a new type of multinational company can reach the global market place quickly leveraging the tremendous network effects of communities that reside in the ecosystems of platforms. Value creation then for the customer is of a paramount importance.

To support this evolution, our education system should go beyond forcing students to accumulate information, that is frequently not connected and thus never become long lasting knowledge, and instead help students to develop fundamental competences like critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, resilience, emotional intelligence, and certain attitudes towards entrepreneurship, risk taking and continuous learning; an education system that supports creativity and innovation and a country that evolves to become an outward looking value-creation nation.    

Alba was the academic partner of the prestigious event that gathered political, business and academic leaders from all over the world  to discuss about decisions, risks, potential and disputes at all levels.