| Latin America continues to be a region of increasing strategic importance, presenting many significant opportunities and challenges. With its newly elected government and continued economic and social growth, Brazil reflects many of the possibilities for the region and was the backdrop for the 2011 World Economic Forum on Latin America. The three day event (April 27-29) in Rio de Janeiro hosted over 630 world leaders—including our own Accenture delegation of Chairman Bill Green; Sander van ‘t Noordende, group chief executive-Management Consulting; Mark Spelman, global managing director-Strategy service line; Roger Ingold, country managing director-Brazil; Marcelo Gil Souza, managing director-Strategy, Brazil; and Lourenço Mendonça, managing director-Management Consulting, Latin America. |
The Latin American Decade
Under the theme “Laying the Foundation for the Latin American Decade,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting sought to determine how to achieve three important objectives: 1) Strengthen Democratic Governance, 2) Enhance Innovation and Productivity for Equitable Growth, and 3) Promote Effective Partnerships for Sustainable Development. And with the global events of Rio+20 (June 2012), 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics taking place in Brazil, infrastructure expansion and improvements, as well as cooperation between the public and private sectors toward the common goal of development, were also key topics of discussion.
Accenture brought its experience to the table by leading sessions on Sustainability and Cloud Computing, and in meeting with local government leaders and executives from our client companies in the region.
Cloud Computing: Enhancing economic growth and social inclusion in Latin America
Following the conclusion of two years of joint research with WEF on cloud computing, Green was asked to moderate a panel discussion on how the technology could impact growth in Latin America. The discussion focused on the applications of the cloud in health, finance and education and the issues of policy, regulation and data security concerns that exist around the technology. The participants, a mix of regional business and government leaders, agreed that delivery systems in the region are at a breaking point, and by reducing the stress on those systems, cloud computing holds great promise for the region and its infrastructure growth.
Following the session, Green described the discussion as “energizing and focused.” In an interview by the WEF, he also shared highlights from the session, concluding that cloud computing technology has incredible potential to not only improve business productivity but social productivity as well.
Energy efficiency and sustainable growth
On the opening day of the Latin American Forum, Spelman and Mendonça attended a day-long Sustainability Summit. As a discussion leader for the opening session on ”Achieving Green Growth,” Spelman facilitated a discussion on how the creation of green growth innovation is one of the most profound economic challenges facing the world in the next decade and how this is increasingly true in emerging economies.
Spelman also moderated the Energy Efficiency session. The session built on the energy efficiency work he has led with the WEF over the past two years and focused on trying to create the right policy conditions and increasing public and private sector collaboration to support energy efficiency in the region. Peter Lacy, managing director- Sustainability Services, EALA, also attended the summit as a member of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders.
Accenture involvement with the WEF continues
As part of Accenture’s year-round strategic partnership with the WEF, we will participate in its upcoming regional events. Currently, the World Economic Forum on Africa is taking place in Cape Town, South Africa with William Mzimba, country managing director-South Africa, and Jose Bleda, managing director-Management Consulting , South Africa, representing Accenture. Other upcoming events this summer include the WEF on Europe and Central Asia in Vienna and the WEF on East Asia in Jakarta, both taking place in June.
In addition to the events, Accenture teams recently have been selected as project leads on four new joint research projects with the WEF: 1) Driving Sustainable Consumption, 2) Green Growth Partnerships, 3) New Energy Architecture, and 4) Supply Chain and Transport Risk Initiative. These joint projects are awarded through a competitive bid process and involve a year-long collaboration by an Accenture team with a WEF project team and a committee of companies, government entities and NGOs from the various industries.
No comments:
Post a Comment