7th edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum (WEFO)
19 – 22 October 2014, Lyon, France
The 7th edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum (WEFO) will be held in Lyon, France from October 19th to 22nd 2014. Over the course of three days, it will bring together 250 key players from 50 countries from the worldwide, entrepreneurial eco-system to debate and exchange ideas on the best entrepreneurial practices. Participants will include company founders, executives, academic and political decision-makers, financiers and investors and representatives from global institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The event will take place in Lyon’s innovative business eco-district, La Confluence.
The theme of this year’s event is Entrepreneurship 3.0: Unlimited Opportunities. Through conferences, Think Tanks and Do Tanks, this network of high-impact leaders will examine how countries and individuals are embracing entrepreneurship as a very real solution to their economic challenges, and how entrepreneurship is becoming a recognised force in an increasingly complex and globalized world. With a humanist vision of the entrepreneur as a creator of wealth and social justice, the WEFO is devoted to diversity, intercultural issues and mixing ideas and theories with best practice.
The WEFO will also open its doors to the general public to shape and understand the business of the future together.On Tuesday 21st October when students, journalists, experts, entrepreneurs and newcomers to entrepreneurship are invited to take part in different plenary sessions and workshops:
• “Get inspired“: role-models will present their entrepreneurial journey and their boundless vision of the future.
• The art and practice of pitching 3.0 start-up companies looking for crowdfunding pitch to investors: this is the World Entrepreneurship Forum Crowd’s Den.
• Base of The Pyramid – BoP strategy study: Cooperative entrepreneurship.
• The entrepreneur’s place in the future: The city, the natural environment and the entrepreneurial impact on learning and working methods.
• Born Global: The entrepreneur of the future.Entrepreneur for the World Awards During a special gala evening, four international entrepreneurs will be honoured with the ‘Entrepreneur for the World’ Awards in the following categories: business entrepreneur, young entrepreneur, social entrepreneur and educational entrepreneur. Among the previous winners are Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, Jean-Baptiste Richardier, director and cofounder of the NGO Handicap International or Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland. “The aim of this year’s conference is to explore entrepreneurship 3.0 and its unlimited opportunities that hold the answers to the challenges of the century. Now in its seventh year, the World Entrepreneurship Forum has firmly established itself as a place where we can reflect on and understand new practices and explore new territories to promote entrepreneurship across the world”, explains Tugrul Atamer, President of the WEFO and Vice President of EMLYON Business School.
About the World Entrepreneurship Forum
The World Entrepreneurship Forum was created in 2008 by EMLYON Business School, one of the leading business schools in Europe, and KPMG France. They have been subsequently been joined by Nanyang Technological University and the ACE organisation (Action Community for Entrepreneurship) from Singapore, Zhejiang University China and the Lyon-based institutions who work with OnlyLyon to develop its territorial marketing. These unique communities of entrepreneurs, who participate actively in building on the future of the planet come from many different countries, are of all ages and come from different backgrounds. EMLYON’s main objective in creating it is to develop economic and social entrepreneurship, the creation of innovative businesses with high added value, the emergence of entrepreneurial cities and the way in which people are educated in entrepreneurship. In addition to its annual convention, the WEFO calendar includes regional and
Local Forums as well as Junior Forums: 20 Junior Forums, in 17 countries in 2014.Today the WEFO community comprises 750 decision-makers from 80 countries. The WEFO’s previous edition was held in November 2013 in Singapore.
