Entrepreneurship to shape the future of industries

• Held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Dec 12 to 13, 2017
• 50 speakers, 330 exhibitors, 20 keynote & panel discussions, up to 100 GEC Lab sessions

THE second edition of the GECommunity Summit 2017 serves as a comprehensive platform to strengthen the thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem by inspiring and facilitating innovations.

The summit, which will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Dec 12 to 13, 2017 will play host to 50 local and international speakers, 330 exhibitors, 20 keynote and panel discussions, and up to 100 GEC Lab sessions.

“Entrepreneurship is the vehicle in designing the future of industries,” said Ministry of Finance Treasury secretary-general and GECommunity Summit 2017 chairman Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

According to Irwan, the summit brings together local, regional, and international parties within the entrepreneurship ecosystem so that ideas and initiatives can come into fruition.

“Strengthening the ecosystem is no easy feat. That is why we’re bringing various parties with different roles, expertise, and initiatives to join forces in making this summit a success,” added Irwan.

GECommunity Summit 2017 is initiated by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and organised by the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia (MOSTI) and the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia (MOHE) with the Global Entrepreneurship Movement (GEM) as the community partner.

“We are bringing together parties within the local, regional, and international entrepreneurship ecosystems under one roof to transform and enhance sectors and industries. Success to us is when we meet the objective of the summit, which is when conversations and ideas that are sparked at the summit translate into solutions that ultimately transform sectors. We have to walk the talk,” said Irwan.

GEC Labs the core of GECommunity Summit 2017

GECommunity aims to plant the seed of industry transformation through GEC Labs, which are the core of the summit.

Each Lab session will run on a two-hour block consisting of corporate players, entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, and policy makers from around the world who will deep dive into discussions on key topics across 15 focus areas.

In the months prior, the public was asked to contribute potential topics to drive the discussions and chart the way forward for industries and ultimately create new cross border initiatives and partnerships.

Each GEC Lab session will be facilitated by a Lab Owner or initiator of the initiative with an audience of 50 participants which will be a collective of corporate players, ecosystem influencers, policy makers, and entrepreneurs.

 The objective of GEC Labs is to explore new ideas and opportunities through conversations with players in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and ultimately use these ideas to transform and enhance industries.

Apart from exploring fresh new ideas, GEC Labs is also a platform to add polish and shine to ideas and initiatives that are already in the pipeline by connecting the right parties.

“In the grand scheme of things, we want the push from GEC Labs to spur new economies, encourage industry transformation, and nurture collaboration between countries to support entrepreneurs from different sectors through policies and initiatives,” said Irwan.

This year’s GEC Labs will explore focus areas which include Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning; e-Commerce & Retail; Fashion & Beauty; Food & Beverage; Hardware & IoT; Health & Biotech; Media, Gaming & Entertainment; Mobility & Transportation; Security & IT; Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality; Education; Social Innovation; Fintech & Payment; Creative; and Smart Cities.

There has been particular interest in the areas of social innovation, education, and artificial intelligence and machine learning, which are the top three themes for topic submission.

The summit will also see 50 Global Community Leaders of the GEM network from 19 countries participate at the summit.

At present, GEM will be facilitating a total of 38 GEC Labs, with the Global Community Leaders from around the world leading the sessions.

Last year, 50 initiatives were raised during GECommunity Summit 2016. The GEC Labs for 2016 covered nine clusters, which involved 150 experts and 1,500 participants from 60 countries and a total of more than 30 government agencies.

As with the inaugural GECommunity Summit held last year, the aim is for the GEC Labs at this year’s edition to result in initiatives with a value creation of approximately RM100 million (US$23.85 million) over the next two years.

The principles of Blue Ocean Shift

GECommunity 2017 Summit adheres to the principles of the Blue Ocean Shift which promotes the systematic process of shifting from competing in crowded existing markets to creating new market spaces.

The summit will play host to the inaugural Global Blue Ocean Shift Awards, which will highlight outstanding achievements across the public, private, and social sectors around the world.

Professor W Chan Kim and Professor Renee Mauborgne, both co-directors of the Insead Blue Ocean Strategy Institute and authors of the bestselling book ‘Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing – Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth’ will be delivering their keynote at the summit, sharing their insights on moving from red to blue oceans through creativity and the spirit of entrepreneurship.

Speakers at GECommunity Summit 2017

Apart from Professor W Chan Kim and Professor Renee Mauborgne, other keynote speakers who will be sharing their knowledge and experience at the summit are Michio Kaku, world-renowned theoretical physicist and futurist; Sophie Hackford, futurist and researcher; Fleur Pellerin, founder of Korelya Capital; Dr Julian Hosp, co-founder and president at TenX; Steven Hoffman, chief executive officer of Founders Space; Boyd Cohen, deputy director of research at EADA Business School Barcelona; and Arvind Gupta, chief technology officer of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Conversations at GECommunity Summit 2017

With 20 keynote sessions, panel discussions, and fireside chats; six masterclasses; and up to 100 GEC Labs taking place throughout the two-day summit, conversations at GECommunity Summit 2017 will largely orbit around:-

• The current and emerging needs of developing and developed communities so that ideas are designed through intentional action and participation by the community;
• Rich insights and lessons of the global entrepreneurship community so that programmes to accelerate conversion of ideas can be built from the past for action today;
• The rapid changes in technology development, adoption, and deployment so that GECommunity can build and sharpen a future for entrepreneurs shaped by local, regional, and global forces

For more information on GECommunity Summit 2017, please visit www.gecommunity.co