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Beyond GDP

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Session Description

Location: Founders Room
For social and environmental challenges to gain the policy attention they deserve, countries need to feel competitive pressure not just to increase economic growth, but also to deliver sustainable improvement in the lives of their citizens. Come learn about a new global benchmarking initiative that will provide a tool for setting priorities, measuring progress, and increasing the sense of urgency needed to sustain action. This initiative will be implemented through a network of global, regional, and local institutions committed to researching and promoting innovative approaches to improving well-being.

Time & Location

Time:
11:30 - 13:00, Thursday, March 29, 2012 BST
Speakers
  • Speaker
    Founder, President, Global Footprint Network
    Dr. Mathis Wackernagel established 30 years ago an accounting system to compare the size of human economies with the capacity of ecosystems to regenerate. This impact measure, called “footprint” has now become a generic name for all human impact, whether carbon or ecological footprint. Mathis’ work has focused not only on making ecological overshoot accessible and relevant to decision-making, but also on showcasing the economic advantage of accepting rather than denying this reality. In 2003, he co-founded Global Footprint Network, a sustainability think-tank, possibly most known for its annual Earth Overshoot Day. His awards include various honorary degrees as well as the 2018 World Sustainability Award, the 2015 IAIA Global Environment Award, the 2012 Blue Planet Prize, and a 2007 Skoll Award.
  • Speaker
    Chairperson, Viva Trust
    Roberto Artavia is Chairman of VIVA Trust and of Fundación Latinoamérica Posible. He´s also President of the Board of INCAE Business School; Vice Chairman of the Social Progress Imperative and co-author of the 2013 report of the Social Progress Index. He was the founding Director of the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development and of Viva Trust’s Center for Knowledge Exchange, a knowledge management organization for social and environmental entrepreneurs. President of Marviva Foundation in Panama and Victoria Foundation in Nicaragua. He also serves as Director of CINDE, the investment promotion agency of Costa Rica. Professor Artavia has a doctorate from Harvard´s Business School of Business, an MBA from INCAE Business School, and a degree in Naval Engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point.
  • Speaker
    Michael Green is Chief Executive Officer of the Social Progress Imperative. An economist by training, he is co-author (with Matthew Bishop of ‘The Economist’) of Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World and The Road from Ruin: A New Capitalism for a Big Society. Previously Michael served as a senior official in the U.K. Government’s Department for International Development, where he managed British aid programs to Russia and Ukraine and headed the communications department. He taught Economics at Warsaw University in Poland in the early 1990s. His TED Talks have been viewed more than three million times. His 2014 Talk was chosen by the TED organisation as one of the ‘most powerful ideas’ of 2014 and by The Telegraph as one of the 10 best ever.
  • Speaker
    Founder & Executive Director, Fundación Paraguaya
    Dr. Martín Burt is a world-renowned social entrepreneur who has developed anti-poverty and educational social innovations that are currently being implemented worldwide. He is founder (1985) and CEO of Fundación Paraguaya, a social enterprise named Latin America’s most impactful and innovative development organization in 2018 by the IADB. Dr. Burt is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum. He has also served as Chief of Staff to the President of Paraguay, was elected Mayor of Asunción, and was appointed Vice Minister of Commerce. His latest book “Paraguay without Poverty” was published in November 2023. He has received several international awards. He holds a PhD from Tulane University and is Lecturer & Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Research Associate at University of California, Irvine, and Professor, Master’s Program in Microfinance, at Universidad de Alcalá.
  • Speaker
    Research Director, Social Progress Imperative
    Amy Wares is Research Director at the Social Progress Imperative. A specialist in international development and competitiveness, she has worked for more than a decade with governments, non-profit organizations and consulting firms to design activities that improve the competitiveness of emerging economies.