First WAIFC Innovation & Technology Forum
We are pleased to announce our first Innovation and Technology Forum, to take place virtually on Tuesday, 20 October 2020, 14.00-16.30 Doha time (GMT+3). We organize the Forum together with our members Moscow International Financial Centre and Qatar Financial Centre, on our Annual General Meeting's sidelines.
The WAIFC Innovation and Technology Forum will be held around the theme of “International Financial and Innovation Centres in the era of COVID-19.”
The COVID19 outbreak is dramatically changing the world, leading to significant shifts in our lifestyle, business activities, and revision of goals and challenges for the governments all around the globe to deal with. The world needs breakthrough technologies and innovative solutions to save people’s lives and mitigate all consequences of the pandemic. Many of these solutions and technologies are developed and created at specialized platforms of global financial and innovation centers by their participants and residents. In this context, the ‘WAIFC Innovation and Technology Forum’ will concern the importance of international financial and innovation centers in the global economic recovery and will provide a way to evaluate technologies as a catalyst for reigniting economic growth after COVID-19. The forum will focus on the solutions required to address the world’s most pressing challenges.
The forum will gather leading experts in the global economy and advanced technologies to debate how cooperation between IFCs can address the global COVID-19 pandemic's effects. Among the speakers are
- Dr. Parag Khanna, Founder and Managing Partner of FutureMap,
- Arnaud de Bresson, CEO Paris Europlace,
- Nicolas Mackel, CEO, Luxembourg for Finance,
- Jennifer Reynolds, President & CEO, Toronto Finance International,
- Hubertus Vaeth, Managing Director, Frankfurt Main Finance, and
- James Martin, CEO, AIFC Business Connect.
Alexander Voloshin, Moscow International Finance Centre, Chairman, Forum Analytical Center, said:
“International financial centers epitomize modern capitalism, acting as central nodes in international financial and investment networks. Today COVID-19 is dramatically reshaping the global economy. Financial centers are looking for new roles and strategic functions in the recovery period following the epidemic. The WAIFC Innovation and Technology Forum will focus on case-based insights from leading financial centers to address the most pressing issues in the world today and to reinforce global economic recovery.”
Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), said:
“We are pleased to be co-hosting this forum, which introduces a dynamic platform for all WAIFC members, experts, innovators, and entrepreneurs to collaboratively boost their contribution in driving the economic recovery post-COVID-19. The current unprecedented challenges have proven more than ever the criticality of technology and digital transformation not only as mitigators of the negative implications but also as strategic growth catalysts.”
Dr. Jochen Biedermann, Managing Director, WAIFС said:
“In our Innovation and Technology Forum, we will discuss new technologies and business models that can help us get the world’s economy back on track, as the basis for a prosperous and sustainable future.”
Watch WAIFC Innovation and Technology Forum:
About the organizers:
The World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC) is a non-profit association registered in Belgium, representing 18 leading international financial centers of four continents. WAIFC members are city governments, associations, and similar institutions developing and promoting their financial centers. In an era of breakthrough technologies and rapid social change, financial centers are crucial to sustaining economic growth. Thus, the objective of the WAIFC is to create a transparent network that facilitates cooperation and sharing of best practices to further the understanding of the importance of international financial centers for national and global economies as well as social development.
The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) is an onshore business and financial center located in Doha, providing an excellent platform for firms to do business in Qatar and the region. The QFC offers its own legal, regulatory, tax, and business environment, which allows up to 100% foreign ownership, 100% repatriation of profits, and charges a competitive rate of 10% corporate tax on locally sourced profits. The QFC welcomes a broad range of financial and non-financial services firms.
Moscow International Financial Centre (MIFC) is a community effort launched in 2008 by the business, the market mega regulator, SROs and all branches of state power – including the President, the Government, and the Parliament. MIFC has effected large scale reforms in regulation, infrastructure, taxation, and corporate governance. MIFC is currently focused on improving all aspects of regulation and providing a boost to the financial industry. Forum Analytical Centre is a Moscow-based think tank dedicated to this task.