Event Announcement: New Building Blocks for Jobs and Economic Growth

I am pleased to announce that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be giving the opening keynote address at an exciting event on May 16 that Athena Alliance is co-organizing. The event — “New Building Blocks for Jobs and Economic Growth: Intangible Assets as Sources of Increased Productivity and Enterprise Value” — will take place from 8:45-11:30am in the Lohrfink Auditorium, Rafik B. Hariri Building, 2nd floor, Georgetown University.
As we all know, intangible assets – information, workforce skills and know-how, effective management and marketing, business models, relations with suppliers and customers, software and databases as well as traditional intellectual property (patents, copyrights and trademarks) – are building blocks of future economic growth. According to the available evidence, business investment in intangible assets is increasing in most advanced economies and, in a number of countries, intangible investment matches or exceeds investment in tangible assets such as buildings, equipment and machinery. These investments in intangibles account for a significant fraction of labor productivity growth in many countries. The discussion will explore how investments in innovation, intangible assets and intellectual capital can be harnessed to generate sustainable growth, high-wage employment and improved living standards.
Chairman Bernanke’s remarks will follow opening remarks from myself and Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD. Following the keynote will be a panel discussion with the following:
Moderator: Jon Spector, CEO, The Conference Board
Manuel Trajtenberg – Professor and former head of the Israeli National Economic Council
Otaviano Canuto, VP, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, World Bank
Carl Shapiro, White House Council of Economic Advisors (invited)
Lisa Lynch, Dean, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
Edward Jung, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Intellectual Ventures
David Stafford, COO of Michelin Americas Research Company
Allen Howell, CEO of Corporate Flight Management
The introduction and welcome to the conference will take place from 8:45-9:00 a.m.
The key-note speech will take place from 9:00-9:45 a.m.
The plenary panel discussion will take place from 9:45-11:30 am
This conference is organized by Athena Alliance, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Conference Board, the Kauffman Foundation, the National Academies-STEP Board and hosted by the Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy.
To register online please go to http://www.regonline.com/intangible_assets