The Ambrosetti Forum - organized by The European House - Ambrosetti, a consulting firm - is an annual international economic conference held at Villa d'Este, in the Italian town of Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como. Since its inception in 1975, the Forum has brought together heads of state, ministers, Nobel laureates and businessmen to discuss current challenges to the world's economies and societies.
The Forum presents forecasts of the economic and geo-political outlooks for the world, Europe and Italy. The forum also analyzes the main scientific and technological developments and their impacts on the future of business and society. This is accomplished through meetings, debates and presentations of special, ad hoc studies.
Participants and speakers
Forum participants, typically business leaders from major Italian and international corporations, are privately invited.
Among those who have taken part in recent years: H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, José María Aznar, Silvio Berlusconi, Joe Biden, Ian Bremmer, Richard Cheney, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Renato Dulbecco, José Manuel Durão Barroso, Larry Ellison, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, François Fillon, Bill Gates, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Felipe González, Neville Isdell, Alain Juppé, Henry Kissinger, Vaclav Klaus, Christine Lagarde, Rita Levi Montalcini, Abu Mazen, John McCain, Mario Monti, Giorgio Napolitano, Shimon Peres, Romano Prodi, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, H.M. Rania Al-Adullah Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Card. Joseph Ratzinger, Michel Rocard, Nouriel Roubini, Eric Schmidt, Helmut Schmidt, George Shultz, Giulio Tremonti, Jean-Claude Trichet, Umberto Veronesi, James Wolfensohn, Jimmy Wales, Gianroberto Casaleggio.
The event takes place behind closed doors, under the Chatham House Rule.
Media coverage of the event is very relevant, given the presence of over 400 Italian and international journalists.
In addition, BBC World, CNBC, CNN, Financial Times and RAI produce talk shows and in-depth live interviews with the speakers of the Forum for broadcast around the globe.
Main topics
The economic outlook
China after the global crisis
Today the world of tomorrow – Scientific and technological developments
Leadership today and sustainable development
The education challenge
Agenda for Europe:
Speech by the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano
Progress report from the EU Council Presidency
European governance after the Lisbon Treaty
Europe and the crisis: Euro and financial market stability
Europe and growth: single market and competitiveness
The excellent company, today
Italy in the global outlook:
Competitiveness and development
Presentation of research results: “Nuclear for the economy, environment and development”
Justice
Security
Industrial relations and welfare
Federalism
Competitiveness of the Italian public sector
Presentation by the Italian Minister for the Economy and Finance
Angelino Alfano - Minister of Justice, Italy
Joaquín Almunia - European Commissioner for Competition
José Maria Aznar - former Prime Minister, Spain
Michel Barnier - European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services
Maria Bartiromo - Anchor, CNBC
Fatih Birol - Chief Economist, IEA (International Energy Agency)
Alberto Bombassei - Vice President for Industrial Relations, Social Affairs and Welfare, Confindustria, Italy
Raffaele Bonanni - Secretary General, CISL, Italy
Renato Brunetta - Minister for Public Administration and Innovation, Italy
George W. Buckley - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, 3M, USA
Fabrizio Capobianco - CEO TOK.tv, President and Chairman Funambol
Cheng Siwei - Dean, Management School, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Science, China; former Vice Chairman, Standing Committee, National People’s Congress, China
Piercamillo Davigo - Judge of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation
Ferruccio De Bortoli - Editor in Chief, Il Corriere della Sera
Piero Fassino - Member of the Italian Parliament
Niall Ferguson - Professor of History, Harvard University
Mauro Ferrari - President and Chief Executive Officer, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston
Jean-Paul Fitoussi - President, Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Economiques
Mariastella Gelmini - Minister of Education, University and Research, Italy
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn - European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
Yasuchika Hasegawa - President and CEO, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Japan
Huang Jing - Visiting Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
Pietro Ichino - Member of the Senate, Italy
Harold Kroto - Nobel Laureate for Chemistry; Francis Eppes Professor of Chemistry, Florida State University
Christine Lagarde - Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment, France
Anne Lauvergeon - CEO, Areva; France
Yves Leterme - Prime Minister, Belgium
Enrico Letta - Member of the Italian Parliament
Li Yuguang - Deputy Director, State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China
Edison Liu - Executive Director, Genome Institute of Singapore
Emma Marcegaglia - President, Confindustria, Italy
Roberto Maroni - Minister for Internal Affairs, Italy
Mario Monti - President, Bocconi University, Italy
Kenneth P. Morse - Member, National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (U.S. Department of Commerce); Founding Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center; Chair in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competitiveness, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Amre Moussa - Secretary General, League of Arab States
Wolfgang Munchau - Associate Editor, Financial Times
Giorgio Napolitano - President of the Italian Republic - live, in videoconference
Joaquín Navarro-Valls - President Advisory Board, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome; President, Telecom Italia Foundation
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa - President, Notre Europe, France
Corrado Passera - Managing Director and CEO, Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy
Shimon Peres - President, State of Israel
Charles David Powell - House of Lords, UK
it:Federico Rampini - Correspondent from the USA, La Repubblica
Marco Reguzzoni - Member of the Italian Parliament
Jonas Ridderstråle - Visiting Professor, Ashridge Business School (UK); Writer
Gianni Riotta - Editor in Chief, Il Sole 24 Ore
Sergio Romano - Columnist
Nouriel Roubini - Professor of Economics and International Business, Stern School of Business, New York University, USA
Card. Camillo Ruini - President of the Cultural Project Committee, Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI)
Elena Salgado - Minister for the Economy and Finance, Spain
Wolfgang Schüssel - Former Federal Chancellor, Austria
Hans-Werner Sinn - Professor of Economics and Public Finance, University of Munich; Director of CES-Center for Economic Studies (University of Munich); President, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Germany
Peter Sutherland - President, Goldman Sachs International, UK
Antonio Tajani - Vice-President, European Commission and European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship
Giulio Tremonti - Minister for the Economy and Finance, Italy
Jean-Claude Trichet - President, European Central Bank
Edwin Truman - Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA.
Matti Vanhanen - Former Prime Minister, Finland
Yanis Varoufakis - Finance Minister of Greece.
Umberto Veronesi - Director, European Institute of Oncology
Jimmy Wales - Founder, Wikipedia
