Established 1983 Employees 350 | Leader Margit Abel Grape Homepage www.symposiet.no | |
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Main office Helleveien 30, 5045 Bergen | ||
The NHH Symposium is Europe's largest business conference run entirely by students. The conference is held biennially at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen, Norway. The conference was first held in 1983, and has since that time had many famous guests and speakers. The conference lasts for two days and consists of lectures, workshops and other activities.
Contents
- NHH Symposium 2017
- The NHH Symposium 2015
- Earlier NHH Symposiums
- 2013 A fight against Goliath
- 2011 From Egoland to Legoland Which country do you live in
- 2009 The Art of Survival Presentation in the long run
- 2007 Risk and unpredictability Todays Threat Tomorrows Opportunity
- 2005 The Intelligent Organisation The Future of Norways wealth creation
- 2003 Values From the talk to the walk
- 2001 A new arena on the horizon
- 1999 Knowledge in the digital economy
- 1997 Speed The New Battlefield
- 1995 The Imperatives of Change
- 1993 Uncertainty Managing in a Turbulent World
- 1991 Going for Growth the Challenge to Scandinavia
- 1989 Insight Outwards Analyzing a Changing Europe
- 1987 In Quest of the 90s
- 1985 Searching for New Opportunities
- 1983 Getting Out of Todays Stagnation
- References
Among the speakers that have visited the NHH Symposium are former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, GATT director Arthur Dunkel, the first Vice President of World Trade Organization (WTO) Peter Sutherland, founder of The Body Shop Anita Roddick and CEO of Scandinavian Airlines Jan Carlzon. Also academics such as Henry Mintzberg, Michael Porter, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Peter Lorange, Stéphane Garelli and Jay B. Barney have visited the conference. The Norwegian King Harald V attended in 1995 and the Crown Prince of Norway Haakon attended in 2007. He returned two years later and opened the conference.
The implementation of the NHH Symposium is based on volunteer work by students at NHH. When all positions in the organization were filled, over 350 students were involved in the work. These students will be actively working during the conference, all of whom are volunteers.
NHH-Symposium 2017
The 2017 NHH-Symposium will be held on the 22nd and 23 March 2017 at Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. The theme of the conference will be to challenge the established truths. The NHH-Symposium 2017 will aspire to be the voice of the students in the civil debate.
The NHH Symposium 2015
The 2015 conference took place the 18th and 19 March of said year at the Norwegian School of Economics.
The theme of the conference was productivity. Challenges such as the falling productivity growth and the relationship between technology, innovation, and the labour market were raised by the conference.
Earlier NHH Symposiums
Since its foundation, the NHH-Symposium has been the arena for varied topics of discussion. Among the conference earlier leaders the names of famous Norwegian CEOs can be found. The former head of Statoil, Helge Lund and the former CEO of Rieber&Søn, Frank Mohn and Asbjørn Reinkind. The later was also among the founding members of the NHH-Symposium back in 1983.
2013 - A fight against Goliath
The NHH-Symposium questioned in 2013 whether the Norwegian decision making apparatus was capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow. This was the theme up for discussion during topics of "War for Talent", sustainability, ownership and growth.
Among the guest speakers were Financial Times editor Martin Wolf, Former President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Björn Stigson, Lisa Mei Wang from the National Economics Research Institute in China, director of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities Xi Pei, William Cornog from KKR, Managing Director of Accenture Mark Spelman, senior researcher at the PRIO Henrik Syse, owner of Ferd Johan H. Andresen, Minister of Foreign AffairsEspen Barth Eide, the vice president of E.ON, Jørgen Kildahl, Lucy Hockings from BBC, Geir Sviggum, Managing Partner International of Wikborg Rein.
2011: From Egoland to Legoland. – Which country do you live in?
During the 2011 conference Norway's Largest Workshop organised for the first time. All participants were split into groups and given a common challenge that businesses in Norway might face in the future. Each group were asked to attempt to solve this problem and later present their result during a panel debate. The guest list included David Arkless, Helge Lund, Stine Bosse, Kristin Skogen Lund and Sigbjørn Johnsen.
2009: The Art of Survival – Presentation in the long-run
The Crown Prince Haakon Magnus returned to the NHH-Symposium, having attended two years previously. This time he returned as a guest speaker. The Crown Prince held the opening lecture, speaking about the asymmetric distribution of wealth effect on stability in the world. Other speakers included former CEO of Telenor Jon Fredrik Baksaas, former managing director of the World Economic Forum in Davos and current Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende, Paul-Chr Rieber and Elin Ørjaseter.
2007: Risk and unpredictability – Today's Threat, Tomorrow's Opportunity
The NHH-Symposium had in 2007 440 participants, including Crown Prince Haakon Magnus. Among the speakers were Anne Aasheim, Finn Bergesen Jr., Kjell A. Nordström and Kåre Valebrokk. The conference's final speaker was CEO of PwC, Samuel DiPiazza jr.
2005: The Intelligent Organisation – The Future of Norway's wealth creation
Dr. Karen Stephenson from Harvard School of Design explained how The Pentagon had used her model to map al-Qaida's terrorist network. Kristin Clemet, Bjørn Wahlross, Jonas Gahr Støre and Marc Kielburger were among the speakers.
2003: Values– From the talk to the walk
Ingebrigt Steen Jensen and Svein Mollekleiv from Det Norske Veritas, held the opening lecture. Among other speakers were Jesper Kunde i Kunde & Co and Nokias HR-director, Hallstein Mørk.
2001: A new arena on the horizon
Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, declared during his lecture that "it is the creativity and quality of individuals that will be the most important". Guest speakers in 2001 included SEB-CEO Lars Thunell, Minister of Trade, Businessman Grete Knudsen and Editor-in-Chief of the Financial Times, Martin Dickson.
1999: Knowledge in the digital economy
NHH-professor Victor Norman opened the conference. Tormod Hermansen of Telenor, Svein Aaser from DNB, and Storebrand's Åge Korsvold held opening remarks concerning the new economy. The CEO of Glamox and former leader of the student body Executive Board at NHH Christian Thommessen was also a speaker.
1997: Speed – The New Battlefield
This years theme was speed, and the ability to make sounds decisions quickly. Among the participant were the CEO of Mercedes-Benz Helmut Werner, CEO John Clarkson of Boston Consulting Group and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Thorvald Stoltenberg.
1995: The Imperatives of Change
His MajestyKing Harald V. attended the 1995 symposium. Among the speakers were professor at IMD, Stéphane Garelli, Head Economist at Deutsche Bank, Norbert Walter, chairman of the board at London Economics Ltd. John Kay, Vice-Chairman Onno H. Ruding of Citicorp and editor-in-chief of The Economist Nicholas Colchester. The conference was concluded by a panel debate consisting of the CEO of Storebrand, SEB, ISS. The NHH-Symposium wanted to broaden the horizon of the talks by including a pan-Scandinavian panel.
1993: Uncertainty – Managing in a Turbulent World
The 1993 conference set its sight on risk. DNOs Torstein Hagen encouraged the Norwegian government to sell its stake in the petroleum industry to allow for others to invest. Statoils CEO Harald Nordvik, McKinsey director Jon R. Katzenbach, GATT director Arthur Dunkel, Karl Glad, Svein Aaser from NHO all held lectures.
1991: Going for Growth – the Challenge to Scandinavia
In 1991 the conference focused on how Scandinavian countries could spur new growth in the economy. Anita Roddick spoke of the founding of Body Shop, and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland argued for the necessity for restrictions on free market capitalism. Michael Porter spoke of lazy Norwegians and local competition. Jeffrey Sachs discussed the challenges facing the newly independent Eastern European democracies.
1989: Insight Outwards –Analyzing a Changing Europe
A changing Europe was the topic of the 1989 conference. The NHH-Symposium received visits from among others GATT-CEO Arthur Dunkel, Managing Director of the IMF Helene Ploix, EU-commissioner Peter Sutherland and former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
1987: In Quest of the 90’s
Volvo-boss Pehr Gyllenhammar predicted the crack of 1987, six months before it occurred. Other famous contributors were the former British Prime Minister Edward Heath who claimed "Europe is decaying. The continent can end up like a museum." Professor of strategy Henry Mintzberg was also present at the conference. The NHH-Symposium of 1987 was head up none other than former CEO of Statoil, Helge Lund.
1985: Searching for New Opportunities
The speaker list included shipping magnates Tharald Brøvig and Jacob Stolt-Nielsen Jr., Stanford professor Harold Leavitt, Minister of Industry Jan P. Syse, former CEO of Norsk Hydro Torvild Aakvaag, factory owner Johan H. Andresen and the VD of Electrolux, Anders Scharp.
1983: Getting Out of Today's Stagnation
After gathering inspiration from the St. Gallen the first NHH-Symposium was opened in 1983. The conference was sponsored by Kreditkassen and Wilhelm Wilhelmsen. The official language was English and the Norwegian Prime Minister at the time, Kåre Willoch, said the conference was "A very positive step, I hope and believe that it will lead to constructive results." He was also among the speakers at first NHH-Symposium. Joining him on stage during the conference was SAS CEO Jan Carlzon and NHH professor Victor Norman who spoke in the schools auditorium.