The European Sting @ the European Business Summit 2014 – Where European Business and Politics shape the future

The time for the most prestigious event in Brussels has come. This week on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 May the heart of Europe is beating at Egmont Palace, where the highest representatives from the European Industry and Business gather. The European Business Summit, the greatest conference for European Industry, is on its way now and this year’s summit, a year that Europe is gradually and finally leaving the painful recession behind, is of utmost importance for the Old Continent. It is time to see how European Industry will catch up fast, how EU trade will grow significantly and how this “industrial renaissance” will eradicate unemployment and social and political unrest within the member states.

The European Sting is honoured enough to be official media sponsor of European Business Summit 2014 and is publishing this year a unique and exclusive Sting Special titled “European Business Summit 2014”. If you want to stay up to date with the most major issues of European economy at this moment and you cannot afford the ticket of this exquisite conference, you can read through a wide selection of exclusive opinion articles in this Special Edition, signed by some of Europe’s most prominent personalities and organisations. We believe that the EBS 2014 Sting Special will be excellent food for thought and will contribute to a democratic sharing of opinions on the thorny issues for Europe today, from the TTIP and International Trade to Energy sustainability and youth unemployment. Tired of being left out of “EU chats” during lunch breaks? Have a close read to the following 13 unique sections and truly engage yourself in the solution of the major issues for Europe in 2014.

The EBS 2014 Special Edition starts with the section “Global Growth”, a matter of utmost importance for the EU, as it aims to the increase of competitiveness of the European Market against the fierce world market arena. At the subsection “International Trade” we are publishing the opinion piece by the Italian MEP Mrs Christiana Muscardini, who is Vice Chair of the Committee on International Trade. Mrs Muscardini is sharing her opinion with the readers of the Sting on the role of the European Parliament to secure the interests of European businesses and consumers when the EU trades with the global major players like China the US. Later, we have hosted a separate subsection on one of the hottest topics right now between Brussels and Washington, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (“TTIP”). There we host a stimulating piece by Aart de Geus, Chairmann & CEO of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, probably the biggest and most important think tank in Brussels. Mr de Geus insightfully points exactly at the core of the main issue of TTIP, the lack of clear public information and consultation during the negotiations. The public scepticism of the European citizen is more than justified and there needs to be more openness in terms of the details of the trade negotiations on what is exactly in for the consumer in Europe. Education on TTIP is of utmost importance for the negotiations to succeed. The Global Growth section is closing  later with an critical piece on the European Banking Union signed by the Sting’s editor in chief, Mr Dennis Kefalakos.

The EBS 2014 Sting Special continues with another significant section on European “Industry”. We begin by treating the major topic of the EU “Energy Strategy”. We believe there was no one more appropriate to address this in this Special Edition but the mere EU Commissioner for Energy. Hence, we were honoured to publish an opinion article signed Mr Gunther Oettinger on EU Energy Strategy.  The German Commissioner is talking to us here about the strong link between Energy and Industrial Policy in Europe. He also explains in his article the aims of Commission’s climate and energy framework 2030.  After that, the subsection “Energising Industry” was very well covered by some stimulating ideas by NEC on the essential energy storage and how this will be accomplished with sophisticated ICT systems. Then, in the next subsection “Made in Europe” we publish two interesting pieces by the Assembly of European regions (AER), on by Pascal Goergen, Secretary general and one by Marian-Constantin, President of Assembly of European Regions’ Committee for ‘Economy and Regional development. Mr Goergen is informing our prominent readers here about how AER is promoting European products by facilitating a big network of European regions and companies. At the same section we host one opinion editorial by the biggest independent organisation in Europe that promotes innovation and research, EUREKA. Mr Pedro Nunes, head of EUREKA explains to us here how EUREKA network supports innovation in the member states by providing unique funding opportunities. Moving forward, the last subsection of the “Industry” has the title “Innovation & IP” and there again Mr Nunes signs another opinion article on how the creation of the unitary European patent system can finally release the potential of European innovators to do business and compete in a global scale. 

Following the necessity to cast light on European Digital Growth and how to release the power of this market, we host another section inside this Sting Special titled “Digital Growth”, where high level opinions by giant companies like Intel and NEC were heard. The first subsection of the ‘digital’ section of the EBS 2014 Special Edition has the title “Digital Convergence”. This section is covered by Mr Christian Morales, Vice President of Intel EMEA, who is writing an exclusive piece on Internet of Things (IoT) and the huge unexplored market of open big data. Later at the subsection “Digital Business” the opinion by AIESEC’s Babajide Okusanya writes about the new challenging era of mobility and accessibility. Last, in the subsection “Digital Citizen” we publish the stimulating opinion editorial signed by Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights (EDRi) who speaks to our readers about the challenging topic of net neutrality in Europe. 

In this Sting Special we have decided to leave for the end one major topic named “European Youth”. Given the particular sensitivity of the European Sting on European Youth we wanted this section to be particularly rich and was covered by the biggest European Youth Organizations: AIESEC, European Youth Forum, European Young Innovators Forum and Jade. The first subsection of this section of utmost important was about “Employment” opportunities for youth in Europe. The section was covered by the famous youth organisation European Youth Forum, signed by its Secretary General, Giuseppe Porcaro. Further, the subsection of “Education” is well covered by Dries de Schutter, Director for camper recruitment and projects in AIESEC Belgium who gives some insights to our young readers on how to take the next careful next of their career. Last, but certainly not least, the subsection “Startups” we left to the major expert youth organisation in Europe, the European Young Innovators Forum. It is there where Mr Kumardev Chatterjee, founder of the organisation, shares his thoughts on how European startups can be more effective and competitive in the competitive global arena. In addition to EYIF in this section we host also the opinion piece of JADE, signed by Florentina Anghel, European public affairs manager at the organisation.

All in all, this Special Edition offers only a glimpse of the stimulating topics to be treated at Egmont Palace at this year’s European Business Summit later this week. We hope that you will have an interesting read through the exclusive interesting content of this Sting Special, while we trust that the European Business Summit 2014 will serve its crucial role and reputation as the most powerful European hub for exchange of strategic views and insights on significant European matters. The European Sting will be present this year with its dynamic team of journalists and will be reporting in its own unique manner, live from Brussels, the most up to date trends on European industry and business. 

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