INSEAD Conferences Revisited

After kicking-off the INSEAD Conferences 34 years ago, we look at their history and share the success and recap of the first fully online lectures of this year. All the conferences were recorded and are now also available in French for viewing here.

Thanks to the creation of the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, INSEAD is working even harder than before on sustainable development and social and environmental responsibility. Professor Henri-Claude de Bettignies has long encouraged INSEAD’s contribution towards the local community in order to support the Institute’s mission and responsibility in playing an active role for the common good. Appropriately, the INSEAD Conferences fit into this context: offering the Fontainebleau and global online community an opportunity to reflect on and discuss current topics whilst looking ahead to the future.

Henri-Claude de Bettignies started these conferences in 1987 and since then has organized 162 on various subjects with the participation of speakers from diverse backgrounds of academia (67 in total, of which 24 were INSEAD professors) : philosophers, economists, sociologists, psychologists, business and ONG leaders, writers and many more. The aim is to offer diverse views on very different, often complex subjects, in order to better grasp the crux of these topics and the ways in which the everyday community can get involved and act on the knowledge.

This year, with first-time involvement from Executive Director of the Hoffmann Institute Katell Le Goulven, the five conferences with over 2,100 registrants, have successively hosted a diversity of talent: Jean-Marc Jancovici, founder of The Shift Project think-tank and President of the consulting firm Carbone 4; Frédéric Keck, Research Director of the social anthropology laboratory at CNRS (The French National Centre for Scientific Research); Bertrand Badré, senior government official, international finance expert and presently working on responsible investment projects in Washington, USA; Charles-Edouard Bouée, Company Director and author, whose books look at the future of international competition in high-tech sectors; and Alexandra Roulet, INSEAD professor, carrying out authoritative research on employment and work.  

In the conferences, Jean-Marc Jancovici identified how the role of energy in our societies has left us vulnerable, especially with respect to the overriding constraints of the energy transition and the risks associated with the necessary transformation of our lifestyles. Frédéric Keck discussed the origin of pandemics and particularly COVID-19 to illustrate the necessary role of “sentries” to warn us of the arrival of an epidemic.

Sharing his experience of international finance, Bertrand Badré identified useful lessons to manage the changes imposed on the world, particularly in our conduct, beyond the necessary transformation initiated by governments. Charles-Edouard Bouée with his extensive experience in China, the USA and Europe, described the digital competition between the titans of Silicone Valley and those of Shenzhen, the consequences for Europe and also outlined the ramifications of alternative strategies.

Closing the conferences with the final session, Professor Alexandra Roulet presented a solid analysis of the current situation in the labour sphere, employment - in France and the OECD countries - and the possible developments in terms of unemployment and teleworking, urging a more optimistic, long-term vision.

We thank all those involved in the conferences, and Professor Henri-Claude de Bettignies for pioneering a way for INSEAD to share and spread knowledge beyond its campuses and into global societies. We look forward to the next round of conferences in 2022.