This year Women/Business/Angels Association participated in the Krynica Economic Forum not only as one of the guest speakers, but we have become one of the official partners of the largest Davos like economic forum, organized in Poland on the 2nd week of September that attracts more than 4,000 decision makers and 800 journalists every year.
Hungary was represented by Adam Szigeti, State Secretary responsible for Innovation, Eszter Szabó, President of the Women Business Angels Association. This event was a significant opportunity for the Women/Business/Angels Association as we believe that winning in the global innovation competition is possible only if we think regionally, or even globally.
What can be the next economic model for CEE’s growth? This was the center of a debate among six known macroeconomists, from various countries and the President of Women/Business/Angels, Eszter Szabo on 6 September. Panelists of “The Difficult Escape from Stagnation. How to Boost Central European Economies?” session agreed that the region has caught up with the Western World by offering low-cost labor force.
The current question is how to develop a higher value-added economic model. Innovation, creativity, education, brand, regional collaboration within V4+ and the EU, labor force migration, all were among the possible tools touched upon.
Eszter Szabó talked about the role of local capital accumulation and introduced EBAN – The European Trade Association for Business Angels, seed funds, and other early stage markets as intellectual platforms with 300K members. Members who represent an additional source of capital, they invest their own money, knowledge, business network, and experience in somebody else’s company as angel investors. This money is an additional tool for boosting local entrepreneurship with global growth aspirations. It is not a surprise that this tool would be more effective, if we engaged more women together with more men for more innovation in CEE.
Snapshot of the mall of Krynica Economic Forum where every attendee meets during a dense get-together of regional decision makers and influencers every September. In 2018, it was the 28th time.
Krynica Economic Forum and Women/Business/Angels joined female executive breakfast 2018. This is the third time Krynica and Eszter Szabó hosted this breakfast. Women/Business/Angels has been on the Forum’s council for three years.