WEBINAR – Drivers of Innovation in Europe and the US: Transatlantic Business Outlook for 2022 and Beyond

Program brought to you by EACC Florida & SACC Florida.

European countries continue to lead in competitiveness and innovation as shown by a number of global rankings. The top four spots of the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2021 are occupied by Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, while IMD ranks the United States as 10^th in the world. In WIPO’s 2021 Innovation Index, Switzerland took the top spot as the world’s most innovative economy for the 10^th consecutive year, followed (in order) by Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea.

What accounts for the consistent role of European countries at the top of jurisdictions driving innovation?  Join us for a discussion on what innovation means in Switzerland, across Europe and in the United States, what the indicators of innovation policy are, and how they relate to economic and social development and competitiveness. The round-table will also deep dive into Florida and its innovation eco-system, as well as its ties, similarities and  differences to the European environment.

This event is jointly organized by the European American Chamber of Commerce Florida and Swiss American Chamber of Commerce Florida and hosted by Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

SPEAKERS

• Jaret Davis, Co-Managing Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig [Moderator]
• Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Management and Former Founding Dean – SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University
• Martin Naville, CEO Swiss American Chamber of Commerce
• Christian Schweizer, Head of Marketing Intelligence, Kaufman Rossin

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

• What is the Innovation Index and how does it relate to competitiveness?
• Which indicators are used to calculate innovation?
• Why is Switzerland doing so well and what role does internationalization play in Switzerland’s success?
• Does the EU have a role with regard to innovation in Europe and the US and if so, what does it consist of?
• What is the state of innovation in Florida?
• What and who are the drivers?

SPEAKER BIOS

Jaret L. Davis

Jaret L. Davis is Co-Managing Shareholder of the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee and oversees approximately 180 attorneys and 200 business staff based in the firm’s founding office in Miami. He focuses his corporate and securities practice on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, and complex secured financings. The vast majority of Jaret’s clients are technology players, ranging from information technology, to life sciences/biotech, to renewable energy sources.

For over a decade, Jaret has played a key role in the firm’s global efforts to be a dominant player in the technology industry. Under his leadership, the Miami office has been a thought leader in representing angel investors, venture capital firms, growth equity funds, as well as various technology companies along all intervals of the life cycle, from startup to multi-billion dollar publicly-traded companies. He routinely provides representation to publicly traded clients having an aggregate market capitalization of over $20 billion.

In addition to his practice, Jaret serves as a co-founder and General Counsel of the eMerge Americas global technology conference.  He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and as Chair of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, the Official Economic Development Partnership for Miami-Dade County. In that capacity, he led Miami’s bid to obtain Amazon’s HQ2 headquarters in which Miami was among the short-listed cities.

Jaret also serves on the Board of Directors of the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center, the National Board of Directors of Venture for America and on the Board of City National Bank of Florida.

Jaret has been recognized in a number of publications, including Chambers and Partners, the Daily Business Review, as the 2018 recipient of its “Attorney of the Year” Award; Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, which selected him for its 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” recognition in the area of Venture Capital Law; the M&A Advisor, which selected him for its 2010 “40 Under 40” list; the National Law Journal, which selected him for its 2011 “Minority 40 Under 40” list; and the Daily Business Review, which designated him “Top Dealmaker of the Year” in both 2010 and 2012.

Soumitra Dutta

Soumitra Dutta is a Professor of Management at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, New York. He is also the founder and President of Portulans Institute, a Washington DC based non-partisan non-profit institute focused on research and outreach on technology and innovation.  Previously he was the founding Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and the 11^th Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Prior to July 2012, he was the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD and the founding director of eLab, a center of excellence in the digital economy.

Soumitra Dutta brings a unique perspective on business and technology strategy in a global world. With a PhD in artificial intelligence and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley, Dutta brings a deep grounding in data sciences and advanced technologies. Having spent more than three decades of his career in leading business schools across the Atlantic (INSEAD and Cornell University), he has conducted extensive research in and consulted with leading global firms on building effective technology and innovation strategies.

As the co-founder and founder respectively of two major global technology/innovation indices, the Network Readiness Index (published for 15 years by the World Economic Forum) and the Global Innovation Index (published by the World Intellectual Property Organization), Dutta has worked with several governments on formulating effective technology and innovation policies.

Having served on the boards of major international corporations including Sodexo, Dassault Systemes and ZS Associates, he is at home dealing with strategic business issues at the highest levels. He also enjoys working with smaller startups (many started by his students) and he has co-founded two technology startups – Fisheye Analytics (a social media analytics firm that was sold to the WPP Communications Group in 2013) and Igesia (an Edutech firm started in 2019). He is deeply involved with non-profits and is on the boards of several global business schools including Centrum Catholica (Peru), HEC Montreal, University of Los Andes (Colombia), ESADE (Spain) and others. He has chaired the largest business school accrediting agency, AACSB and is currently the chair of GBSN (the Global Business School Network). He has been involved for more than a decade with the activities of the World Economic Forum and has served as the co-Chair of the Forum’s Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems. He is a powerful public speaker and brings a refreshing global perspective from his deep personal knowledge of Asia, Europe and the Americas. In 2017, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Martin Naville

Martin Naville is CEO of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce since October 2004. SACC is a leading business association with 1800 members (Swiss and American companies) facilitating business between Switzerland and the USA. The Chamber is also the spokesperson for multinationals companies based in Switzerland – large and small, Swiss and foreign.

Before that, Martin Naville spent 16 years with Boston Consulting Group in Munich, Zurich and New York. In 1995, he was elected Partner and Director of Boston Consulting Group. At BCG, he specialized in the fields of Wealth Management and Telecommunications. Martin Naville started his professional career in 1984 as a corporate banker with JP Morgan in Zurich and New York.

Martin Naville holds a Master of Law from the University of Zurich. He is Chairman of the Board of the Zurich Zoo since 2004. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Swissquote, the Swiss leader in online trading, Senior Advisor of Morgan Stanley (Switzerland), President of Komitee Weltoffenes Zürich and a member of the Global Advisory Board at ETH Zurich, a global top 10 university.

Mr. Naville is married with two adult sons. They live in Küsnacht near Zurich.

Christian Schweizer

Mr. Schweizer is Director, Marketing & Business Intelligence at Kaufman Rossin, one of the top CPA and advisory firms in the U.S., where he leads the mission for analyzing, reporting and optimizing the firm’s marketing. He also advises clients on strategic business and marketing initiatives, as well as on data analytics and insights.

Prior to joining Kaufman Rossin in 2019, Mr. Schweizer led the Global Business Analytics team for S&D Marketing at IBM, managing the Enterprise Marketing Analytics Centers which oversees all data, business & marketing insights. Prior to this role, in 2010, he set up a new Analytics Center in Bangalore and led the team until 2014 from his U.S. location.

Before joining IBM he was the Product Marketing Manager for Dell Computers in Geneva, Switzerland from 1999 to 2002.

Mr. Schweizer was born in Geneva and raised in Zurich Switzerland. Upon graduating from the Kaufmännische Berufsschule of Zurich (KVZ) where he majored in finance & accounting, he served in the Swiss Military from 1989 to 1990. After that, he took the role as regional manager of the Youth & Scouts Programs in Switzerland, where he established the YMCA Zurich office.

During his career Mr. Schweizer has lived and worked in several locations in Europe and in various states within the U.S. He holds a degree in business administration from the University of Applied Sciences (HWV Winterthur) in Switzerland and is a GMP graduate of the Harvard Business School. He is an adjunct professor with University of Miami, he serves on the board of the HBS Club and is also the President of the HBS Alumni Angels of South Florida.

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