Business & Money | Tuesday 6 January, 2015 1:54 pm |

The eighth annual Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) is to focus on the crucial role played by governments in enabling growth, discussing global and regional trends in governmental competitiveness and developing a world class infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
This year’s forum, which will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh from 25-27 January, continues the high-level discussions of economic competitiveness that have been the hallmark of the GCF since its inception in 2007.
Since the founding of the GCF by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) in 2006, the GCF has grown into one of the largest and most important annual gatherings of academics, business leaders, and politicians and in the region, attracting a great deal of attention from local, regional and international media. It has become widely acknowledged as a key platform for the exchange of ideas on economy and investment, identifying key developments related to global economies and competitiveness.
More than 50 leading international and Saudi experts in business, politics and education will be speaking at this year’s event, which is expected to be attended by some 3,000 representatives of the public and private sectors from Saudi and across the GCC.
The theme of this year’s forum – Competitive Governments – enables discussion of methods of improving the performance of government agencies, developments in international competitiveness, and the pivotal role played by the public sector in enabling economic competitiveness.
The Forum will focus on key areas where governments can have the greatest impact, such as healthcare provision, the economic empowerment of youth and women, ensuring the stability of financial systems, and building a strong national infrastructure.
Furthermore, with the staging of the parallel ‘Invest in Saudi Arabia’ exhibition, the GCF provides the ideal showcase for investment opportunities in the Kingdom, introducing potential investors to a myriad of investment opportunities in both the private and public sectors.
This year, the exhibition will focus on investment opportunities in technology transfer, healthcare, export development, localization, and job training and placement for Saudis. The exhibition will help establish the Kingdom as the dominant regional hub and the perfect location for innovative, forward-thinking enterprises.

A Look at past GCFs
2007 - Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an Enabler for Competitiveness
Bill Gates was the keynote speaker at the first ever GCF in 2007.  Addressing ICT as an Enabler of Competitiveness , he emphasized the critical position ICT plays in creating a skill and knowledge-based society with a highly productive population.  The forum also showcased SAGIA’s 10x10 plan, aimed at making Saudi Arabia one of the world’s top 10 investment destinations by 2010.
2008 - Competitiveness as an Engine for Economic Growth
The second GCF was expanded in scope and size to provide a global perspective on competitiveness that would increase the visibility of the Kingdom’s efforts and further develop the GCF platform.
It investigated the macroeconomic benefits of competition and positioned competitiveness as a key global challenge. Speakers included Professor Michael Porter from Harvard University; John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco; and Professor Stephan Garelli, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center.
SAGIA’s Private Sector Initiatives Program also  launched the Saudi Fast Growth 100, an initiative to measure and encourage the growth of smaller sized companies in the kingdom by creating an annual competition to be included on the list of the 100 fastest growing small business in the Kingdom.

2009 - Responsible Competitiveness
GCF 2009 convened with many global economies in crisis. The conference’s theme, Responsible Competitiveness, invited participants to address hard questions such as how could irresponsible management have led world markets so badly astray, and how could responsibility and stability be restored?
The keynote speech by Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan discussed ‘Value creation is what responsible competitiveness is all about’ , with the forum generating an open letter to the leaders of the G20 calling for an energetic and coordinated response.

2010 - Sustainable Competitiveness
With the global economy in recovery, the fourth GCF focused on Sustainable Competitiveness and social responsibility as an appropriate theme to examine the implications of the recession and how future crises could be avoided. 

The Forum featured speeches from business leaders including GE’s Jeffrey Immelt, Cisco’s John Chambers, Michael Dell, and Paul Polman of Unilever, with Dr Ibrahim Al Assaf and Dr Mohammad Al-Jasser presenting the Saudi perspective. The main conclusion was that to deliver sustainable prosperity, capitalism must be attentive to the social, environmental, political and financial systems with which it is intertwined.

GCF 2010 also saw the launch of several new initiatives; the Michael Porter Prize, the Saudi Arabian Responsible Competitiveness Index, and the CEO 100.

2011 - Innovation as a Means of Competitiveness
In the first ever e-Forum of its kind, the GCF used iPads and harnessed the power of social media outlets, with GCF 2011 also covered by 20 leading media partners including CNN and the Financial Times.
Highlights included a keynote speech by Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, a showcase of the successes of SAGIA’s Saudi 10x10 program; and the announcement of the winners for the Saudi Responsible Competitiveness Index (RCI), Saudi Fast Growth (SFG), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and the Most Competitive Youth award which focuses on developing the new leaders of tomorrow.

2012 - The Entrepreneurship Imperative
In its sixth year, the GCF highlighted the importance of entrepreneurial spirit in competition. The agenda examined all forms of entrepreneurship – from corporate entrepreneurship to social entrepreneurship, and the potential for entrepreneurship and innovation in government. 
As a result of feedback from GCF 2011, the event also included more workshops and breakout sessions allowing delegates the opportunity to engage with the speakers on a more personal level and explore sub-themes in-depth.

2014 - Building Competitive Partnerships
In its seventh staging, the GCF continued to tackle pressing global issues, such as building alliances that drive innovation, nurture entrepreneurship and cultivate employability, acknowledging that private and public sector partnerships hold the key to future growth.
For the first time the Forum also included an exhibition to showcase value-adding investment opportunities in the ‘Invest in Saudi Arabia’ exhibition, which demonstrated the variety of investment opportunities in the Kingdom.