19 - 21 April 2022
- 19 APRIL
- 20 APRIL
- 21 APRIL
- Online
This session addressed the Post-COVID Era from a policy-making standpoint. How can we tackle the Post-COVID Era with adeguate and effective policies?
This session was composed of one conversation:
CONVERSATION 1 | Climate governance and green deals
13:30 – 15:30 CET
Speakers discussed the much-needed support that policymakers will need to mobilize to meet the transformative needs of society and business.
Speakers:
Bjarne Steffen, Senior Research Associate and Lecturer, ETH Zurich
Laurence Tubiana, CEO, European Climate Foundation
Juliano J. Assunção, Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative Brasil
W. John Kress, Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History
Maria Spyraki, Member of the European Parliament, ITRE Committee Member
Moderated by Renzo Guinto, Chief Planetary Doctor, PH Lab, Philippines


Supported by:


This session evaluated how health care and frontline medicine will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Being one of the sectors that was most affected by the crisis, healthcare was tackled from different points of view.
This session was composed of three conversations:
CONVERSATION 1 | Post-pandemic changes to healthcare and social welfare systems
16:00 – 18:00 CET
Speakers discussed how social welfare and health systems will be altered in the Post-COVID Era, as both a consequence and a response to the pandemic.
Speakers:
Ben Osborn, Regional President Hospital for International Developed Markets, Pfizer Hospital Business
Angela Spatharou, Senior Partner and EMEA Industry Leader, Healthcare & Life Sciences, IBM Consulting
Agnès Soucat, Director for Health Systems Governance and Financing, World Health Organization
Chris Wolff, Deputy Director, Global Delivery Program, Global Development Division, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Moderated by Vikram Patel, Pershing Square Professor of Global Health and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School
CONVERSATION 2 | Risk assessment and prevention
16:00 – 18:00 CET
Medical risk assessment was examined, particularly with a focus on how the spread of infectious diseases can be predicted and halted. Can we conceive and design a physical environment that is better suited to disease prevention?
Speakers:
Pol Vandenbroucke, Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer’s Hospital Business Unite
Andrew J. Tatem, Director of WorldPop, University of Southampton
Jeffrey Shaman, Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
John P.A. Ioannidis, C.F. Rehnborg Chair in Disease Prevention, Stanford University
Robert C. Gallo, The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Co-Founder & Director, Institute of Human Virology
Tolullah Oni, Clinical Senior Research Associate, MRC Epidemiology Unit; Honorary Associate Professor, University of Cambridge
Wolfgang Philipp, Head of Unit, Public Health, Country Knowledge, Crisis Management Directorate of the European Commission
Moderated by Christopher Dye, Professor of Epidemiology, University of Oxford
CONVERSATION 3 | Technological breakthroughs driving medical advances
16:00 – 18:00 CET
This conversation navigated the technological breakthroughs that are driving medical advances, with participants discussing their vision for the future of healthcare and medicine.
Speakers:
Edward Abrahams, President, Personalized Medicine Coalition
Jennifer Miller, Founder, Bioethics International
Kenji Shibuya, Professor and Director of the Institute of Population Health, King’s College London
Laurie H. Glimcher, President and CEO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Othman Laraki, Co-founder and CEO, Color
Peer M. Schatz, Managing Director, PS-Capital Management GmbH
Yoshiyuki Sankai, CEO and President, CYBERDYNE Inc.
Moderated by Carlos Bustamante, Principal Investigator, Stanford University School of Medicine
Click on dates above to switch between days and see other sessions
- Online


This session’s debate focused first on the impact of the pandemic on the specific market of venture capital. How is it possible to promote innovation and long-term investment through start-ups? Speakers also discussed how national economies, local businesses, and vulnerable workers and households can be supported in the Post-COVID Era. On the global level, speakers also contributed to the conversation by providing their insights on how trade, commerce, and finance will change in the post-pandemic age.
This session was composed of two conversations:
CONVERSATION 1 | Unlocking society’s benefits through Venture Capital and Start-ups in the Post-COVID Era
13:30 – 15:30 CET
This conversation focused on the impact of the pandemic on venture capital, proposing different ways venture capital can unlock potential benefits for the global economy.
Speakers:
Rudy Aernoudt, Senior economist DG GROW, European Commission
Josh Lerner, Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School
Luisa Alemany, Associate Professor, London Business School
Pär-Jörgen Pärson, General Partner, Northzone
Ramana Nanda, Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance and Academic Lead of the Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship, Imperial College London
Rob Kaplan, Founder and CEO, Circulate Capital
Thomas Hellmann, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Saïd School of Business, University of Oxford
Xabier Goenaga, Head of the Knowledge for Finance, Innovation and Growth Unit, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Moderated by Nina Rawal, Partner and Co-Head of Ventures, Trill Impact
CONVERSATION 2 | Reshaping international economic and financial interdependencies in the Post-COVID Era
13:30 – 15:30 CET
Speakers contributed to the conversation by providing their insights into how trade, commerce and finance will change in the post-pandemic age. They provided their informed understanding of this crucial topic by envisioning the future of global markets.
Speakers:
Moreno Bertoldi, Adviser on International Economic and Financial Affairs, DG ECFIN, European Commission
Adam S. Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Andrea Conte, Economist, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Dalia Marin, Professor of International Economics, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich
Eswar Prasad, Nandlal P. Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy and Professor of Economic, Cornell University
Guntram B. Wolff, Director, Bruegel
Sven Smit, Chairman and Director, McKinsey Global Institute; Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Carlos Arteta, Lead Economist in the Development Prospects Group, World Bank
Moderated by Sandra Phlippen, Chief Economist of Group Economics, ABN AMRO


How can we make the most out of technological advances in the Post-COVID Era? The need for containment and monitoring measures has certainly found an ally in technology: apps, tracking devices and AI-based technologies of all sorts have served the purpose of flattening the curve.
This session was composed of two conversations:
CONVERSATION 1 | Welcoming new ways of working and living and bridging the digital divide
16:00 – 18:00 CET
The debate took a look at how technology is helping societies reshape the way people work and live, without neglecting that access to remote working and distance learning is not equally available to all people. How can we bridge the digital divide, then?
Speakers:
Carlos Zorrinho, Member of the European Parliament, ITRE Committee
Arun Sundararajan, Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship and Technology, New York University
Klára Dobrev, Member of the European Parliament , European Parliament
Michael Matlosz, President, EuroScience
Titi Akinsanmi, Policy and Government Relations Lead for West and Francophone Africa, Google
Moderated by Antony Walker, Deputy CEO, techUK
CONVERSATION 2 | Leveraging AI and Big Data to empower people and businesses
16:00 – 18:00 CET
The debate turned to how people and businesses can be empowered by leveraging AI and Big Data in the Post-COVID Era.
Speakers:
Anand S. Rao, Partner, Global AI Lead, PwC
Sinan Kayhan Aral, David Austin Professor of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence, University of California, Berkeley
Moderated by Mark Purdy, Managing Director of Economic Research at Accenture Research
Click on dates above to switch between days and see other sessions
- Online


In what ways will societies differ in the Post-COVID Era? This session will focus on the transformations that societies will experience in the post-pandemic world. The spread of COVID-19 has certainly had an impact on the way people work and live. An increasing amount of social scientific research has looked at the implications of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine measures that have been implemented.
This session was composed of two conversations:
CONVERSATION 1 | Factoring in the psychological and sociological implications of COVID-19
13:30 – 15:30 CET
Speakers assessed the psychological and sociological effects on populations, notably on vulnerable people.
Speakers:
Elke Van Hoof, Expert in the Superior Health Council of Belgium, European Parliament
Frances MK Williams, Professor of Genomic Epidemiology and Hon Consultant Rheumatologist, King’s College London
Juan C. Palomino, Post-Doctoral Research Officer, Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI), University of Oxford
Magda Osman, Lecturer in Experimental Cognitive Psychology, Queen Mary University of London
Sandra L. Shullman, President, American Psychological Association; Managing Partner, Columbus Office
Moderated by Antonis Kousoulis, Director for England and Wales, Mental Health Foundation
CONVERSATION 2 | Historical and philosophical lessons from post-pandemic societies
13:30 – 15:30 CET
Which historical and philosophical lessons can we draw from post-pandemic societies? Participants addressed the Post-COVID Era from a historical and philosophical standpoint, in an attempt to better prepare for the future by learning from the past.
Speakers:
Alexander Bird, Bertrand Russell Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
David S. Jones, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Department of History of Science, Harvard University
Rae Langton, Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
Frank Snowden, Andrew Downey Orrick Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University
Moderated by James Wilson, Professor of Philosophy, University College London


This session explored business concerns in the Post-COVID Era. Speakers thus discussed best practices and innovation strategies that businesses across sectors should implement to tackle the impact of the pandemic.
This session was composed of two conversations:
CONVERSATION 1 | Fostering innovation through public-private partnership and data collaboration
16:00 – 18:00 CET
Innovation was discussed through the lens of public-private partnerships and data collaboration in the Post-COVID Era.
Speakers:
James Eshelby, Vice President & Head of Pfizer Global Public-Private Partnerships and Vice-Chair of Research & Innovation Strategy Group (RIS) at EFPIA
Mike England, COO, RS Components
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, Member of the European Parliament, ITRE Committee Member
Jessica Espey, Senior Advisor, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Matthew Harrington, Global President and Chief Operating Officer, Edelman
Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief of Research and Development, Governance Laboratory, New York University
Samuel Scarpino, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University
Moderated by Scott David, Executive Director, Information Risk and Synthetic Intelligence Research Initiative, University of Washington (Seattle)
CONVERSATION 2 | The innovation potential of the Energy sector
16:00 – 18:00 CET
In this conversation, close attention was devoted to the Energy sector and its potential for innovation.
Speakers:
Afnan Hannan, Co-Founder and CEO, Okra Solar
Anes Jusic, Senior Banker, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development
Douglas J. Arent, Deputy Associate Lab Director, Scientific Computing and Energy Analysis, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Elvira López Prados, Head of CEO Office – Energy, ACCIONA
William Brent, CMO, Husk Power Systems
Moderated by Xiangkun Elvis Cao, Climate & Sustainability Consortium Impact Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Click on dates above to switch between days and see other sessions