Thomas Homer-Dixon
CIGI Chair of Global Systems, Balsillie School of International Affairs;
Professor, Centre for Environment & Business, University of Waterloo;
Author, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization.
 
The Climate-Energy Challenge: How will it change our economy and society
A consensus is emerging among climate scientists that the world needs to move as quickly as possible to zero carbon emissions. The rate of ramp down to zero will depend, in large part, on the perceived urgency of the climate crisis. Steeper rates of decline will require more unconventional (and perhaps innovative) technologies and institutions and likely more state intervention in economies to mobilize human and financial capital.
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Belinda Stronach
Executive Vice- Chairman, Magna International Inc.;
Co-Founder, Spread the Net; Chair, The Belinda Stronach Foundation.
 
Philanthropy as Competitive Advantage
Investing in and advocating for action on the most pressing challenges that face our world today is more than a corporation’s ethical mandate as a good corporate citizen. Effective corporate philanthropy can be a key competitive advantage for companies, positioning them as leaders on issues and in communities that will be key drivers of economic development, growth in existing markets and entry into new markets such as Africa and Latin America in the years to come. This will be especially important as the tenets of traditional globalization are challenged in the wake of the current global recession.
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Ian Clifford
Founder and CEO,
ZENN Motor Company

Leadership In The New Auto Sector
The automotive industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation with virtually every major automaker announcing an electric vehicle program. Once seen as commercially unviable, electric cars are now being hailed as the automotive sector’s answer to climate change, foreign oil dependency and the economic revitalization of the North American domestic industry. But what will power these electric cars? Get ready to re-think everything you know about batteries as Ian Clifford takes us through a revolutionary technology from conception to commercialization.
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Rahaf Harfoush
New Media Strategist;
Member, U.S. Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign’s New Media Team;
Author, Yes We Did!
 
An Inside Look at How Social Media Built the Obama Brand
Hope. Change. Action. In this multimedia talk, Rahaf Harfoush provides an insider's look at Barack Obama's all-encompassing -- and, yes, historic -- social media campaign. In terms of strategy, how do you plan, roll out, and grow a campaign that gets noticed, that goes viral, that people make their own, but which always comes back, time and again, to your message? From this, Harfoush unveils six lessons that any organization can take away, and apply to their own needs.
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David Rosenberg
Chief Economist & Strategist, Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.;
Former Chief North American Economist of Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch
 
Global Economic Outlook
David Rosenberg, one of the world's leading economists, and Canadian Business editor Steve Maich, discuss the current state of the economy and forecast what the financial future holds.
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Chris Anderson
Editor-in-chief, Wired Magazine
Author, Free! and The Long Tail
 
Freeconomics: How to thrive when FREE! is the future of business
By giving away the razors, which were useless by themselves, King Gillette created demand for disposable razor blades. A few billion blades later, this business model is now the foundation of entire industries: Give away the cell phone, sell the monthly plan . . . Thanks to Gillette, the idea that you can make money by giving something away is no longer radical. Over the past decade, a different sort of free has emerged. The new model is based not on cross-subsidies—the shifting of costs from one product to another—but on the fact that the cost of products themselves is falling fast. Between new ways companies have found to subsidize products and the falling cost of doing business in a digital age, the opportunities to adopt a free business model of some sort have never been greater. But how do these models work? And which do I choose? Chris Anderson has answers to these questions.
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