Session Listing

For all the progress humankind has achieved, few could have imagined just how rapidly our world is being transformed. While globalization and connectivity have yielded tremendous innovations and ingenuity to the betterment of humanity, some have given rise to crises that have become detrimental to our livelihoods or threaten our very existence. The US Ambassador to Japan, the Hon. Rahm Emanuel, will discuss how leaders can restore the spirit of partnership and collaboration to ensure that current activity and future progress lead us on the right path.  

The asset management industry has had to adopt new business strategies in response to a long series of financial, political, and health-related events. Besides the global health pandemic, geopolitical events, monetary policy shifts, and greater accountability on sustainability and ESG considerations have all weighed—and continue to weigh—on the asset management class. Panelists will reflect on how transition to a new era has affected asset management, from capital raising and portfolio construction to business continuity. They will compare the various ways in which regulators have adjusted their policies to attract capital and accelerate financial innovations, while maintaining stability in financial markets. Panel members will examine where investors are looking for returns, from the real economy to financial markets. Most especially, the panel members will try to answer questions about the opportunities that beckon investors to—Japan, the Asia Pacific region, and around the world.

Global warming and increasingly intense weather patterns around the world point to an environment in crisis. A sense of urgency has led businesses, investors, and governments to incorporate sustainability and ESG considerations into business strategies and public policies. However, growing public sentiment holds that much more needs to be done to reduce carbon emissions, transition to clean energy sources, develop new technologies and tools, and mobilize more investment capital for sustainability-linked projects. Speakers in this session will propose and review concrete actions that could accelerate progress to a more sustainable future across a range of industries that are integral to our way of life. 

A global innovations race is underway. With humanity facing increasingly challenging crises—global warming, infectious and non-communicable diseases, lack of access to financial services and the formal economy, inability to participate in the real economy—companies and governments around the world are racing to incubate and scale the ideas that could solve these issues, and to take the lead in building back better. What are the biggest challenges today that will require the most creative solutions? What innovations are needed to ensure more people enjoy good health and well-being in the years ahead? 

Global investors have their work cut out for them. Cross-border conflicts and geopolitical tensions, climate change, higher interest rates, and rippling supply shocks are pointing to prolonged volatility in financial markets in the years ahead. Where are global investors looking in these uncertain times and are there silver linings? What should policymakers be doing to stabilize markets? Where is the global economy likely to be 12 to 24 months from now?