It is time again for the yearly Global Social Business Summit taking place from 10-12 November 2011 in Vienna, Austria. Worldwide social business pioneers from corporate, political, academic or civil societal background will gather to share results, develop goals and initiate new projects. A special focus will be on the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals through social business. In his role as MDG Advocate, Prof. Yunus will launch the YY Millennium Tour, a social business initiative that contributes strategically to the achievement of the MDGs.     

 
Diverse workshops will provide space for connected creativity and networking

A wide range of inspiring speakers will share their view on social business: UN representatives including Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General) (virtual address), Thomas Stelzer (Assistant Secretary-General), Daud Mohamad (Deputy Director-General UNIAEA) and Sandeep Chawla (Deputy Executive-Director of UNODC) will talk about the importance of the UN Millennium Development Goals and social business

Panel discussions with business representatives such as Emmanuel Faber (COO Danone Groupe), Jeff George (CEO Sandoz) and John Davies (Vice President Intel) and with politicians like EU Commissioners Michel Barnier and László Andor, Fernando Pimentel (Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil), Rudolf Hundstorfer (Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection of Austria) and Fatima Al Balooshi (Minister of Human Rights and Social Development of the Kingdom of Bahrain) will cover topics like Globalization 2.0 and Political Frameworks for Social Businesses.

In a “Pioneering for Results” session social businesses together with entrepreneurs will talk about their experiences and results. Entrepreneurs will also have the chance to ask questions to EU Commissioner László Andor at the Space for Entrepreneurs (if you are interested in applying for the Space for Entrepreneurs please click here).  A cultural program with a talk about what art can do for social business at the Museumsquartier Vienna and screening of “Bonsai People”, a movie about social business, will round up the summit.

Two additional pre-meetings will take place on 9 November: the Academia Meeting and the Young Challengers Meeting, which are aiming at harnessing the potential involvement of top young talents and academic expertise to foster the social business concept. Please find all relevant information regarding the Global Social Business Summit 2011 and pre-meetings on www.gsbs2011.com. You can write to summit@grameencl.com for requesting an invitation. 

And don’t forget:Ron Garan, NASA Astronaut and Prof. Yunus will be giving a public speech on 10 November, 8pm at Exhibition Centre Messe Wien  – everyone is invited to come!
 

To find out more about what awaits you this year, check out the official website here

To check out last year's Global Social Business Summit please click here.
More videos and articles of the GSBS 2010 can be found here.