Open Eyes Economy Summit (OEES)- the fifth edition is over

The fifth edition of the Open Eyes Economy Summit - the International Value Economy Congress - was held on November 17 and 18. The event, held every year at the ICE Kraków Congress Center, and which brings together outstanding specialists from various fields of social life, has come to your home thanks to a developed streaming platform. For the fifth time, the ICE Krakow Congress Center welcomed OEES guests from all over the world, this time on your screen!

The Open Eyes Economy Summit is an interdisciplinary summit on economy, based on social values and sustainable development. During the two-day event, scientists, business practitioners, artists, activists, local government officials and journalists met to discuss the modern world and work out solutions to problems consuming our societies. Participation in the fifth edition of OEES was possible this time from anywhere in the world thanks to the transmission via a streaming platform. The organizers once again surprised everyone with their approach to current phenomena as well as an unconventional and inventive design of the program. As every year, the participants of the Congress were awaited by discussion panels, in-depth sessions and skirmishes.

“The OEES is an economic congress, but in the twenty-first century it should be obvious that you cannot debate finance or investment without a thorough discussion of ecology and the environment, social equality, education or new technologies. Our world is a system of connected vessels both on a micro and macro scale”; so says Prof. Jerzy Hausner - Chairman of the OEES Program Council.

Agenda of the event

The fifth edition of the Open Eyes Economy Summit was opened with the speech "No Going Back: Post-Corona Reconstruction Program" by Associate Professor Muhammad Yunus, PhD - 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the founder of Grameen Bank. A moment later, on the rostrum, we saw Irina Bokowa - former UNESCO Directorate General who spoke about the UNESCO 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. Johannes Hahn - Commissioner of the European Commission for Budget and Administration - and Aleksandra Dulkiewicz - President of Gdańsk also appeared in the inaugural session.

 
As every year, the fifth edition of the OEES was based on several themes. This year they were: COMPANY-IDEA, CITY-IDEA, BRAND – CULTURE, and INTERNATIONAL ORDER.

Planned for part of the first section were the following thematic paths; "Man in the environment of artificial intelligence" and "Sharing resources and common goods". OEES participants had the opportunity to listen to speeches by, among others, Associate Professor Aleksandra Przegalińska-Skierkowska, PhD, at AKL. He talked about the naturalization of artificial intelligence, as well as an in-depth session on “About the limits of AI”. Experts from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poznan discussed these issues. On stage, we also saw the composer and conductor Miłosz Bembinow who took part in the interview on “Culture matters, but how? Discussion of authors, intermediaries and users”.

In the BRAND - CULTURE block these two important issues were raised: "Anthropocene - world management" and "Education - a new generation". The first part was opened by Hajnalka Schmidt - Operations Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Greenpeace International. Her stand was about the green welfare state and the new economy during climate crisis. The panellists of the session entitled "New menu for new times" discussed the green transformation of our kitchen and asked, “What are the consequences of the global green revolution in the kitchen? ". This was participated by: Ewa Wachowicz, a journalist and TV presenter; Basia Ritz, head chef and owner of the Ritz Restaurant; the first Polish Masterchef, Kaj Török, CRO and CSO MAX Burgers; and Eng. Justyna Szymani, PhD, from Jeronimo Martins Polska.

The participants of the BRAND - CULTURE section also focused on education. The speakers included, among others, Johanna Hulkko, a representative of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, and Przemysław Staroń - winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2020. The session "Women in education, culture, attack" was encouraging and was attended by Associate Professor Aleksandra Cisłak-Wójcik, PhD, at SWPS; Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, PhD, member of the Sejm of the ninth-term and a social activist; Marta Frej, a painter, an illustrator and cultural animator; and Helene Granqvist - Women in Film and Television International, Sweden. It was chaired by the Editor-in-Chief of “Pisma. Magazyn Opinii”, Magdalena Kicińska.

This year, the CITY-IDEA block included two extremely important topics: "Solidarity in development" and "Architecture and adaptation of cities to climate change". As part of the first section, a session "Climate Solidarity" was held with the participation of Agata Czachórska, the director for sustainable development at IKEA Retail; Mirosław Proppé, President of the Management Board of WWF Polska; and Rafał Sonik, rally driver and President of the Czysta Polska Association. The section about architecture and adaptation of cities to climate change was opened with speeches fromtwo architects - Nathalie de Vries and Prof. Dietmar Eberle. All those attending the OEES with an interest in the topic of adapting urban space to the environment certainly enjoyed the in-depth session “It's green! On the adaptation of cities to climate change". This was attended by Agnieszka Kalinowska-Sołtys, Vice President of SARP for Environment and Climate Protection;, Kacper Kępiński from the National Institute of Architecture and City Planning;and Aldo Vergas-Tetmajer, a representative of the Association of Polish Cities and coordinator of the URBACT III program in Poland. The panel was conducted by the architect engineer Krzysztof Ingarden, PhD, from the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow Academy, Member of the OEES Program Council.

During this year's OEES, sessions related to international order were also held. Martin Raiser - Regional Director of the World Bank for China, Mongolia and Korea spoke about the economy after the pandemic. A presentation on the imminent water crisis was presented by Guy Alaerts, PhD, from the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. Mauricio Voivodic, the President of the Management Board of WWF Brazil, also stood at the podium, asking the rhetorical question "Can we survive without forests?"

There was also an artistic accent at the Congress. This year, as part of the "An Artist Changes the World” session, Maria Anna Potocka - Director of the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art - talked to Paweł Althamer, an outstanding sculptor and performer.

The Open Eyes Economy Summit has been organized in Krakow since 2016 and gathers eminent personalities from the world of science, economy and culture. It is a Congress dedicated to an economy based on social values.