Watch GovInn Director Lorenzo Fioramonti speaking about political alternatives to a GDP-focused world at an event hosted by Impulszentrum Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften on 9 October 2015, in Graz, Austria.
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Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett keynote address at Governance Innovation Week 2015, University of Pretoria entitled “Why greater equality makes societies stronger”. The address was filmed on 3 June 2015.
3 June 2015
‘Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger’ Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, bestselling authors of “The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better for Everyone”
‘Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger’ Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, bestselling authors of “The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better for Everyone”.
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- Epidemiologists Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson with GovInn director Lorenzo Fioramonti
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- Richard Wilkinson with Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir
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- Before the speech: SciencesPo Bordeaux Professor Daniel Bach with GovInn communication manager Gaia Manco and senior researcher Frank Mattheis
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- GovInn co-director Ward Anseeuw with His Excellency the Ambassador of Iraq to South Africa
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- GovInn deputy director Chris Nshimbi introducing the speakers
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- Kate Pickett
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- Richard Wilkinson
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- His Excellency the Ambassador of Iraq to South Africa
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- Peer-to-peer activist Michel Bauwens
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- Many University of Pretoria students engaged with the speakers
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- Robert Costanza
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- Jan Aart Scholte, GovInn board member
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- GovInn senior researcher John Kotsopoulos
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- Kate Pickett answering questions from UP students
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- Richard Wilkinson discussing with a UP student
The Global Wellbeing Lab 2.0 officially kicked off with a two day workshop in Berlin (Germany) in early February 2015. The Lab aims to shift institutions beyond the pursuit of narrowly measured parameters of economic progress (such as growth) to broader aims that translate into sustainable wellbeing for our societies.
GovInn director Lorenzo Fioramonti was among the 25 innovators invited to the Lab from all over the world. He had the opportunity to discover new ways of looking at leadership, sustainable development and wellbeing, as he tells us in this interview.
Lorenzo Fioramonti speaking at one of the sessions of the Global Wellbeing Lab 2.0, Berlin 2015
What is the Global Wellbeing Lab 2.0?
Lorenzo Fioramonti: These Labs are an initiative of the Global Leadership Academy, a programme funded by the German government to convene “thought leaders” and innovators from all walks of life and from all over the world to discuss, network and share ideas about promoting change at the global scale. In particular, the Wellbeing Lab focuses on new approaches to economic progress and what type of cultural, social and political change we need to build a different economy. It is led by Prof. Otto Scharmer, from the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) and world renowned for his Theory U, and co-hosted by the Presencing Institute in Boston (USA) and the Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan.
What happened in Berlin?
The Berlin kick-off event was a very enriching gathering of extremely motivated individuals, from very different backgrounds. There were young innovators from the Silicon Valley, like Nipun Metha, who gave a very inspiring TED Talk on the economy of generosity watched by tens of thousands of viewers. We had the first lady of the State of Oregon, Cylvia Hayes, who is a dedicated environmentalist and has led the introduction of the Genuine Progress Indicator in Oregon. There was also my friend Katherine Trebeck from Oxfam, who has developed the Humankind Index (another great Ted Talk to watch).
We had managers from the clothing giant Eileen Fisher and Google’s sale manager, Alfred Tolle. We then had representatives of various governments, from Costa Rica to Brazil, USA, Vietnam and the UK. From South Africa, I was joined by Louise Van Rhyn of Symphonia and Mary Jane Morifi from the Nelson Mandela Children Hospital Trust.
We were invited to spend a few days, in almost complete isolation, in the beautiful ecological resort of Landgut A. Borsig, one of the hallmarks of the civil resistance against Hitler. It was a great opportunity to share ideas on how to foster a well-being based economic transition for our countries.
Lorenzo Fioramonti from Presencing Institute on Vimeo.
How does the Lab work?
LF: This first meeting gave us an opportunity to get to know each other better. Indeed, the Lab will continue for 2 years and will become a ‘journey’ taking us to different locations around the world. It’s designed as a space for reflection, but also as an incubator for action. It is based on the Theory U approach, which shows how collective change is ultimately the outcome of a journey. This journey includes personal change as well as continuous interaction with likeminded individuals from different cultural backgrounds. We all share a conviction that the current economic system is not delivering on wellbeing, but the journey will help us identify a common ground on how to make the change happen in practice. Academics, business leaders, government officials and civic activists are all brought together to shape this intellectual and personal journey over the course of the next two years.
What is happening next?
LF: We will start scanning interesting social innovations in South Africa and then bring them back into our global debate. We will also need to identify ideas for change that could become prototypes for action. In May we will then meet again in Bhutan, where we have been officially invited by the government. After that, the journey will take us to other destinations. In the end, the initiative aims to build a strong network of leaders and innovators with a set of shared practical ideas to change the world!
An interesting event for those who, like us at GovInn, are researching new economic governance.
The 2015 Africa Prosperity Summit: Promoting Wealth and Wellbeing, promoted by the Legatum Institute with the support of the Ford Foundation, is taking place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, on 20-21 May 2015.
The conference will focus on four key themes:
- How data can promote shared prosperity
- Stoking African innovation: ways and means
- Business values for prosperity
- Personal safety and national prosperity
Keynote Speakers
- Zeinab Badawi, Chair of the Royal Africa Society
- Marieme Jamme, CEO of SpotOne Global Solutions
- David McGinty, Team Manager of Human Development Innovation Fund
Registration closes on 20 February 2015.
For more information on how to take part in the summit check the Legatum Institute website
About the Legatum Institute
The Legatum Institute is an international think-tank and educational charity. Its aim is to promote prosperity by revitalising capitalism and democracy. The Legatum Prosperity Index, our signature publication, ranks 142 countries in terms of wealth and wellbeing.
Rising economic inequality continues to cast a shadow over the World Economic Forum, says GovInn director Lorenzo Fioramonti in a live interview on SABC news (22 January 2015).
Oxfam set the tone earlier this week in a report timed to the start of the Davos conference: it estimated that the combined wealth of the world’s richest 1 percent could overtake that of the remaining 99 percent by next year.
Will the WEF do something about it?
This week on Business Day, South Africa’s leading business newspaper, GovInn director Lorenzo Fioramonti -drawing conclusions on Piketty’s research – discusses why redistribution is the only way to tackle inequalities in South Africa and worldwide: will the WEF listen?
“One does not need a doctorate in economics to recognise that SA is one of the most unequal societies in the world. We see it every day, when we drive through our cities and across the country, when we go shopping or take our kids to school.
While inequality is a fact of life (we are different people, with different capacities, interests and aspirations), it becomes a social malaise if it exceeds certain levels. And each society should democratically decide which degrees of inequality are acceptable.”
“Such a level of inequality also reinforces violence, frustration and crime.
In SA and elsewhere, economic growth has been employed as a magic wand to avoid a serious debate on inequality. The belief that the economy can grow infinitely and at a sustained pace has been comforting to the ruling elites, as this means the pie will continue expanding without the need to redistribute its shares.
Indeed, allowing the rich to become richer has been often presented as a precondition for the economy to excel for the benefit of all.
Nowhere has this been as evident as in the justification of the stellar salaries of top managers of private and public corporations.
The reality, however, is that this “trickle-down” vision of economic development is largely a dogma, as Piketty has now confirmed with his data.
Moreover, he finds no correlation between the pay cheques of “super managers” and the performance of the companies they lead.
In his view, the only thing that explains these skyrocketing salaries is the fact that managers can easily influence the scale of their remuneration, often with the support of complacent boards of directors, while common workers cannot.
Read full article on Business Day
