Why attend?

• Learn how the culture of innovation in emerging markets is creating opportunities and threats for Western firms
• Meet some of the leading global authorities on innovation
• Benchmark your company's own innovation strategy with over one hundred peers
  

About

The emerging world, long viewed as a source of cheap labour, has become the new hotbed of business innovation. Creative firms are coming up with new products and services that are dramatically cheaper than their Western equivalents, developing startling new ideas ranging from cheap cars in India to ubiquitous mobile money in Africa. All the elements of modern business, from systems of production and distribution to supply-chain management, are being re-jigged or reinvented by these new pioneers.

The demographics speak for themselves; with hundreds of millions of emerging-market consumers entering the middle classes in coming decades, the race is on to develop products and services designed for their wallets and preferences. For Western firms looking to compete for business, previous assumptions about innovation will need to be shelved. Rather than devising products that are taken up by the elites and eventually trickle down to the masses, they need to innovate downwards: rethinking their products, packaging and processes to create a value proposition that is affordable, functional and attractive.

At this unique one-day conference, we ask:

• What can Western firms learn from the new breed of innovators in high-growth markets?

• How should they adapt their products, their brands and their supply chains in order to compete for market share, at home and worldwide?