Rudy Aernoudt, former head of the Ministry for Economy and Research in Brussels, has conducted a workshop on the importance of creative enterprise for local business leaders, senior civil servants and academics at the Grand Hotel Excelsior as a guest of the de Bono Foundation.
Prof. Aernoudt described the technical features of the current economic crisis, highlighting the regulatory failures in Europe based on the revised international capital framework known as Basel II and outlining how the European banking system's credit to risk calculations took place inside "a black box". Thinking outside this box and applying new thinking will create the business of tomorrow, he said.
Despite 30,000 pages of banking regulations designed to protect all stakeholders Prof. Aernoudt said that there was a collapse of the banking system in Europe due to over-regulation paralysing the key institutions, over-reliance on rating agencies that carry no financial responsibility for their ratings and a centralisation of credit decisions which removes the human factor from lending.
In Prof. Aernoudt's assessment, Malta has the right mix of conditions to take advantage of the SME platform that underpins the country's economy and leverage it further for dynamic growth. Using local entrepreneurial activity as the starting point, he described a virtuous cycle which would drive growth through the addition of innovation and financing, local development, internationalisation by Malta's entrepreneurs, all leading to wealth creation.
Central to this economic model is quality of life, which Prof. Aernoudt said existed in abundance already in Malta. "Small is beautiful," he said, "particularly when twinned with a value-driven economic model which Malta is very close to developing."
Prof. Aernoudt interpreted Malta as an economy which could become what he called one of the world's "new leaders"; an economy with a strong degree of lateral thinking and action that embraces internationalisation based on manageable and ethical structures. This would be the model that places Malta on the highest scales of wealth creation per capita.
For further information on the Creative Thinking Programme, or on the Thought Leaders Business Breakfast Series, contact the Grand Hotel Excelsior on 2125 0520 or visit www.excelsior.com.mt.
Prof. Aernoudt described the technical features of the current economic crisis, highlighting the regulatory failures in Europe based on the revised international capital framework known as Basel II and outlining how the European banking system's credit to risk calculations took place inside "a black box". Thinking outside this box and applying new thinking will create the business of tomorrow, he said.
Despite 30,000 pages of banking regulations designed to protect all stakeholders Prof. Aernoudt said that there was a collapse of the banking system in Europe due to over-regulation paralysing the key institutions, over-reliance on rating agencies that carry no financial responsibility for their ratings and a centralisation of credit decisions which removes the human factor from lending.
In Prof. Aernoudt's assessment, Malta has the right mix of conditions to take advantage of the SME platform that underpins the country's economy and leverage it further for dynamic growth. Using local entrepreneurial activity as the starting point, he described a virtuous cycle which would drive growth through the addition of innovation and financing, local development, internationalisation by Malta's entrepreneurs, all leading to wealth creation.
Central to this economic model is quality of life, which Prof. Aernoudt said existed in abundance already in Malta. "Small is beautiful," he said, "particularly when twinned with a value-driven economic model which Malta is very close to developing."
Prof. Aernoudt interpreted Malta as an economy which could become what he called one of the world's "new leaders"; an economy with a strong degree of lateral thinking and action that embraces internationalisation based on manageable and ethical structures. This would be the model that places Malta on the highest scales of wealth creation per capita.
For further information on the Creative Thinking Programme, or on the Thought Leaders Business Breakfast Series, contact the Grand Hotel Excelsior on 2125 0520 or visit www.excelsior.com.mt.