Aftercare Forum
Programme 2024.
What to expect in Florence?
Enjoy a jam-packed two-day Aftercare Forum. Unlike last year, this year we set up an Organising Committee joined by Aftercare experts from a range of organisations. Together we carefully curated the programme and invited experts from a wide range of subjects to bring unique content to Florence. And Invest in Tuscany blended what promises to be unforgettable Tuscan hospitality to make the 2024’s Forum one not to be missed.
2024 Timetable
Tuesday May 28th:
Wednesday May 29th:
Thursday May 30th:
20:00 to 22:00 Informal Welcome Drinks at Foody Farm (optional).
08:00 to 18:00 Aftercare Masterclass at Palazzo Capponi.
20:00 to 22:00 Gala Dinner at Cibrèo Ristorante & Cocktail Bar at Helvetia & Bristol Hotel.
08:00 to 18:00 Aftercare Forum at Palazzo Capponi.
18:30 to 19:30 Walking Tour or Mixology class (optional leisure activities).
Please scroll down to see the progammes of the Aftercare Forum and of the Masterclass.
Aftercare Forum
Aftercare Forum 2024.
Thursday May 30th - join the premier global Aftercare-focused gathering.
The Forum starts with a deep looks at the state of the art of Aftercare, presenting how agencies worldwide are approaching Aftercare and how it is both a local and a national priority. We will then explore how Aftercare will most likely evolve in the context of new international agreements coming into force, sustainability regulations, and how business decision-making might respond to those changes, unleashing a new wave of both re-investment and divestment. We close the morning with a leap forward to decode future insight from regional development and what this implies for the role of IPAs in fostering investor-centred public-private collaboration.
The afternoon focuses on foreign investors and their needs. We will hear from companies established in Italy about their efforts to drive sustainability, discuss talent needs as seen from the both the perspective of a subsidiary and the HQ, and how agencies are responding to these needs. We will also explore how corporations are funding expansions and how cryptocurrencies and blockchain are gaining momentum among them.
We close the day with a deep reflection on the state of the world, diving into the challenges of climate change and future generations and why Aftercare professionals have a growing role when it comes to forging a sustainable future.
From 08:00 to 18:00
Programme:
Welcome Coffee
moderator:
Natalia Guerra from UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)
àOpening by Cities & Collaboration
àWelcome by Invest in Tuscany
àKeynote speech
Speaker: by Victor do Prado
The Forum starts with an opening speech to set the scene of international business, geopolitics and international commerce and how it links with Aftercare.
àState of the Art of Aftercare
Speaker: by Carolina Arriagada Peters
“Aftercare: a growing priority” is the title of an upcoming report by the Interamerican Development Bank that maps Aftercare practices in 21 Latin American countries and 10 leading IPAs internationally. We will start by presenting the findings of this first-ever mapping, which provides new insights into how Aftercare is becoming a core piece of global competitiveness
Speaker: Martin Kaspar, German Mittelstand’s company
ESG legislation, supply chain laws, and CBAM arguably have a considerable potential to re-route trade and investment flows. These regulations and standards require companies to consider (and in part be liable for) their entire supply chain, not only their direct suppliers. With substantial fines attached, companies are likely to conduct an in-depth risk analysis and reassess the very drivers that sustain their investment. During this session, we seek to look at these changes through the eyes of corporate decision-makers, exploring the potential outcomes of these measures and what IPAs can do to counter the worst effects.
Coffee break
àNew International Agreements linked to Aftercare
WTO's Investment Facilitation AgreemenT
Speakers: Quan Zhao, International Trade Center and Joel K. Richards from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
The Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement negotiated at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded its negotiation in February 2024. Supported by over two-thirds of WTO Members, the IFD Agreement seeks to help countries improve their investment climate and facilitate FDI flows. This session seeks to raise awareness of the agreement by highlighting its objectives and key pillars and exploring how it links with the work of Aftercare facilitation. We will then learn about the assessment experiences from Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada and reflect on the role Aftercare plays in the context of this new agreement.
Global Minimum Tax
Speaker: Dali Bouzoraa, Orbitax
The Global Minimum Tax, a global initiative steered by the OECD and signed by 136 countries in 2021, came into force last year. This agreement ensures that corporations pay a minimum tax rate of 15%, which, according to OECD estimates, will generate $150 billion in additional global tax revenues annually. This and other provisions that aim to put an end to decades of tax competition between governments also have an impact on established investors and how and where corporations pay their taxes. This session presents the key concepts of the agreement and reflects how it affects long-term international investment and, therefore, Aftercare.
àChanges in the horizon due to ESG
àForesight from regional development: key findings for Aftercare
Speaker: Katerina Ciampi Stancova, OECD Trento Centre for Local Development
Eurada, in collaboration with the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development, organised a series of interactive sessions with regional development agencies (RDAs) from across Europe on the topics of strategic foresight to decode future opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. This session presents the findings of that work, reflects on how it could affect Aftercare, and explores how IPAs could adjust their services and perspective to respond to those trends.
Lunch
àCircular economy as a driver of corporate transformation
Moderator: Filippo Giabbani, Invest in Tuscany
This section explores what foreign investors are doing to advance the circular economy agenda and how a green commitment, collaboration and exploration result in both new business models as well as new approaches to value creation. Investors established in Italy will present their eco-transformation in topics such as the electrification of vehicles, how digital technology changed the way they look at materials and how introducing the principles of a circular economy in their Italian subsidiary changed how they operate.
àAftercare and the global talent shortage
Speaker: Vanessa Gibson, CINDE
Generational shifts, migration and immigration, the ageing of the global population, the impact of technology and automation in the workplace, the challenges of maintaining high-quality educational systems, and the changing training preferences of the workforce, added to remote work and nomad working are only a few of the many trends that are creating a ‘perfect talent storm’. This session will unlock the secrets of talent development and the evolution of the traditional strategies to attract, develop and retain highly qualified talent and provide suggestions for working with foreign investors to address the global talent shortage. It will also cover the work CINDE has undertaken to develop local talent.
Coffee break
àBlockchain technology for payment transactions that fuel FDI
Speaker: Diego Baez, Bloxcross
Cryptocurrency and blockchain are transforming how international businesses finance their operations, from financing international trade to sending money to subsidiaries, settling bills from international providers, paying a nomad workforce, and so much more. This session presents an overview of how multinationals increasingly use secure and reliable cryptocurrency and blockchain payment services for businesses in synergy with traditional payment systems and what this means when it comes to financing business expansions in markets where these companies have subsidiaries.
àBlockchain technology for payment transactions that fuel FDI
Speaker: Fiona Clouder, ClouderVista
We close the day with a deep reflection of the state of the world, diving into challenges of climate change and future generations and why Aftercare professionals have a growing role when it comes to forging a sustainable future.
Closure of the Forum
Speaker: Carolina Arriagada Peters.
* programme is subject to change to accommodate speaker's needs
Masterclass 2024.
Aftercare Capacity Buiding: Wednesday May 29th 08:00 to 18:00
Specially designed for FDI practitioners keen to refresh their knowledge of Aftercare, this unique masterclass is a journey of discovery that will equip both junior and senior professionals with a roadmap for supporting established investors to further contribute to the development of the host economy. Seasoned Aftercare Practitioners will share their expertise on developing an Aftercare mindset and equip teams with the main frameworks required to excel in post-investment.
From 08:00 to 18:00
Programme:
Welcome Coffee
Opening by Invest in Tuscany
àAftercare Framework
Trainers:
Carolina Arriagada Peters – Cities & Collaboration and Vanessa Gibson – CINDE
The programme starts by presenting the 4+1 pillars of Aftercare and how these are interconnected to generate the best conditions for investors to grow. We will then decode the investor lifetime cycle and unpack the nature of investment expansion and contraction.
With that knowledge, the next step will be to understand the main components of value propositions and how best-in-class IPAs work collaboratively with the ecosystem to bring to the investor the best the host economy has to offer with a carefully crafted portfolio of services.
àInvestor Engagement
Trainer: Anne Have Kjaerholm – Copenhagen Capacity
Developing strong relationships with clients is at the core of Aftercare. However, this is sometimes not as straightforward as IPAs would like. New insight points towards specific investor engagement preferences and the need to design engagement plans very carefully. This session will provide examples of how this can be achieved and examples of successful client engagement practices.
Coffee break
àBest Practices from around the world
Speakers: Various IPAs
Innovation is a critical part of competitiveness; it allows adaptability when operating in fluid environments, fosters growth by bringing new opportunities to the forefront, and offers an edge over competitors. This section presents innovative Aftercare practices from IPAs across the world on how they are driving innovation that sustains, streamlines, and improves processes and working models. They will examine disruptive innovation and new ways of creating local value when working with established investors. Participating IPAs: Tuscany, Paris, Ukraine, among others.
Lunch
àAdvocacy
Speaker: Alex Sanchiz – Compete Caribbean
Policy advocacy is a vital function of Aftercare efforts as it allows professionals to address systemic issues and effect meaningful change, leveraging the deep knowledge of the local ecosystem, both at the public and private levels, to enhance the country/region’s competitiveness. This session will explore the role of advocacy in creating bridges between government, academia and industries, unpack the dynamics of advocacy and present cases of how countries are creating the ideal conditions for established investors to thrive.
àConflict and Divestment
Speaker: Carolina Arriagada Peters – Cities & Collaboration / fdiCampus
IPAs know that despite their best efforts not all investment is rosy, hence the need to understand investor discontent. This session maps the roadmap of dissatisfaction, how it evolves into complaints, grievances and sometimes even state dispute. In other instances, investors decide to leave a market and favour divestment strategies. This 2nd part of session explores the nature of divestment and what areas IPAs have influence over and which ones they are mere observers. This new insight will help IPAs can proactively prepare for potential conflict and manage divestment.
àSDGs & Aftercare
Speaker: Natalia Guerra – UNCTAD
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal framework aimed at resolving the social, economic, and environmental issues troubling the world. This session explores how the SDGs apply to Aftercare and how IPAs are using the SDGs framework for this purpose.
àWrap-up and closure of the Masterclass
* programme is subject to change to accommodate speaker's needs
This Masterclass will help you:
Learn a novel framework to design successful Aftercare strategies.
Develop a roadmap to support established investors.
Refresh your knowledge about this evolving FDI segment.
Learn how to drive local collaboration that grows and supports investors.
