GEW in France kicked off this week with an Annual Conference that’s being organized for the fifth consecutive year. “The third industrial revolution and the Entrepreneurs” took place in Paris on Monday November 12th, 2012. The event’s powerful motto: "Entrepreneurs: you take risks, you invest, you innovate, you create jobs in France; come and make your voice heard and talk!” was complimented with an impressive list of speakers and interesting programs that attracted over 400 participants - entrepreneurs, investors, politicians, students, NGOs.

The first section included a high-ranking government official, Pierre Moscovici, from the French Ministry of Economy and Finances. After delivering his opening remarks about the role of entrepreneurs to build a human capitalism and social-democracy able to meet both the 21st Century‘s challenge as well asyoung people’s aspirations – he remained on stage to debate the proposals for the French Government voiced by the G20 YES Entrepreneurs French delegation.

The morning session covered a number of other topics including entrepreneurship, jobs creation, and the importance of nurturing an entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps entrepreneurs grow.

Joanna Drake, (European Commissioner, DG Enterprise & Industry, Directorate SMEs & Entrepreneurship) talked about European Commission proposals to put the entrepreneurs at the heart of the European economic model. She remarked that according to a recent study, SMEs represent 85% of jobs created in the 2002-2010 period.

Participants later met Babson Global College’s Daniel Isenberg, author of “How to start an entrepreneurial revolution?” where they explored the possibilities of growing innovative businesses with an aim on the stock market.

The Closing keynote marked the conference with five entrepreneurs of the G20 YES in Mexico followed by Fleur Pellerin, Junior Minister of SMEs, Innovations and Digital Economy, who argued for a fair taxation and for a social model which would put entrepreneurs at the heart of France’s economy.

Other participants of the 2012 edition include:

• Ramon Fernandes, General Manager of the Trésor
• Laurence Parisot , Chairman of MEDEF
• Miles Kirby, Managing Director Qualcomm Ventures Europe
• Catherine Barbaroux, Chairman of ADIE
• Dominique Cerutti, Chairman of NYSE Euronext
• Matine Liautaud, CEO and Founder of Liautaud & Cie, WBI (Women Business Mentoring Initiative) Founder
• Joanna Drake, Directrice Générale Entreprise Comission Européenne SME Week
• Luc Rousseau, General Manager of the Industry
• Dan Serfaty, Viadeo Co-Founder
• Jean-Pierre Letartre, Ernst & Young CEO France, Maghreb & Luxembourg

For the full list of speakers please refer to the official site of the conference.

tags: adie, GEW 2012, gew france, medef, nyse euronext, qualcomm ventures europe, sme week, tresor, viadeo, wbi