When Human Resource is the Only Resource

Speaker: POON King Wang - Head – Managing Directors Office – Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Singapore is an island off the coast of the Malay Peninsular in South East Asia with no natural resources. Singapore is the world’s busiest container port, a global leader in logistics and home to one of the most advanced petro-chemical operations in the world – Jurong Island. This tiny island of about 4 million people living within an area of 685 sq. km received the following rankings for 2004: from various world-renowned sources:

• 2nd most competitive globally, after USA (Source: Institute for Management Development)

• Best business environment in Asia-Pacific (Source: EIU Country Forecast, Oct 2003)

• 2nd most profitable place for investors, after Switzerland (Source: BERI Report 2003)

This session will explore the strategies employed by the Singapore Government in maximizing its human resources to achieve the nation’s strong growth and productivity.

Creating a Winning Team

Speaker: A representative from the Calgary Flames

There is little need for elaboration when it comes to the achievements of the Calgary Flames this year. This “rookie” team surprised the Hockey World when they embraced a common, resilient spirit and became the first NHL team in history to oust three division winners in the same conference all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

This session will appropriately highlight how these hockey talents are kept motivated towards achieving the seemingly impossible – money aside.

Presentation by International Results Group on “Trends in Employee Attitudes”

Panel Discussion: A Consolidated Solution – Public/ Private Solution- Oriented Partnerships

Invited panelists: Alberta Minister of Learning (Oberg); Calgary Chamber of Commerce: Bow Valley College (Carry) and Calgary Board of Education (Croskery)

Addressing labour market shortage issues requires the cooperation and coordination of key influencers including the government, companies, as well as school boards and educational institutions. This panel session challenges key decision-makers of the government, companies, school boards and other influencers to come up with creative and effective strategies to attract and retain talents for the future of Canada’s workforce. A Question & Answer session for the panel will also be open to the floor.

Second Wind: Capitalizing on your Existing Workforce

Speaker to be announced

An increasingly popular strategy employed by the corporate world is phased-in retirement, where employers are encouraged to phase valuable employees into retirement gradually through flexible work schedules, paid time-off and other perks so that employees can be encouraged to extend their work life.

This session will be presented by a successful company that has employed phased-in retirement as a strategy to delaying retirement of its most valuable employees.

Education City – Qatar Foundation – How One Nation Is Spending Its Oil & Gas Revenues

Speaker: Dr. Charles E. Young, President, Qatar Foundation

The Gulf State of Qatar is embarking on one of the world’s most ambitious medical projects, the Specialty Teaching Hospital. This hospital will become the centerpiece of Education City, a futuristic cluster of learning and research facilities, will cost $900 million to build and will be completed in 2008. It will be provided with an $8 billion endowment to carry out world class research. The hospital is a partnership with Cornell University (USA).

According to Mohammed Fathy Saoud, Chair of the Specialty Teaching Hospital Planning Committee “Our objective is to be a visible generator of knowledge for the world through our research programmes. The Arab world was a pioneer in science and medicine in the middle ages but for too long our region has been consuming the knowledge created by others.”

The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a private, non-profit chartered organization, founded in 1995, which aims to develop and utilize human potential through a network of centers and a unique Education City, with branch campuses of some of the world's leading universities.

Morning refreshment & networking break