EFB representative at the Alpbach in Motion - Summit of Emerging Leaders 2013

In the period between 25-27 of August, on invitation of Alpbach in Motion (AIM), the Alpbach Summit of Emerging Leaders 2013, the European Fund for the Balkans alumni Ana Babovic participated in the activities that were centered around the theme – “The Future of our Economic Model”: Is our current model outdated? What is the way forward?”. Europe needs fresh thinking and it is expected that the new generation of committed leaders can come up with new perspectives. That is why the AIM 2013 offered this opportunity for discussion about the issues which are considered as barrier along the process of finding new and sustainable solutions, challenging the established ideas about the economic growth and social progress. A group of 40 committed European emerging leaders stepped up to this challenge during the two days of intense discussions and group work. A select group of mentors joined them for inputs and informal talks. - Alpbach in motion was definitely a great experience. The idea of gathering 40 relatively young people from different areas in one place, in order to think out of the box about the possibilities for improving the economic model in which we live, in my opinion, was really good. Also, I think it was very positive that besides the people coming from EU and EFTA countries, the few of us from the former socialist countries managed to draw the attention in the discussion about the good and the bad aspects of some of the "new" ideas that are occurring more often in the developed countries, since they were already tested in the time of Tito and the socialism and we are familiar with both the good and the bad effects. Of course, two days is not enough to design a new economic model that will save Europe or the world, but we were all pleased with the offered opportunity to meet a very diverse and interesting group of young people from the business sector and to listen to and discuss with the big names of the economy like Jeffrey Sachs - says the EFB Alumni Ana Babovic from Serbia. The results of the summit were included in the discussions of the high-profile Alpbach Economic Symposium and members of AIM presented their views and ideas in the breakout session “Rethinking Capitalism”. For more info and photos go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanforumalpbach/9599730065/ http://www.alpbach.org/en/forum-2013/programme/symposia/alpbach-in-motion-aim/