An urgent call to Frame the Future

Positioning innovation, sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness and partnerships at the forefront.

By Roberto Alvarez

One year ago, we started the Frame the Future Conversation Series to discuss how to weave innovation, sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness and partnerships into competitiveness strategies. Since then, the world has changed significantly. The Russian invasion of Ukraine shattered the world order, threw Europe in turmoil, and injected complexity into an already challenging global economic landscape.

Beyond the humanitarian tragedy, the war has several other effects. It placed additional stress on global supply chains, made energy security a top priority across nations, caused a steep increase in food prices and contributed to a spike in inflation. It has also thrown Russia back into isolation. Above all, the war cast renewed questions about an already weakened international system.

The current state of the world raises questions about our work at the GFCC. What is the role of a global multi-stakeholder organization in this context? More importantly, how relevant is the agenda launched in December 2021? Is the Frame the Future recommendations still relevant in face of the dramatic events and changes the world has experienced lately? Here is my take on these matters.

The answer to the first question is clear in my mind. The war has highlighted the importance of the work of the GFCC. In a time of distress, there is a huge need for collaboration platforms that could bring together different countries, sectors, and perspectives. Our organization has a footprint in 33 nations and a unique multi-stakeholder setting. What defines the GFCC is not a sector, an industry or a political view. But a shared belief in the power of global collaboration to advance national economies and a common desire to be exposed to other realities and work together.

In 2021, leaders from 87 countries participated in GFCC activities, and our members and fellows worked together to develop the Frame the Future agenda that is reflected on the report Frame the Future: Guidelines and Recommendations for Future Competitiveness. Is that agenda still relevant? Undoubtfully.

Here it is how to connect the current crisis to the priorities we outlined and why it is crucial to advance its implementation.

§ Innovation: crises require innovation at speed and the war calls for innovation in institutions at a global scale to resolve the current and prevent future conflicts.

§ Sustainability: the conflict in Ukraine has pushed energy security to center stage, reinforcing the need to invest in local sustainable energy capacity.

§ Resilience: the war is threatening food security for many and stressing global supply chains, creating uttermost urgency for economies, societies and organizations to become more adaptable and resilient in the face of major disruption and disaster.

§ Inclusiveness: the conflict shows the importance of digital infrastructure for populations and underlines the need to bring all segments of society into the innovation economy.

§ Partnership: crisis response calls for partnerships and tearing down barriers that impede collaboration at all levels between public and private sector.

The tragic war in Ukraine is part of an increasingly complex global mosaic and serves as an urgent call to Frame the Future. The agenda that the GFCC launched in December 2021, during the Global Innovation Summit, is more relevant than ever and should be a priority in the years to come.

We urge all concerned global stakeholders to check the Frame the Future report and join the GFCC in advancing this relevant agenda. Global leaders have also shared their insights about the future of competitiveness and how to embed sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness, innovation and partnerships into strategies in an exclusive thought paper series available herehttps://www.thegfcc.org/thought-pieces. I invite you to check these articles.