Speakers - Ashoka

Equal opportunities in corporations: a key for growth and social cohesion
Cluster leader: Saïd Hammouche. Cluster Language: French
Integrating diversity is a key opportunity for European economies in years to come: by refl ecting the different components
of society in their marketing, procurement and HR strategies, corporations increase their ability to innovate, enter
new markets, improve their competitiveness, retain their staff, and adapt to a changing world.
However, a lack of awareness, the absence of clear incentives, and the challenge to transform internal processes explain
that companies still fail to offer equal opportunities to diverse groups and to lift discriminations due to gender, disabilities,
age, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds, sexual orientation, etc.
This cluster explores existing solutions and best practices developed by social entrepreneurs and practitioners who
work with companies to effectively position their performance, improve their processes, and embrace diversity as a
true opportunity. With leading experts, HR, marketing and procurement managers, we will adopt a unifi ed approach
that combines effective solutions into a unique framework. We will promote this framework to accelerate change in the
corporate sector.
CLUSTER PARTICIPANTS:
Fellows include: Abdellah Aboulharjan, Rafael Alvarez, Majid El Jarroudi etc.
Companies include: SFR, Cap Gemini, Addecco, Crédit Mutuel, L’Oréal, Accenture, etc.
Development of Innovative Learning Ecosystems in Europe
Cluster leader: François Taddei. Cluster Language: English
There are both individual and societal benefi ts to learning. Learning is linked to higher wages, personal fulfi lment, better
health, and longer lives. It builds awareness, reduces crime, empowers individuals and communities, and allows society
to adapt to a changing world.
Traditional education systems, despite the essential role they play in learning, are not capable of serving alone the world’s
growing and changing needs. Advanced education systems still fail too many people; they often reproduce inequality, and
they are not adapting fast enough to allow learners to face 21st century challenges confi dently.
People need to learn throughout their lives. To be “knowledgeable” will no longer be good enough. Learning must
increasingly focus on 21st century skills such as empathy, collaboration, critical thinking, learning to learn, and creative
problem solving. We need to build communities of connected creative learners and those responsible for guiding learning
need to move beyond their comfort zones and innovate in order to anticipate the needs of learners in a rapidly
changing world.
We need to invent new learning ecosystems and foster truly open and collaborative partnerships between the public,
private, and non-profi t sectors. This is the objective of this cluster. Disruptive innovations are necessary; they will come
from extreme environments, from the rise of new technologies, the progress of research, and the dynamisms of social
entrepreneurs. We need to identify them, encourage the emergence of new ones, promote them, scale them and, integrate
them into innovative learning ecosystems.
CLUSTER PARTICIPANTS:
Fellows include: M’hammad Abbad Andaloussi, Hanne Finstad, Mike Feerick, Vicky Colbert, Mary Gordon, José Manuel Pérez,
Christiane Daepp, Yohanes Surya, Anna Alisjahbana, Lily Lapenna, Narcís Vives Ylla, Roser Batlle Suñer, Heike Schettler,
Chantal Mainguené, etc.
‘VisABILITY’ (Visibility for Disability) / ‘Out of the Dark & Into the Light’
Cluster leader: Caroline Casey. Cluster Language: English
Central Goal: To identify a creative vehicle with ONE clear message that will make disability more visible on the global
agenda.
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