The 35th St. Gallen Symposium was held under the topic „Liberty, Trust and Responsibility“ from 19–21 May 2005. This year over a 1,060 people from 70 different countries participated in the symposium. They included 653 representatives from industry, science, politics and society, 200 students who had qualified for the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award and 207 students from the University of St. Gallen who, as members of the ISC-Team or support crew, were responsible for planning and organising the Symposium.
According
to the topic, discussions took place against the background of the important basic questions to be addressed
by a liberal economic and social system, such as the conflict between independence and regulation or
the future role of civil society. Central themes were also current challenges like the rapid growth
of Asia, the future demands on the financial markets, free trade and the crisis in the welfare state.
In
various plenary talks, the subject of responsibility in the conflict between politics, industry and
society and the need to build trust for sustainable company management was examined at the start of
the symposium on Thursday morning. A ground-breaking contribution looked into the challenges facing
a liberal society in terms of its security policy. During the Special Sessions on Thursday and Friday
afternoon, specific sub-topics like the opportunities and challenges facing the African continent, the
role of industrial policy or the importance of education in a global knowledge society were also studied
in some depth. The Special Sessions were rounded off with two lively debates on the question of the
relationship between company freedom and a company’s corporate responsibility and on the objectives
and limitations of the financial market in its capacity as a regulator. The plenary divisions on Friday
morning looked, amongst other things, at the conflict between capital and risk and at the relationship
between China and Japan during the rapid economic growth in the Middle Kingdom. A traditional highlight
was the presentation of the contributions made by the winners of the student competition for the St. Gallen
Wings of Excellence Award. After contributions on the future of the global energy supply and
the question of whether the financial markets promote responsible behaviour, the closing talk entitled
“What and Who Defines Social Responsibility in a Global Economy?” rounded everything off on a high point.
In a total of 25 Work Sessions, which are the workshops of the symposium, possible solutions at the
interface between industry, society and politics were discussed within the context of the general topic.
On
this occasion, the ISC would like to express its sincere thanks to everyone involved in the organisation
and support of the 35th St. Gallen Symposium. Without the assistance of our Circle of Benefactors and
our donators, the ISC would not have been able to organise a symposium of such a high quality. Moreover,
the ISC would like to thank the Members of the Board of Trustees of the St. Gallen Foundation for International
Studies.
We hope that with the 35th St. Gallen
Symposium we met all expectations of our distinguished invitees and that everyone could gather positive
experiences through the opinions and thoughts expressed at the “3 Days in May”.
