What if work were the key ?

3, 4, 5 July 2015

WORK, FUNDAMENTAL VALUE OF OUR SOCIETIES

Following the 2014 edition which was dedicated to investment, Le Cercle des économistes has decided to focus on work for this new edition. Some may interpret this choice as a quest for the economist’s coveted symmetry, since capital and labour are naturally cast as what they call the two «factors of production»

OUR GOAL : GO BEYOND THE ECONOMICS

But it would be too restrictive to consider labour as a mere factor of production, forgetting the human aspects of it. Indeed, beyond the economic perspective on labour, Les Rencontres must step up efforts to gather insights from what all the human and social sciences have to offer : from philosophy to history, including sociology, all the academic fields will be crossing their points of view on this deep issue.

A PROGRAM CONCEIVED AS AN ACTION PLATFORM

3 days, 25 sessions, 5 debates, more than 3o countries represented, 3000 attending participants will be there to discuss, exchange and suggest solutions on the topic. Beyond the academic scene, numerous actual and former politicians including ministers of labour from all over the world and numerous institutional personalities (ILO, IMF, ECB, central banks…) will be present to discuss the subject.

“What if work were the key ?”.

The speakers will start on Friday the 3^rd of July by defining the framework of work as it is perceived today and the evolutions that will impact it in the future.

On Saturday the 4^th of July, the audience will be able to follow four paths that will be the occasion to scope into four major challenges that our societes are facing :

• Path 1 : “How to Navigate Technological Revolutions”
• Path 2 : “How to Discover New Talents?”
• Path 3 : “How to Redefine the Labour Market?”
• Path 4 : “The Worker’s Revolution”

On Sunday the 5^th of July, the last day will de be dedicated to the measures that can be enforced both on national and global scales in order to improve working conditions through the World.

Download the Program of Les Rencontres Economiques d’Aix-en-Provence 2015

WHY “LES RENCONTRES” ARE UNIQUE 

Since its creation in 2001, Les Rencontres have gained a worldwide reputation of a unique conference as it brings together academics, former and current Presidents and ministers, major CEOs, European executives, renowned columnists from all over the world. This is the DNA of our forum and that is why Le Cercle des Economistes, our non profit association, wants it to be free and open to the public that can meet the deciding actors of our economies. To foster the diversity of our forum, we decided three years ago to also invite students and young entrepreneurs to our forum.

Because they might be the “major companies of tomorrow” and that they convey a different vision of work, le Cercle des Economistes invites each year over 50 startups and small entrepreneurial companies to participate to les Rencontres Economiques d’Aix-en-Provence, thanks to our partners. This is the occasion for them to exchange with bigger companies or institutional executives but also to present concretely their projects. Since three years, partnerships have been made of, even over the Atlantic Ocean…

Cédric Villani, Field Medal 2010, talking with the laureats of our 2014 Student Competition

Last but not least, 100 students are selected on the basis of an essay in the framework of the Competition (in French) Concours “La parole aux étudiants” . They will organize the 4 students sessions on friday morning. This initiative is under the high patronage of the French Minister for High Education and the President of the Jury is Erik Orsenna, Member of the French Academy and one of the most famous French writers.