About EFNI

What is the European Forum for New Ideas?

The European Forum for New Ideas is one of the largest conferences in this part of the continent, dedicated to global trends, new ideas and the future of Europe.

Business representatives, charismatic speakers, leaders and policy-makers as well as authorities from the world of culture and science discuss the most important challenges for business and societies in a changing world, global trends and the future shape of the European Union during dozens of events, panel discussions, open meetings, counterpoints or night owl discussions.

Every year, the Forum gathers over a thousand participants – representatives of the world of business, science, culture and administration, Polish and European alike.

The European Forum for New Ideas has been organised since 2011 by the Polish Confederation Lewiatan in cooperation with BusinessEurope and the city of Sopot.

The idea behind the first edition of EFNI was to devise a platform for exchanging thoughts and concepts intended to improve the environment in which we live and carry out business.

Only by observing trends closely can we react quickly, proactively and constructively to shape the future of our continent.

The intellectual melting pot of business leaders with participants representing the world of politics, science, culture, NGOs and the media is intended to inspire entrepreneurs and make it possible to build a common voice of business in the debate on the future of Poland and Europe.

During the Forum, we look for answers to new global challenges, discuss changes taking place in the world and propose constructive solutions.

We share knowledge and define new ideas that are changing Europe, its societies and business. We create an opportunity for networking and establishing business relations with representatives of companies from different countries.

Organizer

Co-organizer

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EFNI guests

During its ten editions to date, the Forum has attracted almost 10 thousand attendees and more than 1,500 panellists. EFNI guests include i.a.:

Benjamin Barber

José Manuel Barroso

Zygmunt Bauman

Zbigniew Brzeziński

Norman Davies

George Friedman

Mikhail Gorbachev

Vytautas Landsbergis

Bernard-Henri Lévy

Yves Leterme

Peter Mandelson

Mario Monti

Herman Van Rompuy

Nouriel Roubini

Jeffrey Sachs

Frans Timmermans

Donald Tusk

Lech Wałęsa

Günter Verheugen

Oliver E. Williamson

Programme Council

35 members of the EFNI Programme Council ensure that the European Forum for New Ideas represents a high level of subject-matter expertise. The Council is composed of outstanding personalities from the world of economy, politics, science and culture, indisputable authorities in their fields, leaders shaping the future of Poland and Europe. They help us to identify the main challenges facing the European economy and support us in defining the directions of the Forum’s development and in selecting the themes for each edition.

Wiktor Askanas

University of New Brunswick, Lay Member of the Competition Tribunal of Canada

Henryka Bochniarz

Vice President, BusinessEurope; President of the Main Council, Polish Confederation Lewiatan

Michał Boni

Member of the European Parliament

Małgorzata Bonikowska

President of the THINKTANK Centre and Centre for International Relations

Jerzy Buzek

Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) at the European Parliament

Magdalena Czarzyńska- Jachim

Vice President of Sopot

Roman Cieślak

Rector at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Danuta Hubner

Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs

Leszek Jażdżewski

Editor in Chief at "Liberte!"

Teresa Kamińska

Former President of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone

Jacek Karnowski

Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland

Lena Kolarska-Babińska

Civic Institute

Andrzej K. Koźmiński

President of Koźmiński University

Jacek Krawczyk

Former President of the Employers' Group, European Economic and Social Committee

prof. Agnieszka Kurczewska

Vice-Rector for External Relations, University of Lodz

Dominika Kulczyk

Entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Polenergia S.A., founder of the Kulczyk Foundation".

Andrzej Lubowski

Economist, author, feature writer

Radosław Markowski

Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Henryk Orfinger

Chairman of the Board at Dr Irena Eris

Wojciech Przybylski

President of the Res Publica foundation

Ewa Rumińska-Zimny

Vice-President, Women's Congress Association

Maciej Żylicz

Chairman of the Board at the Foundation for Polish Science

Sławomir S. Sikora

Chairman of the Board at Citi Handlowy

Aleksander Smolar

Chairman of the Board at Stefan Batory Foundation

Beata Stelmach

Chairman of the Board at PZL-Świdnik

Barbara Stepnowska

Assistant Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology

Magdalena Środa

Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Warsaw

Piotr Wachowiak

Rektor SGH

Paweł Wideł

President of the Lewiatian Association of Employers in Automotive and Industrial Goods Manufacturing

Maciej Witucki

Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Orange Polska; President of Polish Confederation Lewiatan

KamilWyszkowski

Representative and Executive Director of UN Global Compact Network Poland