The World in 2011: India

Pre-dinner programme

7.00pm

BELLA GAIA

A multimedia journey of the world featuring classical violinst Kenji Williams

A review of The World in 2011

Daniel Franklin, Executive Editor of The Economist and Editor of The World in, sets out our unapologetic predictions for the year ahead

Asia in 2011 - a panel perspective

Guests join Daniel Franklin to discuss social, business and political issues on the horizon for Asia in 2011.

Dinner served

Post-dinner programme

Post dinner presentations

A diverse group of forward-looking thinkers from varied disciplines share their predictions of what will shape the world in 2011.

Final Plenary

Our panelists are invited to join the stage once again

Daniel Franklin

Executive Editor,      The Economist  and Editor, The World in

Daniel Franklin has been Executive Editor of The Economist since June 2006, when he also became Editor-in-Chief of Economist.com. Since 2003 he has been Editor of The Economist's annual publication, "The World in..."; The World in 2009 was published in November 2008.

He joined The Economist in 1983 to write about Soviet and East European affairs. As the newspaper's Europe Editor from 1986 to 1992 he covered the great European upheavals, from the collapse of communism to the signing of the Maastricht treaty.

After a stint as Britain Editor he moved to the United States as Washington Bureau Chief, covering the first Clinton term. In 1997 he moved back to London as Editorial Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit, where he helped to transform a traditional print publisher into an online business providing continuously updated country analysis and forecasts. Daniel has been interviewed on BBC Radio 4 'Today', BBC World Service and CNN, amongst others.

Lorraine Heggessey

TV Executive

Lorraine Heggessey is one of Britain’s leading television executives. She started her career as a junior reporter on a local newspaper and rose to become the first woman Controller of BBC 1, the BBC’s flagship channel. During her five years in the role she oversaw a comprehensive shake-up of its schedule, launching many new shows that became internationally successful, including Strictly Come Dancing and Dr Who. Lorraine turned BBC 1 into the most watched channel in the UK, overtaking its commercial competitor ITV 1 for the first time.

In 2005 she became the Chief Executive Officer of talkbackThames one of the UK’s biggest independent production companies, owned by Bertelsmann, a German media company. talkbackThames produces over 600 hours of television a year including the UK’s two most popular television shows, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent which are co-productions with Simon Cowell’s company Syco. Both formats have become global hits, produced in over 30 countries. Under Lorraine’s leadership the company trebled its entertainment output and was named Best Independent Production Company at the Broadcast Awards in 2009. Lorraine left talkbackThames in June this year and is currently planning her next venture.

Lorraine was Woman of the Year at the Women in Film and Television Awards. She has won the Media Award at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) First Woman Awards and the Bertelsmann Entrepreneur Award.

Ray Zahab

Founder, impossible2Possible

Ray Zahab is the Founder of impossible2Possible, a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire and educate through adventure-based learning and participation in expeditions around the world.

In 2006, Ray Zahab and two other runners set out on an epic expedition to cross the Sahara Desert by foot. One hundred and eleven days and 7500 kms after leaving the coast of Senegal they completed their journey by dipping their toes into the Red Sea. The epic expedition had the trio running an average of 70km’s a day, without a single day of rest. National Geographic tracked this epic expedition by web, and the documentary film ‘Running The Sahara’—narrated and produced by Matt Damon—was filmed in an effort raise awareness for the drinking water crisis in Northern Africa. 

Two years after touching the Red Sea, Ray, and two other Canadians, broke the world speed record for an unsupported expedition by a team to the South Pole.  The following year, Ray and a teammate broke the world speed record for an unsupported run across frozen Lake Baikal. These expeditions were completed as part of Ray’s foundation, impossible2Possible.  

Through 2009 and 2010, impossible2Possible has taken students from Antarctica, to the Canadian Arctic, to the Sahara Desert.  Each expedition completed by impossible2 Possible involves engaging with youth live from location using satellite technology and provides interactive educational resources to schools free of charge with the goal of cultivating a generation of leaders whose direct experience and education will prepare them to lead environmental and social actions around the world.  

Andrew Cayley

International Co-Prosecutor,

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials

Andrew T. Cayley was appointed as International Prosecutor on 27 November 2009 at the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, ECCC. Mr. Cayley is an English barrister and writer who has spent the last sixteen years as counsel in some of the most complex and serious international criminal trials to be conducted since the Second World War. He is currently the International Prosecutor of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge Tribunal is a United Nations assisted national court charged with prosecuting those most responsible for the deaths of over two million people during the Khmer Rouge period. A former British army officer, educated at University College London and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he has prosecuted and defended in international criminal cases including prosecuting those responsible for the murder of over ten thousand men and boys in Srebrenica in Bosnia Herzegovina in July 1995. In the Srebrenica case the prosecuting team secured the first conviction for genocide in Europe since the Nuremberg trials. Andrew Cayley also led the International Criminal Court’s investigation and first prosecution case for events in Darfur between 2002 and 2004. He has worked widely in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia and lectures extensively on international humanitarian law and the rule of law.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Partner,

Rare Enterprise

A qualified chartered accountant and a first generation investor and trader, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala manages his business interests through his firm RARE Enterprises, of which he is the founding partner.

Mr Jhunjhunwala has created wealth through careful stock selection, patience and conviction. His investments currently include several public and private companies. He is on the Forbes global list of billionaires.

He lives in Mumbai with his wife Rekha, his mother, daughter and twin sons.

Vikram Akula

Founder and Chairman

SKS Microfinance

Vikram Akula began working in rural India two decades ago. He started his development career in 1990 as a community organiser for the Deccan Development Society, a non-profit organisation working in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. He founded SKS Microfinance (SKS) as a non-profit in late 1997. He led SKS until 2004, when he joined McKinsey & Company in Chicago. In 2005, he returned to SKS when it converted to a for-profit company and led it from serving a few thousand poor women borrowers in one state in India to millions across the country today.

Mr Akula has received several awards for his work with SKS, including the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year in India. In 2006 Time magazine named him as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.

Kenji Williams

Creative Director & Composer

Kenji Williams is an award winning filmmaker, music producer, theatrical show director, and classically-trained violinist. A world bridger of music, visual arts, science and unique storytelling, Williams is bringing his solo work from big music festivals around the world, to events involving top government officials, ,mainstream television, and film soundtracks. With over 39 years of music experience, in performance, composition and production, and 18 years of film production experience, his current multimedia project, ‘BELLA GAIA’, involves collaborating with institutions such as NASA, The Smithsonian, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. In addition to public and critical acclaim, Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sony corporations have sponsored Williams with technology to support his artistic vision. Combining unique skills in film and music, Williams has earned international film awards from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, Sundance Film Festival and other organizations. He has been invited to speak around the world at conferences such as the 59th Intl. Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland and the International Planetarium Society Conference 2008 at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, and has presented at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit. Kenji has also worked with the Just Think Media Education Foundation, running workshops teaching high school students video production and digital arts in Bhutan, and Harlem, NY.Williams has been featured in the media from European publications and BBC radio, to mainstream Japanese press, to NPR, Apple.com, XM Radio, AV Revolution, Tricycle and XLR8R. Composer and producer of 6 music albums, Director of 15 films and music videos, 3 feature length projects, 3 multimedia theatrical live shows and 1 fulldome planetarium show, Kenji Williams is respected for pushing the boundaries of audio visual art and pioneering the convergence of art and science.

Collaborating with some of the most respected artists of our time, Williams is re-shaping the context and content of communication arts by pioneering new worlds of musical composition and performance, while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of film & visual communication. Considered by many as a “next level” multimedia artist, Kenji Williams delivers unique and out-of-this-world experiences to audiences worldwide.