MUSCAT, 14 April 2008 — Collaboration between governments, the private sector and academia will be the subject of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) Global Forum, which began yesterday and runs through April 16 in Muscat, Oman.
The event brings together more than 400 regional and international leaders from 45 countries to explore how the public sector, business, and civil society can work together to address some significant social problems facing the world.
It includes presentations by SoL founder Dr. Peter Senge of MIT, anthropologist and author Mary Catherine Bateson, Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus of the Grameen Bank, conflict mediator Adam Kahane and Omani Minister of Higher Education Dr. Rawya bint Saud Al-Busaidia.
The event is a combination of presentations and café-style discussions in which participants share views with hopes of reaching a consensus through better understanding of competing issues and concerns.
The forum is examining the role of the corporation in supporting economic and social development of the local community. Shell Oman and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) will present a case study on measures to support development of local entrepreneurs, and Cisco Systems will demonstrate how corporate investment in technical ICT training can help raise the competitiveness of developing economies while creating new business opportunities for the company.
The forum also is exploring possible partnerships between industry and higher education to help prepare the Gulf workforce for the demands of an emerging knowledge-based economy.
Among the forum participants are Saudi Aramco senior vice president Salim Al-Aydh; former Unilever Board member Andre van Heemstra; New Zealand economist Lynne Dovey; Saleh Al-Turki, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Khalid Al-Zamil, CEO of Zamil Industrial Investment Group.
The Gulf Society for Organization Learning (Gulf SoL) organized the event in cooperation with the Oman Ministry of Higher Education.
Forum sponsors include Nesma Holdings, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Binladin Group, Caledonian College of Engineering, Oman Mobile, Bank Muscat and PDO.