Developing Asia is facing a serious infrastructure shortfall, requiring $1.7 trillion per year. Also more than 60% of employers are experiencing difficulty attracting critical-skill employees and retaining high-potential employees. How can gender inclusion and women leadership help Asia address the challenges of attracting and retaining talent, drawing private capital for infrastructure investment - and how can these challenges be addressed in a way that promotes diversity and inclusion? In what ways governments and companies can collaborate to turn the promise of Asia into reality, while ensure fairer and more inclusive opportunities for all?

Family businesses are a critical pillar of many Asian economies, and have different needs at different stages of growth: some are seeking non-family professionals to lead their businesses, while others are tapping their next generation to form new ventures and harness technology to scale. How can Asia’s family firms nurture the entrepreneurship of their millennial generations a- particularly women - for longevity? In a world with increasing connectivity between businesses; and greater mobility and collaboration, how does entrepreneurship help firms adapt to change, compete, and survive? How can government help to support entrepreneurs, and in turn how can entrepreneurship foster inclusion and women’s leadership?

(pre-registration & limited capacity)

Women & supply chain DC session By examining markets through a lens of inclusion, businesses can uncover new opportunities: for instance, the base-of-pyramid market worldwide comprises 4 billion people and is worth an estimated $5 trillion. Throughout Asia, what supply chain investments and business models are helping to create income opportunities and deliver affordable, relevant products and services to low-income and marginalized communities? How might businesses take a stand for inclusive growth beyond their own organisational practices in ways that also benefit their bottom line? What kinds of perspectives and leadership do they need to do so?

Banking development in Asia, with a more focus on corporate lending, is leaving 800 million Asians without access to traditional banking. Meanwhile, innovations like mobile banking, crowdfunding and blockchain have radically transformed the way we shop, pay, even purchase insurance, making financial services more inclusive and purposeful. What is the future of traditional banks? How should governments and regulators facilitate digital finance and at the same time manage cybersecurity and other risks? And how can women’s perspectives enable financial products and the regulations that govern them to reflect users’ and clients’ needs?

One variable that’s rarely discussed about the future of work is labour mobility: how and where people move for work. Demographic changes such as falling birth rates, combined with technology and other disruptions, mean gaps in talent need to be filled. Asian women, in particular, are one of the fastest-growing mobile worker groups, and their contribution is critical to economies. What are the risks of business-as-usual mobility, recruitment and retention policies? What policies help develop homegrown but globally-minded talent and inclusive organisations for the future of work in Asia?

(pre-registration & limited capacity)

Advancements in big data analytics and other technologies offer governments, planners and the private sector new opportunities to make urban life more sustainable, inclusive and efficient, from platforms involved in shared mobility, to giving people more control over their data. How can cities reduce the negative impacts of car traffic without reducing the mobility of their citizens? Can air pollution, congestion, CO2 emissions or the use of public space be limited while enhancing people’s access to jobs, shops, health services or educational institutions? How open data and urban innovations, viewed through a lens of inclusion, can help to build human-centered cities? In what ways they create value for the people and support the sustainable development of the city?