St Gallen Symposium, Switzerland : About and Selection - Anoop Shekar Vasisht

YourStory spoke to Anoop Shekar Vasisht who is one of the students selected from India to attend the St Gallen Symposium in Switzerland. Anoop tells us more the symposium which is in its 40th year and the selection process.

YS : Tell us more about yourself

Anoop : I am currently a first year student of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research pursuing my Post graduate diploma in Management. SPJIMR is one of the top ten B-schools in South Asia. Prior to this I was working with SAP labs in Bangalore after completing my Bachelors in Engineering from BMS College of Engineering, a premier engineering college in Bangalore.

Politics, Technology and Sports have been the most interesting topics of discussion for me. My paper to the symposium revolved around many of the experiences from my past and the economic history of India. It involved instances and snapshots of India at various stages of growth since independence and how entrepreneurship has been interwoven at each stage.

Since my days of being a National level Table tennis player, I have also loved to travel and learn about the cultures of different places. So this symposium gives me an additional opportunity to exchange cultural and entrepreneurial ideas with participants from more than 60 different nationalities.

YS : Tell us more about the symposium

Anoop : The St. Gallen Symposium is the world’s leading platform for dialogue on key issues in management, the entrepreneurial environment and the interfaces between business, politics and civil society. This event is to be held on the campus of St. Gallen University situated on the hills above the city of St. Gallen.

Every year in May for 40 years, it has brought together a global target group of entrepreneurs, top managers, politicians, academics, decision-makers from civil society and students at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, providing an inspirational setting for open, interdisciplinary discussions across boundaries of cultures and generations.

As an entrepreneurial initiative of the International Students’ Committee (ISC) St. Gallen, the aim of the St. Gallen Symposium is to stimulate thought and action for the sustained success of companies and societies in a globalised world.

Previously the symposium has had speakers like Ratan Tata, Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Minister for Finance Singapore), Dominic Barton (Managing Director, McKinsey & Company), Paul Bulcke (Chief Executive Officer Nestlé S.A).

YS : How does the selection process work?

Anoop : This symposium is mainly open for post graduate and Phd students from top institutes around the world. The authors of the 100 best contributions are invited to Switzerland to add their own perspective to the St. Gallen Symposium – in the company of 600 entrepreneurs, top managers, politicians and scientists from more than 60 nations.

This year the broad topic was Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change and the subtopics of the competition were

o What makes an entrepreneur an ‘agent of change’?

o Changing of the guard: Who are the new entrepreneurs?

o Corporate entrepreneurship within large companies: a concept for the future or a mere pie in the sky?

o Entrepreneurship between environmental risks and opportunities: What does it take to succeed?

We were expected to send a professional work such as an essay, a scenario, a project report or proposal, a multimedia presentation or an entrepreneurial concept on one of the above sub topics.

All contributions were evaluated according to specific criteria by a panel of professors, corporate executives, entrepreneurs and politicians.

YourStory thanks Anoop for taking the time out to talk to us about the symposium. This year's theme is " Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change". To find out more click here. YourStory wishes him all the very best for his trip to Europe next month.