The CBC 2016, co-hosted with the Cambridge Union Society, aims at generating a nexus of ideas that will combine the knowledge, creativity and experience of students, business community, politicians and academics to take lead in the discussions of the current state and the future of technology and governance.
The broad heading of Technology and Governance gives the conference an opportunity to discuss various matters: e-health, fintech, e-governance, talent attraction and modern diasporas, big data and governance, and much more.
The conference will also be a part of the British Estonian Chamber of Commerce’s (BECC) trade mission to the UK. The BECC’s delegation, which includes a number of business leaders from Estonia, will be taking part in the conference.
The Cambridge Baltic Conference (CBC) project was initiated in 2013 to gather leaders from various fields to discuss topics that are important to both the Baltic countries and the European Union. Every year it brings together speakers, students and guests of incredibly high calibre.
The beginning of the 21st century marked the start of a true technological revolution and finance along with banking has changed from orthodoxy into Fintech. The focus of this panel will be placed on whether ordinary banks are required for Fintech ventures to succeed. What is the true role of Fintech and to what extent does it walk hand-in-hand with orthodox banking and finance.
The Baltics have lost over a million talents over the last few decades but yet continue to thrive and lead the way in various technology fields. Now is the time to create, engage with the opportunities and witness the extraordinary Baltics transformation. The best talent attraction practices will be discussed in this panel, followed by the workshop on 'Baltics - Talent Magnet'.
Extracting knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of data available to governments could be extremely beneficial. How to improve health care, employment, economic productivity, security and governmental processes using data mining? What are the big data future perspectives in private and public sectors?
Sandwiches will be provided for lunch.
In the last decades Baltic countries have faced brain drain rather than attracting talents. People are leaving not only to seek higher standards of living but also eager to gain international education and experience. This modern diaspora has a lot of well established professionals who could be the best ambassadors for their countries. How can the Baltics engage and connect with them? On the other hand, what should we do to become the Talent magnet for our own nationals as well as foreign talents? This workshop will come up with bright recommendations on the strategy and innovative solutions for this to become the reality.
The financial sector has been traditionally heavily regulated by the EU and the regulatory burden has been especially heavy during the post-crisis era. The growing importance of crowdfunding, payment services and fintech is dramatically changing our understanding of the financial sector. The regulators in Brussels are experiencing difficulties with keeping up with the rapidly changing environment. The underlying question is whether we actually want Brussels to keep up the pace and provide us with new rules for new technologies?
E-health is an innovative sector which aims to make healthcare accessible and efficient through using digital technologies. This panel will explore the challenges as well as the opportunities for e-health and bring together the governmental and personal perspectives.
E-governance takes many shapes and forms, but the underlying idea behind is increasing the operational governance efficiency and making the interaction between the government and its citizens more transparent and accessible. This panel focuses on the current stage of e-governance and will outline its future perspectives.
Join us for a formal dinner at Christ's College Hall, one of the finest amongst the Cambridge Colleges, on the 12th of November at 19:15. Dress code will be formal/ black tie optional. Guests shall inform us about the dietary requirements a couple of weeks before the event. There will be wine and non-alcoholic drinks served. We look forward to meeting you at Christ's College!
Cambridge Baltic Conference 2016 is jointly organised by:
The three aforementioned student societies have been established in 2011, 2013 and 2008 respectively. Their membership now exceeds one hundred exceptionally bright and active full-time students from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. The members of the societies are working towards undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in various disciplines. Together we build a friendly environment for sharing ideas and experience.
Although relatively new, CULS, CUEST and CULA have already proven solid organisation, clear vision and long term goals. Our successful past and present projects have included the Lithuanian Students Forum, Lithuanian Ideas Forum 2011, interactive conference LINK2012, Cambridge Baltic Conference 2013, Cambridge Baltic Conference 2014, Cambridge Baltic Conference 2015, student mentorship project Academic Buddy, guest lectures by Prof Leonidas Donskis, Prof Ene Ergma, Prof Mart Ustav, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Urmas Paet MEP, and classical music concerts by Algirdas Galdikas, Maksim Štšura, Rimantas Vingras and The Mixed Choir of the European Capital of Culture. These events attracted hundreds of people and were extensively featured in the media.