FNF-CLA International Conference: Symbiosis between Region and Hidden Champions

Late September, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) and its old partner, the Center for Local Autonomy (CLA) at Hanyang University, co-organized their annual International Conference on Local Autonomy. 

This year’s conference focused on the economic base for local autonomy and decentralization. With the title ‘International Conference on Growth of Global Enterprise’, the conference gathered experts in different fields as well as such with a political or business background to talk about the way to develop both the region and the enterprises.

After the opening ceremonies by Lars-André Richter, resident representative of 
FNF Korea, and Sang-woo Han, director of CLA, Rolf Theodor Schuster, the deputy ambassador of Germany, gave an impressive congratulatory speech.

The first speaker, Dr. Anita Maaß, the mayor of Lommatzsch in Saxony, gave a presentation on how to attract companies and populations to my region and get competitive. The speech on German hidden champions’ successful cases by Thoralf Gebel from Dresden followed her speech. Last speaker was Professor Jong-hyuk Park from Hanyang University who explained the way for the SMEs to be global.

After the three speeches from different backgrounds, many audiences including the designated discussants joined the discussion actively. Through the vibrant discussion and Q&A, the participants could learn more significant and intimate knowledge from our German speakers.