ESADE Alumni has decided to grant this year’s ESADE Awards to IKEA and Inditex. The top executives of both companies – IKEA President Mikael Ohlsson and Inditex President Pablo Isla – will collect the awards in person at the 17th ESADE Alumni Annual Conference, which will be held on 23rd February at Barcelona’s Forum Auditorium.
This year’s conference, which is expected to attract close to 3,000 participants, will feature a lecture by Javier Santiso, Director of ESADE’s Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics, entitled "New Challenge in a Global Environment". The closing address will be given by Andreu Mas-Colell, Catalan Minister of Economy and Knowledge.
The ESADE Awards are sponsored by ESADE Alumni, the business school’s alumni association, as a means of honouring organisations and individuals whose careers, activities or services have demonstrated the values that define the founding spirit of ESADE Business School and set a good example for others.
This year, the ESADE Awards are being granted to IKEA, "for its brilliant business success and leadership of the transformation of the furniture and furnishings sector, which brought together, in an extraordinary fashion, strategic vision, innovation and integration of sustainability as a key to business success", and to Inditex “for its business success, characterised by an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, with a strong personal style and a global orientation".
First edition of the Best Start-up Award
The 2012 Annual Conference will also feature the first edition of the ESADE BAN Best Start-up Award, which aims to energise and stimulate business and investment activity throughout society, among both ESADE graduates and others who are interested in undertaking and investing in start-ups or early-stage companies. This award– sponsored by ESADE BAN, the ESADE Alumni business angels’ network – will recognise initiatives that are remarkable for their originality and innovation but also technically and economically feasible.
The first edition of the Best Start-up Award will be presented to Wuaki.tv for its originality, technical and economic feasibility, and innovation.
Wuaki.tv, a start-up founded in July 2010 by ESADE alumnus Jacinto Roca, allows members to buy or rent movies, football matches and other content directly over the Internet through web-enabled television sets.
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