The NHH Symposium is a biennial business conference held at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in

Bergen, Norway Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

. The inaugural meeting, inspired by the St. Gallen Symposium, was held in 1983. It has since grown to become one of the largest student-run business conferences in Europe. The meeting is convened solely by volunteer students. Keynote speakers have included Edward Heath, Henry Kissinger,

Yngve Slyngstad Yngve Slyngstad (; born 3 November 1962) is the former CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) which is the part of the Norwegian Central Bank that is responsible for managing The Government Pension Fund - Global. In 2021 he was appoin ...

Liz Ann Sonders Liz is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God's Promise". It is also a short form of Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Lizanne, Liszbeth, Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Lyzbeth, Lisa, Lizette, Alyssa, and Eliza. People * Liz Balmaseda (born 1959), Pulit ...

and

Jeffrey D. Sachs Jeffrey David Sachs () (born 5 November 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work ...

. The Norwegian king, Harald V attended in 1995 and Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway in 2007 and 2009. Since its foundation, the NHH-Symposium has been an arena for varied topics of discussion. Former convenors of the conference have gone on to become well known business leaders. These people include the former head of

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

Helge Lund Helge Lund (born 16 October 1962) is a Norwegian businessman who has been chairman of BP since January 2019, and chairman of the Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk since 2018. He is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of BG Group, Stat ...

, the former chief executive officer of Rieber&Søn, Frank Mohn and Asbjørn Reinkind who convened the 1983 conference.

1980s

The inaugural symposium, inspired by the St. Gallen Symposium, was held in 1983 and titled "Getting Out of Today's Stagnation". The conference was sponsored by

Kreditkassen Kreditkassen may refer to: * Kreditkassen for Husejere i Kjøbenhavn, a mortgage credit institution in Denmark * Christiania Bank Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, branded domestically as Kreditkassen or K-Bank and internationally as Christiania ...

and Wilhelm Wilhelmsen. The official language was English. The Norwegian Prime Minister, Kåre Willoch, said the conference was "a very positive step, I hope and believe that it will lead to constructive results." Other speakers were the

SAS Group SAS AB (Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag), trading as SAS Group, is an airline holding company headquartered in the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna Municipality, Sweden. It is the owner of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines and S ...

chief executive officer, Jan Carlzon and the NHH professor

Victor Norman Victor Danielsen Norman (born 18 July 1946 in Risør) is a Norwegian economist, politician for the Conservative Party and newspaper columnist. He is a retired professor of economics at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and former Chairman of ...

. In 1985, at a conference titled "Searching for New Opportunities", the speakers included the shipping magnates Tharald Brøvig and

Jacob Stolt-Nielsen Jr Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

professor Harold Leavitt, the minister of industry,

Jan P. Syse (25 November 1930 – 17 September 1997) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician from the Conservative Party. He was the 31st Prime Minister of Norway from 1989 to 1990. He also served as the minister of Industry from 1983 to 1985. Syse was the pr ...

, former chief executive officer of Norsk Hydro,

Torvild Aakvaag Torvild Aakvaag (27 January 1927 – 9 April 2020) was a Norwegian businessperson. He was born in Bærum, and was a cand.jur. by education. He was employed in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1951 to 1956, but left for a career in ...

, factory owner

Johan H. Andresen Johan H. Andresen (29 November 1888 – 21 October 1953) was a Norwegian industrialist and politician for the Conservative Party. Personal life He was born in Kristiania as a son of factory owner Nicolai Andresen (1853–1923) (1853–1923 ...

and the VD of Electrolux, Anders Scharp. In 1987, at "In Quest of the 90s", the Volvo executive, Pehr Gyllenhammar predicted the economic downturn of six months hence. The former British Prime Minister, Edward Heath said, "Europe is decaying. The continent can end up like a museum." Other speakers were the professor of strategy, Henry Mintzberg and the former chief executive officer of

. In 1989, at "Insight Outwards, Analysing a Changing Europe", speakers included GATT chief executive officer, Arthur Dunkel, managing director of the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

Helene Ploix, EU-commissioner, Peter Sutherland and former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

1990s

In 1991, the conference theme was "Going for Growth, the Challenge to Scandinavia". Anita Roddick spoke of the founding of Body Shop. Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland argued for the necessity of restrictions on free market capitalism. Michael Porter spoke of "lazy" Norwegians and local competition. Jeffrey Sachs discussed the challenges facing the newly independent Eastern European democracies. In 1993, the conference topic was "Uncertainty – Managing in a Turbulent World". The DNO International executive, Torstein Hagen encouraged the Norwegian government to sell its stake in the petroleum industry to allow others to invest.

s chief executive officer, Harald Nordvik, McKinsey director Jon R. Katzenbach, GATT director Arthur Dunkel, Karl Glad, and

Svein Aaser Svein Aaser (born 7 October 1946) is a former CEO of DnB NOR, the largest financial group in Norway. He resigned on 31 December 2006. He is chair of FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 and the National Gallery of Norway Early career Aaser ...

from

NHO NHO or nho may refer to: * Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (, NHO), an employers organisation in Norway * National Hydrographic Office, headquarters of the Indian Naval Hydrographic Department * Natural hybrid orbitals, one of a set of natur ...

spoke at the conference. At the 1995 conference, titled "The Imperatives of Change", King Harald V was in attendance. The speakers included professor at the IMD, Stéphane Garelli, head economist at Deutsche Bank, Norbert Walter, chairman of the board at London Economics Ltd. John Kay, vice-chairman Onno H. Ruding of Citicorp and editor-in-chief of '' The Economist'', Nicholas Colchester. The conference concluded with a panel debate performed by the chief executive officers of

Storebrand Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, until 1999 and ...

, SEB, and ISS. In 1997, the conference theme was "Speed, the New Battlefield". It focussed on the ability of students to make sound decisions quickly. The speakers included the chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz Helmut Werner, John Clarkson of Boston Consulting Group and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Thorvald Stoltenberg. The 1999, the conference reflected "Knowledge in the Digital Economy". The

NHH The Norwegian School of Economics ( no, Norges Handelshøyskole) or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is a leading teaching and research institution in the fields of ...

professor

opened the conference.

Tormod Hermansen Tormod Hermansen (born 23 April 1940) is a former CEO of Telenor and State Secretary of Finansdepartementet (1978–1979). His brother is Robert Hermansen. References Norwegian chief executives Norwegian state secretaries 1940 b ...

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

from DNB, and

Åge Korsvold Åge Korsvold (born 8 April 1946) is a Norwegian businessperson and since 2006 chief executive officer of Kistefos. He was born in Oslo. He is educated in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He started working for S ...

were keynote speakers. The chief executive officer of Glamox and former leader of the student body executive board at NHH, Christian Thommessen was also a speaker.

2000s

In 2001, the theme of the conference was "A New Arena on the Horizon". Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt said, "It is the creativity and quality of individuals that will be the most important." Guest speakers in 2001 included SEB chief executive officer Lars Thunell, Minister of Trade and businessman

Grete Knudsen Grete Knudsen (born 13 October 1940) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was the state secretary to the Minister of Education and Church Affairs 1979–1981, Minister of Social Affairs (social affairs) 1992–1994, Ministe ...

and Editor-in-Chief of the Financial Times, Martin Dickson. The 2003 conference was titled, "Values, From the Talk to the Walk". The keynote speakers were

Ingebrigt Steen Jensen Ingebrigt Steen Jensen (born 9 May 1955) is a Norwegian writer, consultant, advertising man and football official. Steen Jensen is educated at the University of Oslo where he studied English, Norwegian, and political science. He has worked in a ...

and Svein Mollekleiv from Det Norske Veritas. Other speakers included Jesper Kunde from Kunde and Company and Nokia's human resources director, Hallstein Mørk. In 2005, at the "Intelligent Organisation, the Future of Norway's Wealth Creation" conference, Karen Stephenson from the Harvard School of Design explained how The Pentagon had used her model to map al-Qaida's terrorist network. Other speakers included

Kristin Clemet Kristin Clemet (born 20 April 1957, in Harstad) is a Norwegian politician for Høyre, Norway's Conservative Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1989, but was not re-elected in 1993. She had previously served as a deput ...

, Bjørn Wahlross, Jonas Gahr Støre and Marc Kielburger. In 2007, the conference theme was "Risk and Unpredictability, Today's Threat, Tomorrow's Opportunity". There were 440 attendees. The Crown Prince, Haakon attended. The speakers included

Anne Aasheim Anne Aasheim (22 April 1962 – 30 March 2016) was a Norwegian editor. She was born in Porsgrunn and started her journalist career in the neighboring city's largest newspaper ''Varden'' in the late 1970s. She worked in '' Dagen'' and '' Bergens ...

, Finn Bergesen Jr.,

Kjell A. Nordström Kjell Anders Nordström (born 26 February 1958) is a Swedish economist, writer and public speaker. Biography Born in Skärholmen, a suburban district in southern Stockholm, Nordström grew up on a small island in the Finland, Finnish Åland ...

and

Kåre Valebrokk Kåre Valebrokk (17 December 1940 – 9 February 2013) was a Norwegian journalist and television executive. He was editor-in-chief and administrative director of TV 2 from October 1999 until June 2007, when he retired. He was the father of econom ...

. The conference's final speaker was the chief executive officer of

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

, Samuel DiPiazza junior. In 2009, the conference topic was "The Art of Survival – Presentation in the Long-run". The Crown Prince Haakon Magnus returned to the NHH-Symposium as a keynote speaker. He spoke about the asymmetric distribution of wealth affecting stability in the world. Other speakers included former chief executive officer of

Jon Fredrik Baksaas, former managing director of the World Economic Forum in Davos and current Minister of Foreign Affairs

Børge Brende Børge Brende (born 25 September 1965) is a Norwegian politician and diplomat, and has been the president of the World Economic Forum since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 201 ...

, Paul-Chr Rieber and Elin Ørjaseter.

2010s

The 2011 conference was titled, "Egoland to Legoland, Which Country Do You Live In?" It was convened by "Norway's Largest Workshop". The students were divided into groups and given a common challenge that businesses in Norway might face in the future. Each group was asked to solve this problem and then present their result during a panel debate. The guest list included David Arkless,

, Stine Bosse, Kristin Skogen Lund and Sigbjørn Johnsen. In 2013, the conference theme was "A Fight Against Goliath". The NHH-Symposium questioned whether the Norwegian decision making apparatus was capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow. This was the theme for discussion during the topics of "War for Talent", sustainability, ownership and growth. Among the guest speakers were Financial Times editor Martin Wolf, former president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Björn Stigson, Lisa Mei Wang from the National Economics Research Institute in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, director of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities, Xi Pei, William Cornog from KKR, managing director of

Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...

Mark Spelman, senior researcher at the

PRIO The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; no, Institutt for fredsforskning) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researche ...

Henrik Syse, owner of Ferd

, Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide, the vice president of E.ON, Jørgen Kildahl, Lucy Hockings from BBC, Geir Sviggum, managing partner international of Wikborg Rein. The 2015 conference took place with the theme of "Productivity". Challenges such as falling productivity growth and the relationship between technology, innovation, and the labour market were raised.erna Solberg norge ma bli mer produktiv
Politik Kavisen 18 March 2015. The 2017 conference theme was "Challenging Established Truths." The 2019 conference theme was "Recess: Shifting Playgrounds", where the future of globalisation was at heart.

References

{{Reflist

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

References

External links