Friday, April 19. Seems like a regular day. Heading to the office and recapping my agenda in my mind. I get in and I see the office invaded by young, new faces. What's going on? Then, I remember! Yes, today I will be having more than one shadow - several young, bright and enthusiastic students will be following me and many other colleagues at GE for the entire day.
Guest post by Radek Špicar, Vice-President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Prague
“If Lehman Brothers had been ‘Lehman Sisters‘, today’s economic crisis clearly would look quite different” – a famous comment by Christine Lagarde, Head of the IMF and former Finance Minister of France, on whether more women in the boardrooms of major financial institutions would have averted, or at least mitigated, the impact of the debt crisis. More women in senior management roles is a hot topic and a big discussion within the EU. By 2020, publicly listed companies – according to European Commission legislation adopted in November 2012 – should increase the female presence on their corporate boards to a minimum of 40%.
In a video message, Agostino Renna, President and CEO GE Lighting EMEA, lists speed, simplicity, customer-centricity and accountability as key areas of focus for 2013.
Parents whose children suffer from type 1 diabetes are facing a particularly tough task. Raising the offspring is a challenge in its own right, but they must also help the kids to get along with the disease. This is why it is key to develop solutions that would help educate children and shape their disease-related routines from early on. According to the World Health Organisation, 347 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide, 10% of those is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes which tends to develop in the early stages of life. 490 000 children in the world suffer from diabetes. This effects not only their lives, but also their families’. Who can come up with a technology solution that would have an impact on more than a million lives globally? Young innovators from CEE surely can.
On May 9 we are celebrating the birth of the European Union. The EU was established with the aim of creating peace, but its dynamism and success is based on its involvement in economics. More than half a century later, an even bigger alliance is in the making, when a transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) is to take place between the two largest economies of the world: that of the US and the EU. With over 4.7 trillion USD combined bilateral trade and investment, not to mention the combined GDP, the deal is about to turn the global economy, as we know it today around. This agreement was urged by many, including European AmChams, for some time. After the first rounds of enthusiasm around TTPI it is time to reflect how this move may effect CEE. To find out, GE for CEE brings you the opinion of those, who were and would be at the frontline of the changes that the new partnership will hopefully bring.
Back in the age the Flower Power, pollution was a sign of prosperity, cars with enormous fuel consumption were the pride of families. But the age of environmental innocence was soon to be over: 22 April 1970, 20 million people in the US took to the streets, to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment and Earth Day was born. 33 years later, people switched from protest and posters to real live actions around the world. People in CEE – many GE volunteers among them – took action and were not afraid to get their hands dirty.
Guest post by Andrea Ainsworth, FMP Program Leader at GE Capital Europe; COO of the GE Women’s Network East Central Region
Usually you expect a piece on praising working mothers to be written by someone who looks at them as an outsider, either with the reassurance of “I have been there” or the fear of “It will happen to me too”. This is not the case as I have been with GE for 17 years in different poles, businesses and several leadership roles professionally and also have 2 boys to be a mother for. I know that the “work-life-balance” is something to aim for and never the finish line. It takes effort and time to keep both family and your employer happy. It is not an easy thing, but luckily, you do not have to do it alone. Stillettos and strollers used to be old fashioned antagonism – these days, it is a choice of life for many.
Guest post by Agnieszka Miszczyk, editor-in-chief of inzynierka.pl
There is a lot of truth to the saying that a woman can do more then the devil. Women know perfectly well how to manage a team to achieve their goal. Some say it is intuition. I'd rather say it is the matter of evolution. If one claims that women are made to stay home and bring up children, then it is clear that it comes from women's innate negotiation skills, problem and conflict solving skills and the art of motivation.
Guest post by Milan Šlapák, Commercial Director at GE Aviation Czech
As our readers know the Prague-Letnany based company is the only place outside the US where GE Aviation develops aircraft engines and H80 is the first turboprop engine in the history of GE Aviation that has been designed and manufactured outside the United States. The 50th engine is now heading to American Trush Co., a light agricultural aircrafts producer. Thrush´ s 510G agricultural aircraft is the first aircraft to enter service with the H80 engine.
Guest post by Josef Kratochvil, Director of IP Office, Czech Republic
“Europe is fighting a fierce global battle to lead the world in innovation. The US is performing nearly 50% better than the EU27 in research and innovation, but the EU is fighting back, with measures to close the ‘innovation gap’ at the heart of its Europe 2020 growth strategy. There is much variation between countries but some drivers of innovation are constant: one of which is the role of a strong IP (Industrial Property) culture“ says the European Commission in its Background on Innovation in Europe material from 2011.
