Welcome
LI Yong, Director General, UNIDO
Gerhard Hrebicek, President, European Brand Institute

Opening Dialogue
Gerhard Hrebicek, President, European Brand Institute
Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Managing Director, Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business, UNIDO
Margarete Schramböck, Federal Minister of Digital and Economic Affairs

The value of brands, as an intangible asset, will become one of the most important assets to the balance sheet and a tool for financial investments, creating value, growth and prosperity.

Sustainable brands perform better and will be future leaders. Further, brands can be a vital partner in the international community's drive for sustainable and inclusive economic growth, while improving competitiveness.

Sustainable brands do not only have an impact at the level of individual firms but also for entire industries, countries and regions, which makes them an integral part of economic development initiatives across developed and developing economies, as well as economies in transition.

The covid-19 crisis acts as a magnifying glass that reinforces pre-existing dynamics of the global economy. These days digitalization is advancing at an accelerated speed and is increasingly dominated by intellectual property and intangible assets.

The ongoing pandemic has shifted economic activity and has forced companies to create economic value in different forms, e.g. through digital business models. Brands are a driving force to create sustainable economic value in an increasingly digitalized economy.

To support them on this path, together with the European Brand Institute, UNIDO provides a jointly developed service module, "Branding for competitiveness and sustainable growth" that has already generated a number of success stories worldwide and across a variety of industries.

Cities and regions have discovered branding as a crucial element for their sustainable development and the development of economic zones and clusters. For instance, regional Heritage Brands can strengthen the linkages between the traditional and creative industries to other economic activities like tourism - commonly referred to as destination branding. Brands also return value in terms of use of protected designation of origin and protected geographical indication.

The importance of brands and IP increases among consumers as well as among shareholders, investors, managers and employees of enterprises especially in the Digitalization era and Post COVID 19.

Industries that make intensive use of the different types of intellectual property rights (IPR) contribute substantially to the economies of the EU and - through the use of trade marks, designs, patents, copyright, geographical indications (GI) - create economic benefits for Europe.

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