Berlin, Germany (16 June 2017) — The organization representing the world’s young entrepreneurs today called for the G20 countries to review their educational priorities to ensure young people are properly prepared for the emerging digital world. The G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (YEA) is concerned that youth across the world lack the knowledge and skills vital for new technological and business realities, including digital competencies, STEM education, and venture creation skills. The Alliance issued the call at its annual summit, held this year in Berlin and hosted by the Wirtschaftsjunioren Deutschland/Junior Chamber International (JCI) Germany.
“The rapid process of digitalization requires world governments to enact new policies immediately,” said Carsten Lexa, the newly-appointed Chair of the Steering Committee of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance. Speaking to 400 of the world’s top young entrepreneurs at the Alliance’s annual summit, Lexa added that, “… digitalization disrupts business all around the world. To ensure growth and job creation, young entrepreneurs need a political framework that supports a transition to new forms of entrepreneurship. We need G20 governments to adopt proactive measures that address the challenges of an interconnected world.”
Most of the world’s economies lack the policy framework necessary to support a successful transformation to a digital economy and this poses significant challenges to future growth and innovation. In response, the 2017 G20 YEA Summit focused on four digital trends: The Internet of Things, Digital Platforms, Big Data and Augmented/Virtual Reality. The summit was supported by the Alliance’s knowledge partners, Accenture and EY, and sponsors that included Fosun, Hauck & Aufhäuser, Fosun Foundation, and JCI.
“We have been working for the past several years with our knowledge partners Accenture and EY to develop a roadmap to help the world deal with this pressing issue,” said Lexa. In the Alliance’s communiqué, signed today by member organizations from across the G20, the group called for immediate action by the G20 Leaders to also enable SMEs to scale through tax incentives for scale-ups and investors by adopting progressive policy measures like a separate tax category for young entrepreneurs working in priority areas of innovation and social entrepreneurship. Thirdly, young entrepreneurs called upon the G20 leaders to establish a G20 Entrepreneur Visa Program to provide short-term multi-entry visas and administrative simplification for young entrepreneurs by 2020.
