Yvon Le Roux on the Association between Cisco and the City of Stockholm around Nobel Awards Week

December 8, 2006

This December sees Cisco Systems® and the City of Stockholm hosting an annual summit for public sector leaders in the run up to the Nobel Prize ceremonies.

Strictly by invite only, the summit has run for more than half a decade and is now one of the top networking events in the global public sector calendar, highlighting a longstanding relationship between Cisco, the City of Stockholm and the Nobel Foundation and also between Cisco and the global leaders who are shaping policy in the public sector.

To find out what makes the Cisco summit so special, News@Cisco spoke to Yvon Le Roux, Vice-President of the Public Sector for Cisco in the European markets.

What is the history of the Cisco summit held during the Nobel prize-giving week?

Yvon Le Roux: We started supporting the Nobel Foundation more than six years ago, helping it to set up an online encyclopedia, and as a result we were able to take valued customers along to the awards ceremony.

About five years ago, we thought it would be a good idea to set up an event around the ceremony and this has now grown into a major meeting of some 300 senior public sector figures from around the world, co-hosted with the City of Stockholm.

The event is very much focused on the public and voluntary sectors and is an open environment where people can discuss their challenges while hearing from speakers which represent a rich mix of theoreticians, politicians, university vice-chancellors and so on.

What do delegates get out of this event?

Yvon Le Roux: The feedback we have had indicates that delegates see this as a unique opportunity to network with peers and come up with original answers to some of their most pressing issues. Some of the comments we had last year included:

• "Being here has helped me to realize, even more than before, how important collaboration can be. For me, the presentations and discussions enable a more profound understanding of how private enterprise can contribute to the realization of public goals."
• "During these two days, and with all the presentations, it has been like having a course for about two months. This summit has actually been a learning experience. I have wanted to hear from other colleagues about their experiences."
• "Discussing challenges with peers helps to find new answers and-above all-new learning opportunities for more innovations."
• "By exchanging experiences on technology and costs, we can realize better and more productive innovations."

What is happening at the event this year?

Yvon Le Roux: We have a great lineup of plenary speakers this year, including the European Union Commissioner and Vice President, Guenter Verheugen, the French Minister of Foreign Trade, Christine Lagarde, and the former head of UK premier Tony Blair's policy and strategy unit, Geoff Mulgan.

For many attendees, though, I suspect the real draw will be the opportunity to seek out colleagues from other countries who they can look to for advice and ideas about how to overcome the challenges they are facing.

Most of our delegates are looking for best practices. They want to find out what is going on elsewhere and make contact with people that they can consult with after the event.

One of the positive aspects about the meeting is that because it is behind closed doors, unlike most other public sector events, people feel comfortable openly and sincerely discussing their situations with others who may be in a position to help.

What are the major issues affecting the public sector right now?

Yvon Le Roux: Many of the current issues are more or less perennial ones: how government departments can become more effective, how they can break down silos and how they can create citizen satisfaction.

There is another subject on peoples' minds, which is how to create economic growth through innovation. In this respect, there is a lot of interchange between emerging markets and others.

Already, some of the markets that we would consider to be 'emerging', such as Saudi Arabia, are in fact quite advanced in terms of their use of IP technologies.

What else is Cisco doing with the public sector in Europe and Emerging Markets?

Yvon Le Roux: We are involved in a large number of public sector-related initiatives throughout the year.

One example is the European Local Government E-Leaders Forum, a group designed to share best practices in delivering e-government, which was started up by my team in conjunction with the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group.

We also run regional and national think tanks and several engagements under the Clinton Global Initiative.

Finally, we interface with funding organizations such as the World Bank and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, a government agency which is supporting the attendance of 30 African delegates this year.