For the third year in a row the T-HT will welcome some of the world’s most renowned thinkers of today, recognizable for their distinct vision and original approach
9.9.2010
This year’s third edition of the T-HT Conference titled Growing through Knowledge the Croatian Telecom (HT) is going to welcome two world-renowned and well-known speakers and thinkers: Professor Jeremy Rifkin, economist and social commentator, as well as founder and chairman of the Foundation on Economic Trends, and Dr. Nicholas Christakis, internist and prominent expert in researching social networks and their effect on health, quality of living and longevity.
In the first part of this year’s conference Professor Rifkin will talk about the emergence of the emphatic civilization, evolution of the human race and ways the evolution has affected our development as well as how the evolution will eventually affect our survival on Earth. In the second part of the conference Dr. Christakis will talk about the way social networks affect practically every aspect of our lives – how we feel, who we vote for, how much we earn, who we fall in love with – everything is connected to what others around us are doing, how they think, how they feel.
“This conference is a gift of knowledge – knowledge being one of the key drivers of development – to the community that the company exists and works in. At the same time, the conference draws one’s attention to some of the key issues of today. We are at a turning point of sorts for the entire mankind; the decision on which way we should take and, consequently, what kind of future we will build for ourselves, should be a joint one. Therefore, the decisions that we are making and will make need to be made with careful consideration and thoughtful. Even more importantly, we should all clear up the role that each and every one of us has in that process. In that case, we want to start with ourselves and, together with you, build a better future, a future of a better coexistence and greater compassion, by exchanging and sharing ideas, vision and knowledge,” stated Ivica Mudrinić, President of HT's Management Board and CEO, on the occasion of the upcoming conference.
The conference will take place on Tuesday, September 28, at Zagreb's Hypo Center. The event has been traditionally gathering the representatives of the business, political and academic communities in Croatia as well as HT's employees.
About the T-HT Conference
The T-HT Conference titled Growing through Knowledge welcomes distinguished individuals, experts and scientists who with their ideas, thoughts, actions, engagement and projects on the local and particularly global level in a rather recognizable way contribute to and help the mankind, encourage thinking or move to action. Focused on new technologies and contents, the conference is particularly oriented towards the importance of the existence of a vision, ideas, innovations and guidelines for the future, and tackles today’s current and relevant issues.
This year’s T-HT Conference also marks the third anniversary of the company’s IPO, which was officially launched on October 5, 2007.
About the speakers
Professor Jeremy Rifkin is the founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, organization which examines the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy. He is also the principal architect of the European Union’s Third Industrial Revolution, a long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change, and the founder and chairperson of the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable, comprised of 100 of the world’s leading renewable energy companies. Besides that he worked as an advisor to the EU and numeorous governments and statesmen as well as company’s Fortune top 500 CEOs. His advices reffers to actions that should be taken immediately to address the triple threat of the global financial crisis, energy crisis and climate change. Professor Rifkin is one of the leading big-picture thinkers of our day and remains also as one of the most highly sought-after and highest rated speakers on the topic of globalization, sustainability, shifting to a new energy era and low-carbon economy and impact of scientific and technological changes. Professor Rifkin holds a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Since 1994, he has been a senior lecturer at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Rifkin’s monthly column on global issues appears in many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines. Over the course of his rich career he has also authored eighteen bestselling books, the last one being The Emphatic Civilization.
Dr. Nicholas Christakis an internist and social scientist who conducts research on social factors that affect health, health care, and longevity. He has become internationally renowned for his work in the impact our social networks have on our attitudes, behaviors, and wellbeing, and has analyzed networks ranging in size from 30 to 3,000,000 people, over periods of time as long as 30 years. His startling findings present intriguing new evidence that our real-life social networks shape virtually every aspect of our lives. How we feel, whom we marry, whether we fall ill, how much money we make, and whether we vote - everything hinges on what others around us are doing, thinking, and feeling. He is the co-author of his new book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks, in which he overturns the notion of the individual and provides a revolutionary paradigm that social networks influence our ideas, emotions, health, relationships, behavior, politics, and much more. The ideas presented will change the way we think about every aspect of our lives. Time Magazine has named Dr. Christakis one of the 100 most influential people in the world last year and he was also named "most original thinker" of the year in 2008 on The McLaughlin Group.