Seventh Bruges European Business Conference
On Friday 18 March 2016, the College of Europe (Bruges) and Deloitte organized the seventh Bruges European Business Conference on Capital Markets Union (CMU). Participants were policy makers, regulators,and financial institutions including the European Investment Bank (EIB), entrepreneurs, advisers and academics. They gathered to discuss the development of capital markets and the financing of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The financing needs of SMEs deserve special attention since SMEs account for the overwhelming majority of enterprises in the European economy, and are the main source of innovation, job creation, and economic growth. The development of a Capital Markets Union (CMU) has progressed significantly since the publication of the European Commission Green Paper (February 2015). The public consultation that followed and the definition of a firm time-table in October 2015 have set well-defined targets for this ambitious project that will complement the Banking Union.The Conference took stock of what has been achieved so far and what is in the pipeline for the next 12-18 months.
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Sixth Bruges European Business Conference
On Tuesday 17 March 2015, the College of Europe, in colloboration with Deloitte, hosted the sixth Bruges European Business Conference at its Bruges campus. The focus of this year's conference was on “Drivers of Growth” and it emphasized three policy areas that can contribute to the recovery of European economy: Energy Policy, Digital Economy and Transatlantic Trade. The speakers of the first plenary session were Mr Walter van Kuijen, Senior Vice President, Royal Philips; Mr John F. Sammis, Deputy Chief of Mission, US mission to the EU; Mr Philippe Lamberts, MEP and Co-Chair of the Group of Greens and Dame DeAnne Julius, Council Chair of University College London and non-executive Director of Roche Holding Ltd and Jones Lang LaSalle. The session was chaired by Prof. Phedon Nicolaides, Director of the European Economic Studies Department and was followed by a Q&A session, in which to-the-point questions were asked to the speakers about the reasons for the current crisis, the problem of youth unemployment and how Europe could do more to stimulate growth. The plenary session was followed by three parallel workshops on Energy Policy, Digital Economy and Translatlantic Trade. In the afternoon the first plenary was a feedback session on the workshop conclusions during which the workshop Chairs reported the main findings of the breakout sessions to the plenary. The last plenary session entitled 'Roadmap for the recovery of the EU economy'; featured keynote speaker Mr Jyrki Katainen, Vice President of the European Commmission; Mr Klaus Dieter Rennert, CEO of Hitachi Europe Ltd., Mr Markus Beyer, Director General of BusinessEurope and Mr Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of Eurochambres. The session was chaired by Mr Alastair Macdonald, Brussels Bureau Chief of Reuters and it was finalised by a Q&A session.
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Fifth Bruges European Business Conference
On Thursday 27 March 2014, the College of Europe, in colloboration with Deloitte, hosted the fifth Bruges European Business Conference at its Bruges campus. The purpose of the conference was to bring together European political and business leaders to discuss how to avoid another lost decade.
The speakers of the first plenary session were Prof. Mario Monti, Italian Senator and President of Bocconi University, Ms. Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Assocation, and Prof.Dr. Roger Dassen, Global Managing Director at Deloitte. They expressed their visions on the future of Europe and on how to reignite growth. The morning featured another plenary session with Sir Graham Watson, MEP and President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Dr. Liam Fox, MP and former British Secretary of Stafe for Defence. They held a lively debate on the UK's future in Europe, chaired by Mr. Alex Barker, EU correpondent from the Financial Times. Both plenaries were followed by vivid question and answer sessions.  In the afternoon, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, German Federal Minister of Finance expressed his ideas on the strategy for European recovery. The plenary session ended with some interesting and to-the-point questions and answers on subjects like the need for an EU budget Commissioner, European divergence and energy. In the afternoon, three parallel workshops took place on Internal Market and Regulation, Innovation and Growth and Trade and Globalization.  
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Fourth Bruges European Business Conference
On Tuesday 23 April 2013, the College of Europe, in colloboration with Deloitte, hosted the fourth Bruges European Business Conference at its campus in the Bruges city centre. This year the conference explored the themes of competitiveness and innovation and how Europe can become a more attractive location for manufacturers. Innovation and competitiveness are key factors for sustainable growth.
The morning featured plenary sessions while the afternoon focused on sectoral workshops. European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, delivered the keynote opening speech, followed by a contributions of Adrian van den Hoven, Deputy Director General and Director for Industrial and International Affairs, BusinessEurope. The three parallel workshops after lunch allowed for debate and exchanges among senior industry representatives, policy makers and academic experts on specific issues affecting competitiveness and innovation in the automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
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Third Bruges European Business Conference
The College of Europe, in partnership with Deloitte, hosted the third Bruges European Business Conference "Trade and Investment Challenges for European Business", held on Tuesday 20 March 2012 at the College's campus in Bruges. EU Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht, the CEO of FIAT / Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, and TABD co-chair James Quigley of Deloitte delivered keynote contributions. The conference debated how European business can effectively have access to lucrative markets outside Europe. This requires mutual trade and investment liberalisation with key trading partners. Globalisation and the ever more critical significance of worldwide value chains render good market access imperative for European business competitiveness in Europe as well as elsewhere. The morning was dedicated to a series of plenary debates, including the opening keynote session and two panels with policy and business focus. In the afternoon, three sectoral workshops dealt with specific business issues of global trade and investment in the financial services, automotive and pharmaceutical industries.
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Second Bruges European Business Conference
On 24 March 2011, the Economics Department of the College of Europe - Bruges campus, in partnership with Deloitte, hosted the second Bruges European Business Conference entitled "Liberating the Power of Services". The conference focussed on the European internal market for services and its business opportunities, dealing with the economic and business significance of the service sector, the regulatory environment for business and key technological developments affecting the provision of services to companies operating in Europe. EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Mr. Michel BARNIER addressed the Conference. The following key issues related to services liberalisation were discussed: the growing importance of services for manufacturing companies, the European cross-border mobility of workers, right of establishment and the effects of the service directive, data portability, data protection and digital content.
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First Bruges European Business Conference
On 18 March 2010, the College of Europe’s Economics Department - in partnership with Deloitte - organised the first "Bruges European Business Conference”. Under the title “EU2020 - What Role for European Business", participants discussed the role European business can play in the pursuit of EU2020 goals. This conference was the first in a series of annual Business conferences, attracting participants from companies and business associations with a view to engage in in-depth discussions on business-topics with a panel of high-level speakers from academia, business and the EU Commission. The “Bruges European Business Conferences” are set up in the framework of the College’s new specialisation on “European economic integration and business” (EEIB), which aims to offer students a unique combination of high-level economic analysis of European integration with an understanding of business and corporate strategy. Students of the EEIB specialisation took part in the conference and had the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with business representatives.
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