 Forum 2015 was organised around five themes:
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Investment
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Inclusive growth
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Innovation
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Climate, Carbon, COP21
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Sustainable Development Goals
People
 45 million people are unemployed in the OECD, which increases the risk of poverty, ill health, and the levels of inequality within our societies.
This legacy of the crisis is undermining the confidence and trust of citizens in everything from governments to markets, businesses and institutions at large.
The Forum discussed how to promote access to more and better quality jobs, but also how governments, universities, business and civil society can address growing inequality by expanding access to education.
What skills will be needed to make people more resilient and entrepreneurial? And how to promote the exchange of knowledge between people, universities and business that leads both to innovation and more inclusive growth models.
The Forum also reflected on actions aimed at reducing the gender gap and enhancing the role of women in economies and societies at large, in the context of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the G20 commitment to reduce the gender gap in workforce participation by 25 % by 2025.
Read more on inclusive growth
Planet
 Investment, new technologies, and innovative business models are essential not only to spur our transition to an economy combining sustainable growth with reduced impact on the climate and natural resources, but to harness the environment as a source of new inclusive growth.
This will be an important issue in the run up to the COP 21 negotiations in Paris and discusion will be informed by the joint OECD, International Energy Agency (IEA), Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and International Transport Forum (ITF) work on aligning policies for the transition to a low carbon economy.
The Forum was an opportunity to reflect on the importance of a coordinated approach to:
- mobilise infrastructure investment
- rethink taxation and urban development
- address resource scarcity and the food-water-energy nexus
Cities will play a key role in this new economy. Cities already generate around 80% of global economic output, and use around 70% of global energy. 54 % of the world’s population lives in cities today, and this figure is expected to increase to 70% by 2050.
Prosperity
 The Forum explored the importance of INVESTMENT in
- placing economies on sustainable growth paths
- addressing inequalities
- fostering innovation
- helping the transition towards low-carbon economies
- financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Investment is still lagging compared to pre-crisis levels, dampening demand and constraining potential growth.
Breaking this vicious cycle is a priority to restore dynamism to our economies and create jobs.
Read more on investment
 Ongoing INNOVATION in ICT, renewable energy, nanotech, telemedicine, biotechnology, Big Data and the “Internet of Everything” is offering promising solutions in areas such as
- health
- ageing
- climate change
- food security
and represent an increasingly significant source of future economic growth.
The update of the OECD Innovation Strategy fed into Forum debates with particular emphasis on governments’ ability to meet social and environmental challenges by creating an enabling environment fostering innovation.
Read more on innovation
Better Life Index
 The OECD presented the 2015 Better Life Index update, incorporating new data and communicating what has been learned from almost 90 000 user responses received since 2011.
The Index is available in seven languages:
- English
- French
- Spanish
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Russian
A complimentary site, highlighting Italian well-being priorities was launched in conjunction with Expo Milan 2015 in English and Italian. |
