One year on from our inaugural Future of Strategy event, Coriolis Technologies is delighted to announce that we will be running a second, virtual conference between the 23rd and 26th November 2020

What on earth happened to 2020? Where does trade go from here?

Back in January there was a fragile truce in the trade conflict between the US and China as a result of the Phase 1 deal between the two countries buoying sentiment at the start of the year. Just two months later the full force of Covid 19 had hit global trade and the global economy; the world shut down and as it did, nations raised protectionist barriers in the supply chains associated with treating and preventing the disease. Meanwhile, any hope that the trade deal meant better relations between the world’s two largest trading nations have been dashed as the conflict as migrated from the realms of trade policy into technology and finance.

The manifest challenges to the global trade system and how it operates politically, economically, sustainably and technologically after the crisis makes this a timely event that deals with some of the most important questions on everyone’s lips:

• What is the future of trade and how do we deal with the economic nationalism that has characterised the pandemic – is trade now in the front line of the seismic shift in the nature of conflict? To what extent are trade and foreign policy now so bound together that banks have become the “boots on the ground” charged with implementing ever-changing sanctions and compliance regimes? What are the consequences of shifting spheres of influence based on economic as much as military power?
• Will the US election result make any difference to the way in which we view global power relations through trade? What are the consequences for the way in which trade technology, digital currencies and cross border payments develop in the coming years?
• Which groups will most need support after the crisis is over? Will the SME trade finance gap ever be plugged? Does technology and digitisation provide a real solution to the trade finance gap and, if so, what does that technology need to do to address this profound and global “market failure”?
• How do we guarantee supplies of personal protective equipment, medical equipment, treatments, test kits, and most importantly of all, vaccines to get us out of the current crisis? What role does data play in managing and understanding the flow of critical supply chains between countries and how can we measure these in real time? Is the protectionism that surrounds the Covid 19 pandemic reversible?
• What are the consequences for sustainable trade of the Covid 19 pandemic? How can we make supply chains sustainable when so much of the equipment needed is single use plastic? What can we do to reduce fraud in areas of the Covid 19 supply chain and how can we come out of the Covid 19 pandemic with sustainability at the front of everything we do in the trade sector?

Event format:

The Future of Strategy: Trade, Intelligence and Security 2020 event will bring together leading speakers, analysts, policy makers and thought-leaders from around the world to discuss these vital topics. There will be “fireside chat” panels, “on-demand” keynote addresses, webinars and, in a break from tradition, we will be running “action research” working lunches every day through the week as part of our “MultiLateral Thinking” programme. Participants are invited to grab their virtual sandwich and get involved with setting the agenda for trade.

The event is broad-ranging, non-specialist action-oriented. Anyone interested in the future of strategic trade or delivering trade solutions in policy, business or finance should attend.

Why you should attend

• -Insight into the key trade trends that underpin strategy in a post-Covid world
• -Leading edge speakers and key note addresses in an “on demand” format
• -Opportunity to shape the agenda and address key trade challenges through “MultiLateral working lunches”
• -Week-long premium access to the MultiLateral Open Trade and Open Trade Finance platforms to see where key trends, risks and opportunities emerging around the world of trade and trade finance

We look forward to welcoming you back to the Future of Strategy!