GFCC Global Annual Meeting and Global Innovation Summit

A few days in Sofia, many conversations — and one recurring question: how do we turn competitiveness strategies into actual impact?
It was a privilege to join the GFCC | The Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils Global Annual Meeting and Global Innovation Summit as a GFCC member, alongside leaders from government, business, academia and innovation ecosystems from across the world.
The discussions ranged from AI and the future of competitiveness to regional development, investment and the changing geopolitical environment. What made the meeting particularly valuable was the diversity of perspectives: competitiveness looks very different from Washington, Tokyo, Brussels, Sofia or Central Europe — but many of the underlying challenges are shared.
I had the opportunity to contribute from the perspective of the Magyar Fejlesztésösztönző Iroda Nonprofit Kft. (MFOI Advisory) and Central Europe, including on the panel “Competitiveness Frontiers: From Strategy to Impact.” Together with Eldar Abdrazakov, Simos Anastasopoulos, Lulzim Basha, Martin Danovsky and Michinari Hamaguchi, we discussed why so many well-designed competitiveness strategies struggle when they reach implementation.
My key message was simple: competitiveness is not created by strategies alone. It is created by implementation capacity.
That capacity cannot exist only at national level. Regions, cities, universities, SMEs and local innovation ecosystems ultimately determine whether strategies become investment, innovation and new capabilities — or remain policy documents.
This is particularly important in Europe, where substantial resources are available for research, innovation and the green and digital transitions, yet the capacity to translate these opportunities into results remains highly uneven across regions.
A very special word of appreciation goes to the Hon. Deborah L. Wince-Smith President and CEO of the GFCC. Deborah has an extraordinary ability to bring together people, institutions and ideas from across the world and turn them into a genuine global community. Her intellectual leadership, energy and commitment are truly remarkable. I am personally very grateful for her encouragement, openness and our many thought-provoking conversations.
Congratulations also to the entire GFCC team and our Bulgarian hosts for an exceptionally well-organised programme. The quality of the speakers and discussions — and the space created for meaningful conversations and new partnerships — made this much more than another international conference.
I return from Sofia with new ideas and partnerships, including promising conversations with colleagues from Japan and Portugal.
My main takeaway:
The next generation of competitiveness policy should be judged not by how ambitious its strategies are, but by how effectively it turns ambition into capacity — and capacity into impact.