This year I had the honor of chairing the 11th RSM Leadership Summit 2019, held at the Van Nelle Fabriek Rotterdam.
The only constant is change. That was by far the most important message today. With marvelous and brilliant key-notes that really fought the attention of the audience. Being a business school this summit gathered 600 students, alumni and professionals together. While for some events networking is only a goal on paper, today’s audience really reached out to learn and meet up during this summit. It really made my day as a moderator. See you all next year!

The feedback gathered during the conference is presented to policy makers of the Eureka network, to build on a powerful set of innovation tools that contribute to creating innovative ecosystems for the future.

This event, organised by RVO.nl (Netherlands Enterprise Agency), was the main public event for stakeholders to contribute to the future outlook of EUREKA.
It included information sessions about the Eureka Clusters, the Eurostars programme and all other EUREKA instruments (Network projects, Globalstars, InvestHorizon, Innowwide).

Participants had the opportunity for matchmaking with other innovative organisations from Europe and beyond.

Free face-to-face matchmaking to SME's, researchers and organisations have been setup. The aim is to find international collaborators for innovative projects. 

The Matchmaking is organised by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl), partner of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

Guest speakers at this conference included:
Mona Keijzer, staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken en Klimaatbeleid (NL), Ales Cantarutti, staatssecretaris van Economische Ontwikkeling en Technologie (SI) en  Constantijn van Oranje.

The Second Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) took place on 19 and 20 June 2019 and was organised by the Government of the Netherlands in Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin, in the historic town of Noordwijk.

It was explored what has been done since it has been convened five years ago, and to take further steps to accelerate the implementation of the Global Action Plan on AMR. For two days, working closely together with the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), they have looked back at recent global developments and explored new ways to work jointly to tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

The aim of this conference was to strengthen and accelerate international cooperation in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance. The focus of this conference was international and multi-sectoral cooperation within the framework of the One Health approach. 

Mr. Bruno Bruins, Dutch Minister for Medical Care and Sport the Netherlands, opened the conference. Other speeches by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Prof. Nila F. Moeloek, Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia and Ms. Carola Schouten, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands,

More information (and the conference report): https://www.amrconference2019.nl/home

The ninth PIC meeting, organised by Greenport West-Holland, held on 14 June, was very successful. Experts from a large number of European countries took part in presentations, workshops and discussions about international cooperation in the agricultural sector. They also visited the GreenTech, the FlowerTrials and several relevant companies at Greenport. 

Greenport West-Holland is the regional network organisation of government, business, educational institutions and knowledge institutions. Together, they work towards a vital and sustainable future for the regional horticultural cluster. Plant InterCluster (PIC) is a partnership of four French plant clusters, with an annual international meeting.

Continue reading here.

On March 13 the CLINSH project team & the Flemish government organized the Clean Inland Shipping mid-term conference in Brussels on 13 March 2019.

The conference shared and discussed the results and insights from the first two years of CLINSH. They also took a look at the future. The findings are very encouraging and the future looks promising. CLINSH can present great results. Together, they’re definitely moving forward towards a greener inland shipping world. That is what is remembered from the inspiring presentations, the interesting debates, the enthusiastic responses and numerous attendance. 

On February 14, 2019 Donatello hosted the Global Certification Dinner 2019 which was held at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam.
This dinner was a celebration of the Top Employers 2019. HR Elite from national and multinational leading organisations were invited to this dinner.
At this festive annual business event in honour of the achievements of HR,  organisations were certified with excellent employee conditions.

The Corridor Dinner is an initiative of the province of Zuid-Holland to bring all important players together during the Corridor Week in order to work towards a joint strategy for sustainable and multimodal corridors in the Eurodelta, on board of the emblematic SS Rotterdam.

One powerful Eurodelta does not happen without an effort. The pooling of knowledge, investments and networks is essential in order to develop the corridors that will enable this entire region to remain leading, make optimal use of the economic potential and ensure the quality of life for our residents. The Corridor Dinner enables our guests to expand or deepen their network and to shape the ambition of one powerful Eurodelta.

During this dinner, a number of Corridor Stakeholders met in a TV show setting with the presenter Donatello Piras and Jaap Smit, (King's Commissioner in Zuid-Holland), about the joint ambitions, the current developments and the way in which we can have sustainable and multimodal corridors in one Eurodelta. Invited guests: Pawel Wochichowski (EC coordinator for Rhine-Alpine), Caroline Nagtegaal (Member of European Parliament), Dr. Hendrik Schulte – State Secretary North-Rhine Westphalia and Ahmed Aboutaleb (Major Rotterdam).

This dinner was part of the Corridor Week which was held November 6-8 2018.

This conference setup in the frame of the Innovation Expo 2018: "Global Challenges, Dutch Solutions" will focus on international innovation cooperation and on the support and funding opportunities offered by the Eurostars programme.

Eurostars supports the development of rapidly marketable innovative products, processes and services that help improve the daily lives of people around the world.  It is an ideal first step in international cooperation, enabling small businesses to combine and share expertise and benefit from working beyond national borders.

Donatello was moderator during this conference which was held on October 4 2018

The 2017 ERIAFF conference is an opportunity for everyone involved in the agricultural and food sector from all European regions to exchange knowledge and meet partners and stakeholders. Relevant keynote speakers will present their views on the development of the European agriculture sector. The conference will provide networking opportunities for agricultural entrepreneurs, researchers and regional governments via business to business meet-ups, in-depth workshops, poster presentations, a product market and site visits.

The 2017 ERIAFF Conference took place in The Hague - The Netherlands on 29 and 30 June 2017

2017 UN Public Service Forum: The Future is Now - Accelerating Public Service Innovation for Agenda 2030. The 2017 UN Public Service Forum concluded on 23 June with a ceremony during which Awards were given for excellence and innovation by local, national and regional governments.

For two days, participants debated how innovative policies can be fostered to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development even when resources are scarce, objectives are highly ambitious and interests are disparate. They focused on ways to channel the efforts and creativity of Governments into effective SDG implementation in areas as diverse as children and youth, health, sustainable cities, leave no one behind, circular economy, and sustainable energy, among many others. A wealth of lessons learned were exchanged based on existing initiatives.

Donatello has over 15 years of experience as a debate facilitator, and was head trainer and debate facilitator at the Dutch Debate Institute for 11 years. Many an election debate was organized by him: for the Tweede Kamer (Dutch Lower House), Provincial States, Municipal Council and Water Board. He also organized many election debates for sector organizations such as: MKB Nederland, KNV, KNB, NOB, Orde van Advocaten and LVN.

Ruim 150 belangstellenden, van bakker tot ceo van een retailorganisatie, werden gastvrij op de campus ontvangen. In de grote zaal, het auditorium, heette dagvoorzitter Donatello Piras alle gasten van harte welkom. Nadat hij alle aanwezigen een minuut de tijd had gegeven zich aan elkaar voor te stellen, kwamen verschillende sprekers het toneel op.

Het waren weer vlammende debatten bij het Kinderrechten debattoernooi in Arnhem. 300 scholieren namen het tegen elkaar op in debatten over kinderrechten. De samenwerking tussen UNICEF en de Stichting Nederlands Debat Instituut wordt ieder jaar beter en het debat groter. Donatello presenteerde het toernooi én Kleine Prinsjesdag in de Ridderzaal waar de Koningin van de Jeugd haar eigen troontrede hield.

The farewell adress by President Barack Obama is over. In this short film Donatello explains by a few examples why we are going to miss him sadly. And then we mean his retorically edifying speeches, of course.

De meeste inwoners binnen Europa krijgen te veel zout, verzadigde vetten en suikers binnen...

After a pitch Donatello was elected host and moderator of the 3-day international World Dairy Summit, which took place in De Doelen at Rotterdam. Piras advised on the concept and led all plenary sessions. From debates about the ecological footprint of dairy to the Leaders Forum at the Opening on day 1 and the closing ceremony. Donatello also led a festive gala dinner in the Van Nelle factory, where various Awards were presented. He worked together with Buzzmaster, MCI conference bureau, the organization of the NZO and the IDF and Delmar Producties event bureau. Click here for an impression of the conference, and here for the compilation.

Donatello Piras is al 10 jaar de presentator van mening landelijk debattoernooi. Het NK Scholieren is hiervan het oudste toernooi waar de meeste scholieren aan meedoen: ruim 120 middelbare scholen uit heel Nederland. Trainingen geven aan scholieren doet hij niet meer maar Donatello heeft 100-den scholen en docenten getraind in de schone kunst van het debat. Daarnaast schreef hij mee aan lesmethoden en stond hij aan de wieg van de debatmethode voor het MBO in Nederland. Voor de mensen die willen weten hoe zo’n toernooi nu werkt leggen we het samen met Vlogger Enzo Knol kort & krachtig uit.