At the 2018 Forum, Professor James J. Heckman from the University of Chicago and Professor Michael J. Sandel from Harvard University joined us as keynote speakers.

Education has always been one of the key areas shaping civilised societies, especially in metropolitan cities. As an expert in the economics of human development, Professor Heckman proposed in his Day 1 keynote speech that philanthropists focused on helping children should shift their efforts to what happens before school. He helped the audience identify the most important paths towards impact that philanthropists and other stakeholders can support when looking to scale up Early Childhood Development (ECD) solutions.

On Day 2, Professor Sandel took forward the discussions on “Creating Shared Value” from the inaugural forum and offered an alternative perspective by discussing the moral limits of markets and market mechanisms. He explored with his audience the ethical dilemmas regarding what are the right things to do for addressing metropolitan social challenges.

In addition, the following five thematic areas were covered in the 2018 Forum: (i) Leveraging the Market; (ii) Sustainable Development; (iii) Maximizing Impact; (iv) Youth & Creativity; and (v) Health & Well-being.