FIS Stanford 2023

Condoleezza Rice, who was the 66th Secretary of State of the United States, will join Professor Stephen Kotkin in conversation about leadership and managing 21st century political risk.

Can we feed sensory signals into the brain through atypical sensory pathways? Using the approach of sensory substitution, we can translate and feed almost any kind of data through the skin – thus expanding the human sensory experience.

Synthetic biology has been described as a transformational technology that will lead to a better world. So what is it and how will it help to feed the planet, conquer disease, fight pollution and transform industries?

Investors share the experiences of how they are looking at global macro risks and opportunities and what actions they are considering to future-proof their portfolios.

Roundtable discussion

After one of the largest tightenings in 40 years, markets are now discounting a benign ending. The tightening has not yet created a broader slowdown, but is that likely to continue? How will growing supply and demand imbalances in the bond market resolve? Does the potential for a productivity miracle in the form of artificial intelligence change that picture? And how will AI affect the investment industry? This session will cover how investors can make sense of what’s happening in economies and markets today, and what they can do to position themselves for the ways the world is changing.

Roundtable discussion

The 2023 banking crisis reflects longstanding problems with the Federal Reserve in general and bank regulation in particular that challenge the solvency and efficiency of the banking industry. This session opens the kimono on financial regulation and suggests radical solutions for transformation.

An environment of low growth and compressed earnings is an interesting environment for investors. In the past year opportunities in distressed debt, for example, have increased threefold. So where should investors be looking for opportunities?

Roundtable discussion

This interactive session will examine the definition and importance of megatrends, why they are so challenging to define as an investable universe and how they can act as a North Star for investors.

Roundtable discussion

The active equities team at CPP Investments has abandoned antiquated investment categorisations, such as style and size, and views companies through a more holistic "domain" interpretation. This session looks at the importance of fundamental research, unique insights and organisational structure in the team's ability to contribute to the total fund, including capital efficiency, agility and pure alpha.

There is a lot of hype around AI and its potential to revolutionise businesses, but how can asset owners invest in AI? This session looks at how the various waves of AI will flow through businesses, who is benefiting and over what time frame.

This session with Stanford's foremost expert on AI will explore the influence it will have on the way people work and live, asking the question of whether a reboot is needed to remove biases and eliminate the potential for detrimental impacts.

After more than 100 years of historic success, the fundamentals of the energy industry are rapidly changing, driven by three ‘D’s: decarbonisation, diversification and digitisation. The question is what pathways or approaches should a business, industry, nation or region adopt to address the future challenges while navigating, leveraging and shaping the three-‘D’ landscape? This talk will offer some thoughts on addressing this paramount challenge. It will also highlight the need to innovate – to experiment with new ideas, knowing some of them will fail, but hopefully fail quickly and, more importantly, teach a lot in the process.

This session will outline the challenges, including critical but hard to abate sectors, and growing opportunities in transition finance.

Semiconductors, enabling the green transition through renewables, electric vehicles and smart grids, are important to understand for sustainability-focused portfolios. But they bring with them a complex lifecycle of associated carbon and environmental footprints that should be assessed. This session looks at how to conduct such an analysis when reported data remains incomplete.

Institutional investors are not doing enough to manage risk dynamically, according to Nobel Prize winner and academic Myron Scholes. In this session he outlines the need for more forward-looking, holistic next-generation risk management that is an active component of investment management, not just a measurement.

To meet the myriad challenges and risks that asset owners face they need solutions from their asset manager partners, not products. This session highlights the need for collaboration and innovation.

In an environment of higher inflation and deglobalisation, investors may need to re-think traditional approaches to portfolio construction. So what are the alternatives?

This session looks at the application of portable beta, and factor styles as portfolio construction instruments. New research shows that a risk reducing overlay can support long horizon, total portfolio management objectives and enhance risk-adjusted returns.

Culture, governance, and technology are much more predictive of sustained performance than previously thought and should be emerging priorities for any leader. The Portfolio for the Future will be driven by firms that innovate and exploit new organizational and operational models to save cost, reduce risk, and pioneer new investment ideas. The future of investment management will include a focus on efficiency, data techniques and AI.

This session will examine how institutional investors can embrace advanced technology to innovate and reboot their organisations for long-term performance.

Roundtable discussion

The skirmish over technological innovation, control and domination is key in understanding relations between the US and China and needs to be carefully assessed.