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Mikael Hagström elected Vice Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EUSAS EMEA Executive VP to champion innovation, learning in European Union18 December 2008 - Mikael Hagström, Executive Vice President of business analytics leader SAS in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific (EMEA), has been elected Vice Chair of the Executive Council of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union. Composed of senior executives of global US companies operating in Europe, this group is an integral part of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union and dedicates time to work with and advise the highest levels of senior policymakers in Europe. Topics of focus include trade, regulation, innovation, talent developments and climate change. As Vice Chair of the Executive Council of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, Hagström will be particularly focusing on fostering the innovation and skills Europe needs to be competitive in the knowledge economy. “Europe has an exceptional opportunity to capitalize on the transition to a knowledge economy and create significant employment opportunities for its citizens,” said Hagström, who was appointed to the executive council along with Rudi Huber, President, Alcoa European Region, and Vice President, Alcoa. “But Europe faces fierce competition for skilled employees as talent has now become a global commodity, fought over by multiple competitors. There is a fair bit of fear and uncertainty right now, but I feel very strongly that it is wrong to have a ‘wait and see’ attitude and hope the problem goes away. We need to spend less time on how we got here, and more time on quickly adapting to the new conditions and becoming more competitive.” The council’s priorities centre around achieving the right regulatory environment for economic growth in the EU through furthering open markets, fostering innovation, and pursuing balanced sustainable development at times when globalisation gives companies a greater choice of where to invest and locate resources. Hagström’s next duty will be to moderate a one-day conference on innovation in April in Brussels. The event, jointly organised with the European Commission, will aim to bring fresh, concrete ideas from global companies to help the EU achieve its objective of being the largest knowledge-based economy in the world by 2020.
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world
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