Universities are some of the most productive IP engines in the world. Researchers and students build new technology, file patents and often ship working prototypes. Then too much of it stalls. The people who invent are rarely the people who raise money, price a licence or find a first customer. Tech transfer offices work to academic timelines while capital works to market ones, so good IP sits on the shelf.

This panel asks two questions. First, what should universities change so their IP becomes investable: spin-out terms, founder support, equity and licensing models, and incentives for faculty? Second, should investors stop waiting for deals to show up and go into campuses to find them? We'll look at what each side gets wrong about the other, and what a working lab-to-market pipeline looks like.

The next wave of innovation, disruption, and impact is driven by startups building with frontier tech and agility.

This session showcases the winning solutions and startups from GFTN's supported programmes.

The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT)’s Catapult: Inclusion SE Asia will showcase a winning fintech driving financial inclusion and social impact in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN Financial Health Challenge, an initiative by GFTN and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), with UNSGSA as a Thematic Thought Partner, will showcase a representative moving the needle in financial health among individuals.

Lastly, BharatNetra Startup Accelerator will showcase a startup which has progressed beyond borders from Odisha, India.

AI is advancing faster than previous waves of technological change, raising a profound economic question: will the productivity gains from AI translate into broadly shared prosperity, or will they accrue disproportionately to capital, highly skilled workers and the companies that control the technology? The answer will shape productivity, employment, wages, inequality and economic competitiveness — and whether governments, businesses and financial institutions are prepared for a labour market in which many of today’s skills are rapidly changing. The conversation will explore what history can — and cannot — tell us about technological disruption, whether AI could break the traditional link between growth and employment, and what policy choices will determine who captures the AI dividend.