Branding for a more sustainable and innovative world economy in the post-pandemic period

The 17th Brand Global Summit held on 19 October 2021, co-organized by UNIDO and the European Brand Institute (EBI), explored how brands help boost economic recovery while fostering sustainability and innovativeness amidst the ever-accelerating digitalization. “Branding can play a decisive role in reconciling digitalization with economic recovery, as it provides highly customized solutions, reinforces business resilience through a more sustainable growth pathways,” noted  Director General of UNIDO, LI Yong, highlighting the game-changing nature of branding during the event, which took place in an online and offline format gathering hundreds of participants from government, business, academia and international organizations.

“The future of sustainability will largely depend on the extent to which economic actors will explore recovery solutions to “build back better” and embrace innovation that fosters the digital transformation,” said Bernardo Calzadilla Sarmiento, Managing Director of UNIDO’s Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business, emphasizing that branding has become indispensable as a driving force for change.

Investments in brands support economic recovery and resilience, create growth and secure prosperity for cities, regions and countries in the long run. “There is a clear need to stimulate IP investment and to give companies the tools to disseminate information about their IP,” said Gerhard Hrebicek, President of EBI, referring to its efforts towards transparency and accessibility of brands and IP valuations.

Against this backdrop, UNIDO and EBI continue coordinated efforts to promote branding as part of the joint “Branding for competitiveness and sustainable growth (B4C)” service module that blends strategic marketing, branding and digitalization to advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID). To assist UNIDO project beneficiaries in overcoming the pandemic’s devastating impact, module helps them maximize intellectual value addition, productivity, international competitiveness and market outreach.

Watch Brand Global Summit 2021 here and read the  press release here.

Learn more about Brand Global Summit 2021 here.

For more information contact Farrukh Alimdjanov (F.Alimdjanov [at] unido.org (F).Alimdjanov [at] unido.org)