05/09/2023 | News

The city of Salamanca will host the fifth summit of young European and Asian leaders, the 5th ASEF Young Leaders Summit (ASEFYLS5), which will take place from September 12 to 16 under the motto Leadership in Society 5.0.

This program of the Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Casa Asia and the University of Salamanca, will bring together 100 European and Asian participants, between 18 and 30 years old, of various academic disciplines and professional backgrounds.

To this group we must add the group of 20 high-level facilitators and speakers made up of diplomats, teachers and public officials, who will moderate and participate in the roundtables, sessions and work groups planned in the classrooms of the University of Salamanca.

ASEFYLS5 is a program aimed at young Asians and Europeans with the motto “Leadership in Society 5.0”, which brings together students and young professionals from both continents with the aim of learning, networking and exchanging experiences, and also connects them with public officials and leaders from Asia and Europe.

Leadership in Society 5.0

The concept of Society 5.0 has its origins in Japan, and is based on the objective of using technology to create a better future. It describes a human-centered society that seeks a balance between economic progress and the resolution of social problems through a system that integrates cyberspace and physical space. It is thus presented as an ideal state toward which the country should advance to take advantage of technological advances for the benefit of all citizens.

ASEFYLS5 will address what type of leadership is needed in this advanced society and the role of young people in facing this challenge, with a 360-degree approach on the development of the leadership concept (self-leadership, team and social) and their commitment to the community.

Thus, among other aspects, the ethical dilemmas of leadership will be discussed, the values to be transmitted in a 5.0 Society, the environmental and sustainability challenges posed by this society, the cultural factor that influences the way in which different societies approach the social problems and how they use technology to solve them, the participation of young people in the configuration and planning of public policies and in solving social problems, and the relevance of improving intercultural competence and social commitment.

Stages of ASEFYLS5

Although Salamanca will host the main event of ASEFYLS5, the program has been structured in a hybrid format by carrying out two online programs and one face-to-face, which consists of three stages:

1. Knowledge Construction Stage: August 4-28, 2023 | Online

An in-depth exploration of Leadership and Society 5.0 through online training that includes addressing leadership training, the impact of digital transformation on our future or the ethical challenges of technologies.

2. Youth Summit: September 12 and 16, 2023 | Salamanca, Spain

An opportunity for people-to-people dialogue exchange, networking and learning in a local context, with the participation of 100 young Asians and Europeans. 4-day program organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain, Casa Asia and the University of Salamanca.

3. Leadership in Action: September 18 – December 5, 2023 | Online

From theory to action. Participants will move from theory to action and work together in groups to find solutions to real-life challenges based on the ASEFYLS5 topics. The solutions will be presented at an online closing ceremony in December.

Last June, the Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) opened the call to participate in the ASEFYLS5, whose selection process ended on July 9 with the selection of one hundred young Asian and European participants.

Follow the event live (13 September):

Follow the event live (14 September):

Organisers 

The Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) is a non-profit intergovernmental organization based in Singapore, whose main task is to promote understanding and relationships between people, institutions and organizations in Asia and Europe, through the implementation of projects and programs related to culture, education, governance, economy, sustainable development, public health and the media. ASEF is the only permanent institution of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) process, and was created in February 1997 by the governments and organizations participating in ASEM, the main multilateral forum created a year earlier to facilitate political, economic and cultural cooperation between Asia and Europe, and jointly address the great global challenges. ASEM has 52 partners: 50 member countries, of which 30 are European and 20 Asian, to which must be added the EU and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Casa Asia is a public consortium made up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council and the Madrid City Council, with the aim of contributing to better knowledge and the promotion of relations between the societies of Asia and the Pacific and Spain, in the institutional, economic, cultural, and educational fields, in addition to bringing together and making the exchange of cultures and projects of common interest easier. The institution, created in 2001, has become in all these years the main public diplomacy body in Spain in the Asia-Pacific region and a meeting point for all those actors interested in one of the most dynamic areas in the world. Casa Asia has its headquarters in Barcelona and has a Centre in Madrid.

The University of Salamanca was founded by Alfonso IX in 1218 and is the eldest of the existing Hispanic universities. It is public and general in nature. It has campuses in the provinces of Salamanca, Ávila and Zamora. It has 26 Faculties and Schools that teach 65 degrees, 24 double degrees and 71 Master’s Degrees in all branches of knowledge. It has 57 departments, 13 University Research Institutes and 11 centres of its own. The university community is made up of 30,000 students of more than 50 nationalities, 2,000 professors and researchers and 1,000 administration and service professionals. The University of Salamanca is a global university committed to the progress of its environment and the employability of its students, with a wide and updated academic offer, quality teaching and intense research, transfer and innovation activity for sustainable development.

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