Bill Clinton gave a keynote speech on January 25, 2011 about issues of global interdependence and innovation. He discussed how the problems of today's interconnected world require shared solutions that promote inclusion and equal opportunity. Clinton highlighted inequality, instability, climate change impacts, and systems that fail to provide for many people. He argued for building economies with shared benefits where more people feel fulfilled and dignified. Clinton also urged investing in small businesses to create jobs and embracing sustainable energy to help regions like the Middle East diversify their economies.

1. Keynote Speech: Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States and Founder of the William J.
Clinton Foundation
25 January 2011, 10:00
Key Bullets
Takeaway
 “In an interdependent world, innovation has to be built into the model and
structure of operations”
– We cannot escape each other
– All borders have to look more like nets than walls
 Trade
 Cap flow
 Internet information
Issues (Main Talking Points)
 The world today: Interdependence
– Narcotrafficking US/Mexico
– Financial crisis spread instantly
– EU on the Euro’s potential negative effects in the case of a downturn
 On the poorer EU countries: “Is it wise to impose on them a level of severity in
budgeting that the international markets would not have required?”
– Climate change
 If sub-Saharan African will be the most heavily affected in the next 40 years by the
effects of climate change:
– “All of these problems of interdependence can be linked to inequality”
– 100m children don’t go to school
– ¼ of deaths on earth from diseases related to the poor
 In the 8 years before the financial meltdown, there was significant growth, however:
Keynote Speech_Clinton_25 Jan 2011 © 2010 Monitor Company Group, L.P. — Confidential

2. – 90% of the income gains from that decade went to the top 10%, 43% went
to the top 1%
– “Growth was in housing, consumer spending and finance, not towards
innovation and industries which broaden the base of the stock of American
jobs”
– The goal of any sensible nation is to develop an economy which can
provide the opportunities the population requires
 The world today: Solutions
– 1. Deal with existing inequality, instability and unsustainability
– 2. Build an economy of shared benefits, security policy of shared interests,
and a mindset which recognizes our important differences while embracing
humanity
 To quote Michael Porter, “the aim of economic innovation should not be to have more
CSR” (because that is temporary and based on the rich – although it is a noble
action)
– “Instead we have to create an economy of shared value, we have to build
into our economic policymaking the idea that we are creating a future
where a broadening group of people will wake up in the morning and feel
good about the day ahead of them – feel fulfilled and dignified”
– Most of our problems stem from our system of interdependence which
does not allow everyone to participate
 Many scientific breakthroughs
– Since the dawn of time and homo sapiens, there has never been a change
of more than 1%
 This means that for much of ancient history, the planet was co-habited
by humans and Neanderthals
– First planet found which may have similar conditions as earth
– Results from a supercollider test – subatomic particles in physics
 We used to think positive and negative forces have to be held in equal
forces
 But now we discovered, that the neurons are disaggregated in the
collider, and the positive particles slightly outnumber the negative ones
 “The problems of rich countries and the problems of poor countries are fundamentally
different”
– “The new rising countries which have both significant wealth and poverty
are especially complex because they have both”
– Haiti Example
 Before the earthquake, ¾ of the people were living on less than $2
 ½ the people never went to school
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3.  Many people went into servitude to afford education
– Instead of giving money we should go to Haiti and try to build systems
 In the US, the problems are exactly the opposite to Haiti, we are getting long in the
tooth. “Remember, although we are a young civilization we have a young
government” – we do have the oldest continuously running representative democracy
on earth
– We have too many systems
– “People are more interested in holding onto the present than giving to the
future”
 Systems which need improvement:
– Energy
– Financial
Problems, Challenges and Threats
 The 21st century’s notion of innovation has been a magnificent thing for the developed
world, but for many parts of the world (and occasionally us) it has been a mixed bag
– Domodedovo airport bombing reflects innovation
– Governments which are strong have limits on how they can protect their
population
– “Those who believe that their identity requires them to tear down instead of
build up”
– Innovation in terrorist activity can be the greater use of women
 The US military describes the war on the ground as a continuous contest of
innovation
– Trying to give a greater sense of urgency for the profound implications of
10x10, the greater region and the key role of the innovation
 The US military describes the war on the ground in Afghanistan as a continuous
contest of innovation
– “I’m not trying to be overly negative, I’m trying to give a greater sense of
urgency for the profound implications of 10x10 for KSA, the greater region
and the key role of the innovation”
Comments on the GCF, Saudi Arabia and the Region
 “The 10x10 program represents KSA’s commitment to thinking in terms of the
future, not just thinking of the present”
– “Frankly when Amr and I discussed this many years ago I didn’t think you’d
be this far by now”
– “In order for this region to be competitive, you don’t necessarily have to do
something dramatically new”
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4.  “We all love the big breakthrough, but look at the incremental changes that could
occur in KSA”
– Recognizing that your competitive advantage is not threatened if the world
uses solar, wind, etc because petroleum is used for plenty of things and
also KSA has the lowest cost of extraction by far than anywhere in the
world
– “This region should have a new crop of people who do what I do, seek
ways to use the enormous gift to develop sustainable economic systems to
improve the lives of as many people as possible”
 10x10
– “When KSA build this program, they were not putting KSA in the present,
they were thinking of the future that they wanted and then working back
from 20 or 30 years to make it happen now”
 In places like India you have to both build institutions which serve the poor now as
well as help the rich become and engine of progress for the future
 “The vast expanse of humanity who do not believe that the future holds what you
think it does”
 Before building new innovation we have to ask ourselves: “Does it create a future of
shared prosperity, shared community? Does it encourage participation? This is the
ultimate goal of innovation.
 “In innovation, we also have to realize that there are losers when change happens.”
Answers to Questions from the Audience
1. Global Economic Outlook for 2020?
a. Movement of decision making from the G8 to the G20
b. Reassessment of how we view risk and transparency – no financial crisis
before 2020
c. “The trick is how to keep the prudent risk while not allowing the imprudent risk”
i. The financial sector has not been able to recover as fast as we would
like them to
d. Continued economic growth in many places include the GCC, also depends
on the political progress in places where this growth is not happening in
MENA, like Palestine
i. “If you could clear out the political underbrush in the MENA region we
could maybe have faster growth than even China or India”
ii. Politics is largely focused on the past not the future
e. For those countries which do not take part in this global enterprise, we need
them to diversify their economies for the benefit of all
i. For example African countries which have oil , the money is not used
to diversify the economy and create more opportunities
ii. “We need to use the resources underneath the ground to create more
opportunities for those people that are on top of it”
iii. “We need to do better to recycle the benefits of the resources which
come out of the ground”
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5. f.“When KSA buys the vast tracts of land in Africa, think about the people even
in KSA who have not had access to education”
g. “This region should seek to become the epicenter of the sustainable energy
economy of the world”
2. If you were Saudi Minister of Labor, what would be your first 3 decisions in office:
a. Increasing education and training, such as universities but keep working on
women’s issues after education in the workplace
b. In the past, the wealth was so vast that it was OK if the population was not
involved in the workforce, but there are benefits of work intrinsically for its
psychic benefits and its important effect on a society, ideas:
i. Energy diversity is good for job creation, if you are committed to
spreading its benefits
ii. Global service operation to send Saudis abroad to work on places
where you are buying farmland
iii. Where will the next source of jobs be?
c. “Be patient with yourselves, it has been incredible progress within a short
amount of time”
3. Would you use tax policy to fix inequality
a. “It’s a mistake to tax to excess”
b. In America, despite our faults, “most of us are raised not to resent someone
else for their success if it is fairly won”
c. We need a system that has shared opportunities
d. “There is not a single example of a developed country which is doing well
which does not employ significant government involvement in a fair and
transparent way”
4. What role can a SW F play towards providing short term immediate results towards a
budget deficit?
a. “All over the world most people are employed by SMEs that are trying to get
bigger and get better”
b. “The shape and direction of a company’s economy is often determined by how
easy it is to get into business and how easy to get back into business if you
fail, as well as access to credit”
c. “SW Fs are usually set up for huge major investments, but a portion of it
should be set aside for new businesses and for expansions – we don’t have
all the answers, no one can sit on the stage anywhere in the world
i. “Anyone with access to an aggregation of capital should allocate a
healthy portion of it to medium size businesses”
5. Are you planning to continue your effort with the Peace process?
a. The benefits to both sides would be enormous
b. “If you take a poll in Israel you will get a 2/3 support for an agreement
everyone in this room would be proud of”
c. We all have to keep pushing in that direction
6. Water shortages are a major issue, we need to change bad habits of water usage, I
am holding a competition now for most innovative water campaign
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6. a. Need to ensure that everyone can do productive work and be successful for
society
b. “Conservation of water may make many more net gains at a lower cost than
desalination”
c. “Population growth alone may make water the next oil within 30 years”
Key Quotations
 “Most innovation is based on doing something old better, faster or cheaper, if that is
the case all government policy should be focused on encouraging a constant process
of innovation”
 “When we reduce the amount of time to open a company in KSA by fivefold, we are
doing something we always did, just faster”
 “Sometimes the most important thing we can do in innovation is do something we
have always done better” - this is always the case in government but also often
business
 “We need to get America back in the future business”
 “This region should seek to become the epicenter of the sustainable energy economy
of the world”
 On KSA: “Be patient with yourselves, it has been incredible progress within a short
amount of time”
 “If you could clear out the political underbrush in the MENA region we
could maybe have faster growth than even China or India”
Keynote Speech_Clinton_25 Jan 2011 6 © 2010 Monitor Company Group, L.P. — Confidential