GLOBAL THINK TANK | Diplomatic Council

The Diplomatic Council serves as a Global Think Tank by bringing the world’s leading thought leadership from Diplomatic Council members across a wide variety of industries.

As a UN-accredited organization, selected members are afforded prestigious opportunities to speak at UN events as well as premier conferences. Further, many of our members provide media interviews, write opinion pieces, and publish white papers. The Diplomatic Council, in partnership with other organizations, has spearheaded numerous key initiatives and projects around the world. The Diplomatic Council’s Global Think Tank activities operate in the form of forums.

The Diplomatic Council Forums are knowledge sharing groups lead by thought leaders across a variety of topics. Currently, there are over 25 forums across sectors, and Diplomatic Council members come together to share best practices, exchange ideas, and provide support and mentoring to the Diplomatic Council member community.

Forum topics include Social Entrepreneurship, Fair Finance, Technology, Internet of Things, Media, Healthcare, amongst others. Diplomatic Council members may submit their ideas to lead a Forum to the Diplomatic Council Executive Committee for approval.

Social Entrepreneurship

While technological innovations are widely promoted, social innovations are still largely overlooked. The societal development cannot always keep up with the rapid technological advancement and challenges of a modern dynamic environment. The Diplomatic Council (DC, therefore, launched the DC Global Social Entrepreneurship Forum. It will focus on the possible impact of social innovation on the economy and society. The objective of the forum is to promote Social Entrepreneurship as a tool for social change in politics, business, civil society, and within the United Nations. The Diplomatic Council will develop guidelines for international good impact, efficiency analyses, publications, and work toward networking with stakeholders on a global scale to support Social Enterprises to become even more successful.

Fair Finance

Fairness is one of the most important normative ideals in global society and encompasses concepts such as respect, reciprocity, inclusion, reliability, and justice. Enjoyable and successful interaction is dependent on actors treating each other fairly and thereby, exemplifying integrity. Without fairness, maintaining a good society over the long term is simply not possible. This observation applies to the financial system just as much as it does to the general societal context. Thereby, fairness is not only a catalyst for the productivity of the financial sector. It is also a condition which needs to be met in order for the system to continue to function effectively and for it to enjoy societal legitimation. Without fairness, the modern financial system is not able to realize its full potential in modern society and in the long term, the very existence of the system is threatened.

Role of the financial markets in society

In order to delineate what exactly fairness in the financial sector means, it is important to understand the role of financial markets in society. In recent years, the financial system has become de-coupled from the real economy and has taken on a life of its own. In order to understand Fair Finance, it is important to bear in mind that the financial world cannot live without the real economy and should be subservient to it. The non-tangible assets in the financial system have no value so long as the real assets which they are related to are worthless; be it a share which represents the value of the respective share of the capital goods and human resources of a company; or a currency for which the value depends on the consumption and investment opportunities in the area where the currency is accepted. For this reason, every actor in the financial markets has an interest in ensuring that the financial markets fulfill their role of enhancing the productivity of real markets.

The DC Fair Finance Forum takes a position on the topic of Fair Finance. The goal is to offer points of orientation regarding how the idea of Fair Finance can be filled with life and which implications for the financial sector these ideas have. To this end, three principles will be formulated alongside three pre-requisites which are deemed necessary in order for the principles to be fulfilled. These ideas, however, should not be considered to be final and complete. Instead, they are intended to serve as the starting point for an open, controversial and fair discussion.

Technology

The Diplomatic Council Technology Forum is geared towards bringing together leading minds in Technology. The Technology Forum facilitates knowledge sharing, best practices in technology, and thought leadership on a variety of topics including big data, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and technology for social good amongst others. The Diplomatic Council is a proponent of data transparency and the power of big data in driving decision making for organizations, governments, and citizens alike. Members of the Diplomatic Council Technology Forum bring together a rich body of expertise that transcend across industry sectors.

Internet of Things

The Diplomatic Council sees the digital transformation and the Internet of Things as more than technology – it sees it as a driver for change in humankind’s livelihood. The Internet of Things forms the bridge between the digitization of the world and everyday reality and therefore represents a fundamental evolution with consequences for the future of civilization that cannot yet be predicted. The Commission on Science and Technology of the United Nations, therefore, adopted key issues such as the Internet of Things and Big Data in its 2030 Agenda.

The IoT allows a different type of cooperation thanks to the transparency and speed of technology. For businesses, real-time technologies and their spread, for example via smartphones and open platforms, have made the barrier to market entry lower than ever before. This explains the effect of “digitization” from a market perspective. From a corporate perspective, digitization means the flow of data, for example through sensors in business processes, and into the market, for example for the purpose of customer relations. In other words, digitization means the flow of software in transactions and analysis.

It is against this background that the Diplomatic Council is pushing for a step-up in international debate about the digitization of civilization and its consequences and sees itself in this process as a neutral moderator. By the think tank’s estimation, until now, not nearly enough attention has been paid to the great potential of digitization, not only for business but for the public sector as well. Governments, the private sector, and civil society are all called upon in their respective roles in equal measure to establish common principles, standards, rules, and procedures.

Healthcare

The Diplomatic Council medical program is designed for patients striving for more safety, security and quality and for healthcare organizations offering highest quality treatment for international patients within the scope of medical tourism, tourism medicine, and medical services for business travelers and expatriates - seeking for international recognition and accreditation.

The quality seal will be awarded after the successful passing of the Temos International Healthcare Accreditation program. Temos International is a neutral and independent accreditation body that accredits hospitals, clinics, dental center, IVF clinics, rehabilitation centers, eye clinics, and medical travel coordinators all around the world to raise the quality of medical and non-clinical services for international patients.

The Diplomatic Council appreciates the Temos International approach trusting in the Temos quality system and the experience of the international assessors that have many years of experiences in the medical sector as physicians and quality experts.

Medical facilities applying for the Diplomatic Council quality certificate to become listed in the Official Accredited Partner Online Directory have to complete the accreditation programs of Temos International Healthcare Accreditation. All Temos partners listed in the Online Directory are certified by the Diplomatic Council which provides access to this online directory to embassies, consulates general, international institutions and the various organizations of the UN Family as required. The online directory of Temos International and the Diplomatic Council thus represents a valuable building block in international medical care. The listed facilities belong to the global elite in their field because they are the only ones to be simultaneously certified by Temos and the Diplomatic Council with UN Consultative Status. Presently, more than 80 medical service providers and medical travel coordinators from the United States of America to the Philippines have passed the quality check by Temos International Healthcare Accreditation. A geographical overview can be viewed here.

MORE INFORMATION