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MANAGEMENT’S COMMENTARY
As another financial year comes to an end, it is time to reflect on the activities of Aarhus Symposium during the past year. It is with great pride that we, the Steering Committee of Aarhus Symposium 2021, can share some of the many great results and memories of 2021.
A New Reality
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From 4 metres high trees in the Upper-S-Building to a world-class speaker line-up, “A New Reality” has truly come to life through the hard work and tough decisions made by the organising committee of 2021.
Our 10-year anniversary was marked with an extraordinary line-up of international speakers. These speakers shared their thoughts on what “A New Reality” means to them and the organisations they represent. As this year’s speaker line-up was particularly diverse in terms of both gender and ethnicity, their perspectives were highly heterogeneous and spanned from thoughts on how to succeed in today’s everchanging economic landscape to the importance of fighting climate change.
At Aarhus Symposium Focus 2021, students and a panel of four experts discussed how to balance profit and impact and whether today’s firm should solely focus on profit maximisation or serving a higher corporate purpose.
This year’s Aarhus Symposium Challenge had students address challenges put forth by Joe Kaeser, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Siemens Energy, Helle Ø. Kristiansen, CEO of Danske Commodities, and Kim Fournais, CEO and Founder of Saxo Bank.
For the fourth consecutive year, all seats at Aarhus Symposium and Aarhus Symposium Focus were given to students who shared their thoughts in an essay. Once again, international interest in Aarhus Symposium rose as we received essays from students in Italy, Argentina, and Belgium.
A Progressing Organisation Thank You
Numerous aspects of Aarhus Symposium were changed this year. Among several accomplishments, we managed to build our own participant essay management system and consolidate two of our physical events, “Theme Announcement” and “Challenge Launch”, into one. Additionally, we devised a new strategy to ensure the continuing growth of the organisation. Initiatives like these back our beliefs that Aarhus Symposium will continue to progress beyond the time of our governance.
Financial Results
Aarhus Symposium 2021 generated net profits of DKK 27,270. Seeing as Aarhus Symposium is non-profit organisation, we view this as a very satisfying result. We recommend that these profits are transferred to equity as retained earnings.
On a final note, we would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to all leaders of today and tomorrow who shared their thoughts and insights on “A New Reality” at Aarhus Symposium 2021. We would also like to thank all our partners and foundations as well as Aarhus University and Aarhus BSS for their in-valuable support towards making Aarhus Symposium 2021 possible.
Last but not least, we want to express a very special thank you to the volunteer organisers whose endless drive and dedication resulted in a successful 10-year anniversary of Aarhus Symposium. Without these passionate people, Aarhus Symposium 2021 would not have been the same.
