Release of 11.09.2013
"Vienna, September 11, 2013: Do good, have fun and the money will come": In line with his core message the successful British entrepreneur, pioneer and self-made billionaire Sir Richard Branson will speak in Vienna on October 8, 2013 about sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship. At the focus of this year's future.talk entitled "The Pioneer Effect. New Spirit For A New Tomorrow." is the question, how one can change the world positively and simultaneously have a successful business.For the unconventional thinker Branson, it is not monetary aspects that have the highest priority, but social and ecological standards. Be it in his own enterprises or with "Virgin Unite" – his charitable foundation that connects and supports ideas and people who want to contribute to change. In 2006 he announced that he would invest up to three billion dollars in renewable energies. This is the amount that he hoped to earn from the dividends out of Virgin’s transport business over the following ten years.
Richard Branson: "Business Is Like Rock’n’Roll“The story about his business empire, which has created more than 400 companies, reads like the story of a rock band: At the age of 17 the high school dropout Richard Branson founded a magazine called "Student", and only one year later with a small mail-order record business he laid the foundation for his success today. Companies evolved from his "Let's do it" mentality, from a host of different business areas — ranging from aviation to health care, travel to mobile communications. For his extensive achievements as an entrepreneur he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.
The adventurer is also a fascinating personality in terms of his extraordinary leisure time activities: In 1987 he was the first person to cross the Atlantic in a hot-air balloon and in 1998 he completed a recording-making balloon crossing eastwards from Morocco to Hawaii. With his new passion – space tourism – Branson wants to fly even higher: "SpaceShipTwo", developed by "Virgin Galactic", successfully completed its 2nd test flight in September 2013.
Global Networking for a "Low Carbon Economy"Doing business sustainably and responsibly, as Branson practices in his enterprises across the globe, requires the appropriate infrastructure. This has been created over the past decades with the Internet: local borders have been opened up, worldwide know-how sharing and border-crossing communication have been made possible.
Rapid expansion of mobile communications and the Internet have also made it possible for companies to be made accountable permanently, publically and online. Customers share their displeasure with millions of other people via social media channels. While it used to be enough for companies to respond through intense media coverage, today, on an equal footing, they have to quickly confront the permanent dialogue. This dialogue-oriented attitude with constant feedback demands an innovation-friendly environment.
Join in the Discussion: "The Pioneer Effect.
New Spirit For A New Tomorrow."Early on, prior to this year's future.talk, tweeters can send their questions to Richard Branson on twitter. As of today the Telekom Austria Group invites users to write tweets and blogs on the topic "The Pioneer Effect. New Spirit For A New Tomorrow." and to submit them under the hashtag #ftalk13. The most interesting three entries will be rewarded with tickets for future.talk and will be included in the discussion on October 8, 2013.
All details on future.talk 2013 can be found on
www.futuretalk.com and all the current information is also available on
www.twitter.com/TA_GroupAbout future.talkThe event future.talk, which is taking place for the 13th time in 2013, aims to showcase new trends and to discuss current and future social developments. Among the guests of the past years are the philosopher Slavoj Žižek, WWW inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the former US Vice President Al Gore.
