Franz Heukamp : “We Cannot Afford to Enter Into a New Crisis”

Dean Franz Heukamp opened the 24^th Healthcare Industry Meeting, which brought to the Barcelona campus more than 200 business leaders from the sector. Amid the political uncertainty Catalonia is experiencing, Heukamp in his speech encouraged business leaders to work for social cohesion.

The Full Text of the Dean’s Speech

Welcome to the 24^th Healthcare Industry Meeting at IESE.

This year’s theme is “Building a Sustainable Healthcare Model.”

The healthcare sector is a key sector in society. It plays a fundamental role in the life of every individual and in that of families, as do all issues related to health. It is one of the most important sectors of the economy because of the volume of resources it involves.

I would like to thank KPMG, and partner Cándido Pérez, for their support of this meeting, and La Vanguardia and Russell Reynolds for their collaboration.

Additionally, I would like to highlight the work of Professor Núria Mas, academic director of the meeting, and the contribution of Professor Pedro Nueno, who began this annual meeting 24 years ago.

Characterized by its complexity, the health sector must combine restrictions with innovation. Everything, from the perspective of helping the patient and providing quality, sustainable service for society.

The health sector is also characterized by the interaction between the public and private spheres. We have to be dynamic and work without pre-conceived notions to reach shared solutions that as I mentioned before help patients and their families and are economically sustainable.

At the same time, looking at the current situation in Catalonia and Spain, I would like to share some thoughts about the times in which we are living.

There is great tension in Catalonia and Spain, which is causing many people to suffer. We are all living this tension on a daily basis.

We see that the uncertainty is creating tensions and is leading companies to postpone investment decisions, etc. This is hurting the economy of Catalonia and the rest of Spain. And the longer this uncertainty lasts, the more damage we will suffer, and, as always in an economic crisis, the weakest will be most affected.

We have not yet overcome all the negative consequences, such as unemployment, of the last economic crisis. We cannot afford to enter into a new crisis.

IESE is a part of the University of Navarra, with its headquarters in Pamplona, and has campuses in New York, Munich, Sao Paulo, Barcelona and Madrid.

We are a community of more than 500 people, with more than 150 professors. We have more than 45,000 alumni. It is only logical that they have diverse opinions on policy issues, etc.

We value this, and as an educational institution we try to create a space of learning, reflection and progress, respecting entirely the opinion of each individual.

Our professors have published studies, papers and opinion articles based on their expertise as academics, with the intention of helping everyone to form their own opinion.

Research throughout these years has confirmed that a stable institutional and legal framework is key to economic development. We all must respect this.

It is important that we all work with a sense of institutional responsibility. Each person within his or her realm of action: legislators, judges, government leaders… This is a moment that requires maximum responsibility on the part of all of us.

In this situation, we are very concerned about the social divisions that we are living. We see a divided society and we must think about ways to heal the wounds that have been made.

We are encouraging our Alumni to actively promote social cohesion and to highlight that which unites us.

Finally, I would like to thank you for the work that, as health sector managers, you are doing to recover political, social and economic stability.

Thank you very much.