AUTO FUTURETECH

Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Auto FutureTech Summit event series was developed in response to a perceived need for an international forum that would bring together all stakeholders who stand to be affected by the transformation taking place in the auto industry.

This inaugural event took place March 12-14, 2008 in conjunction with GLOBE 2008, the 10th Biennial Conference and Trade Fair on Business and the Environment in Vancouver, Canada. The profound changes looming for the automotive industry were discussed, based on the common acceptance at the highest level of automotive companies and governments that oil alone would not supply all of the worlds rapidly growing automotive energy requirements, and that climate change would affect the technologies used in the cars of the future. This international issue, integral to the challenges relating to climate change and energy, and critical to the global automotive market was addressed on a global stage among leaders related to the auto industry from not only North America but also Europe and Asia, where changes have been happening at a rapid pace.

After the success of the inaugural Summit in 2008, the Auto FutureTech Summit was held in March 2010, once more in conjunction with the GLOBE Biennial Conference and Trade Fair. This was an elite global gathering of representatives of the automotive and fuel sector’s major stakeholders: OEMs, suppliers, financiers, oil and gas producers, electric utilities, labour unions, maintenance providers, insurance/reinsurance, agribusiness, civil society groups, and policy makers. They explored together the key issues, challenges and opportunities that have been confronting the global automobile industry over the past few years.