Dear Alumni and Friends of the Institute!

2010 was another successful year for the ICI! With the effects of the economic downturn in almost all of our partner countries over, the ICI is finally back to pre-crisis growth rates.

I am very much enjoying seeing our ICI partner network grow: With Fernando Palop (Spain/Portugal) and Franck Mathot (France) two more partners have joined ranks of the ICI management. In addition new representatives covering the Czech Republic and India respectively have also joined.

Certainly my personal 2010 highlight was a keynote address I was privileged to present at the Chinese Conference on Competitive Intelligence in December in Beijing. The week I spent in Beijing was a pleasant eye-opener for me, challenging my pre-conceptions about China and its economy. Add the enormous hospitality of my hosts and the bristling atmosphere of a never sleeping gigantic capital city, then you’ll certainly understand why I am so excited about what the ICI has achieved in 2010.

Quite some time and effort in 2010 has already been invested in the upcoming international CI conference to be held in April 2011. After two successful German language conferences for the first time the ICI is organizing an English language event. As another first we are teaming up with the French ATELIS/ESCM’s European Competitive Intelligence Symposium. By blending the scholarly world with the hard-nosed practitioner’s perspective we aim to create a unique learning and exchange environment. I expect this stellar event to be an innovative, high-energy and sustainable one for all participants. Discussions with the organizing committee, speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, supporting partners and enrolled participants confirm that my excitement and expectations are well founded.

And of course you can expect the ICI to roll-out several surprises in 2011.

Rainer Michaeli

Director Institute for Competitive Intelligence