24 April 2017. Organised by the International Students Committee (ISC), the three-day English-language symposium brings together about 600 decision makers from business, politics and science and 200 students and young entrepreneurs from more than 50 countries.

Symposium contributors
Who benefits from change and who suffers its consequences? What decisions in dealing with disruption are relevant and who makes them? Those are some of the topics symposium attendees will consider. Guests include personalities such as J. Erik Fyrwald, Chief Executive Officer of Syngenta; Santiago Calatrava, architect and artist; Shamma Al Mazrui, Minister for Youth Work of the United Arab Emirates; Christoph Franz, Chairman of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd; Neal Cross, Chief Innovation Officer of DBS Bank; Anat Bar Gera, Chairwoman of Cyverse AG; Ong Ye Kung, Education Minister of Singapore; Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator of The Financial Times; Susanne Ruoff, Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Post; Anders Samuelsen, Foreign Minister of Denmark; Sir John Scarlett, former head of the MI6; Prof. Miriam Meckel, Editor of WirtschaftsWoche; MIT Professor and Twitter-media-scientist Deb Roy and Federal Councillor Johann N. Schneider-Ammann. The programme includes discussions, workshops and lectures.

Conference topic "The dilemma of disruption"
Disruptive innovation – a term introduced in 1997 by Clayton Christensen in his book "The Innovator’s Dilemma" – concerns all of us. Despite Christensen’s controversial proposition, even critics acknowledge now – two decades later – that the sudden decline of market leaders and political institutions happens with increasing frequency. Few management theories have had such great influence on the business world and our society as the concept of disruptive innovation. With the title "The Dilemma of Disruption", the 47th St. Gallen Symposium will approach this topic in its entirety. In addition to discussing the sources of radical changes, the symposium’s attendees will work on solutions for positive outcomes. Management is not the only area experiencing disruption. The repercussions of radical changes in the economy and society are diverse and affect several spheres. Thus, it is vital for the student organizers of the symposium to shape the disruption debate in a sustained manner and to discuss radical changes from intergenerational and interdisciplinary perspectives.