About Us
Since 1992 Adam Smith Conferences have been developing a range of high-calibre industry forums, which attract thousands of key decision makers from governments and industry each year. Many of these events are now established annual gatherings, which offer unrivalled insights into market trends and developments, investment opportunities, and commercial strategies for success.
Adam Smith Conferences have provided platforms for debate across many industry sectors including: energy, transport, banking & financial services, consumer goods, real estate, investments, pharmaceuticals, mining & metals, pulp & paper, automotive, agribusiness and IT.
Our events focus on all emerging markets, however, over the last decade, our experience and extensive contacts have enabled us to create a highly specialised niche in Russia and the CIS.
Today we are the market leader for conferences in Russia and the CIS!
The consistent high quality of our events has given rise to a reputation for excellence, ensuring that Adam Smith conferences provide the most fertile ground for participants to gain up-to-the-minute market intelligence and invaluable opportunities to network and generate new business.
On the 4th of July 2008, the Adam Smith Institute unveiled the world's first major public monument to Adam Smith - the great Scottish economist, philosopher, and author of The Wealth of Nations.
The monument, which takes the form of a 10-foot bronze statue on a massive stone plinth, sits on Edinburgh's Royal Mile - right in the heart of Scotland's capital city, where Adam Smith worked and died. The statue was created by Alexander Stoddart, Scotland's leading monumental sculptor, and was unveiled by Nobel Laureate Economist Professor Vernon L. Smith.
The statue's position - in an ancient marketplace - could hardly be more appropriate. The monument is within view of the recent statue of Smith's friend David Hume, looking downhill to the Canongate (where Smith is lived and is buried), towards the harbour of Leith (with its connotations of trade and commerce), and over the sea to the county of Fife, where Smith was born.
The Statue shows Smith in later life - he spent his last years in Edinburgh - but still strong. Behind him is a plough, modelled from a contemporary plough in the Scottish Farming Museum, reminding us of the agrarian economics which Smith supplanted. Before him is a beehive, a symbol of the industry on which he believed progress was based. On top is a globe on which Smith rests his hand - made invisible by his academic gown. The gown itself reminds us of Smith the philosopher, exploring eternal ideas; and behind, St. Giles's Cathedral completes the evocation. From the other side, we see Smith's 18thC dress, with the City Chambers beyond, reminding us of Smith the economist, dealing with practical matters. His neckware is modelled on that worn by Thomas Jefferson, his wig is based on one of George Washington's - recalling Smith's strong support for free trade with America.
As Dr Eamonn Butler, the director of the ASI, said:
This honour is long overdue. As author of The Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith was the pioneer of what today we call economics. He championed the benefits of specialization and free trade, creating the very idea of the modern market economy that dominates the free world today.
About Adam Smith:
Dr. Adam Smith (1723 – 1790) was the celebrated British philosopher and economist best known for "The Wealth of Nations", his pioneering book on free trade and market economics. His ideas laid the foundation for the free market economies of the 21st Century, and although conceived over 300 years ago, Adam Smith’s ideas are as significant and relevant today as ever.
The Adam Smith Institute is Britain's leading innovator of market economic policies. Since 1977, it has played a key role in the analysis and development of public policies and has published over 300 influential policy reports. It has been part of a worldwide movement towards free markets and free trade. It encourages discussion of policy ideas through its websites, conferences, newspapers, radio and television.
The Institute pioneered privatization both in Britain and around the world. It helped to develop many of the techniques which have set the standard for transforming ailing state operations into successful private businesses. It was in the vanguard of replacing central planning and state controls by incentives, market opportunities and an entrepreneurial culture.
The Institute is independent, non-party and non-partisan, and maintains good relations with policy makers across the political divide. It is non-profit and enjoys the support of a wide range of companies, foundations and individuals who understand it's role in the policy making process. Project sponsorship and the income from its many conferences and publications are equally important.
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Adam Smith Institute Tel: + 44 20 7222 4995 |
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