Mr. Rolf Hoffmann, Senior Vice President of International Commercial Operations for Amgen, shares remarks with roundtable participants.

On Monday, November 14, 2011 Meridian International Center and Amgen Inc., kicked off Global Entrepreneurship Week with a roundtable discussion chaired by Ambassador Stuart Holliday on Streamlining Innovation: Accelerating Entrepreneurship Abroad. Meridian was pleased to welcome Ms. Shelly Porges, Senior Advisor for the U.S. State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) and Mr. Rolf Hoffmann, Senior Vice President of International Commercial Operations for Amgen. Ms. Porges and Mr. Hoffmann spoke about the current state of innovation and entrepreneurship and opportunities for advancement in the public and private sectors, respectively.

Ms. Shelly Porges, Senior Advisor for the U.S. State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP), Meridian President and CEO, Ambassador Stuart Holliday and Amgen’s Rolf Hoffmann provide their insights on “Streamlining Innovation.”

Roundtable participant, Mr. Christopher Schroeder, CEO of HealthCentral, also shared his unique reflections on the innovation and start-up businesses being driven by young people in the Middle East following the Arab Spring movement. The conversation turned to entrepreneurship in a variety of fields, from healthcare and biotechnology to job creation and national security. With a general conclusion that international cooperation and entrepreneurship must go hand-in-hand, the roundtable discussion concluded and attendees were given time to network and meet their counterparts.