As the research frontier moves forward, and markets and best practices change, so do our investment strategy. We invite to dialogue and collaboration with academics, peers and practitioners with an aim of improving our investment strategy and results. Under the Norwegian Finance Initiative, we support academic institutions in attracting international researchers to Norway, reward outstanding research contributions, issue grants to students for doctoral studies in financial economics and provide long-term incentives to promote high-quality financial research.
Our analyses are informed by our research and experience as a large, long-term investment manager. The Discussion note series provides a basis for our investment strategy and advice to the fund’s owner. The Asset manager perspective series presents views on topics relevant to the financial sector. The perspectives are intended to provide useful input for all market participants, and are not official views or policies of Norges Bank Investment Management.
The annual Norwegian Financial Research Conference aims to bridge the gap between the challenges faced by investment professionals and academic researchers in the field of financial economics. We invite leading international scholars and practitioners to join us for talks and discussions on relevant financial topics.
The 10th annual conference took place 27 August. It focused on the role of indices in modern asset management. The external speakers was: Professor Anna Pavlova, London Business School. Professor Lasse H. Pedersen, Copenhagen Business School. Robin Wigglesworth, Global finance correspondent, Financial Times. Henry Fernandez, MSCI Chairman and CEO. We also shared some of our insights on this topic.
The management review on the 20-year history of investing responsibly was presented at NBIM Talk on 28 August 2020. The CEO Yngve Slyngstad, Chief Governance Officer Carine Smith Ihenacho and Head of Governance Jonas Jølle, took us through the fund's last 20-years experience as an investor in over 9,000 companies. They discussed how we went from a small, reluctant owner to a large, active owner. We also took a virtual travel to meet Professor Alex Edmans at the London Business School and Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP. They talked about the role of large investors, responsible business conduct and the development of international standards.
The management review on the 20-year history of investing with external managers was presented at NBIM Talk on 16 April. Our CEO, Yngve Slyngstad, and Global Head of External Strategies, Erik Hilde, talked us through the 20-year journey of investing with external managers. We took a virtual travel to meet two of our external managers, located in Shanghai and London.
The management review on the 10-year history of investing in real estate was presented on 4 June 2020. The CEO Yngve Slyngstad and our Chief Investment Officer Real Estate Karsten Kallevig took us through the journey of 10 years of investing in real estate. We also took a virtual travel to meet Mark Burton, a long-term external advisor, and Paul Clark from The Crown Estate, one of our long-term investment partners.
The Norwegian Finance Initaitive (NFI) aims to promote finanical economic research and education in Norway.