Pankaj Dhingra Guest Blogger

Davos Wrapup February 4, 2008 at 6:10 PM

Thinking back to the Davos experience, these are my observations in a random order:

1. Davos is an excellent forum for the leaders of the world’s nations and companies to come together, exchange ideas and form consensus on various issues; and swap ideas on how their counterparts are handling some common issues. It is so because the forum has a very informal setting - people mingle without their security details or bag-men buzzing around them. While having coffee in the lounge area or during receptions, you run into thought leaders and experts on various subjects, CEOs of large companies, ministers from various national governments and, most importantly, Technology Pioneers. Discussions are almost always cordial and two-way. People are open about their agreements and disagreements, respecting various perspectives and seeking rational arguments for various points of view.
2. The world is very big and we know very little of it. Sitting here in the US, even those of us who pride ourselves on being ‘global’ through extensive travel around the world don’t know a tenth of what is really going on in the world. I will never pretend that Davos is the place to discover the world, but I was amazed at the stuff I learned through informal chats with social entrepreneurs from various places (‘Africa is the next Asia’, etc.), researchers from the cutting edge of science (‘mood control through magnetic waves’), etc.
3. Climate change is a top priority for the world. Duh!, you say but looking at some of the recent policy failures in the US, you wouldn’t think so. However, rest of the world, even Asian countries like India and China, are keyed in on this issue and struggling to find a balance between growth aspirations of their people and the effect of emissions on the climate change. Although policy frameworks are being debated and implemented, I believe that it will take strong and entrepreneurial business talent to guide the world out of the climate mess that we find ourselves in.
4. Water has risen to be near the top of the agenda, as it should. The issue of a viable business model still remains unsolved.
5. Adaptation to climate change is still getting short shrift and that amazes me. Regardless of what we do on GTG emissions, climate change is upon us and violent environmental events are already a reality. I wish that the world paid a little more attention to taking steps that risk-proof people from environmental events and have strong emergency prepared infrastructure.
6. Swiss are a wonderful wacky people – where else in the world can you play golf in snow?

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