President Shirley Ann Jackson attended the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland, this past week, January 23–27. The World Economic Forum gives leaders from around the world the opportunity to shape and develop the global agenda, as well as address specific priorities that need to be focused on.
The forum drew over 2,500 leaders from 88 countries, including 27 heads of state, 113 cabinet ministers, as well as numerous religious and media leaders. The majority of the participants were business executives from major companies in the world who have a role in shaping the future of their industry. Jackson called the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting “an extraordinary opportunity for those who will lead in this effort to pause and reflect on these challenges and opportunities and work together to identify the most effective paths forward.”
Leaders from around the world are given this chance to collaborate on bringing great change to the world. “Innovation will drive the world economies, sustaining prosperity for those who are doing well, and working to enhance opportunities for rising nations and peoples. However, we must realize—and plan for—the use of scant resources as all grow together. This is particularly crucial in the area of global energy security,” explained Jackson before her trip to Davos.
The meeting centered around five topics under the categories of business, economics and finance, geopolitics, science and technology, and values and society. Co-chair and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair said, “This is a moment of greater insecurity and challenge in the world today, but it makes a meeting like this all the more important. The theme of the Annual Meeting, ‘The Power of Collaborative Innovation’ is the answer to all the big global challenges we are facing.”
On the first day of the meeting there was a Davos Brainstorming, in which participants collectively identified the most urgent threats to growth and itemized a plan of action. This opening session targeted the major threats that the world faces, including terrorism, climate change, and water conservation.
In addition to contributing to the opening session, there were 240 workshops for participants to engage in over the five days, the Davos WorkSpace. The WorkSpace applied the forum’s theme of collaboration; colleagues worked together to examine opportunities for improving our world. Those who participated in the WorkSpace called it a relaxed, creative environment, unlike the formal brainstorming sessions that usually come with this type of work. Jackson was invited to participate in three of the forums: “A New Age of Technonationalism?” “Nuclear Energy vs. Non-Proliferation,” and “Going Nuclear to Fight Climate Change.” The formation of these groups allowed people who may not have interacted with each other to share ideas, creating the potential for new and continual action in the years to come.
Jackson was one of 25 invited to attend the Global University Leaders Forum. University leaders from around the world met to discuss the issues of global governance, sustainability, intellectual property, and internationalization of the university. Before leaving for the Annual Meeting, Jackson stated that together the university leaders “will work to identify opportunities to enhance collaboration among universities, engaging with the larger community, on issues of global impact. Rensselaer is preparing the next generation of innovators, who will lead in the global marketplace. Through these discussions, we seek to enhance the environment in which they, and their colleagues from around the world, will operate.”
The meeting closed with the call for a new form of collaboration and innovation to address the conflict of globalization. Blair explained that there needs to be stronger political collaboration, “If we are interconnected and the world is interconnected, the only way for the world to work is to have a set of common values. We have no option but to work together.”
