Profound political, economic, social and, above all, technological forces are transforming our lives, communities and institutions. New global social communication channels are shifting the way decisions are being made from a hierarchical approach to a networked approach, with more access regardless of age, gender, and location. Given these large scale global changes, how do world leaders develop the insights, initiatives, and actions necessary to respond to current and emerging challenges?
That is what Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers and a team of Cisco executives will discuss this week at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. They will join other business leaders to meet with 250 top political leaders and heads of international organizations to discuss how global governance can be improved through public-private cooperation. The theme of the event is “The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business.”
John will speak on a panel entitled “The New Digital Context: What societal, economic and technological forces are reshaping the digital landscape?” The panel will be moderated by George Cologny, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Forrester Research and also includes Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, and Gavin Patterson, CEO of the BT Group. You can watch the panel on the WEF website from 9 to 10 a.m. CET (12 to 1 a.m. PST) on Wednesday, January 22.
Cisco executives in attendance will be Tae Yoo, Senior Vice President , Corporate Affairs; Chris Dedicoat, President, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia; Chuck Robbins, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations; and Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer. Cisco attendees will share their insights on how information and communication technology (ICT) can drive continuous innovation and enable sustainable growth. They will also share information about Cisco’s leading corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which use the Internet of Everything to deliver positive impact through public-private partnerships.
This video overview of CSR activities will be shown at WEF:
Tae Yoo is a table host at a discussion about Technology for Humanity moderated by Al Gore on Wednesday. Tae recently wrote a blog for the Cisco CSR-sponsored Impact X section of the Huffington Post called How Empowering Women in IT Can Spur Economic Development. CTO Padmasree Warrior is a well-known Twitter user. You can follow the account of her activities at WEF at http//twitter.com/Padmasree.
John’s talk and the WEF twitter conversation (#WEF2014) will be shown live on the Cisco CSR website, csr.cisco.com. For more information about how to watch the public WEF sessions and follow the conversation, please refer to the World Economic Forum website.
Great piece on Cisco’s role at an important summit!
Interesting what role Cisco will play as the new zeitgeist of Contextual Computing, Wearables, The Internet of Things and Big Data [especially Privacy and Security] emerges in mobile and social platforms. Great event synopsis Jennifer Barr!
Thanks Jeris. Many tech execs I talk with tell me how the internet of everything is impacting their business. Cisco’s monthly digital newsletter, FOCUS just came out with a new addition today and the focus is on cyber security. It includes industry trends, reports and predictions. Interesting read: http://cs.co/9000eBXK
Thanks for this great opening into navigating what’s really going on at Davos. So hard to know where to start from the outside, and this gives us a nice entry — and good understanding of the bigger picture of what Cisco is doing.
Thank you Kevin! WEF is a gathering where there are many important conversations going on in addition to the sessions on livestream.
Great to see how much the World Economic Forum values innovation.
Excellent coverage of important issues addressed at the WEF, especially the importance of empowering women through IT education/opportunities. CISCO serves as a role model for other IT companies to follow. Thank You.
Great job! I love the focus on disruptive technology. that’s where we make leaps and bounds in innovation!
Jennifer– This question of “how do world leaders develop the insights, initiatives, and actions necessary to respond to current and emerging challenges” coupled with how can we drive continuous innovation and enable sustainable growth– are central challenges to the world at large.
My questions are: What are the tools for massively scaling initiatives to create jobs and wealth, impact the world, and generate new solutions to big problems? How do we design ecosystems to empower innovators and entrepreneurs?
Jennifer, I would personally like to invite your or the Global Innovation Summit next month in your backyard where we will be seeking the “solve” for many innovation ecosystems.
The Global Innovation Summit (www.innosummit.com) on February 17-19, 2014 is a conference in Silicon Valley on how to foster the growth of innovation ecosystems. The event seeks to catalyze systemic, sustainable innovation across organizations, communities, and countries.
Best,
Ann
Very objective coverage of Cisco’s role at the summit. I look forward to the followup. As a location independent business person I find this sort of coverage particularly valuable.
Thanks Jennifer for the super informative update on CISCOs role in Davos. Very helpful for me to know, as I’ll be giving a keynote on Clarity, Creativity and Connection at the CISCO North American Distributor’s conference next week.
Jennifer, I’m glad that CISCO had the Presence of mind to invite you to Davos, and to hear your reports from there.
Please look for Stanford Engineering’s Tina Seelig, as she will be presenting a few times at Davos.
Nice to see WEF inviting real people, beyond the glitz and glamor of those already at Charlie Rose’s table.
Whenever they want to discuss SustainableBanking.Stanford.edu, feel free to connect us!
After all, the Internet of Things will be useless only if banks reward sustainable practices and impacts…
Thanks Bruce! I am helping cover WEF from California. A team of people from Corporate Affairs, the division where I work is going to Davos, including 2 of the senior leaders. They are well versed in discussing how business and technology can be used to make a positive impact in a number of key global areas so I look forward to hearing back from them. One thing Cisco does a lot is public/private partnerships to multiply impact and that is part of the theme of the conference this year. Yes, the role of banking and finance is important!
This is such an important topic. I look forward to hearing his Monday morning session!
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments. Here are the videos from Day 1: http://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2014
Thanks Jennifer Barr. I have already seen the videos from Day 2. Hope you will share the Day 2 for everyone anymore