World Economic Forum

2012 World Economic Forum Global Risk Report

by Andrew Maynard January 11, 2012

Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog The World Economic Forum Global Risks Report is one of the most authoritative annual assessments of emerging issues surrounding risk currently produced. Now in its seventh edition, the 2012 report launched today draws on over 460 experts* from industry, government, academia and civil society to provide insight into 50 [...]

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New models needed to master technology trends – World Economic Forum

by Andrew Maynard October 10, 2011

In his opening remarks at this year’s Summit on the Global Agenda, World Economic Forum founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab placed the need for new models to support effective use of technology innovation firmly on the table. This is the fourth year I have participated in the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Summit – [...]

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Davos 2011 – Committed to changing the state of the world

by Andrew Maynard February 1, 2011

Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. As it did last year, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos has left me with a daunting task – how do I summarize the highlights of the meeting in a single, short post? The answer of course is that I can’t – Davos is so complex, diverse [...]

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Davos 2011 – Partnering with teens to build a better world

by Andrew Maynard January 29, 2011

This is not a science and technology post – which is a bit odd for a science and technology blog.  But I wanted to introduce five people who together shake up the whole idea of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos as being an elitist and increasingly irrelevant gathering of middle aged balding guys [...]

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Davos 2011: Global Risks permeate conversations this year, but where’s the science?

by Andrew Maynard January 29, 2011

Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. Take a metaphorical slice through this year’s annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, and Global Risk would be writ large through every part of it.  Hot on the heels of the sixth Global Risk report, this year’s meeting saw the launch of the Risk Response Network – a [...]

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Davos 2011 – physics superstar meets music superstar; talks cosmology

by Andrew Maynard January 28, 2011

I don’t usually write about personal interactions here, but this is one I couldn’t resist – physics superstar Lawrence Krauss talking cosmology with music superstar Peter Gabriel. I was with Lawrence at a World Economic Forum dinner when he bumped into Peter – as one does!  He immediately launched into an animated discussion on the [...]

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Davos 2011: Desperately seeking Google

by Andrew Maynard January 24, 2011

It’s that time of year again – 2000+ of the worlds top movers and shakers are beginning to descend on the Swiss ski town of Davos for this year’s Annual World Economic Forum meeting.  Political heavyweights like Clinton, Annan, Sarkozy and Cameron will be intermingling with the likes of Gates, Bono,  deNiro, Carreras and a [...]

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Building a sustainable future: World Economic Forum tackles the opportunities and challenges presented by technology innovation

by Andrew Maynard January 19, 2011

“Technology doesn’t just happen” – people must be sick of hearing me say this.  Yet as chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies, it’s something I seem to end up saying rather a lot as we strive to help decision-leaders maximize the benefits of technology innovation, while avoiding untoward consequences. [...]

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Nanoparticle Toxicity dropped from the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report

by Andrew Maynard January 12, 2011

As I report on the Risk Science Blog, the latest iteration of the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report has dropped “Nanoparticle Toxicity” as an emerging and significant risk.  Instead, the far more generic “Threats from New Technologies” takes its place. This is a welcome move – but I do have some reservations. Certainly, identifying [...]

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Lost in the Maize

by Andrew Maynard December 3, 2010

As you’ll have gathered from last week’s Lost in the Maize, I’ve been on the road this week.  In fact, I am writing this on the plane back to Detroit, looking forward to a quick wash, shave, sleep, and catch-up with family, before heading off to the Society for Risk Analysis annual meeting in Salt [...]

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Emerging technologies at the World Economic Forum – rethinking integrative approaches to global risks

by Andrew Maynard November 30, 2010

In an interconnected world, global issues demand integrative solutions.  It’s a statement that many people would agree with – in systems where associations between cause and effect are complex, you ignore synergistic inter-relationships between factors at your peril. But when it comes to technology innovation, it seems that the rules don’t apply. This week I [...]

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Lost in the Maize

by Andrew Maynard September 17, 2010

This week I exchanged the maze of academia for an entirely different maze – I spent most of the week at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China.

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The Global Redesign Initiative and the need for up-front investment in sustainable technology innovation

by Andrew Maynard May 31, 2010

The global financial crisis of 2008-09 laid bare the inadequacies of global systems in an increasingly interdependent world, and highlighted the need to rethink the “architecture of global cooperation” – the idea at the core of the World Economic Forum Global Redesign Initiative.  As the World Economic Forum publishes and discusses the outcomes of this [...]

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Davos 2010 wrapup – inspired by youth

by Andrew Maynard January 31, 2010

Well, I’ve survived my first “Davos” and lived to tell the tale.  I feel I should write about how profoundly important and influential these meetings are (and without a doubt, they are).  But it’s two o’clock in the morning, and I wanted to wrap up this blog series with a minimum of effort before hitting [...]

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Davos 2010 – first impressions

by Andrew Maynard January 27, 2010

Having just got back to the hotel at some unseemly hour (at least according to my body clock) from the first full day of meetings at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, I’m trying my best to be disciplined and write some of my impressions up.  As it’s late, I’ll be brief:

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Davos 2010 – Got the mittens, where’s the snow?

by Andrew Maynard January 26, 2010

I‘m sitting here at Dulles Airport waiting for my flight to Zurich and the annual World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos, so I thought I’d dash off a quick blog.  If you’re on the ball, you will realize that by arriving tomorrow, I will be missing most of the first day of the meeting.  This [...]

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From Davos with love

by Andrew Maynard January 24, 2010

This week I’m heading out to the World Economic Forum jamboree in Davos, Switzerland.  I’d like to play this cool – as if rubbing shoulders with politicians, business leaders and celebs is something I do all the time.  But the reality is that this is my first time to what is probably the biggest annual [...]

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What’s technology innovation got to do with it? Final thoughts on the Summit on the Global Agenda

by Andrew Maynard November 22, 2009

As this weekend’s Summit on the Global Agenda came to a close this morning, I was left with an abiding impression of a looming yet largely hidden potential crisis in global security and prosperity: A failure to develop and use technology innovation effectively in serving the growing needs of society. The summit set out to [...]

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Serendipity at the Summit on the Global Agenda

by Andrew Maynard November 21, 2009

Good brainstorms are oft anticipated and rarely encountered.  So I tend to get a little excited when I find myself in one that stimulates rather than stultifies. Today at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda had more than it’s fair share of frustrations – including what I can only describe as a [...]

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From the Summit on the Global Agenda: Technology innovation as an enabler of social innovation

by Andrew Maynard November 20, 2009

It’s the end of day one at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda, and I’m sitting in my rather comfortable hotel room overlooking Palm Island, trying to pull my thoughts together. It was a day for meeting old friends, making new acquaintances, listening to stirring speeches and exploring new challenges.  As you [...]

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