Davos Switzerland is famous for ground breaking advancements in social programs. Each year technology has become more and more center stage at the schmooze fest for global titans, although this year Iraq was also high on the agenda.
Last night I watched a special on CNN live from Davos, hosted by Becky Anderson, called “Our Networked World” with a live audience who each had a wireless device to provide polling to questions asked during the discussion. The panel was a good mix of industry experts and the topic was Web 2.0.
Most of the conferences related to technology are upbeat and positive, however in some regards they seem like a promotion opportunity for some of the participants, like the founders of FaceBook and Flickr but it was cool to see Mitch Kapor (founder of Groove) on the panel and a person I now have more respect for, Tom Glocer the CEO of Reuters, whom Paula once played tennis with. Also, Tom has a blog that’s quite interesting.
It’s always cool to see Bono sitting on the same panel as Tony Blair and in the audience powerful Hollywood celebrities, hopefully these sorts of soirée’s help to improve the world. Certainly the ongoing discussion’s related to the “War on Terrorism” and the Invasion of Iraq have some value. Today I noticed a quote from a participant that really hit’s home;
“Iraq was put under occupation, which was an idiot decision,”
Iraqi Vice President Mahdi said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Mahdi’s party, the powerful Shi’ite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was one of the exiled opposition parties consulted by Washington as it planned the invasion.
President Lula of Brazil will speak at the conference about the improvements his government have made in feeding the poor of Brazil, so I’ll be watching for the results of that speech, which will be presented initially in Portuguese, since Lula can’t speak English.
Probably the most impressive thing about the World Economic Forum in Davos is the sheer number of Blogger’s sharing the thoughts and ideas of the conference delegates, plus the media regurgitating the sound-bites and content, oh also the number, variety and stature of it’s attendees is very impressive. It’s amazing that a single event can bring so many movers ‘n shakers together for the common good of the planet.
There are 2 places to get information directly from the World Economic Forum, either the web site or the Blog.
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