The Global Agenda 2009

The Global Agenda 2009

This publication is also available in electronic form on the World Economic
Forum’s website at the following address:

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The book is also available as a PDF:

www.weforum.org/pdf/globalagenda.pdf

Other specific information on the Network of Global Agenda Councils can be

found at the following links:

www.weforum.org/globalagenda
www.weforum.org/globalagenda/reports
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The opinions expressed and data communicated in this publication are those of
Global Agenda Council Members and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
World Economic Forum.

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REF:150109
“ What we want to do is to establish
a completely new dimension that
will allow the global opinion and
decision-making processes to be
built much more on strategic “
insights and the most diversified
knowledge we have in this world.

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World

Economic Forum, at the Summit on the Global Agenda in
Dubai, November 2008
 Table of Contents

Preface 9

Introduction 11

Summit on the Global Agenda Reports

Economic Development and Growth 13

Environment and Sustainability 18
Finance and Business 25
Geopolitics and Global Governance 29
Health 34
Regions 38
Society and Values 44
Technology and Innovation 47

Global Issue Profiles

Alternative Energies 52
Benchmarking Progress in Society 56
Challenges of Gerontology 60
Challenges of Nanotechnology 64
Chronic Diseases and Malnutrition 68
Climate Change 72
Corporate Governance 76
Corruption 80
Demographic Shifts 84
Design 88
Diversity 92
Economic Growth and Development 96
Economic Imbalances 100
Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss 104
Emerging Multinationals 108
Empowering Youth 112
Energy Security 116
Entrepreneurship 120
Faith 124
Financial Empowerment 128
Financial Market Development 132
Food Security 136
Fragile States 140
Future of Africa 144
Future of Australia 148
Future of China 152
Future of Entertainment 156
Future of Governments 160
Future of the Internet 164
Future of Japan 168
Future of Korea 172
Future of Latin America 176
Future of Media 180
Future of the Middle East 184
Future of Mining and Metals 188
Future of Mobile Communications 192
Future of Real Estate 196
Future of Russia 200
Future of Sustainable Construction 204
Future of Transportation 208
Gender Gap 212
Geography of Innovation 216
Global Capital Flows 220
Global Governance 224
Global Trade Regime 228
Healthcare Systems 232
HIV/AIDS 236
Human Equality and Respect 240
Humanitarian Assistance 244
Illicit Trade 248
International Legal System 252
Marketing and Branding 256
Migration 260
Mitigation of Natural Disasters 264
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution 268
Pandemics 272
Philanthropy and Social Investing 276
Role of Sports in Society 280
Skills Gap 284
Social Entrepreneurship 288
Strategic Foresight 292
Systemic Financial Risk 296
Technology and Education 300
Terrorism, Proliferation and Weapons of Mass Destruction 304
Trade Facilitation 308
Urban Management 312
Water Security 316
Welfare of Children 320
 Preface
Klaus Schwab
Founder and Executive Chairman

We are at an extraordinary period of history. It is a time of crisis and unprecedented

uncertainty, even fear; but it is also a time of opportunity for change and profound
transformation.

Now, more than ever, we are aware of how globalization has increased our
interconnectedness and how global cooperation is absolutely essential. How we, as a
community of global leaders, proceed in the succeeding months will change the
course of history.

To reflect this enormous responsibility and unparalleled opportunity, “Shaping the

Post-Crisis World” is the theme of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009.
We explore this theme in six tracks:

1. Promoting Stability in the Financial System and Reviving Global Economic Growth
2. Catalysing the Next Wave of Growth through Innovation, Science and Technology
3. Addressing the Challenges of Sustainability and Development
4. Shaping the Values and Leadership Principles for a Post-Crisis World
5. Ensuring Effective Global, Regional and National Governance for the Long Term
6. Understanding the Implications on Industry Business Models

To prepare for this historic Annual Meeting, the Forum conducted the biggest
brainstorming session ever to take place, the Summit on the Global Agenda. Held on
7-9 November 2008 in partnership with the Government of Dubai, the Summit
brought together 700 of the world’s leading minds who are Members of the Network
of Global Agenda Councils, to address the most important challenges facing the
world in a collaborative and integrated way.

The Network of Global Agenda Councils comprises the world’s foremost intelligence
network, with 1,100 Members grouped among 68 Global Agenda Councils. For every
important topic on the global agenda, a Council has been formed, consisting of 15 to
30 of the most innovative and relevant minds from various stakeholder groups,
disciplines and geographic perspectives. Members of the Network of Global Agenda
Councils serve the global community by monitoring key global challenges, elaborating
possible solutions and being available in crisis management situations. The activities
of each Council are structured around four quarterly meetings, three of which are
carried out virtually, through our WELCOM (World Economic Leaders COMmunity)
system, with the fourth being a physical meeting, which constitutes the Summit on
the Global Agenda.

This publication, The Global Agenda 2009, is a distillation of the highlights of the
tremendously relevant discussions that transpired during the Summit. It is designed
to serve as a springboard for the deliberations that take place during the Annual

9
Meeting and aims to enhance our shared understanding of the state of the world by
increasing awareness of the complexity and interlinkages among global issues. It
heightens our appreciation of the urgency and necessity to address global challenges
and it also serves as a resource of recommendations to catalyse the discussions on
how to improve the state of the world.

I would like to thank the Chairpersons and Members of the Network of Global
Agenda Councils for the invaluable insights that made this publication possible.
Special appreciation goes to eight Chairpersons who have provided thematic essays
that synthesize the ideas that emerged from the Summit: David Bloom, John J.
DeGioia, Luiz Fernando Furlan, Kishore Mahbubani, Christopher Murray, Suzanne
Nora Johnson, Josette Sheeran and Paul Twomey.

As we look ahead to a year of profound transformation, we must be both proactive

and long-term oriented, combining the urgency of restoring growth of the global
economy with the need to advance on the long-standing global challenges. Let us
seize the opportunity at this historic Annual Meeting to shape the post-crisis world
with the kind of governance and leadership we have always aspired to have at the
global, national, industry and organizational levels.

10
 Introduction
Fiona Paua
Senior Director, Head of Strategic Insight Teams,
and Head of the Network of Global Agenda Councils

Recognizing the complexity of global challenges and the need for collaborative,
innovative and integrated approaches, in 2008 the World Economic Forum created
the Network of Global Agenda Councils. Professor Schwab’s vision was to bring the
very best minds from various stakeholder and geographic perspectives together to
engage them in ways that not only allow for the best knowledge to emerge but also
enable the exploration of the interlinkages across global issues. In a global
environment often marked by short-term orientation and silo-thinking, the Network of
Global Agenda Councils is intended to foster interdisciplinary and long-range thinking
into the prevailing global challenges.

As envisioned, the Network of Global Agenda Councils is an integral part of the

Forum’s commitment to deliver value to its Partners, Members and other
communities. The insights and undertakings of these Councils feed directly into the
Forum’s activities and processes, with the ultimate goal of realizing the Forum’s vision
of having a positive and direct impact in shaping the global, industry and regional
agendas.

This publication provides an overview of the discussions that took place during the
inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda. The Summit was uniquely structured to
allow intense deliberations at the Council level, combined with opportunities for
interactions across Councils and with the broader Network. Each Council deliberated
on two fundamental questions: What is the state of the world in your issue? What
needs to be done to improve the state of the world in your issue? The gist of these
deliberations is distilled in the Global Issue Profiles section, which also exhibits links to
related issues and lists relevant Annual Meeting sessions.

To synthesize the key messages from the Summit, we asked eight Chairs to
contribute an article on one of the Summit’s main themes based on their presentation
at the Closing Plenary. Included in this volume, the essays highlight select insights but
do not necessarily incorporate the work of all the Councils under that theme. For both
the articles and the individual Issue Profiles, the opinions expressed and the data
communicated do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Economic Forum or
of all the Council Members.

We are most grateful to all the Chairs and Members of the Network of Global Agenda
Councils who contributed their insights in the Council deliberations, both on the
World Economic Leaders COMmunity (WELCOM) and during the Summit on the
Global Agenda. It is their collaborative and collective intelligence that is reflected in
this publication.

11
This book was produced with the contributions of the Managing Board of the Forum,
particularly André Schneider who facilitated the synthesis of the thematic
presentations. Many colleagues, particularly Senior Directors, Council Managers,
Research Analysts and the core Global Agenda Council Team, were involved in its
production. Special thanks to Martina Gmür for her leadership, Fabienne Stassen
Fleming who managed the project, Kamal Kimaoui for the graphic design and Miguel
Perez for mapping the interlinkages.

We hope that this publication will serve as a useful resource, enhancing your
awareness of the urgency and interlinkages among global challenges and catalysing
your thinking of possible solutions to the most pressing and longstanding issues on
the global agenda.

12
 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Economic Development and Growth

David Bloom
Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography,
Harvard School of Public Health, USA;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing
on Economic Development and Growth

The current global financial crisis is engendering an economic crisis and mounting
calls for increased regulation and protectionism. Taken together with this summer’s
collapse of the Doha Trade Negotiations, reinforcing concern about the structure and
operation of the international economy, and demographic shifts heralding growing
old-age dependency ratios in both developed and developing countries, uncertainty
about future economic growth and development abounds. At the outset of the World
Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda, many participants, the Members
of the Global Agenda Councils, felt shaken in their confidence as to the nature of the
global agenda and the proper role of key stakeholders with respect to it. Yet, through
the discussions at the Summit, it became clear that the current crises do not require
a fundamental redefinition of the global agenda, but rather a reaffirmation of well-
established principles of economic growth and development, and a renewed effort to
eliminate both regulatory inefficiency gaps, and greater impetus to conclude
international agreements.

To steer financial markets and economies back onto an upward trajectory, individuals
and governments must distinguish between economic systems that exhibit major
structural flaws from those that are fundamentally sound but can be strengthened to
avoid periodic “bad” outcomes. Notably, the current crisis does not reflect a fatally
flawed economic system. On the contrary, the basic operating principles of the
competitive market system have produced widespread and long-term improvements
in living standards. Five principles central to development and growth were
highlighted during the Summit:
• Countries benefit from engaging with the world economy
• Competitive markets are efficient means of allocating resources
• Investments in human capital are crucial for the growth and development of
economies, both locally and globally
• Efficient functioning of economies requires investment in critical infrastructure
• Governments must operate so as to complement the market, particularly in terms
of facilitating appropriate investments in human capital and infrastructure, and by
defining regulations that enable markets to function efficiently and effectively.

These principles were resoundingly affirmed by Council Members focusing on issues

related to the Summit’s Economic Development and Growth theme. Using the
financial crisis to justify backsliding on tariff reductions and other key aspects of trade
policy, or to validate undertaking ill-founded and counterproductive regulatory
interventions – perhaps reflecting excessive protectionism or resorting to extreme
deregulation – will only worsen the situation. The crisis will best be addressed by
operating within the framework of the market system to aggressively reduce
inefficiency and promote institutional and technological innovation.

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Near-term Issues

The unmistakable need for better oversight and regulation of the financial sector
presents an immediate focus for government action. In this, as in all ventures,
transparency in the agendas of both governments and businesses should be
encouraged. Carried out effectively, improved oversight and regulation could stabilize
and strengthen the financial sector, warding off future crises.

Council Members at the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda
emphasized international economic engagement as a key mechanism for
development and growth. The finding of the Spence Commission on Growth and
Development regarding the importance of trade to economic growth underscores the
need to promote openness to trade and to eschew unnecessary protective measures
in the current financial climate. Building capacity for trade, particularly in terms of
infrastructure, will require governments to honour existing aid commitments to low-
income countries. This is particularly vital as developing regions will likely suffer from
the crisis’ effects on remittances as emigrants find themselves unable to earn as
much as in recent years.

In low- and middle-income countries, financial empowerment presents a fundamental

and innovative approach to furthering development and growth, even in the midst of
the current crisis. With more than 3 billion people around the world lacking access to
formal financial services, increased access along with financial literacy programmes
would promote saving, consumption smoothing, investment in both healthcare and
education, and business growth. Particularly in low-income countries, women stand
to gain from such initiatives as they dominate developing world microfinance and
microenterprise.

Financial empowerment could also be encouraged through reform of antiquated

regulations that undermine the expansion of cell telephony and mobile banking.
These technologies can facilitate savings in relatively remote and underdeveloped
regions. Entrepreneurship will, in turn, be spurred, which will directly generate new
jobs. Since mobile technologies have substantial unrealized potential for drawing the
bottom billions into the mainstream of the financial sector (through encouraging
entrepreneurship and innovation by enabling access to modern credit, savings and
insurance products), reducing barriers to these technologies could yield extensive
benefits.

Reinforcing the underpinnings of trade networks through reform of national and

international regulatory frameworks for transportation and postal services offers an
opportunity to directly increase the efficiency and decrease the costs of business
activities and trade. The current crisis places an especially high premium on
concluding the Doha Trade Negotiations in order to advance international economic
policy coordination, reducing the transaction costs associated with trade and
increasing the integration of the global economy. As such integration drives
development; the successful conclusion of the Doha Trade Negotiations would be
expected to benefit all involved.

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Developing better mechanisms for measuring and benchmarking performance with
respect to market integration and the transaction costs associated with business
activities and trade would also yield benefits by enabling policy-makers to better
target those arenas most in need of improved regulation. As financial strain
encourages decreased spending, governmental institutions will need to take a firm
stance against statistical blackouts, that is, cutbacks on data collection associated
with the expected tightening of government budgets or the desire to avoid the
communication of bad news. Thorough, accurate data can guide policy by
highlighting areas in which current policies fall short and enabling our understanding
of the obstacles at hand and their causes. Promoting greater transparency and more
rational decision-making requires more and better evidence, not excuses for getting
by on less.

Medium-term Issues

Looking beyond near-term issues, a number of more medium-term issues and

concerns should also be kept in mind. Included among these are the effects of
demographic shifts, readdressing skills gaps and the development of international
migration policy.

National demographic shifts throughout the world display heterogeneous trends. As

populations in developed and some developing countries grow slowly or even
decrease (e.g., Japan, Russia), many developing world populations grow robustly. By
2050, today’s world population of 6.7 billion is projected to increase to over 9 billion,
with the urban share growing as well. The year 2008 marks the first time in history
that as many people can be found living in urban settlements as in rural ones.
Another major trend is population ageing, which is occurring throughout the world,
though at markedly different speeds in different countries, due to increases in
longevity, fertility decline and the ageing of relatively large “baby boom” population
cohorts.

Population ageing raises particular concerns about the nature and financial stability of
public and private pension plans. Currently, these tend to provide incentives for early
retirement instead of promoting longer working lives. Legal retirement age has risen
little even in the face of sizeable increases in total life expectancy and in the healthy
lifespan. The reality of lower birth rates generating smaller workforces relative to
growing elderly populations raises further concerns about the burden of population
ageing as well as financial security among the elderly. Combined with the high and
rising level of healthcare costs for treating chronic diseases, these issues present a
challenge for governments, employers and individuals of all ages in terms of ensuring
healthy ageing, financial security for the elderly and business solvency in the face of
rising pension commitments.

Although some interventions can be addressed at this time, it would be inopportune

to address others given the current economic climate. Consider the legal age of
retirement, which has been remarkably stagnant in the face of (1) a two-decade
increase in global life expectancy in just the past 50 years, and (2) a demographic

15
shift that will see the global population aged 60 and over increase from 670 million to
2 billion between now and 2050. Incentives to retire at age 60 or 65 simply do not
make sense in a world in which life expectancy has increased so substantially, and in
which further increases are so widely projected. Yet, given extensive unemployment,
efforts at redefining national retirement policies to raise the age of retirement (and
thus increase the size of the labour force) are inappropriate at this time. On the other
hand, efforts to strengthen financial literacy among prime-age and elderly individuals
are always timely and desirable.

The skills gap, meaning the discrepancy between skills available in the labour force
and skills demanded by prospective employers in specific markets, presents another
medium-term challenge. Further data on and analysis of these gaps would be useful,
as dissemination of this information to individuals and educational institutions could
channel education and training programmes in a direction that matches market
demand. Of course, assembling, analysing and disseminating these data will require
a period of years to produce a tangible change in the skills gap. Once the economic
environment makes it a feasible option, raising the retirement age should also help
diminish skills gaps by expanding the number of workers with appropriate skill sets
who are available to train new hires and by bolstering the supply of skilled workers for
a period.

Insofar as it can enable the movement of appropriately skilled workers to regions in

which those skills are demanded, migration policy is related to both skills gaps and
economic growth and presents another medium-term issue. Economic and
demographic pressures for migration are substantial. Less than 200 million people
live in countries other than the one in which they were born. That represents less than
3% of the world’s population, suggesting that freer mobility and resultant increases in
remittance flows may be an especially potent channel through which globalization
can enhance economic growth. However, as deliberations at the World Economic
Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda made clear, there are an increasingly
complicated set of political, social and economic impediments that must be
navigated in addressing international migration. Insofar as increased unemployment is
a likely prospect for the world, now is undoubtedly not the right time to take on this
issue openly. Instead, now may be the right time to craft the architecture for a global
system of international migration, fleshing out the logistical and political challenges as
well as potential benefits so that a thorough and well-developed plan can be
presented once a more suitable time arrives.

Opportunities

While the challenge of both near- and medium-term issues appears overwhelming,
the current crisis also presents a distinct opportunity to tackle costly inefficiencies and
missing markets that might otherwise go unaddressed. Promoting human capital
investment and equal pay for equal work, especially for women and various racial,
ethnic and other minorities, would reduce labour market inefficiencies and increase
income per capita while simultaneously helping to close skills gaps and augment the
skilled labour supply.

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As philanthropy, foreign aid and remittances play key roles in promoting economic
growth and development worldwide, there exist legitimate concerns that all of these
flows will shrink as a result of the financial crisis. Existing inefficiencies lead to
substantial underprovision or misdirection of development assistance. Knowledge
gaps prevent donors from understanding which areas are most in need of funding
and which means of giving produce the most benefit per dollar when directed
towards a given issue. Closing these gaps through data production and analysis
along with clear communication of the results could promote the scale and
effectiveness of both official and private development assistance.

Conclusion

By the end of World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda, much of the
uncertainty that many participants brought to the Summit regarding the nature of the
global agenda and the role of key stakeholders in advancing it had been resolved.
Through the delineation and application of the aforementioned five guiding principles
for shaping economic growth and development, Council Members focusing on the
Economic Development and Growth theme were able to distil both near- and
medium-term approaches to reducing inefficiencies and furthering innovation. The
many options identified for remedying gaps in financial regulation and eliminating
market failures also highlighted the opportunity for positive change afforded by the
current crisis. By working to address both near- and medium-term issues now, while
vigilantly promoting transparency – including the development and dissemination of
data to inform policies, programmes and investment decisions – and balancing
regulation so as to avoid both over-regulation and the potential for an undue backlash
against deregulation, the negative impacts of the current crisis can be steadily
diminished, strengthening the foundation for renewed and vigorous economic growth
and development.

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 Summit on the Global Agenda

On the Environment and Sustainability

Josette Sheeran
Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP),
Rome; Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing
on the Environment and Sustainability

Why We Should Not Waste a Good Financial Crisis

The Bubble Is Close to Bursting

The current financial crisis and looming world recession offer an opportunity for a
structural change in how we manage our world economy, and not just in terms of our
international financial institutions. For the past 50 years we have amassed
unprecedented financial wealth, but have also chronically under-priced risk in terms of
our natural resource base (our endowment of minerals, forests, fish, water and
climate). We have financed our extraordinary growth in aggregate living standards
while systematically under-pricing the goods and services we derive from our planet’s
natural resources, the negative externalities we create by polluting them and the
future risks we face from their cumulative depletion and degradation.

The phenomenal economic growth we have enjoyed over the past 50 years has seen
our world’s built environment and transport networks expand in size and complexity
at an unprecedented rate. We have developed a vastly more interconnected global
human ecosystem to provide us with food, fuel, water, homes and transportation
than has ever been. Winners and losers from our economic model jostle for short-
term wealth maximization on the one hand, and simply survival on the other.

Here are some rather chilling observations from across the Environment and
Sustainability theme:

• Biodiversity: Our ecosystems and biodiversity are being degraded at an alarming

rate. An estimated US$ 4.5 trillion is lost annually. Many of the losses are
irreversible.

• Food: To feed ourselves, the world will need to double food production in the next
40 years to meet projected demand. Among the middle classes, global demand for
meat alone is expected to increase by 50% between now and 2025. Among the
poorest today, over 1 billion people – one-sixth of the world’s population – do not
have access to adequate food and nutrition. And an increase in 2 billion people is
expected by 2025, with population growth highest in the poorest parts of the
world. In contrast, an estimated 33% of food in richer countries gets wasted. Still,
we will have to produce even more food in the future and food of higher protein
content. But our ability to meet current and future production needs is seriously
challenged by increasing water scarcity, climate change and volatile energy costs
and supplies. Unless we change how we do it, we will not be able to supply our
future food needs.

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• Water: We are living in a water “bubble” as unsustainable and fragile as that which
precipitated the collapse in global financial markets. We use water unsustainably.
Groundwater levels drop; rivers dry up before they meet the sea; in many “hot
spots” we have over-leveraged our water for the future; we have no means of
paying this back. The bubble is already bursting in some places (China, the Middle
East, the US south-west) with more to follow. Millions are estimated to die for lack
of drinking water; ecosystems and food production are under threat. As we try to
feed and fuel a growing and more affluent world, the water situation shows every
sign of getting much worse. Simply augmenting water supply is no longer possible
in most places – historical approaches to water use will not work in the future.

• Energy: The carbon based energy paradigm of the last century, upon which we
have grown rich, now looks increasingly unsustainable due to concerns over
energy security, climate change and energy poverty. Energy poverty in the world
remains high and is a significant brake on development. Estimates suggest it will
require up to US$ 180 billion a year for the next 30 years to provide clean energy to
all who (will) need it in the developing world. This is a major technological, financing
and organizational challenge. Across both developed and developing country
energy systems, we will need a fundamental shift – a new energy paradigm.

• Cities: For the first time in human history, over half of the world’s population lives in
an urban environment. By 2050 this proportion is predicted to increase to
anywhere from two-thirds to four-fifths of global population. At present, about one-
third of the population of these city-regions lives in extreme poverty. Within the next
quarter of a century this proportion will increase to about two-fifths if nothing is
done. Complexity is endemic to the process of achieving sustainable urbanization.
There is no one “correct” solution to the problem, but a transformation in how we
manage the urban environment is needed.

• Transport: A crisis in transportation is looming. Over the past 50 years, passenger

and freight transport have created significant benefits with regard to the world’s
economy and social development. Transportation has become faster, more
productive, cleaner, quieter, safer and cheaper. Combined with the Internet, it has
enabled the creation of the so-called “flat world” many of us now enjoy. But we
now face significant challenges. Transportation’s nearly complete oil dependence is
raising concerns associated with energy (oil) security and greenhouse gas
emissions. An effective paralysis of transport systems in cities and in the air,
especially in fast growing developing countries, is also looming with requisite
externalities for health, safety and the environment. Innovations across the
transportation sector – in technology, pricing, systems management and
government policy – are urgently needed.

• Natural disasters: The risks of natural disasters are large and rising. The cost of
natural disasters from 1996 to 2005 can be seen from reinsurance losses in this
period, which totalled about US$ 500 billion. This large and growing risk is due
mainly to increasing concentrations of people in areas with high natural risks;
greater interdependencies among regions, sectors and components of human
systems; and climate change. The antecedents driving these phenomena are
systematic and systemic.

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• Humanitarian assistance: The humanitarian assistance caseload will increase and
become more complex. It is possible that it will include challenges of entirely
unprecedented scale if, as commentators foresee, large scale migration, both
cross border and internal, results from climate change. The International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimate that the number of climate
change refugees today ranges from 25 to 50 million, compared to the official
refugee population of 28 million. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
suggests that 150 million environmental refugees could exist by 2020.

This is a sobering set of observations from some of our Councils. Those of us in

middle age today are the third successive generation to have benefited from the
natural resource bubble that the world economy has been exploiting since the mid
20th Century. From what our Council experts are telling us, it is highly unlikely –
unless we make some deep, structural changes to how we manage our economy –
that our children and their children will experience the same sense of progress and
wealth.

The overarching conclusion from our group of Councils is therefore clear:

fundamental trends need to be reversed if we are to survive and thrive. This is not the
same old sustainability challenge. Our economic system needs new software – new
“rules of the game” and then a “re-boot” in order to fully address the systemic and
comprehensive risks we face. We should not waste the wake-up call of the current
financial and economic crisis. We need to take this opportunity to build back better.
This is not the old environmental agenda of conservation or protection. It is a
progressive risk management agenda to help improve the lives of everyone who
participates in tomorrow’s global economy.

2008: The Year of the Three Canaries

2008 should be seen as the turning point, the year when warnings started to become
reality. Early 2008 saw a fuel and a food price crisis; late 2008 saw the financial crisis.
Although 2008 will go down in history as a painful year, it seems to us that these
recent crises – fuel, food, finance – are simply the three canaries in the mine. These
are the early warning signals that our current economic system is simply not
sustainable.

Our theme Chairs suggest that 2008 could be the precursor to a perfect storm, the
like of which we have never seen before. This is uncharted territory. We don’t know
what will happen, but we do know these issues are interlinked as never before. We
face a problem that is deeper, more fundamental, more complex and much more
systemic than the financial crisis. While attention is focused on restructuring the rules
that govern financial capital flows, a great opportunity exists to hardwire into the new
system the importance of natural capital flows and their fundamental contribution as
a driver of the broader economy and development. Importantly, this is not a fringe
discussion anymore about using soft power to promote a feeling of environmental
well-being in how we should run our lives. The systemic risks we face – and the
urgency of the challenge – require application in the real economy to change how we
do things and how we price things in the global economy. Sustainability is no longer a
“nice-to-have.” It has become a human security and survival issue. And we must
envision ways for humanity to thrive, not just survive.

20
Our Councils agreed that we must not be frozen by fear or complexity. We need to
somehow turn this fear into confidence. As Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of General Electric Company, said recently, “We need to have the
confidence to build back better; in order to avoid much worse.”

Build Back Better, in an Interconnected Way

If we are to build back better, our Councils feel that a number of interconnected
issues must be addressed simultaneously:

• Increase traction at the highest level. Governments, business and civil society need
to become much more aware of the severity of the risks we face from our current
short-term approach to economic value creation. Better ways need to be found to
raise awareness and articulate the problems in ways which resonate to the public.
The role of the media and those with expertise in designing campaigns and
movements must be harnessed more effectively.

• Engage business in finding solutions. Innovation and value creation when faced
with resource constraints is what business does best. With the opportunities for
new ways of doing things which results from a correction in price signals and
smarter regulation, it seems clear that encouraging entrepreneurial talent around
the world – from within large businesses to the most local community – holds the
key to finding solutions to the growth challenge we face. A wealth of new large
business and microenterprise opportunities could be around the corner, as we
adjust to a resource constrained world.

• Improve governance. While entrepreneurial innovation is a critical part of the

solution set, unfettered business activity is not the answer. The “rules of the game”
for business will need to be re-orientated. A regulatory environment needs to be
designed that prices scarcity, externalities and risk properly, but which also ensures
finances flow to the poor as well as to the rich. All our Councils said that focusing
only on the short term does not work. The state has a role to play. If we must
change the incentives and correct the price signals, then smart state involvement,
rather than no state involvement, will be the key. Ways to improve the quality and
incentives of people attracted into the state sector to undertake these reform
agendas, from global to local levels, need to found. In climate change, for example,
there is a very real diplomatic opportunity to engage in some “smart market”
discussions, during the 2009 negotiations. In water, it is clear that while market
mechanisms will help in many water operations, a dogmatic reliance on unfettered
markets will not deliver the social, economic and environmental outcomes required.
Water has potent social, cultural and religious dimensions. It can never be viewed
as only a pure economic good. Again, smart governance solutions are required. In
biodiversity, a new vocabulary that talks about the monetization of ecosystems,
and further exploration on why this matters (and how it can deliver cash to local
communities) will help communicate the issue to stakeholders in the public and
private sectors, as well as individuals at the local levels. For food security,
economic growth alone will not solve the problem – particularly for issues of child
nutrition. New sets of governance checks and balances are also required.

21
• Involve all stakeholders. Every one of our Councils talked about the need for new
partnerships. For food security, governments and private corporations must work
in partnership with each other, and with small farmers and local entrepreneurs, to
create a more inclusive and environmentally sustainable food ecosystem. In the
mining and metals industry, important overlaps with capital flows, energy security,
water security, ecosystems and biodiversity, among others, make increased
collaboration and engagement with other stakeholders an imperative if jobs, wealth
and environmental security are to be created and sustained by the industry. In
urban management, there is no one “correct” solution, but crucial is work on
softening the intersection of civil society with the formal structures of government
and the private sector. For the future of transport, it is essential to encourage all
stakeholders to create an integrated vision of a more sustainable future of
transportation. While a “new blue deal” opportunity may exist in water (water pure
play funds are a good pick, for example, despite the recent financial crisis), the
Global Agenda Council on Water Security calls for a series of regional,
multistakeholder conclaves, especially in the key hotspot or water bubble areas of
the world, to discuss and develop reform agendas. It seems that all of our Councils
call for a re-alignment in discussion and decision-making relationships. Importantly,
these kinds of partnerships and collaborations should not be viewed simply as “talk
shops” but much more as “new value creation models” (public and private), which
are focused on finding solutions that have sustainable and restorative innovation
embedded within them.

• Develop tools to enable implementation. Every Council called for more data, better
analytics and new approaches to analysing their particular problem. For example,
the Council on Sustainable Construction set out ideas on how to revolutionize the
construction cycle in order to create positive economic impacts as well as social
and environmental benefits. The Humanitarian Assistance Council called for the
development of a new vulnerability and protection business model, including a
comprehensive risk framework. It seems that while industries such as transport,
mining and energy recognize the need for a paradigm change, stakeholders across
many other parts of the environmental management and humanitarian assistance
sectors also recognize that their historic “business models” need to adapt. New
tools that better reflect today’s complexities, multistakeholder realities and the
appreciation of far higher levels of interconnectedness than previously recognized
are required across the board. The sustained encouragement of systems thinking
within and across the analytics that the Councils are looking for exemplifies this
new approach. New tools to find new ways to help provide solutions and create
value are essential. The role of design to re-engineer how we think about our built
environment, the products we consume, the business models we run, the
programmes we deliver, the advertising campaigns we pursue and the policies and
institutions we build is all pervading and critical. We need fresh perspectives that
encourage innovations based on understanding interdependencies.

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Transformational Transactions

Increasing awareness, involving businesses large and small, improving governance,

involving all stakeholders, developing new tools and encouraging systems thinking –
this is a complicated and potentially abstract set of recommendations. How to design
and implement an urgent reform agenda for the systemic and systems-based
challenges we describe? How to bring these various components together to help
transform the paradigm we are in?

Our breakthrough idea is to call for sets of “transformational transactions”.

Not just market transactions, not just better regulations, but transformational market
and policy transactions. Each a separate activity, but all interconnected. Our
discussions identified many case studies and ideas, both issue and location specific,
where strong potential lies for transforming the status quo in a way that brings
together key stakeholders to focus on designing solutions that shift behaviours and
that create lasting and long-term value. Water reform, innovative climate financing,
new technologies for energy, urban and transportation solutions, new models for
humanitarian assistance, disaster mitigation or food supply – all of these areas are
rich hunting grounds for transformational transactions.

Our challenge as a network of Councils is to encourage the aperture of the many

brilliant profit or policy minds that exist in the global economy to be opened a degree.
Can we develop this idea of transformation transactions somewhat and place it within
an overall systems frame? Can we create a network of minds able to identify the
potential for transformational transactions across the natural resource and human
security space, make them specific, identify clear returns for them, and have them
enter the mainstream, have them crowd out the old way? Can we move beyond
surviving to thriving?

How can professionals and peers be encouraged, every time they sit down to design
a deal or develop a policy, to be as focused and disciplined as they were prior to
2008, but now to do so in a different kind of way? To consider new angles, new
linkages, new coalitions, which reprice the services we gain or the risks we previously
avoided from exploiting the natural world, but in a way which creates new markets
and new values, especially for the poor. How can these changes be embedded into
wider professional markets and policy-making behaviours? Our Councils recognize
this will be hard, but it is exciting. The promotion of transformational transactions in
the natural resources, food and humanitarian space can help identify new sources of
value creation. It should inspire all of our imaginations.

This is the agenda I think the Councils focused on Environment and Sustainability
issues have in effect set for themselves. The World Economic Forum needs to help
nurture and sustain the enthusiasm and initiative that this theme – which contains
over 120 leading minds – generated in Dubai. The Forum should think about how to
create a frame for this potentially game-changing mobilization of minds, networks,
influence and expertise and how it can use its industry and governmental partners to
operationalize the plan, across all issue areas.

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Where to Start?

The climate change agenda for 2009 is a good, specific place to start. The Network
of Global Agenda Councils can support the official climate negotiations by identifying
a set of clear, truly transformational transactions across the public and private space,
in collaboration with the governments of the larger economies of the world. By
identifying a set of transformational transactions on finance, institutions and
technology development, this would certainly help transform the agenda – and prove,
at the highest level, that these new coalitions can work. On a broader level, with the
support of this group of Councils, the Forum should seize this agenda, the demand
to develop this new theme. With the guidance of the Councils, the new networks and
new public-private coalitions can be built, an overall frame of activity identified and
various projects or initiatives set up. Let’s make 2009 the year we discovered the
hard power of transformational transactions to improve the state of the natural world
and how we engage it in our economy.

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 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Finance and Business

Suzanne Nora Johnson

Trustee, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing
on Finance and Business

Introduction
The impact of the financial crisis on the global economy is likely to be severe, with a
significant risk of a very serious world recession. The current financial crisis has made
clear the degree of global economic integration that already exists and the limitations
of the current regime of global financial coordination and regulation.

Current Status
The current crisis is rooted in a long period of global imbalances. These imbalances
were characterized by multiple years of low interest rates and high asset prices, and
trade and savings imbalances. In addition, a number of governments resisted
exchange rate fluctuation.

At the same time, there was low worldwide inflation and substantial growth in cross-
border capital flows, to the benefit of nearly all regions. Indeed, most asset classes
also showed sizable valuation appreciation during this period. Low rates, low inflation,
global growth and renewed confidence were all positive factors – but they led to
overconfidence, excess leverage and a fundamental mispricing of risk. Capital
markets were perceived to operate so efficiently that the implications of their
structural weaknesses, concentrations of risk and interdependence were not fully
understood.

The current financial crisis has been characterized by the following:

• Severe dysfunction in the banking sectors including interbank lending

• Disruption of world credit markets
• Reduction in residential mortgage financing, which is causing downward pressure
on already weak housing prices
• The deterioration of capital flows and financing conditions for emerging economies
• Collateral damage to commercial real estate and other asset classes.

Risk assessment and management failed at all levels: governments, central banks,
regulators, rating agencies, financial institutions, corporations, media and
households. In addition, the feedback loop between the financial system and the real
economy has likely intensified the systemic risk and has exacerbated the affects of
the current crisis.

Crisis management has been extremely difficult as the financial landscape has
continued to evolve. Conventional monetary and fiscal policy tools have had less
impact in countering negative economic trends than in the past. Stabilization

25
measures may have unintended consequences that are not yet well understood and
may introduce further adverse affects.

Serious gaps in the risks and activities addressed by regulatory organizations have
been revealed. As financial markets and institutions became more complex and more
global, the burden on financial policy-makers grew dramatically. A siloed, “local”
approach to regulatory architecture evolved, which did not reflect the global nature of
financial markets. Further, in some cases, the regulation of financial institutions was
not unified – but rather fragmented and conflicting. In others, the failure to have
comprehensive regulation probably exacerbated the issues. For example, the
burgeoning credit default swap market produced systemic risks that were not
adequately addressed by the insurance regulators overseeing the writing of these
contracts, or by bank supervisors or securities regulators charged with limiting bank
risk-taking.

In addition, in a number of countries, the crisis highlighted the inadequate

communication and coordination among specialized policy-makers focusing on
particular issues, including monetary policy, macroprudential regulations and the
particular activities of financial institutions, including lending, underwriting, insurance,
derivatives trading.

Significant gaps between private-sector and regulators’ understanding of product

innovation, market knowledge, technological know-how and financial incentives
contributed to the regulatory challenge of keeping pace with the changed market
developments.

Corporate Governance
The current financial crisis also reflects a failure of corporate governance, especially in
financial institutions. Ambitious shareholder return objectives, private incentives and
public policies all encouraged excessive risk taking and systemwide leverage. The
inability of management to deter individuals or business units from undertaking
decisions that were contrary to the long-run viability of firms highlights the critical
need for more effective corporate governance mechanisms.

Implications
The political repercussions of the crisis have been considerable. The crisis has
undermined the perceived advantage of open financial and capital markets. In the
past, there has been significant evidence demonstrating the generally positive roles of
privately-owned financial institutions and market competition in promoting growth and
security. However, in view of the financial crisis, the general view about the
relationship between governments and financial markets is changing. Pervasive
market failures and the resulting global economic decline have highlighted the value
of domestic and global regulatory systems that limit systemic risk and that provide for
more adequate supervision of private market participants. Government intervention in
the financial institution sector has affirmed and expanded political expectations of the
role of government in finance.

26
Potential Actions
The dimensions of the financial crisis and attendant global economic recession
compel a coordinated international response. Coordination should involve advanced
and emerging economics. The response needs to be immediate, substantial in size
and scope and sustained over time. Outlined below are actions which should be
considered in the short and long term.

Short Term:
1. Continue Market Interventions: Governments should continue to intervene to
prevent further financial contagion and mitigate recession. Governments should
work to maintain low interest rates, including aggressive quantitative easing if
necessary. The short-term goal for government intervention is to restore confidence
and reduce fear without compromising growth and increasing inflation in the long
run.

2. Increase Capital Deployment: Governments should consider substantial fiscal

stimulus programmes that provide the requisite capital foundation for renewed
economic activity. Special attention should be paid to areas of the economy which
will provide the physical or human “infrastructure” for renewed economic growth
and employment.

3. Enhance Public Communications: Governments should better communicate

their actions to fearful and anxious publics. The public needs to be better educated
about the nexus between the financial and real economies as well as about the
rationale for government interventions in the markets. A necessary condition for the
success of financial system reform is public ownership.

Long Term:
1. Mitigate Global Imbalances: Governments should address global imbalances
(e.g. trade, savings, exchange rate models). Regulatory and monetary policies to
control bank leverage should be formulated to be countercyclical, allowing greater
leverage in downturns and restricting leverage in upswings. A more flexible global
exchange rate system should be encouraged.

Governments should return to the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

2. Improve Regulatory Architecture and Capabilities: There are different

institutional forms for reducing the balkanization of financial regulation and
enhancing the national and international assessment of financial risks. Regardless
of the precise institutional form, the current crisis underscores the importance of
developing greater capacity to evaluate risk across a wide range of financial market
activities and markets. This includes the systematic monitoring and assessment of
macroeconomic indicators as indicators of systemic risk.

Given the global nature of finance, close coordination and cooperation among
financial regulatory bodies is imperative for effective regulation. There is the potential
to fortify an existing international regulatory body or regulatory bodies (such as the

27
Financial Stability Forum) or create a new, more robust organization which would still
allow for heterogeneity across domestic regulatory regimes. Features of this
organization might include:

• Staffing depth to monitor development in global financial systems and coordinate

responses, along with appropriate levels and structure of compensation to ensure
the capacity to execute
• The development of a set of core principles of effective regulation which could be
promoted and implemented in a consultative capacity to domestic regulatory
bodies
• The discouraging of unhealthy and potentially destabilizing “regulatory competition”
between countries as the steward of enhanced “Memoranda of Understanding”
between countries
• The comprehensive monitoring of the full range of financial market activities (e.g.,
lending, securities underwriting, insurance, derivatives, etc.), perhaps working with
existing specialized international bodies (e.g. IOSCO, IAIS, IASB).

At the global level, the representation of emerging market economies in international

regulatory bodies will enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of these bodies. The
relevance of international bodies will be improved if there are mechanisms and
incentives for domestic regulatory agencies to act on their recommendations. Greater
accountability and participation of the full range of relevant domestic regulatory
agencies, along with the cultivation of political support for this participation will
enhance their effectiveness.

3. Avoid Protectionist Regulation or Legislation: While it is an important goal to

de-risk and de-leverage the system, regulation and legislation that act as restraints
on trade or capital flows or which induce regulatory arbitrage should be avoided.
Regulatory measures and legislation regarding new financial instruments and
products should be carefully crafted to be effective, without inhibiting innovation.

4. Improve Corporate Governance: Recent events demonstrate the urgent need to

strengthen shareholder protection laws and empower shareholder governance
over financial institutions. Furthermore, current corporate compensation structures
should be redesigned to be effective as individual incentives without doing damage
to systemwide stability. There is a need to structure incentives, in both developed
and emerging markets, in a way that enables the financial sector to act in a manner
that fosters systemic stability without excessive government intervention.

5. Improve Market Model: Various changes to financial markets should be made to

improve their functionality and transparency and to prevent future crises. For
example, centralized counterparty and clearing on exchanges should be
considered so as to reduce counterparty risk for structured products. Improved
transparency about off-balance sheet items and over-the-counter markets is also
merited.

The competitive dynamics of the market place may change based on public sector
ownership of private sector enterprises. Ongoing consultations between the public
and private sectors will be important due to the transformation of the private sector. It
will be crucial to develop clear government exit strategies over the longer term.

28
 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Geopolitics and Global Governance

Kishore Mahbubani
Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing
on Geopolitics and Global Governance

21st Century Institutions, 21st Century Challenges

Global society faces challenges that question the way the planet is managed, the
sustainability of industrial society and the survival of the world’s people. We confront
climate change, where business-as-usual scenarios point to a global environment
that in the long run is unsustainable and whose most immediate and dire political and
socioeconomic consequences will bear on countries and groups least able to
manage them. We lack measures to manage weapons of mass destruction, and in
particular the ability to accommodate legitimate desires for nuclear technology and
energy in a current global nuclear order that should endorse the goal of a nuclear-
weapons free world and draw down stockpiles but is, instead, fragile and at serious
risk of failure and with more nuclear fuel to be controlled and regulated. We live in a
dangerous world where the security of states, both stable and unstable, is now
subject to the terrorist actions of private groups armed with ever more lethal
technologies and able to easily recruit personnel to carry out these actions. We
observe the failure of the Doha Round revealing an inability to agree on a trade
system that, beyond tactics and short-termism, encourages the kind of development
that alleviating global poverty will require. We face a financial crisis of unprecedented
global implications. We have to acknowledge limitations and gaps in the international
legal system at a regulatory level, and in international and domestic enforcement.

Existing institutions and processes of global governance have not completely broken
down: the Law of the Sea, for example, has earned the acceptance and compliance
of the major stakeholders; in healthcare the WHO serves as an effective organization
for the management of the SARS epidemic; the public-private partnership Global
Fund is making antiretroviral drugs increasingly available; private civil society
organizations, such as Rotary International, have made a major contributions towards
global governance including the near-eradication of polio. Private organizations like
ICANN in the management of the Internet or ISO in quality standards have even
directly solved problems of coordination that would typically be dealt with by
intergovernmental agreement. Other existing institutions and processes of global
governance are not working well but could be fixed or improved, for example, UN
Resolution 1540 to secure radioactive sources and storage, or the UN Charter itself,
which remains a beautiful document with a valuable store of strong and positive
political capital.

However, on the economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, technological issues

of today, global governance fails as a generator of norms, underperforms as a
mechanism of coordination and collaboration, stalls when it comes to enforcement
and lacks adequate accountability.

29
Addressing the challenges of the 21st Century means addressing market,
sovereignty, intergovernmental failures that are at the core of global governance. First,
private markets do not sufficiently address externalities that are public and global in
nature. Today’s problems, as Kofi Annan once said, “do not come permanently
attached to national passports”. Second, sovereign states often do not adequately
address problems reaching across borders. Third, intergovernmental institutions lack
the necessary authority, vision, expertise and resources to govern the world.

In the meantime, over the last 50 years the world has changed dramatically. World
leaders have started to come to terms with the rise of new centres of industrial and
financial power, particularly in Asia, and a geopolitical and socioeconomic landscape
that includes radically increased interdependence, both among countries and across
issues, unthinkable in 1945. Moreover, with globalization, expectations that the voices
of the people should be raised and heard at all levels have increased. Let’s imagine,
for example, as the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Governments suggested,
what a Digital Marshall Plan taking broadband to every corner of the world would
represent in terms of new models of business and political representation and how, in
spite of the costs, such a plan would help develop better warning systems for
problems in the global economy, and new forms of cooperation and governance.

Unfortunately, lack of vision and political will, and vested interests preventing from re-
thinking the foundations of the international order and the responsibility that comes
with them, further make global governance institutions poorly organized to deliver
against objectives like environmental protocols, sustainable economic growth,
poverty eradication and human security.

With this context in mind, the Global Agenda Councils focusing on Geopolitics and
Global Governance looked at key principles and conditions of global governance in
the 21st Century, and solutions that could help “reboot” or improve governance in
key areas.

Extroversion
First, more extrovert leadership from outside the circle of established powers should
be encouraged from a global pool of countries thinking of the wider good of the
global commons and willing to sacrifice elements of self-interest and make a
commitment to global public goods. This also implies new models of engagement
being based on mutually beneficial and accountable compacts that promote effective
and inclusive states, economic development and sustainable local capacity.

For example, dealing with conflict resolution and peacekeeping requires, in addition
to new volunteers willing to provide leadership, both stronger regional organizations
and more responsive global organizations. In this respect, the ongoing devastation of
the Democratic Republic of Congo comes to mind as a de facto failure of global
governance. Clearly, extroversion, especially in peacebuilding, implies adequate
profile, recognition and strong negotiation and conflict resolution skills requiring
capacity building in key conflict zones and groups like the police and the media, but
also society at large on history, culture, politics and the “choreography” before and
after agreements are reached. This takes time to achieve.

30
Moreover, the public regime may establish new and transparent frameworks of
public-private partnership encouraging innovation and assigning responsibilities to
local and global private actors that can be part of the solutions to climate change, for
example, which imply hundreds of billion of dollars in new investments that cannot
come from public finance.

Expertise
Second, we need a framework in which expert information, where it exists (as it
successfully does at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), is mobilized to
better define the many factors at play, reconcile divergent technical views and
propose coherent strategies to solve problems. This challenge involves both
formulating best practices and contesting them in a way that ensures an opportunity
for continued experiment rather than premature closure.

Information and knowledge are key, for example, in complex areas like nuclear
proliferation, where technological innovation is needed to improve verification and
nuclear detection technologies, create proliferation-resistant facilities and promote
peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

As a key general source and framework of information, the UN General Assembly

should be a forum for genuine dialogue and norm setting available to all countries,
large and small. To do this it needs a radical revision that removes it from the dialogue
of the deaf to a dialogue that listens as well as it talks, raises questions no matter
how controversial, and provides judgments that are coherent and useful.

Also in high demand is a greater understanding of the existing international legal

system, in particular including compliance with existing norms.

Effectiveness
Third, in order to be effective, no matter how deliberative and responsible, global
action is much needed and will continue to be inadequate without additional
resources. These may come from partnerships, international taxation and other
innovative forms of market solutions and financing that are designed to fit each
particular crisis and to fit the real needs defined in a scale that suits the extent of the
problem.

One of the effects would be making crisis management more effective and take place
in a more timely fashion. It should incorporate the most essential stakeholders so that
both understanding and action are enhanced. Solutions available soon, as imperfect
as they are, are better than solutions wise only in hindsight. The current financial crisis
threatens to evolve into “beggar-thy-neighbour” policies in the way in which the
financial crises of the early 1930s produced the global depression of the entire
decade.

Moreover, in light of global realities and the huge proliferation of players in the global
trading regime, effectiveness means greater organizational flexibility while ensuring
that the key principles remain strictly adhered to. To that end, for example, one critical
element of effectiveness in the global trade regime is to ensure that the WTO agenda
is not over-burdened.

31
Equally important, we should put the role and adequacy of the international legal
system at the heart of our efforts to improve the world. We accept the rule of law at
home to feel secure. Let us consider a stronger rule of law globally to address
financial crises, nuclear proliferation challenges and pandemics in a manner that is
rapid, fair, effective and efficient, and which can attract international support.

Key Recommendations: One Example

While ample space for follow-up discussions and further deliberations exists in all the
themes of these Councils, in addition to important principles in light of an evolved
international context, a set of interesting recommendations emerged in all the areas
of concern. Most of the biggest problems are in fact problems of governance.

The Energy Security and Nuclear Global Agenda Council, for example, sketched the
picture of a future characterized by the opportunity and challenge of nuclear energy.
A more effective international system for promoting energy security includes
organizations and rules that are rooted in collective self-interest and practical actions.
The long road to achieving such a system would begin with strengthening the existing
global organizations that promote dialogue among nations (such as the IEA, IEF,
IAEA), complemented by a series of concrete measures that could be undertaken
under the leadership of pivotal countries:
• Establishing a public-private initiative to create a multilateral nuclear fuel cycle
• Collectively managing strategic oil reserves
• Encouraging much higher investment in energy research, development and the
demonstration of new technologies
• Promoting investment in fuel supply and infrastructure, even during an economic
downturn
• Establishing a universal pricing of carbon.

The technical verification capabilities of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
could be enhanced, for instance, via international repository of sample materials,
appropriate data sharing and prompt supply of analysis, and through a revamp of the
Additional Protocol and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to control the transfer of
technological know-how and govern nuclear science and engineering.

Moreover, to secure the Nuclear Complex to make the world safer for nuclear energy,
it is recommended to negotiate an effective fissile material cut-off treaty, banning
production of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium for weaponization;
consider a plutonium pause – because there is a stockpile which must be reduced
significantly; remove the need for more national fuel cycles – through supplementing
current supply via non-discriminatory international arrangements under international
safeguards; reduce the existing supply of HEU, for example converting research
reactors to run on low enriched uranium (LEU)/RERTR.

Moreover, current initiatives in trade, such as Aid for Trade and trade facilitation,
should be continued. Other possible measures – upon more reflection and discussion
– may involve the inclusion of business and aid agencies in future negotiations, the
creation of a plurilateral structure with in-built flexibility to provide a greater time and
scope for extending MFN, the infusion of a greater degree of vision in the promotion

32
of the trade regime, the imposition of rigorous disciplines in preferential trade
agreements (PTAs) with the objective of making them ultimately collapse into a single
universal global trade regime, the inclusion of other key areas that require close
attention, such as anti-dumping.

A Political Challenge
The implications of institutions of global governance can be heavy for sovereign
states. As current global governance problems come from market failures, sovereign
failures and intergovernmental failures that cross boundaries, sacrificing sovereignty
for greater gain may become an option. This principle is unthinkable now. But ask
yourself one simple question: why is the trade world functioning and the financial
world failing? Simple. The financial world has no global rules. The trade world has
global rules which override our sovereignty. So if we can do it in trade, why not
accept binding rules in other areas?

This is probably a rhetorical question as, not surprisingly, a recurring question in

Dubai was whether addressing issues of global governance is a technical design
problem or a political challenge. Looking to the future, although new approaches to
problems may benefit from technical input, we see global governance less of a
technical design problem and more as a set of political challenges calling for
institutions that are effective in understanding the nature and main elements of a
problem, clarifying who is in charge, developing strategies and processes, and raising
and managing adequate resources.

These institutions must be legitimate to those affected by them and this is a matter,
we realize, of trade offs. Sometimes effectiveness requires small and efficient
management which can reduce the voice of those who demand to be heard; on the
other hand there will be instances where effective management will only be realized
with the willing support of all stakeholders. Whatever they are, new arrangements are
often intrusive and difficult to accept. But today’s world is in fact more intrusive than
50 years ago, and interdependence has increased, both positive and negative.
Problems cross borders without passports but we expect solutions to cross borders
with passports. We have to change this mindset if we want to address the critical
problem of “a planet in peril”. This is primarily a political and leadership challenge.

33
 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Health

Christopher Murray
Director, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME),
University of Washington, USA;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing on Health

Health is a central concern for each of us as individuals, for our families, for our
communities and for the globe. The importance of health to create opportunities to
pursue life ambitions cuts across individuals of all ages, young and old, and across all
societies. In the 20th Century, we witnessed on average extraordinary progress in
health; for example life expectancy for the world rose from 45.0 in 1950 to 67.2 in
2008. But the advent of the HIV epidemic, the rise of chronic diseases in middle-
income countries and countries in transition, and the real risks of major pandemics
demonstrate that reversals can and do happen. Progress in health, like financial
markets, is fragile.

Understanding the challenges of human health and of the organized social response
to health problems is challenging, especially for those who are not health specialists.
There are thousands of different diseases that afflict man, hundreds of risk factors
that determine disease incidence, duration and severity and a vast number of
preventive, curative and rehabilitative technologies that can be used to tackle these
problems. The very complexity of health problems and proposed solutions presents a
challenge for the health community to communicate simply and effectively to other
sectors. Yet, because of the interconnectedness between health and other sectors,
success requires the ability to communicate with sound evidence the big picture
about health and the most attractive options for action.

The global community has articulated a set of critical goals for development, namely
the Millennium Development Goals. Three of the MDGs are health-related goals:
MDG 4, reducing child mortality, MDG5, reducing maternal mortality, and MDG6,
reducing major diseases particularly HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The health-
related MDGs have been a rallying point for the global development community and
have generated widespread policy discussion and focus in many settings. Real
progress has been made on expanding access to antiretrovirals for individuals with
advanced HIV disease, to insecticide treated bednets for children in areas with
endemic malaria, and to Directly Observed Therapy, Short-Course (DOTS) for
tuberculosis. However, much less progress has been made on reducing child and
maternal mortality. We must not forget about this agenda, especially as progress on
MDG 4 and 5 has lagged behind the other MDGs.

The agenda for global health is, however, much broader than the MDGs. In 2004, 59
million individuals died; 60% of these global deaths were from chronic diseases.
Heart disease, cancer and obesity are rapidly increasing in middle-income and even
some low-income countries. These increases will inevitably increase the share of
deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to chronic diseases in the

34
future. The ageing of the world’s population driven by the remarkable decline in
fertility in many parts of the world will fuel the rise in the numbers of individuals
suffering from chronic diseases even more in high-income and many developing
countries. India, for example, has reduced its fertility rate by more than 50% in the
last decades.

Left out of the Summit on the Global Agenda are the problems of mental health,
especially depression and schizophrenia, and injuries, both intentional injuries such as
suicide and homicide and unintentional injuries, particularly road traffic accidents.
Together these two problems account for one-quarter of all years of healthy life lost in
the world in 2004. We recommend that Councils on these two sets of health
problems be created in the near future.

Health is valued by us all for its intrinsic worth but the powerful connections between
health and the broader economy make it even more important as a social priority.
Expenditures on public health and medical care now account for one-tenth of all
global economic activity. Evidence in all high-income and many middle-income
countries on the growth of the share of GDP spent on health demonstrate that health
expenditure as a share of global economic activity will expand steadily in the coming
decades. The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and other academic
researchers have demonstrated powerful linkages between levels of health and
economic growth mediated both through enhanced productivity of the workforce and
increased investment in healthier populations. Pandemics pose the threat of the
ultimate social and economic crisis. In a world of just-in-time supply chains, the
impact of a pandemic where social distancing requires the closing of schools,
workplaces, public meetings, travel bans and quarantine would have an immediate
and devastating impact on economic output. The impact of the financial crisis of this
year would potentially be small in comparison to a full-scale pandemic.

A key message from the deliberations of the five health-related Global Agenda
Councils is a paradox. Preparedness, prevention and promotion through multi-
sectoral engagement is the key. Specific strategies have been demonstrated, for
example for chronic disease prevention, to be effective, cheap and cost-effective. Yet,
in all cases, preparedness, prevention and promotion are massively underused. Four
problem-specific Councils made recommendations in this arena.

1) The HIV Council articulated a bold new vision of a generation free of AIDS. The
critical strategies to achieve this paradigm shift will require the professionalization
of prevention. In health, those charged with leading prevention programmes must
learn from other disciplines to improve their effectiveness. Social marketing,
branding, media, information technology all have insights that must be captured
to raise the bar for prevention activities. By working collaboratively with these
groups, the science of prevention can be advanced to create a generation free
from AIDS.
2) Success in chronic disease prevention will require effective two-way working
connections with agriculture, transport, sport, urban planning and other sectors.
Simple effective proven strategies are ready for multi-sectoral implementation,
including enhanced tobacco control, breast feeding promotion, reduction of salt
in the national diet and working with sports, media and urban planning to
promote a culture of physical activity. These and other efforts have been
demonstrated to work at scale.

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3) Pandemic preparedness requires action by government, the private sector, civil
society, corporations and others to build systems that would be both effective
and resilient when the next pandemic strikes. Resilience requires planning,
building systems that can handle immediate supply chain interruptions and
widespread recognition that all actors in society should develop preparedness
plans.
4) The ageing of the world’s population not only will accelerate the challenge of
chronic diseases but requires preparedness for the inevitable transformation of
economies and societies. Efforts to build new opportunities for the productive
engagement of elder adults require a multi-sectoral approach. Health systems will
need to adapt to the challenges of multiple simultaneous conditions. Effective
response will require new mechanisms for ensuring financial security for the
elderly along with education over the life cycle.

Health systems, which account for 10% of global economic activity, have a critical
role to play in addressing health challenges. Most health systems face the challenges
of exclusion of key groups from care and at the same time inefficient use of resources
for those groups that are included. Nations need a new social compact which would
operationalize lofty goals for health enshrined in many national constitutions by
defining an essential core set of effective services. A clear entitlement for this core set
of services should be created for everyone in a country. This entitlement should be
guaranteed through a universal financing mechanism and should be contestable in
national courts. Defining such an entitlement to a core set of services has been
shown in countries such as Mexico to be an effective mechanism for enhancing both
the universality and efficiency of health systems. The explicit set of services can be
used to monitor and benchmark performance through metrics of intervention effective
coverage. The choice of the core set of essential services should be informed by a
health technology assessment as well as a consideration of other critical social
objectives such as reducing health inequalities and social priority for certain health
problems.

Underlying the efforts for multi-sectoral preparedness, promotion and prevention and
the building of more efficient and universal health systems is one common theme: the
critical need for better information. Surveillance systems that work, information on the
effectiveness of strategies and programmes, performance benchmarking (from
pandemic preparedness to overall health system performance) are examples of this
need. The health Councils call on the World Economic Forum to lead a call for a
Davos Information Charter. This charter would articulate and motivate a
multistakeholder commitment to four principles. First, all institutions and actors
should share a common data architecture which will facilitate the communication and
sharing of essential health information. Second, all organizations, whether public or
private, should commit to put health information, with appropriate safeguards for
privacy, in the public domain. This includes unit record data, not just metadata. Data
are the ultimate public good. Data holders cannot possibly have a monopoly on the
ideas on how to analyse and learn from information insights that will save lives in the
future. Sharing data is a moral imperative and not just essential for enhancing
efficiency of systems. Third, we should all foster multiple competitive analyses of data
and not single consensus analyses. Consensus will emerge when the scientific

36
evidence is compelling; before that point, it is in everyone’s interest to encourage
responsible debate and interpretation of the available data. Fourth, it will be critical to
build the capacity of developing country organizations to analyse their own data to
inform local decisions.

In summary, three themes dominated the health discussions. First, the need to build
our capacity for strategic foresight through multistakeholder preparedness, promotion
and prevention. Second, the urgent need to create a clear and well-defined
guaranteed core set of health services that will enhance access and the
accountability of health providers for achieving outcomes. Third, the need to foster a
revolution in health information by articulating the principles of the Davos Information
Charter.

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 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Regions

Luiz Fernando Furlan

Chairman of the Board, GALF Empreendimentos, Brazil;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing on Regions

Five Countries, Three Regions and One World

The Global Agenda Councils under the theme of “Regions” met in Dubai around five
selected countries (Australia, China, Korea, Japan and Russia) and three regions
(Africa, Latin America, the Middle East) to analyse current economic, political and
social trends and propose priorities for action in the context of the international
financial crisis.

While emergency measures were proposed, country and regional Council Members
strongly believe that now is the time to place the foundations of a new development
cycle, based on a sound international financial architecture, rooted on clean
technologies and low-carbon efficient energy generation. The most immediate
perception from all the regional Councils was that fear is dominating the international
arena and that trust needs to be restored. However, the long-term and strategic
challenges should be at the centre of concerns and the regions must take the
opportunity presented by the crisis to lay the work for fundamental institutional and
economic reforms.

The most important common concerns cutting across the regional Councils were the
financial and confidence crisis, economic recession, energy security and
environmental risks. An integrated approach to face up to current challenges was
structured around three dimensions: Economic, Environment and Governance. To
build a better future, Council Members proposed:

Economic: (1) To build confidence and restore trust through strong national
leadership; (2) To promote a more stable international monetary system, including the
capitalization of financial institutions; (3) To better represent emerging markets in
international bodies as an integral part of the new international financial architecture;
(4) To accelerate poverty reduction programmes. Environment: (1) To build up the
green economy as a driving force for a new development cycle; (2) To reach a global
deal regarding climate change by 2010; (3) To prioritize more energy diversification
and efficiency.
Governance: (1) To work proactively towards a global and inclusive governance
system; (2) To advance and enhance effective trade integration.

Three Regions
Africa is the second largest continent in area and population, and perhaps the
richest of all in terms of natural resources, yet poverty remains widespread. Members
of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Africa propose to:

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• Tackle the impact of the international financial crisis since global linkages mean that
trade flows, credit lines and demand for commodities among others will be
affected.
• Expand sustainable food production which is key to addressing hunger and
poverty while stimulating economic growth and building food security in Africa.
Solutions will include efforts like the recently launched Coalition for African Rice
Development (CARD).
• Fix and expand ports, roads and infrastructure to boost the efficiency of
connectivity within Africa and with other regions aiming at a significant increase in
GDP growth rates with major social benefits within and across borders.
• Find ways to break resource-dependency, since much of the trade and investment
are related to the extraction of non-renewable resources. Capital intensive
extractive industries leave many African economies struggling to create enough
jobs for youth.
• Face up to regional challenges which include jobs creation, skills development;
governance improvement and transparency are among the major concerns of
Council Members.
• Create Forums where heads of state can interact and agree on regional
cooperation initiatives, without the interference of bureaucracies.

The interdependent nature of complex global challenges is affecting the Latin

American economic outlook. Between 2002-2006, close to 10% of the population
ceased to be poor and if development trends are maintained by 2010, the majority of
the region’s households are forecast to become middleclass. Members of the Global
Agenda Council on the Future of Latin America propose to:

• Promote and secure financial systems that provide liquidity and credit, invest in
infrastructure to respond to social demands and implement fiscal policies that
result in better and fairer public expenditure focusing on efficient and progressive
spending.
• Keep growing as Latin America represents a US$ 3-trillion economy, generate
innovative social, economic and policy institutions for poverty reduction and stay
open to the world in order to enhance effective regional integration.
• Increase renewable energies in the energy matrix, leverage Latin American
ecosystems to strengthen world food security, preserve water resources and
biodiversity for the well-being of mankind and better coordinate efforts to preserve
Amazon assets and other biome in the region.
• Induce developed countries to stay open to Latin America both in terms of trade
and investments; reach a global deal regarding the Doha Round as soon as
possible and conclude climate change negotiations by 2010 which should include
financial compensation for ecosystem conservation.
• Request developed countries reduce demand for illicit drugs, regularize the status
of Latin American migrants in Europe and the US and promote institutional reforms
targeting international conflict resolution, delivery of services, international justice
and rule of law.

With the global financial system in turmoil and oil prices declining from a long period
of sustained increments, the Middle East is currently playing a key role in the global
economy. Members of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Middle East
propose to:

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• Support reform to eradicate radicalism and encourage an evolution of the minds
beyond the existing order. The process of reform must be peaceful and based on
dialogue and inclusiveness and should include political, social, religious and
educational reforms.
• Support a shift from conflict management to conflict resolution with regard to the
Arab-Israeli conflict, under the auspices of a multilateral process. The goal is a two-
state solution and a comprehensive just peace on the basis of international law
between the Arab world and Israel.
• Change the role of the countries of the region in the international financial
architecture from passive player to a regional and global stakeholder.
• Promote regional development and job creation resulting from economic
diversification from oil. The security of supply must be reciprocated by fair access
to global markets. The region should actively develop alternative energy industries
to offset its carbon footprint as well as to generate new sources of income to
replace expected losses for oil exports.
• Address issues of radicalism, Arab-Israeli wars, capital development, energy and
diversification, to be able to create the jobs needed to minimize illegal migration
and brain drain.

Five Countries
Australia has undergone significant shifts in foreign and domestic policy. It has
withdrawn combat troops from Iraq, endorsed multilateral negotiations towards
limiting greenhouse gas emissions and is planning to enact domestic legislation on
climate change. Members of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Australia
propose to:

• Support sustained and sustainable globalization through the creation of a new

coordinating framework to ease effective cooperation between national systems of
wealth generation and regulation.
• Demonstrate practical means to achieve socially, environmentally and economically
sustainable modes of wealth generation rooted in the concept of “green economy”.
• Share the lessons learned in Australia from both successes and failures, particularly
in the strength of national macroeconomic frameworks, regulatory institutions and
standards, environmental reporting, technological research, human rights and
water management.
• Develop a model of indigenous economic development as a matter of justice and
national opportunity.
• Broaden the capacity for deep regional engagement with Asia and the Pacific
through education, cultural exchange, business, sport and the arts.

China’s re-emergence as a major global power is a defining moment in history.

Consensus – across business, trade, economics, energy, climate change, the
environment, culture and society – indicates that China’s influence on global
decision-making is invariably growing as a measure of the country’s size, economic
reforms and overall dynamism. Members of the Global Agenda Council on the Future
of China propose to:

• Speed up financial reforms, which include partial currency convertibility leveraging

on Hong Kong’s international financial centre status and cooperation with the
global financial community towards international system-wide reform.

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• Recommend the international community establish a World Central Bank that has
limited roles which include setting norms and standards in financial instruments,
granting liquidity to nations under specific conditions; and acting as an international
liquidity clearinghouse/exchange.
• Strengthen Asian regional integration and cooperation via more formal
mechanisms.

China has a climate change action programme under way but needs to do more to
achieve real progress. An opportunity exists now to push the US-China dialogue on
climate change to a new level. Working together on this key issue, China and the US
can stimulate a substantially new outcome. The Council Members propose to:

• Redirect the development process and push for reform. An example is to use the
trend towards urbanization to build up energy efficient and sustainable
transportation systems.
• Establish specific and more ambitious targets for limiting greenhouse gas
emissions.
• Work with the international community to develop breakthrough clean
technologies, provide incentives and design new institutional capacity to implement
such technologies.

Given the current crisis, China must also focus on improving efficiencies in the
manufacturing sector through the right incentives. China can continue to be a
manufacturing centre of the world but with leading edge technology, which is
environmentally sound and energy efficient. To re-energize the Doha Round
negotiations China, the United States and India should conduct trilateral talks to
resolve the outstanding agricultural issues from the last round of talks.

Japan remains the second largest economy in the world; however, its profile and
significance in global affairs seems to be challenged while other emerging Asian
economies such as China and India are on the rise. Members of the Global Agenda
Council on the Future of Japan propose to:

• Contribute by sharing its country experience of resolving the serious financial

problem it faced up to a decade ago. Japan can contribute significantly to sharing
best practices as well as the negative lessons to resolve the current world financial
crisis.
• Contribute by capitalizing on excellent technologies in the area of energy and
environment since Japan leads the rest of the world in energy efficiency calculated
in terms of C02 emissions/GDP.
• Contribute by sharing best practices and collaborating with other nations to
address ageing and the demographic shift as well as healthcare system designed
for high life expectancy.
• Develop strategies and take proactive steps to strengthen the role of Japan as a
global player enhancing its leadership role and awareness of its contributions and
capabilities.

Korea, the Peninsula and North-East Asia have undergone dramatic changes over
the past few decades. The uncertainty and complexity of the region’s issues have
important implications and influence on our interlinked and globalized world and

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Korea is an actor in international affairs through its trade, financial systems, resource
supply chain, climate change cooperation and cultural influence. Members of the
Global Agenda Council on the Future of Korea propose to:

• Participate actively in constructing the new international financial architecture by

multilateral cooperation (e.g., G20) and lead regional cooperation that
complements the IMF system. (e.g., Asian Monetary Fund).
• Protect the global commons by developing and sharing green technologies with a
convergence of IT (Information Technology), BT (Biotechnology), NT
(Nanotechnology) and CT (Culture Technology), and improve and contribute to
global environmental protection and expand global carrying capacity through
energy efficient technologies and social systems.
• Reform education through greater competition, making use of global human
resources, and increase labour market flexibility to tackle rapid demographic
changes accompanied by Korea’s expanded efforts for international social
development.
• Help resume inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. As part of such efforts,
North and South Korea should pursue common projects such as a trans-Siberian
railroad system, the joint development of resources in North Korea and other
economic projects in collaboration with other international organizations and
NGOs. Such cooperation will eventually reduce tension, ensure peace and
promote common prosperity in the peninsula.
• Enhance its global responsibility through an increase in official development
assistance (ODA) and the strengthening of PKO activities, and improve the ethical
attitude, trust, transparency and integrity of Korean firms.

Russia has re-established itself as a global player and strengthened its position as a
regional leader. In foreign policy, relations with the West are at their lowest ebb since
the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to geopolitical rivalries and value
disagreements. Members of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Russia
propose to:

• Promote changes in the international arena as long as the West does not apply
double standards to Russia or constantly lecture it on its inadequacies. Russia and
its political leadership should relinquish what has become a habit of using
nationalist sentiments to unite Russian diversified society and as a substitute for a
constructive vision of the country’s and the world’s future.
• Pay attention to long-term remedies for long-term problems, with respect to the
current financial and economic crisis, some of them unique to Russia and some
faced by many emerging economies.
• Encourage its membership in the broader international community, accept the
obligations that go with membership, achieve economic competition and efficiency,
as well as political pluralism, governmental accountability and transparency.
• Continue generational change since new blood must be brought into systems of
corporate governance and public administration. Young talents should be ready to
work in an atmosphere of openness and competitiveness.

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• Act on Russia’s stalled application for WTO membership; begin a new round of
arms-control negotiations and the design of a new security architecture for Europe
as a whole. In this context, the West should realize that it needs a common,
integrated strategy for both Russia and the newly independent states around it that
will make the new states secure without making Russia insecure.

Conclusion
As the Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai reached its conclusion, the outlook for
the global economy deteriorated considerably as a result of the global financial crisis’
recent escalation. While recession is evident, the next few years present a great
opportunity to lay the foundations of a new form of economic development that can
transform our societies. Members of the Region-oriented Councils believe that it is
possible to grow out of this recession, reduce economic and environmental risks and
spark off a wave of new investment to create a more secure, cleaner and more
attractive economy for all.

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 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Society and Values

John J. DeGioia
President, Georgetown University, USA;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing
on Society and Values

Introduction
As a result of the current global financial crisis, we realize that we are facing both
unprecedented challenges and what, we believe, are truly unprecedented
opportunities.

As we work to rebuild our international financial system, we must remember that this
is not simply an economic crisis, but a crisis of exclusion, one which encompasses
injustice and inequality.

Our Councils discussed the building of a culture of inclusion, and how we can
promote and advance it, from the perspectives of: Human Equality; Respect and
Diversity; Empowering Youth and the Welfare of Children; the Future of Journalism;
the Role of Sports in Society; and the Perspective of Faith.

Current Reality
We must begin by recognizing that our current reality, whatever its challenges and
faults, presents a wide range of positive aspects. Since 1980, globalization has cut in
half the number of people in our world living on less than two dollars a day. We are
the most “connected” people in history. We work in the most diverse workplaces in
history. Being here in Dubai, we recognize the sheer level of development in our
lifetimes.

Yet, we also know that globalization has produced staggering differences in wealth
and well-being. Sixty percent of the world’s population still exists on only 6% of the
world’s income, while entire communities are being exploited, marginalized and
neglected.

In a world that is growing smaller, where nations are more interdependent and people
more interconnected, we all share the moral imperative to develop the human
potential – the promise of every human being. We will not be able to respond to the
macroeconomic challenges of our time unless we respond to the need of developing
human potential.

Blocks of Exclusion
Unfortunately, we recognize that there are blocks that are preventing many of the
world’s people from reaching their fullest potential, and they are not only economic
blocks; they are blocks that result from exclusion, from injustice and indifference.
These blocks include:

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• A widespread lack of concern for the neediest in our global community
• Enduring poverty
• The pervasive and continuing discrimination that prevents many, especially women,
from engaging in activities that enable them and empower them to reach their
potential

In a financial crisis, when we are already not on track to meet the Millennium
Development Goals, it will be the most vulnerable who will be disproportionately
impacted. If we recognize that we must help the neediest among us, women,
children and minorities, than we should also recognize that they are among the most
valuable resources we have to address our challenges.

A Culture of Inclusion
Given our challenges, opportunities and resources, we are proposing a culture of
inclusion, one that embraces justice and equality, and one that especially recognizes
the importance of education at all levels. This would be an education that
acknowledges the full range of talents and abilities, competencies and capabilities
that are needed in our society. Furthermore, we look for an education that includes
vocational and technical learning opportunities, as well as training in all levels of
literacy and numeracy that are necessary for individuals to realize their potential in our
world.

Of course, we also believe that education must address the task of forging one’s
values.

Creating a Culture of Inclusion: The Councils

This is a new moment. We have unprecedented challenges. We have unprecedented
opportunities, and unprecedented resources. How we best address this moment – in
other words, how we best foster a culture of inclusion and promote the values of
justice and equality – was what we discussed in our Councils:

Empowering Youth and the Welfare of Children

A crucial insight we wish to share is that, in order to foster this culture of inclusion, we
must also be able to tap into the extraordinary creativity and the talent of all of our
people. As noted before, they are among our greatest resources. All our people
includes those experiencing discrimination, those who are most vulnerable and those
who are marginalized, left out, left behind or left on the sidelines of our societies. We
think of the billions of women who can be empowered. We think of one billion
children as potential problem solvers. In this region alone, in the next decade, 1.2
billion youth will enter the labour market, the largest cohort in history. How will we
respond to this opportunity? We cannot lose this resource. Without the full
deployment of human potential, we all lose, in economic terms, and we lose the
creativity and innovation that go undeveloped.

Human Equality, Respect and Diversity

We need to ensure that all human potential can be realized at the highest possible
level, and ensure that no talents are excluded due to one’s gender, ethnicity, race,
religion or because of any form of discrimination. We need to define what culture,
what leadership and what public policies are needed to foster inclusion. Moreover, we
need to create vehicles that will allow the unheard to become part of a dialogue of
inclusion.

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Journalism
One vehicle that can help advance and promote this culture of inclusion, the values of
justice and equality, is journalism. Journalism is at its best in a society when it
informs, engages and helps build-up our communities. Media has the capacity to
connect the world, bridging cultures and peoples, and telling us who we are and
what we mean to each other. The media can also ensure that no voice goes unheard.

We believe that this new moment also calls for a new media platform, across all
media channels, a global non-profit “CNN” providing a new form of independent
journalism to inform, illuminate and deepen knowledge about issues that improve the
state of the world.

Sport
While we acknowledge the unique potential of journalism to foster a culture of
inclusion, we must also recognize the unique promise of sport. Sport not only creates
economic value, at its best it positively impacts on the development, health and
promotion of values among young people. Powerful measures and ideas can be
communicated through sport, and we need to identify the most effective ways to
harness the power of sport to effect positive change, and to help bring about a fair,
just and inclusive society.

Faith
Of course, the best way to build a truly inclusive society, a society that embraces
justice and equality, and a society better qualified to address the many challenges
that face us at this moment in time, is to never lose sight of the deepest values that
we share. Our religious traditions provide the home for these values. Never have we
needed to rely upon the strength of our religious traditions, which are among our
greatest resources, as we do today. We must acknowledge, articulate and share
them. This requires that we find multiple ways to develop frameworks that can and
must be in dialogue with one another.

Conclusion

The strongest acknowledgement of the depth of our commitment to our deepest

values will be demonstrated by our commitment to developing the full human
potential of every individual. We share a moral urgency to develop the promise and
potential of all people. Moreover, in doing so, we will not only help create a culture of
inclusion, a culture that embraces justice and equality, we will ensure that our
societies are better able to address the unprecedented challenges, including the
global financial crisis, which we all now face.

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 Summit on the Global Agenda

On Technology and Innovation

Paul Twomey
President and Chief Executive Officer, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN), USA;
Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing
on Technology and Innovation

Creativity and technology can provide solutions to many of the major and complex
challenges facing the globe in such areas as education, climate change and issues
related to water or even the future of entertainment. As such creativity and
technology are enablers to the economy and to industry sectors. Technology can also
be a catalyst to education, which is crucial to economic advancement. Additionally,
entertainment can be considered as both an educational and cultural process. And
innovation in technology and human capital coming out of the pipeline now may be
an antidote to the economic downturn. But we also need to keep the pipeline full for
the future.

The Internet ecosystem is a key enabler for today’s technology development. It is

growing rapidly and will grow more as billions of people in less developed countries
come online. It is critical to the state of the world, as it is the major force for disruptive
change, innovation and creativity.

While the Internet unites people, there are many problems that threaten
fragmentation. One political driver is censorship, whether motivated by cultural norms
or fear of dissent; it can be reinforced by linguistic fragmentation. There are also
technical and business drivers. The boundary between the traditional PC-based
Internet enjoyed by 1.3 billion people (largely in the developed world) and mobile
communications (used by a further 2 billion in less-developed countries) is somewhat
ragged. Other divisive forces are the trend to geo-located services, and the network
neutrality debate – which is fundamentally a tussle between telecom and application
providers.

The Global Agenda Councils focusing on the theme of Technology and Innovation
identified four common themes. The first is that the expansion of global ubiquitous
networks is a fundamental driving force for innovation – both in its development and
in its consumption. The rapid expansion of networks, especially the Internet and its
convergence with mobile communications, represents a revolutionary shift in the
provision of information and empowerment to individuals throughout the world.

Ten years ago 100 million people used the Internet. Today that number is 1.4 billion.
By the end of 2010, 5 billion people will have a mobile phone. Many of these will be
Internet enabled. The consequences of this growth and convergence are enormous
consumer and citizen engagement and the devolution of decision-making throughout
the globe, especially within the developing world.

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The global communications fabric enabled by the Internet has huge potential to
provide wide participation and real-time feedback in solving a number of global
challenges. Its ability to aggregate and share information will not only impact free
speech, creativity and innovation, but many aspects of governance and global
problem-solving.

Key factors driving the accelerated adoption of the Internet are affordability and
scalability. From an affordability perspective, a key contributor for its widespread and
inclusive growth (particularly with mobile communications) is scale economics.
Unprecedented unit volumes continue to rapidly drive costs down. Devices are
cheaper. Services are cheaper. The digital divide is disappearing.

In terms of scalability, the continued momentum for open and distributed platforms
has catalysed the development of new capabilities and efficiencies on a global scale.
Formerly proprietary operating systems are blending into more flexible and accessible
ecosystems and the barriers to creating new services are reduced. This not only
creates the ability to tap into the “long-tail” opportunity but also the establishment of
a more robust global culture of innovation that will help bring forth the imaginative
solutions we now require.

In this time of rapid growth, however, challenges exist. Certain stress fractures are
appearing on the technology horizon. Limited access to capital will constrain
investment. Supplying the demand may become a significant challenge.

In the current economic environment, where governments are recognizing the need
to invest in ICT infrastructure as an economic catalyst, new models for private-public
engagement will be essential. Policy frameworks will need to evolve to ensure growth,
innovation, investment and competition.

One particular area where public-private partnerships will be important is in the field
of education. Education is in a state of transition from a traditional model to one
where technology plays an integral role. However, technology has not yet
transformed education, nor has it yet embraced informal learning communities.
Catalysts for its transformation include the acceleration of broadband penetration, the
establishment of new incentives for expanding wireless connectivity, revisiting issues
on intellectual property rights management and continued support for
multistakeholder solutions. It must be remembered, however, that the technology to
propel educational achievement can only be value-added if linked with creative
pedagogy to educate students with 21st-Century skills and to train teachers to
engage actively with students in interactive learning communities.

The second key theme and finding of the Councils focused on Technology and
Innovation is that multidisciplinary approaches are essential for achieving solutions to
many of the globe’s complex problems and opportunities.

One specific area where this insight is of particular relevance is related to the topic of
nanotechnology. A key issue is resolving the confusion between nanotechnology and
the outcomes of nanotechnology. As such, dialogue that facilitates an exchange of

48
information between stakeholders and enables informed decision-making needs to
continue. Transparency over how and where nanotechnology is being used is
essential for investor and user confidence. In order to fully understand the use, one
needs to understand the application.

Applying cross-sector skills is necessary for all applications of technology and the
talent pools must reflect this need. The supply of innovation talent is undergoing a
dramatic shift with major changes to demographics, the number of returnees and
cultural factors such as four generations in the same workplace. The demand for
talent is also changing due to the increased need of technology skills in all sectors,
cross-disciplinary skills, cross-sector skills and the changing needs of business.

The third dimension identified by this group of Global Agenda Councils – a theme
highly related to multidisciplinary collaboration – is that multistakeholder models are
essential for coordination and standards setting. One area where this is most relevant
is in the evolution of the Internet. The Internet has succeeded because it is universal,
open, standard and end-to-end. As its impact moves from that of technical change
into social change, these principles must be safeguarded. The Internet should remain
decentralized, with decision-making at the edge, to foster technological and business
innovation – including disruptive change.

Another relevant area is entertainment. The world’s stories are told through various
media and in all cases the opportunity for positive influence exists. The power of
media should not be underestimated. Now niche and discreet audiences can be
targeted and reached. More stories can reach more people. By leveraging
multistakeholder approaches, cultural norms, educational opportunities, health
improvements and economic change can be affected.

The last theme is one of definitional clarity. We are in a global networked economy of
innovation. The fundamental societal and economic transition we are undergoing is
being driven (and accelerated) by ubiquitous connectivity. Our world and its
institutions are flattening. We are moving from local to global, from top-down to
bottom-up, from passive to engaged and from developed to developing.

Our Councils consider that the acceleration of innovation may well represent a step
function change. But it is essential to stress the benefits of technology and innovation
and not let perceptions of some of the inevitable risks paralyse society’s and
business’ decision-making. Promoting the benefits of innovation is a key requirement
of our leaders – especially in this time of economic crisis.

We see many considerable inhibitors to innovation around the world. These tensions
include:

Global vs National: Innovations are increasingly carried out by distributed networks of

talent and resources, to a large extent benefiting from, and further spurring,
globalization. Global challenges (like climate change, pandemics and population),
realities and needs are often at odds with national interests and concerns too often
yielding policies that prevent real breakthroughs.

49
Incremental vs Disruptive: Innovation is not invention; it is a process more than an
act. We don’t want to rest content with catalysing incremental, linear innovation to
the neglect of disruptive innovation.

Irrational vs Scientific: Unpredictable and constant change is our new reality. But
rampant fear of the unknown exists, limiting the breadth and depth of any
prospective innovation culture. This is very much due to math and science
education’s failure to emphasize universal evidence-based decision-making and
critical and interdisciplinary thinking over facts and figures.

Advancement vs Cultural Norms: Innovations can come from any person, regardless
of background or education. Fostering innovation implies class mobility. It requires
infrastructure that supplies the requisite education, housing, power and
transportation needs.

Given this general state of affairs, it is essential that we foster a society that
permanently strives to create socioeconomic value through the creation and
deployment of novel ideas in this new landscape. The aspirations, values, literacy and
governance of these societies – regional, national or corporate – collectively foster an
ecosystem that fuels innovation.

But we also realize that the cutting edge of innovation and technology can race
ahead of the multidisciplinary and multistakeholder approaches needed for
interaction, coordination and risk analysis and management. We need to get more
comfortable with establishing these multidisciplinary and multistakeholder
approaches swiftly and effectively.

50
Global Issue Profiles
 Alternative Energies

Overview

Rather than only addressing “alternative” energy Sessions in the Annual

sources, the world needs a more ambitious approach Meeting programme related
to this issue that envisions a comprehensive and to Alternative Energies
sustainable new energy paradigm. Such a paradigm include:
• Update 2009: Managing
includes, but is not limited to renewable energy
Resources for the Long Term
technologies. In the developed world, this paradigm • Energy Outlook 2009
requires energy efficiency, smart grid technologies • Dealing with Deforestation
and grid-connected renewables. In rural parts of the • Latin America: A Global Hub
developing world, which often lack access to grid for Sustainability
• Rising to the Challenge of
power, great potential for transformative, low-carbon,
Copenhagen
off-grid solutions exists. The essential enabler for this • The Electric Vehicle
sustainable energy paradigm is the adoption by Conundrum
governments of clear, long-term, stable, carbon- • Are Renewables the Silver
pricing mechanisms. Bullet?
• From Green Tech to Growth
Opportunities for the United
While the sector has grown dramatically since the oil States
shocks of the 1970s, it still has enormous potential for • Is the Right to Food an
growth. What is more, the current energy paradigm Illusion?
looks increasingly unsustainable due to concerns over • The Challenge of Sustainable
Mobility
energy security, climate change and energy poverty.
• Update 2009: Controlling
According to the IEA, an estimated 93% of global Climate Change
energy consumption is from non-renewable sources. • Update 2009: An Integrated
Approach to Energy, Food and
But sustainable energy is here to stay and should no Water Security
longer be called “alternative” energy. Sustainable
energy can account for over 50% of the world’s
energy needs by 2050. However, substantial obstacles remain in the shape of
perverse subsidies and other policy distortions that favour incumbent, usually dirty
forms of energy. Barriers to entry are also posed by powerful incumbents holding
legacy assets.

Renewable and distributed forms of energy have shown particular promise in

addressing energy poverty among the many rural poor who today do not have
reliable access to modern energy. However, a lack of financing has been a handicap
to the advancement of the various innovative business models and bottom-up
success stories seen thus far in this area.

In the short term, there is no doubt that this sector, like others, will be hurt by the
ongoing credit crunch. Some companies will go bust and projects will be delayed,
and again it is the poor who may suffer most. However, we remain optimistic that

52
from this crisis will come tremendous opportunity for sustainable energy, for the
following reasons:
• A shift from an era and mentality of abundance to one of scarcity is likely to speed
innovation and spur efficiency.
• A crisis is likely to encourage long-term thinking and a shift in the fundamental
energy paradigm that goes beyond mere tinkering with the status quo or business-
as-usual approach.
• The financial crisis may force a useful shakeout that weeds out unsustainable
business models and leaves a stronger, more vibrant clean technology sector in its
wake.
• There are signs that this sector may even attract a lot of private capital as an island
of long-term promise in this ocean of turbulence.
• The increase in government spending and Keynesian stimulus expected during the
coming recession are likely to prove a big boon to infrastructure projects related to
sustainable energy (for example, smart grid infrastructure).
• Even in developing countries, the global downturn has led to an internal brain drain
away from the IT industry towards energy innovation.
• The volatility in fossil fuel prices may even lead to investors and governments
seeing value in renewable energy sources as a useful long-term hedge on energy
prices.

53
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Alternative Energies proposes:

• At the national level: governments must formulate clear long-term energy plans.
• At the international level: it is vital that the Copenhagen summit produce a
successor to the Kyoto Protocol that includes both rich and poor nations and that
provides clear long-term policy certainty on carbon.
• IFIs: the World Bank and other international lending agencies must ensure their
policies allow for a level playing field for sustainable energy.
• Experts: a panel of leading global experts must produce an authoritative study
(along the lines of the IPCC or Stern Reports) to bust myths, benchmark
technologies and provide a realistic estimate of the prospects for sustainable
energy.
• Global Agenda Council: this Global Agenda Council can follow up on its report with
evidence of global best practices and success stories that are scaleable.

Additional recommendations for improving the state of the sector:

• In rural areas of the developing world, successful approaches must be inexpensive,
low-maintenance and accessible to local people.
• There must be an energy services perspective that places the end user, not
suppliers, at the centre and that considers distributed solutions and efficiency as
seriously as centralized supply.
• In developed markets, regulations and incentives must be changed so that utilities
are no longer rewarded merely for pumping out more electrons but rather for
providing energy services in the most sustainable fashion. Consumers must also
be educated on this point.
• Competitive markets and entrepreneurs are much likelier to produce sustainable
business models for the new energy paradigm than governments that pick
technology winners.
• There is an important role for government in ending perverse subsidies, imposing
externalities taxation, investing in enabling infrastructure and otherwise levelling the
playing field.
• The most powerful change to advocate is a change in mindset away from the
traditional stance taken by governments and industry lobbies to support more
subsidies for more centralized supply.

54
 Council on Alternative Energies
Members

Chair: *Peter L. Corsell, President and Chief Executive Officer, GridPoint, USA

Dan E. Arvizu, Director, US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy

Laboratory, USA
Yves Bamberger, Director, Electricité de France (EDF), France
Kamel Bennaceur, Vice-President, International Energy Agency, France
*Tim Brown, President, Chief Executive Officer and Partner, IDEO, USA
*Peter Brun, Senior Vice-President, Vestas Wind Systems, Denmark
Vladimir Bulovic, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, USA
Gerbrand Ceder, R.P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Andre Faaij, Associate Professor, Cluster Energy Supply and System Studies,
Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Netherlands
*Nic Frances, Executive Chairman, cool nrg International, Australia
*Harish Hande, Managing Director, SELCO Solar Light, India
Paul Hanrahan, President and Chief Executive Officer, AES Corporation, USA
Jay D. Keasling, Professor, Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of
California, Berkeley, USA
Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives, India
C. S. Kiang, Chairman, Environment Fund, Peking University, People’s Republic of China
*Michael Liebreich, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, New Energy Finance, United
Kingdom
Amory B. Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute, USA
*Ernest J. Moniz, Professor and Head, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, USA
*Daniel Nocera, Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Hans Björn Püttgen, Professor and Director, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
(EPFL), Switzerland
Dan Reicher, Director, Climate Change and Energy Initiatives, Google, USA
Sanjit (Bunker) Roy, Director, Barefoot College, India
Jean-Louis Scartezzini, Professor and Director, Solar Energy and Building Physics
Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
*Michael R. Splinter, President and Chief Executive Officer, Applied Materials., USA
Rory Stear, Executive Chairman, Freeplay Energy, United Kingdom
*William Swope, Corporate Vice-President and General Manager, Corporate Affairs
Group, Intel Corporation, USA
Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Correspondent, The Economist, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Alternative Energies

Council Manager: Delphine Angelloz-Nicoud
Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Forum Lead: Christoph Frei
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill
55
 Benchmarking Progress in Society

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Good governance increasingly requires a data-driven Meeting programme related
and evidence-based approach to policy-making. to Benchmarking Progress in
Society include:
Without proper data, indicators and analysis, policy
• Update 2009: Dealing with
decisions are often made on the basis of generalized Dangerous Demographics
observations and best guesses – or worse, on • Managing Complexity: A
rhetoric and emotion. Different Approach
• Can You Trust Your Model?
• Managing Global Risks
Benchmarking (across countries or over time) is a • Reality Mining: Changing
fundamental tool to identify best solutions and drive Behaviour
• Science for World Leaders
evidence-based policy and decision-making. The
current crisis is demanding the development of new
policies and changes in individual behaviours;
therefore, benchmarking is more important than ever. However, benchmarking is not
a trivial activity: it can lead to great results, but also to misleading and wrong
conclusions and actions. Therefore, it has to be carried out in the right way.

To usefully benchmark progress in society, it is necessary to answer three crucial

questions: (1) what to measure (which is ultimately a political decision); (2) how to
measure (which is more of a statistical problem); and (3) how to communicate the
measures in a meaningful way so they might actually impact behaviour.

1) What? Measurement should go beyond economic measures, including wider

measures of well-being, of social and environmental phenomena, as well as of
governance aspects. Also a multistakeholder (including statisticians) and bottom-
up approach should be developed according to national institutional and cultural
environments.

2) How? Data on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of societal progress need
to be considered, which should be collected according to common standards for
quality and ethics. Public and private data producers and benchmarking agencies
must be committed to improving their measurement standards over time.

3) How to use the results? We don’t do benchmarking per se. Benchmarking is a

step in a process which is a political one – with statistical, communication and
people’s engagement components. There is room for substantial progress in
making benchmarking results more salient and understandable for decision-
makers.

56
The current crisis makes crucial the importance of data-driven decision-making. The
risk is that it could reduce the national expenditures for collecting and analysing
statistics. It is important – especially now – to continue to produce relevant data
gathering and further develop our ability to engage in evidence-based policy-making.
Countries could react to the crisis by too narrowly focusing just on economic
indicators and not broader measures of well-being and societal progress.

57
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Benchmarking Progress in Society proposes:

1. Information Charter: The Members of the World Economic Forum are among the
largest and most powerful group of users of statistics. Therefore, the Forum could
serve as a platform for all relevant public and private sector stakeholders to agree on
the creation and dissemination of an “Information Charter” to guide researchers and
organizations that create and/or maintain datasets to comply with a few core
principles, such as: (1) the data should be maintained in an architecture that meets
specific standards of quality and structure; and (2) the data should be publicly
accessible via the Internet so that private and/or public actors could independently
assess or reanalyse prior results. Such a Charter should support the “moral
imperative” to promote public knowledge and contribute to the progress of societies.
Databases that meet these compliants could display a “Charter Compliant” brand
(analogous to “Creative Commons”) brand.

2. Accessible Database of Indicators: The “Global Project on Measuring the Progress of

Societies” hosted by the OECD could create a utility (based on an Internet platform)
where organizations and researchers can deposit “Charter Compliant” datasets. The
utility would not only be a centralized data warehouse with freely accessible and
downloadable data, but would include visualization and summarizing software that
would facilitate the ability of analysts to easily manipulate and tell stories about the
data series. We call on the maintainers of the 130 existing benchmarking indices to
post their data – including the non normalized underlying data as well as the
normalization methodology – so that it is available for free and unrestricted download
from this utility. The utility would foster technological innovation for improving the use
of data for debate and policy-making.

3. Best Practices Benchmarking Handbook: An international organization with expertise

in benchmarking, such as the UNDP, should facilitate, in collaboration with all relevant
stakeholders, the production of a Handbook to detail “Best Practices” in
benchmarking. The Handbook would:
- use concrete examples (possibly linked to the current crisis) to demonstrate the
power of benchmarking to lead social change
- include state of the art guidelines on best methods to test the quality of data and
to create reliable indicators of various dimensions of welfare
- describe standards for both reliable and consistent methods for variable definition
(allowing for cultural and other differences) and data collection
- propose common standards for quality and ethics, to be applied by both public
and private data producers.

4. Package of Communication Tools: The Package would include case studies of

success stories (and possibly failure stories) in which benchmarking positively
influenced progress in different dimensions. An alternative and complementary
approach would be to select a number of countries particularly stricken by the
current economic crisis and benchmark the different approaches, to identify the most
successful ones and those which have worked faster. These case studies would
showcase the importance of utilizing data and benchmarking as a tool to monitor the
progress in the different goals targeted. The Package would also include the best
social science on how graphic and non-graphic display of information impacts the
ability of decision-makers to consume benchmarking results.

58
Council on Benchmarking Progress in Society
Members

Chair: *Enrico Giovannini, Chief Statistician, Organisation for Economic Co-

operation and Development (OECD), France

*Ian Ayres, Professor of Law, Yale Law School, USA

*Nicholas Burnett, Assistant Director-General for Education, United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris
Paul Cheung, Director, Statistics Division, United Nations, New York
*Kemal Dervis, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
New York
*Soumitra Dutta, Dean, External Relations and Roland Berger Chaired Professor in
Business and Technology, INSEAD, France
*Daniel C. Esty, Director, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, USA
Edwin J. Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation, USA
Daniel Kaufmann, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development,
Brookings Institution, USA
Joel A. Kurtzman, Chairman, Kurtzman Group, USA
Robert A. Lawson, Associate Professor of Finance, Capital University, USA
Richard Layard, Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance,
London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Simon Lebus, Group Chief Executive, Cambridge Assessment, United Kingdom
Roberto Newell Garcia, Director-General, Instituto Mexicano para la
Competitividad (IMCO), Mexico
Juanita Olaya, Independent Researcher, Bonn University, Germany
Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Center for Molecular Medicine
(CMM), Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
*Abdel Monem Said Aly, Director, Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic
Studies (ACPSS), Egypt
Ruut Veenhoven, Emeritus Professor, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
Sylvester Young, Director, Bureau of Statistics, International Labour Organization
(ILO), Geneva

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Benchmarking Progress in Society

Council Manager: Irene Mia
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

59
 Challenges of Gerontology

Overview
Introduction
Sessions in the Annual
Gerontology and ageing are at the foundation of all Meeting programme related to
human endeavours. For those able to survive the the Challenges of Gerontology
challenges of mortality risks early in life, the ageing of include:
body and mind awaits us all. Several major gerontology- • Update 2009: Healthcare under
related transitions in human society have profoundly Stress
• Update 2009: Dealing with
influenced our modern world, and will continue to
Dangerous Demographics
influence every aspect of our lives in the future. They • Live Long and Prosper
include the rapid increase in life expectancy in the 20th • The Future of Regenerative
Century brought forth by advances in public health; Medicine
associated reductions in infectious diseases and • Creating Wealth through Health
• Brain Fitness
declining early age and maternal mortality; medical
advances in recent decades that led to declining middle
and old-age mortality; and rapid demographic shifts in the age structure known as
population ageing. The cascading effects of these transitions have profoundly impacted
every aspect of life across the globe – influencing national economies, personal finance,
pension schemes of companies and governments, social institutions, medicine, science,
technology, and basic principles involving quality of life.

As a global phenomenon, population ageing has barely been realized. This is the case
because the extremely large cohorts born during the post World War II era will reach
retirement ages in the year 2011, and from that year forward the age structure of our
species will be permanently transformed. The issues forced upon us by gerontology-
related challenges will confront developed and developing nations alike, and it will occur so
rapidly that individuals and nations may have a difficult time coping unless a broad range of
policies are enacted to address them. Some of the most difficult and urgent challenges will
occur in developing nations where the largest number of older people will live – and there
is reason to believe these nations are ill equipped to handle the forthcoming transition
given the numerous other health, economic and environmental issues they face.

The complexity of the challenges and opportunities faced by gerontology is exemplified by

the diverse backgrounds of the Members of the Council. There will be demographic shifts
in the population to be sure, but the ageing of individuals and populations leads to
complex issues involving the onset and expression of fatal and disabling diseases, the
ageing brain, an understanding of how social institutions such as marriage and retirement
will need to be transformed, coping with the unique needs of an older population in terms
of the physical environments in which we live and work, avoiding the pernicious effects of
ageism, identifying new and innovative technological fixes to extend and enhance the
quality and duration of our lives, addressing the economic challenges and opportunities
linked to the extension of life, and formulating new approaches to life-long learning and
other enhancements to quality of life.

From the discussion that took place in the Summit on the Global Agenda plenary session
after the Council meetings, it would appear that either gerontology itself is not recognized
as an issue of relevance, or it is believed that the issues we face are all related to health.

60
This is a reflection of a profound gap in understanding the broad range of issues faced by
our Council.

The Linkage between the Economic Crisis and Issues Faced by the Council on
Gerontology
The rise of gerontology as a field of scientific inquiry in the 20th Century may be viewed by
many as a crisis in waiting, but it is worth emphasizing that if it were not for the advances
in public health and modern medicine that enable many of us to live long enough to
experience ageing, most people alive today would have died before the age of ten from an
infectious disease. Longer and healthier lives are a product of our remarkable ingenuity in
combating the forces of mortality that precluded survival to older ages for most people
throughout human history. The need for gerontology is a product of success, not failure.

There are challenges brought forth by the extension of life – perhaps none clearer than the
current crisis facing the automobile manufacturers in the United States who seek bailout
money from the federal government first and foremost to pay off pension obligations to
their unions. Other challenges await age-entitlement programmes such as Social Security
and Medicare and their equivalents in nations throughout the world as people live longer
than what was expected when the programmes intended to finance their retirement were
first devised. However, economists already recognize that declining fertility throughout the
world is going to create a shortage of human capital – the very same human capital that is
enhanced by gerontology’s contribution to the extension of healthy life. The time has
arrived for the world to recognize that gerontology and the demographic transformation of
our species and forthcoming advances in public health and medical technology offer
humanity an equal measure of opportunity. The difficulties we face now include learning
how to confront the challenges without the prejudice that is often linked to a rising elderly
population, and finding new and innovative ways to explore the opportunities that will allow
us to celebrate and enhance the great success of our extended lives.

61
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Gerontology proposes that:

The extension of a healthy life will pay a series of economic, health and other life
course dividends. In order to experience these dividends, a global change of course
is required. The change we propose is a series of global directions and initiatives that,
if implemented, will benefit people of all ages, including older adults:

• Creating new generative roles and a host of opportunities for productivity and
engagement by elder adults

• Creating a new health system that incorporates and integrates medical care and
public health approaches to prevent and ameliorate chronic diseases and
conditions, and which adopts a life course approach to health promotion

• Redesigning cities to support healthy ageing and independence and engagement

• Encouraging financial security for people in older ages

• Changing the current retirement paradigm and enhancing work flexibility

• Investing in education at every point in the life course, encouraging lifelong learning

• Developing a new healthy ageing research agenda

• Including this pressing issue as one of the Millennium Development Goals

• Enacting several steps in the business and government world:

– Promoting health in the work place
– Adopting flexible retirement policies
– Defining new roles for older adults and civic engagement
– Creating new products and services for an underserved market
– Investing in lifelong learning

• Pushing the argument that a disease specific model needs to be supplemented by

advancing research designed to slow the biological processes of ageing.

62
 Council on the Challenges of Gerontology
Members

Chair: *Hiroshi Komiyama, President, University of Tokyo, Japan

Chair Delegate: Hiroko Akiyama, Professor of Social Psychology, University of
Tokyo, Japan

W. Andrew Achenbaum, Dean, College of Humanities, Arts and Communication,

University of Houston, USA
Simon Biggs, Director, Institute of Gerontology, King’s College London, United
Kingdom
Robert N. Butler, President and Chief Executive Officer, International Longevity
Center, USA
Gerald C Davison, Dean and Executive Director, USC School of Gerontology and
Andrus Gerontology Center, USA
Aubrey de Grey, Chairman and Chief Science Officer, Methuselah Foundation, USA
Alvaro Fernández Ibáñez, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SharpBrains,
USA
Linda P. Fried, Dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health, Mailman School of
Public Health, Columbia University, USA
Renato Maia Guimarães, President, International Association of Gerontology and
Geriatrics (IAGG), Brazil
Gloria Gutman, Professor and Research Associate, Dr Tong Louie Living
Laboratory, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Kay-tee Khaw, Professor of Clinical Gerontology, University of Cambridge, United
Kingdom
Ronald M. Klatz, President, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), USA
Barbara Meynert, Founder, Active Life to 100, United Kingdom
Colin Milner, Founder, International Council on Active Ageing, Canada
S. Jay Olshansky, Professor, University of Illinois, USA
Suresh Rattan, Professor, University of Aarhus, Denmark

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Gerontology

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

63
 Challenges of Nanotechnology

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The science and technology of the nanoscale are Meeting programme related
critical drivers of innovation. The resulting to the Challenges of
“nanotechnologies” have the potential to underpin Nanotechnology include:
solutions to a broad range of global challenges • How Does Science Happen?
• The Ethics of Science
beyond what conventional technologies are able to • New Applications in
achieve. Major global challenges that will be impacted Nanotechnology
by nanotechnologies include energy security • Human Augmentation — From
(alternative energies), healthcare, microelectronics Imagination to Realization
• Nanotechnology: A New Path
and quantum computing, and water provision (clean for Curing Cancer?
water and desalination even on a small scale).

Many emerging nanotechnologies (21st-Century technologies) represent a radical

departure from conventional (past) technologies in terms of their development, their
use and their potential to lead to unconventional adverse impacts. As a
consequence, non-conventional (21st-Century) approaches are needed for their
development, commercialization and oversight, in order to foster sustainable
innovation.

In particular, nanotechnology belongs at the interface between areas of expertise,

bringing new challenges to interdisciplinary collaboration, and cross-disciplinary
decision-making.

The successful implementation of nanotechnologies could be impacted by a lack of

strategic funding, poor education of practitioners and decision-makers, limited
engagement of key communities, outmoded business models and unresponsive
approaches to risk assessment, management and oversight.

Nanotechnology transcends global boundaries and will require innovative approaches

to global governance to underpin its long-term success.

64
65
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Nanotechnology proposes the

following:
• Resolving confusion between nanotechnology and the outcomes of
nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a toolkit, or a way of doing things, that is
stimulating innovation. In contrast, the outcomes of nanotechnology are processes,
materials and products that exploit the added value that results from engineering
matter at the nanoscale.
• Educating developers and users of nanotechnology. New skill-sets are needed to
develop and exploit the benefits of nanotechnology. These primarily involve
bridging the gap between deep knowledge and broad knowledge, and enabling
people to interface across very different disciplines. There is also a need to provide
investors and users with an understanding of what the technology is, and what it
can do. Education to avoid misconceptions surrounding the technology, both in
terms of its potential uses and its potential impacts, is needed.
• Enabling effective engagement between stakeholders (including academics, policy-
makers, industry and citizens). Dialogues need to be established that facilitate an
exchange of information between stakeholders, and enable informed decision-
making. Transparency over how and where nanotechnology is being used is
essential for investor and user confidence. A key goal is to stimulate a culture of
curiosity among potential investors in, developers of and users of nanotechnology.
• Developing innovative business, policy and financing models for the 21st Century.
Going from basic research to market in nanotechnology generally requires more
time and capital than in other technology areas, while also posing more risk.
Conventional financing structures and start-up business models are ill-matched to
these challenges, as attested to by limited returns from venture-backed nanotech
start-ups to date. Meeting these challenges will require new financing approaches
including incubator funds, participation from strategic investors and staggered exits
to liquidity. It will also require start-up companies and large corporations to
consider new, cooperative business models that jointly develop technology
applications and share risk and reward across the value chain from materials
through to end products.
• Enabling effective risk assessment and management. New nanotechnologies will
come with new risks to human health and the environment. In some cases, these
may involve risks that lie outside conventional understanding of how materials and
products might cause harm. Ensuring that risks remain acceptably low will entail
new research into understanding and addressing how nanotechnology-based
materials and products cause harm, and how this harm may be avoided and/or
controlled.
• Ensuring oversight clarity. Clarity is needed on how existing oversight mechanisms
apply to new nanotechnology-based materials and products. These include hard
mechanisms such as regulation and soft mechanisms such as voluntary codes –
some of which exist, but limited knowledge of these highlight the lack of effective
engagement between key stakeholders. Where existing oversight mechanisms are
of limited applicability, new mechanisms are needed that minimize potential harm
associated with nanotechnology-based products and materials, and that provide
businesses with a clear regulatory framework within which to operate.

66
Council on the Challenges of Nanotechnology
Members

Chair: *Christopher B. Murray, Richard Perry University Professor of Chemistry and

Materials Science, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Gabriel Aeppli, Director, London Centre for Nanotechnology, United Kingdom

Angela Belcher, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Christoph Gerber, Director, Scientific Communication, National Center of
Competence in Research ‘NCCR’ Nanoscale Science, University of Basel,
Switzerland
Tim Harper, Chief Executive Officer and President, Cientifica, United Kingdom
Annabelle Hett, Head, Emerging Risk Management, Swiss Reinsurance Company,
Switzerland
Rüdiger Iden, Senior Vice-President, Polymer Physics, BASF, Germany
Andrew D. Maynard, Chief Science Adviser, Project on Emerging
Nanotechnologies, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA
Matthew M. Nordan, President, Lux Research, USA
Mark E. Welland, Head of the Laboratory, Nanoscience Centre, United Kingdom
Jackie Y. Ying, Executive Director, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology,
Singapore

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Nanotechnology

Council Manager: Andrew Hagan
Research Analyst: Tareq Bouchuiguir
Forum Lead: Alex Wong
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

67
 Chronic Diseases and Malnutrition

Overview

Good health leads to economic development; in turn Sessions in the Annual

economic development improves health. Bad health Meeting programme related
and poor nutrition rob the world of the full potential of to Chronic Diseases and
all people. Malnutrition include:
• Update 2009: Healthcare under
Stress
Chronic diseases (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, • IdeasLab with MIT
cancer and lung diseases) and malnutrition (hunger, • Creating Wealth through Health
micronutrient deficiency and obesity) are the leading • Preventing Cancer? Change
Your Habits
causes of death and disability globally. • The Cancer Epidemic
• Nanotechnology: A New Path
Contrary to popular opinion, chronic diseases are not for Curing Cancer?
only diseases of the rich. Eighty percent of deaths • Completing the Malaria Mission
due to chronic diseases occur in low- and middle-
income countries and these countries suffer rapidly
rising chronic disease health burdens. Between 2005-2015, income loss (in
international dollars) related to chronic disease could rise to as much as $558 billion
in China, $237 billion in India, $303 billion in Russia, $33 billion in the UK, $49 million
in Brazil.

Undernutrition causes major health risks and is associated, among others, with
shorter adult height, less schooling, reduced economic productivity and – for women
– lower offspring birth weight, mental illness and lower human capital. Undernutrition
in early childhood will accelerate the severity of chronic disease in emerging
economies. The costs of healthcare to deal with the consequences of vitamin and
mineral deficiencies can be as much as 2-3% of a country’s GDP; the cost of lost
productivity has been estimated at US$ 8 billion per year or up to 3% of GDP for
some countries and the effects of undernutrition on intellectual development has
profound societal impacts.

The current economic crisis will exacerbate the situation. Those able to afford food
will be driven towards cheaper, poor quality diets, thereby increasing their risk for
chronic disease with its economic impact. Those who cannot afford food will
experience increased undernutrition with an associated impairment to intellectual
capacity and physical disability, reducing the size of the productive workforce and
increasing support costs to society.

68
The following will cumulatively lead to a future where chronic diseases and
malnutrition will affect over half of the world’s population in their productive years and
will impede economic development globally, leading to an increase in inequalities in
health by country, region and social class:
• A disconnect between agricultural policies and the goals of healthy nutrition
• Industry and trade practices that are unresponsive to public health concerns
• Meat production and consumption increases in emerging markets
• Urbanization not designed to provide health promoting and active living
environments
• Environmental pollution making air and water unsafe
• Climate change that reduces food production and its quality
• Social inequities that are not reduced by development
• Education that does not provide life skills to young persons
• Fragmented health systems that do not integrate nutrition and chronic disease
prevention programmes
• Governments continuing to fail to invest in science, policy and effective actions.

69
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

According to the Global Agenda Council on Chronic Diseases and Malnutrition, these
health and economic burdens can be substantially reduced through policies and
programmes for which there is strong evidence of effectiveness but which presently
have a low level of implementation.

A. There is no need to reinvent strategies. Adoption of the WHO Action Plan for the
Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases
(NCD) endorsed at the World Health Assembly 2008, and key international norms
(such as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the Global
Strategy on Infant and Child Nutrition) by governments, industry and NGOs
provide a solid basis for integrated and separate activities.

B. Invest in specific cost-effective interventions across the human lifespan:

Infancy
• Improve maternal nutrition
• Advocate breast feeding at least to six months through large-scale social
marketing
• Promote complementary feeding from six months to two years of age
(“What’s best after breast?”)
• Fortify staple foods with micronutrients.

Childhood and adolescence

• Improve life skills education
• Promote physically active environments in school and society
• Restrict marketing of and access to food products high in
salt/sugar/unhealthy fats
• Institute tobacco and alcohol controls.

Adulthood
• Implement tobacco prevention and cessation programmes (smoke free
workplaces)
• Make available age appropriate, affordable diets
• Encourage physical activity (worksites, urban design)
• Restrict advertising and implement taxation to reduce the harmful use of
alcohol
• Provide access to effective screening for selected risks and diseases.

C. Develop more effective means to strengthen governance and leadership on

chronic diseases and malnutrition including:
• Investing in chronic disease prevention and nutrition science
• Strengthening public-private partnership with clear objectives.

70
Council on Chronic Diseases and Malnutrition
Members

Chair: *Pekka Puska, Director-General, National Public Health Institute (KTL),

Finland

Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental

Health, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva
*David E. Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and
Demography, Harvard School of Public Health, USA
Nils Daulaire, President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Health Council, USA
Sharon Fonn, Head, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa
Julie Louise Gerberding, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
USA
Richard Horton, Editor, The Lancet, United Kingdom
*Thomas R. Insel, Director, National Institute of Mental Health, USA
Paul Litchfield, Chief Medical Officer and Head, Health and Safety, BT, United
Kingdom
*Jonathan T. Lord, Senior Vice-President and Chief Innovation Officer, Humana,
USA
Edward D. Miller, Chief Executive Officer, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins
University, USA
*Jay Naidoo, Chairman of the Board, Development Bank of Southern Africa, South
Africa
Sania Nishtar, Founder and President, Heartfile, Pakistan
Michael P. O’Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Health Promotion, USA
Stig K. Pramming, Managing Director, Oxford Health Alliance, United Kingdom
*K. Srinath Reddy, President, The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), India
Eugenio Scannavino Neto, Managing Director, Health and Happiness Project /
Amazônia Brasil, Brazil
*Feike Sijbesma, Chief Executive Officer of the Managing Board, Royal DSM NV,
Netherlands
Ricardo Uauy, President, International Union of Nutritional Sciences, Chile
Derek Yach, Vice-President, Global Health Policy, PepsiCo, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Chronic Diseases and Malnutrition

Council Manager: Helena Leurent
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Forum Lead: Sarita Nayyar
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

71
 Climate Change

Overview

Climate change is a serious and urgent challenge for Sessions in the Annual
the international community with a strict timetable Meeting programme related
imposed by both the hard science and international to Climate Change include:
negotiations. According to the Intergovernmental • Update 2009: Controlling
Climate Change
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting the global • Update 2009: North America
average temperature increase to 2° Celsius above • Dealing with Deforestation
pre-industrial levels would require that global • Global Solutions from the Past
emissions decline 50-85% by 2050. Failure to begin • From Science Fiction to
Scientific Solution
addressing climate change within the current efforts • Rising to the Challenge of
to address the financial crisis will set the conditions Copenhagen
for future catastrophic crises. Without resolute action • Brazil: A New Power Broker
we face major asymmetric risks and irreversible • The Electric Vehicle Conundrum
• Will the Environment Lose Out
changes to our planet’s ability to sustain human to the Economy?
development. Much of the technology required exists • Are Renewables the Silver
today and with the right support the rest will be Bullet?
developed, while delivering significant benefits. • Climate Justice: Basis of a New
Global Solidarity?
• Is Emissions Trading The
Within the context of the current financial crisis, the Carbon Solution?
international community must integrate climate • From Green Tech to Green
change considerations – and, more broadly, Jobs and Economic Growth
• The Challenge of Sustainable
environmental and core sustainability issues – into the Mobility
discussions around restructuring the international
financial architecture. Overlooking the opportunity to
take a long-term perspective would set us onto a
predictable path of future economic and financial crisis.

A new international climate change framework is to be established in 2009. Although

the elements of the new framework as laid down in the Bali Action Plan are clear and
will be discussed and negotiated in the course of 2009, some important dimensions
have not yet been agreed upon, including the broad contours of the framework and
some specific elements.

72
73
Priorities1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Climate Change highlights the following:

1. A Broad Vision for the International Climate Change Framework
Climate change now presents a diplomatic opportunity – it represents a positive, unifying and
long-term multilateral agenda that brings the USA, China and the rest of the world together
around a shared set of objectives: delivering climate security (both mitigation and adaptation),
energy security, economic security (along with improved food and water security) and creating
a de-carbonized world. The global community sees the next 12 months as a twofold
opportunity: to revisit global financial governance and institutions as well as explore how to
redirect the multi-trillion dollar capital flows required to meet energy and infrastructure needs
into low carbon choices. Consequently, the international climate change framework under
discussion can be designed to stimulate economic growth, by exploring new commitments,
finance, institutions and technology innovation. Setting the conditions that create a vested
interest in reducing carbon emissions for business and society could unleash significant
potential value.

2. Specific Elements
The Council identifies five key elements that need to be addressed in 2009:
a. Credible Commitments – immediate, obligatory and monetized, with clear, transparent
pathways.
• Ensure their consistency with climate science to avoid an increase in temperature beyond
2°C
• For an agreement on a 2050 target, require detailed discussions on targets and milestones
in the shorter time frame – of 2020 or 2025/2030 – as business needs predictability in the
short to medium term, and establish five-year planning and commitment cycles
• Ensure comparability of efforts and fairness
• Improve dynamic standards of intensity/efficiency commitments
• Promote measurable, verifiable national plans for all countries
• Build on progress made in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries
• Increase the scope for developing countries to adopt commitments that lead to low carbon
advances that are appropriate for their level of economic development.
b. Finance
• Deliver mechanisms to provide a carbon price for increasing proportions of the global
economy
• Redirect capital flows to low carbon and energy efficiency technologies/investment
platforms
• Provide appropriate resources for adaptation and climate preparedness
• Enhance understanding of the scale of the finance and investment needed (an additional
US$ 45 trillion to green energy, according to the IEA), up to 80% of which needs to come
from the private sector
• Deliver a predictable range for a carbon price – establish a floor and high ceiling price for
carbon.
c. Institutions
• Re-structure or create the institutions that can be used to catalyse and channel both public
and private sector finance to the scale and with the flexibility and efficiencies that will be
required
• Explore new networks for mobilizing political will
• Ensure national capacity for the measurement (data collection, harmonization of reporting,
etc.) of emissions and the enforcement of commitments
• Catalyse new systems thinking accounting for inter-related global challenges including the
trade regime, health issues, food, water and energy security, biodiversity, mitigation of
natural disasters.
d. Technology and Innovation
• Pursue sufficient technological breakthroughs and innovations since, even with clear
commitments, sufficient low-carbon finance, the right institutions and high awareness,
these are not guaranteed
• Place special focus on how to catalyse technology, innovation and new business models to
the scale and speed that are required.
e. Awareness and Behaviours
• Achieve broad awareness of the scale and urgency of the challenge ahead
• Stimulate political will across multiple different domestic agendas
• Stimulate behavioural change across multiple cultural contexts.
74
 Council on Climate Change
Members
Chair: *Rajendra K. Pachauri, David MacKay, Professor of Natural
Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Philosophy, Department of Physics,
Climate Change (IPCC), Switzerland University of Cambridge, United
Kingdom
Atul Arya, Head, Policy and Long Term *Teruaki Masumoto, Executive
Strategy Development, BP, United Adviser, Tokyo Electric Power Company
Kingdom (TEPCO), Japan
*Peter Bakker, Chief Executive Officer, Dan Reicher, Director, Climate Change
TNT, Netherlands and Energy Initiatives, Google, USA
*Tony Blair, Middle East Quartet Envoy, David Sandalow, Senior Fellow,
United Nations Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution,
James Cameron, Vice-Chairman, USA
Climate Change Capital, United Hans Joachim Schellnhuber,
Kingdom Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate
*Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary, Impact Research (PIK), Germany
United Nations Framework Convention Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Bonn Professor of Business and Government,
*Kemal Dervis, Administrator, United John F. Kennedy School of Government,
Nations Development Programme Harvard University, USA
(UNDP), New York *Nicholas Stern, Special Adviser on
*Al Gore, Chairman, Generation Economic Development and Climate
Investment Management, USA Change, HSBC Holdings, United
*Harish Hande, Managing Director, Kingdom
SELCO Solar Light, India *Bjorn Stigson, President, World
*Connie Hedegaard, Minister of Business Council for Sustainable
Climate and Energy of Denmark Development, Switzerland
William W. Hogan, Raymond Plank *Solomon D. Trujillo, Chief Executive
Professor of Global Energy Policy, John Officer, Telstra Corporation, Australia
F. Kennedy School of Government, *David G. Victor, Professor of Law and
Harvard University, USA Director, Program on Energy and
*Steve Howard, Chief Executive Sustainable Development, Stanford
Officer, The Climate Group, United University, USA
Kingdom *Timothy E. Wirth, President, United
C. S. Kiang, Chairman, Environment Nations Foundation, Washington DC
Fund, Peking University, People’s
Republic of China *Registered to the World Economic
Kevin S. Leahy, Managing Director, Forum Annual Meeting 2009
Climate Policy, Duke Energy
Corporation, USA Global Agenda Council on Climate
*Gerd Leipold, International Executive Change
Director, Greenpeace International, Council Manager: Brindusa Fidanza
Netherlands Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Anthony Leiserowitz, Research Forum Lead: Dominic Waughray
Scientist and Director, Yale Project on Managing Director: Richard Samans
Climate Change, Yale School of Forestry
and Environmental Studies, USA
*Richard C. Levin, President, Yale
University, USA
75
 Corporate Governance

Overview

Corporate governance defines the type of capitalism Sessions in the Annual

we have, as it shapes all aspects of how corporations Meeting programme related
interact within the society of which they are a part. to Corporate Governance
Manifestations of failed governance include include:
• Update 2009: The New
corruption, fraud, undue political influence, insider Economic Era
trading, egregious executive compensation packages, • Update 2009: Hard Lessons
etc. about Global Imbalances
• CNBC Debate: No Way Back
• Update 2009: The New
The current financial crisis is, in significant part, a Boundaries of Financial
failure of corporate governance. In particular, risk Governance
management failed at every level, including board • Update 2009: Can
supervision and tolerance of perverse incentives. The Corporations Turn the Corner?
• 36 Hours in September: What
flood of governance scandals has weakened markets Went Wrong?
and eroded trust, threatening a backlash against the • The Values behind Market
legitimacy of business. This could subject business to Capitalism
further stresses as they cope with the financial crisis. • Renewing Trust in Corporations
• Global Financial Crisis: What
Lessons Should Be Learned?
Reform of governance must be part of the solution, • Managing Global Risks
as a crisis presents a good opportunity to reform. • The Global Compact and the
Enhanced governance practices should therefore be Corporate Citizen
• How to Answer the
integral to an overall solution aimed at restoring Compensation Question?
confidence to markets and protecting against future
crises.

So who is best placed to hold boards to account?

Some commentators have criticized shareholders for failing to make the necessary
effort to be close to the companies they own and put proper resources into
governance; they have been especially critical of institutional investors who have a
fiduciary duty to their end-beneficiaries, the individual savers and pensioners.

An additional problem has been the failure of regulators. They did not respond
decisively when it was realized that markets were mispricing risk. They allowed banks
to operate with too little capital, with excessive leverage and too little attention to
liquidity risk. They failed to pick up on poor risk management by boards and on poor
lending practices in the mortgage market.

A regulatory response will certainly be needed, with heightened international

coordination and one which encourages markets to take a longer-term perspective. A
leading priority should be to highlight the supporting contribution of governance. This

76
will help avoid a knee-jerk reaction that impairs the ability of markets to innovate and
allocate capital efficiently, that adds unduly to the burden of red tape or that is
protectionist in motivation. It is vital that regulatory reform enhance corporate
governance solutions and does not aggravate existing weaknesses.

Broader questions are raised too. Over the last decades, the dominant question in
Western capitalism seems to have become focused on “what is efficient”, rather than
“what is right”.

The focus of corporate governance should not be limited to maximizing shareholder

value, but optimizing value more broadly. Generally, maximizing shareholder value
over the long run approximates optimizing societal value in the view of many.
However, that is not the case when there are externalities, distributional effects or
breakdowns and distortions in the accountability mechanisms. Thus, optimizing value
broadly evokes the idea of more shareholder involvement in corporate governance.

Companies with comprehensive corporate governance have a significant competitive

advantage over the long term. We are seeing this play out now.

77
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Corporate Governance proposes that:

• Corporate governance has an important role to play in overcoming the present
crisis, restoring confidence for the future and preventing regulatory overkill that
would damage the entrepreneurialism needed to secure economic growth. Global
authorities should work with market participants to develop enhanced governance
practices that will underpin other actions being taken to address the current
problems.

• There is a need to (re)balance power in corporations. More specifically, there

should be less discretion to managers, more oversight from boards and
shareholders, better aligned compensations for managers.

• Categories of reform could span the full spectrum from private to public solutions,
and there is much debate about which is the most effective approach. New models
may be needed – and may be forthcoming by way of the increasing influence of
state-owned enterprises and Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). The new approach
is especially important in the context of the conflict of interest; giving more authority
to shareholders and making management and boards more accountable to
investors (such as SWFs) will combine to produce frictions.

• The involvement of informed owners is one of the keys to durable change (i.e.
investor governance). In particular, an effective mechanism is required whereby
shareholders are obligated to hold the Board and CEO accountable. For example,
operational models of this kind can be found in the Nordic countries (the “Third
Way”), which could be supplemented by the enforcement of institutional owners’
fiduciary duties.

• Most importantly, this involves securing and maintaining the rights of shareholders
and developing the transparency needed for them to exercise these rights in a
responsible, informed and considered way. However, shareholders must also
recognize that they should use their share-ownership rights responsibly in the
interest of creating long-term value for their beneficiaries. If they do not act
responsibly, their rights will be at risk.

• Holistic reporting and accounting is needed, with

– Appropriate recognition of exogenous costs and stakeholder interests
(“externalities”)
– Aligning incentives for the long term (long-termism)
– No political interference in setting accounting standards.

• Globally, we need a regulatory framework that ensures fair and transparent markets
that inspire confidence in financial reporting. In addition, global markets demand
coordinated efforts to avoid regulatory arbitrage.

• No matter which path is chosen by regulators and market participants, it should be

recognized that previous responses have tended to lag events (solving the “last
crisis”), and we must be ever mindful of unintended consequences.
78
 Council on Corporate Governance
Members

Chair: *Laura M. Cha, Deputy Chairman, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation, Hong Kong SAR

Lucian Bebchuk, Director, Program on Corporate Governance, Harvard Law

School, USA
Antonio Borges, Chairman, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI),
Belgium
*William F. Browder, Chief Executive Officer, Hermitage Capital Management,
United Kingdom
John Coffee, Professor of Law and Director, Center for Corporate Governance,
Columbia University, USA
*Gerhard Cromme, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, ThyssenKrupp, Germany
*John G. Evans, General Secretary, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD,
France
Stephen Haddrill, Director-General, Association of British Insurers (ABI), United
Kingdom
Jang Hasung, Dean, Business School, Korea University, Republic of Korea
Robert A. G. Monks, Principal, Lens, USA
Mark Roe, David Berg Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University,
USA
Anne Simpson, Executive Director, International Corporate Governance Network
(ICGN), United Kingdom
*Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor, Dubai International Financial Centre, United Arab
Emirates
*Simon Zadek, Chief Executive, AccountAbility, United Kingdom
Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance,
The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB), USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Corporate Governance

Council Manager: Gareth Shepherd
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: Kevin Steinberg
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

79
 Corruption

Overview

Corruption, the abuse of entrusted power for private Sessions in the Annual
gain, is the single greatest obstacle to economic and Meeting programme related
social development around the world. It distorts to Corruption include:
markets, stifles economic growth and sustainable • Update 2009: Threats to
Society
development, debases democracy and undermines • Global Organized Crime: An
the rule of law. It robs local populations, particularly in Offer that Many Can't Refuse
developing countries, of critically needed resources. • Renewing Trust in Corporations
Estimates show that the cost of corruption equals • How to Answer the
Compensation
more than 5% of global GDP (US$ 2.6 trillion) with Question?
over US$ 1 trillion paid in bribes each year, and that
because of corrupt practices half of each year’s US$
50 billion in development aid does not reach its intended recipients.

The issue of corruption has many dimensions including:

Nature: Perceptions on the nature of corruption vary. What different forms of
corruption exist and what are their underlying causes and drivers?

Cultural contexts: The nature and magnitude of corruption differ across cultures.
Actions that are perceived corrupt in some cultures might be accepted or even
expected in other cultures. What is acknowledged as good ethical conduct within
and across cultures?

Metrics: Corruption can hardly be measured. Most statistics on the issue are based
on surveyed perceptions. What is or should be measured, and how? How can
progress be determined? Is there a correlation between levels of good governance
and economic growth/foreign direct investments? And between a company’s
systems and controls and its financial performance?

Role of businesses: Companies are both part of the problem and its solution. An
increasing number of companies are demonstrating leadership in fighting corruption.
What are companies doing? What are the best practices? What is the business
case? How can more companies be incentivized to fight corruption? How can the
prisoner’s dilemma be overcome? How can good ethical business conduct be turned
into a competitive business advantage?

Role of governments: The international legal framework has been strengthened

during recent years with the adoption of the OECD and UN Conventions on
corruption. Most governments also have anti-corruption legislation in place but few
effectively enforce it. Why is existing legislation often not enforced? What are the best
practices? Who are the central players to ensure effective enforcement, and how can
they be incentivized to demonstrate leadership?

80
Role of civil society: Civil society organizations, including the media and academia,
play a key role in incentivizing businesses and governments to fight corruption. Who
are the central players? What are their best practices? How can they be supported?
How could they make use of new means of increasing transparency such as the
Internet?

Collective solutions: The most effective solutions to fighting corruption are often
collective in nature. Such initiatives focus on public and/or private sector solutions at
a country, regional and/or global level and/or at an industry, cross-industry or
multistakeholder level. What are the initiatives? What are the best practices? How can
initiatives be supported? How should they work together? How should initiatives be
held accountable?

The fight against corruption is going alarmingly slowly. Sustained and strong
leadership in this fight is needed, particularly in the following areas:
• building public-private partnerships to strengthen anti-corruption initiatives
• creating and strengthening incentives which will encourage the fight against
corruption by all stakeholders
• grounding anti-corruption measures in accountability established through
democratic empowerment of the public
• establishing national strategies and promoting measures for combating corruption
which are implementable and robust and take into account the state of
development of the jurisdiction concerned
• ensuring that the current financial crisis does not impede progress in the fight
against corruption.

81
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Corruption urges:

• Governments participating in World Economic Forum activities to demonstrate
strong leadership by ratifying and fully implementing the United Nations Convention
Against Corruption, the OECD Convention on Corruption and the relevant regional
anti-corruption conventions
• Corporate Members of the World Economic Forum to demonstrate strong
leadership by becoming signatories to the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative
(PACI) and fully implement the principles of the Initiative.

Over the year the Council committed to:

• formulating a time specific and detailed action plan
• expanding its private sector membership
• exploring issues such as political finance and the relationship of transnational crime
and corruption
• exploring possible actions on coalition-building, accountability and incentive
mechanisms.

82
 Council on Corruption
Members

Co-Chairs:
Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director, Transparency International, Germany
*Mark Pieth, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Basel,
Switzerland

Alan Boeckmann, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fluor Corporation, USA
Keith T. Darcy, Executive Director, Ethics & Compliance Officer Association (ECOA),
USA
Peter Eigen, Chair, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Norway
Mo Ibrahim, Chairman, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, United Kingdom
*José Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General, Organization of American States (OAS),
Washington DC
Eva Joly, Special Adviser, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation,
Norway
*Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank, Tunis
*Irene Khan, Secretary-General, Amnesty International, United Kingdom
*William T. Loris, Director-General, International Development Law Organization
(IDLO), Italy
*Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, World Bank, Washington DC
Robert I. Rotberg, President, Program on Intrastate Conflict, John F. Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard University, USA
*David T. Seaton, Group President, Energy and Chemicals, Fluor Corporation, USA
François Vincke, Chair, Anti-Corruption Commission, International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC), France
Dimitri Vlassis, Chief, Corruption and Economic Crime Section, Treaty and Legal
Assistance Branch, Division for Treaty Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), Vienna
John Williams, Chair, Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption
(GOPAC), Canada

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Corruption

Council Manager: Michael Pedersen
Research Analyst: Tareq Bouchuiguir
Forum Lead: Christoph Frei
Managing Director: Richard Samans

83
 Demographic Shifts

Overview

Global demographics continue to undergo a major Sessions in the Annual

upheaval. Populations in developed countries are Meeting programme related
growing slowly or even decreasing, as in Japan and to Demographic Shifts
Russia, whereas the population of the developing include:
• Update 2009: Dealing with
world is growing robustly. World population, which Dangerous Demographics
stands at 6.8 billion today, is projected to increase to • Update 2009: The Global Talent
over 9 billion in 2050. The urban share of global Equation
population continues to grow as well, with 2008 • Live Long and Prosper
• Rising Population: Overload or
marking the first time in history that as many people Opportunity?
can be found living in urban settlements as in rural • Creating Wealth through Health
ones. • Youth Culture: A Heatmap

Another major demographic shift concerns population

ageing, which is occurring throughout the world, though at markedly different speeds
in different countries. Population ageing is the result of decreasing fertility, increasing
longevity and the arrival of large-sized cohorts at older ages. These developments
owe much to the technological and institutional innovations of the past half century,
such as improved access to sanitation and safe water, childhood vaccinations,
antibiotics and contraception and family planning.

Population ageing is challenging governments, employers and individuals to make a

deep set of social and cultural changes. The legal retirement age, for example, has
risen little despite increases in healthy life spans. Lower fertility eventually means
smaller work forces in relative terms. Furthermore, pension plans are often set up in
ways that provide incentives for early retirement instead of promoting longer working
lives.

Parts of the developing world face different challenges. In Africa, for instance, life
expectancies have not increased as dramatically and fertility remains high, leading to
high population growth and exceedingly young populations.

Worldwide, the number of children, adolescents and young adults is expected to

remain high over the coming decades. Youth bulges are common in poor countries
where fertility remains high, some of which are fragile states.

84
Despite the persistence of major economic disparities among countries, the number
of international migrants remains relatively low (under 200 million or barely 3% of
world population). International migrants are becoming increasingly concentrated in
the richer countries of the world.

Today’s financial crisis exacerbates the challenges posed by an ageing population,

especially in ensuring financial security in old age. The most affected individuals will
be those nearing or in retirement. The economic climate may induce higher labour
force participation rates among the elderly, a development that would – in the short
run – alleviate the negative effect the financial crisis has had on the funding status of
certain types of pension plans. However, individuals may also become more sensitive
to risk, slowing down economic recovery. Because of required funding levels for
pension plans, capital will be withdrawn from the market to fund liabilities, which will
tend to depress business activity and the rate of economic growth.

85
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Demographic Shifts proposes:

• Ensuring financial security in old age: Pension systems are changing, mostly
moving from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans. This
transformation will likely be slowed but not halted or reversed as a result of the
financial crisis. Governments and employers are urged to strengthen personal
decision-making and responsibility by ensuring individual ownership of accounts,
providing a range of investment choices within a regulated framework and
promoting financial literacy among pension plan participants.

• Ensuring healthy ageing: As the relative size of the older population swells,
healthcare spending will rise, perhaps heightening interest in a system of
government-financed universal healthcare. Efficient provision of a basic package of
healthcare will be a hallmark of this system, with individuals retaining the option of
paying for additional care.

• Increasing age at retirement: Although increasing rates of unemployment may

make it difficult, raising the mandatory age at retirement is an option that must be
pursued. Allowing people to work longer will reduce the level of economic
dependency in an ageing population and contribute to reducing the skills gap.

• Establishing an elder corps: Social engagement benefits older people and

societies. There may be special roles retired adults can play that directly address
problems of youth. An international elder corps can provide needed skills in
developing countries.

• Working to improve the health and financial security of future generations: There is
a general lack of health and financial “literacy” among young people today. The
private sector in partnership with governments could promote education on healthy
behaviours, nutrition and lifestyle among children and youth as well as the
promotion of financial literacy both among the young and their parents. The aim of
these activities would be to ensure that future generations have better health and
are better prepared to work towards their financial security than today’s elderly.

• Encouraging the migration option: Ageing populations need prime-age migrants. In

this time of crisis, governments should avoid restricting migration opportunities.
Migrant remittances constitute an efficient way of targeting needed funds to poor
populations, and fill some of the skill gaps in richer countries.

• Rebuilding trust: The financial crisis has caused a loss of trust in financial
institutions. Governments and institutions have to give urgent attention to ways of
rebuilding trust.

86
 Council on Demographic Shifts
Members

Chair: *David E. Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and

Demography, Harvard School of Public Health, USA

Abdelkhaleq Abdulla, Professor of Political Science, UAE University, United Arab

Emirates
David Olusanya Ajakaiye, Director of Research, African Economic Research
Consortium, Kenya
Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics and
Political Science, United Kingdom
Solange Berstein, President, Superintendencia de Administradoras de Fondos de
Pensiones (SAFP), Chile
*M. Michèle Burns, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mercer (MMC), USA
Laura Carstensen, Director, Stanford Center on Longevity, USA
Joseph Coughlin, Director, MIT AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
USA
Assane Diop, Executive Director, Social Protection, International Labour
Organization (ILO), Geneva
Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, The American
Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, USA
*Jack Ehnes, Chief Executive Officer, California State Teachers’ Retirement System
(CalSTRS), USA
Julio Frenk, Senior Fellow, Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
USA
Robert Holzmann, Senior Director, Social Protection and Labor Department,
Human Development Network, The World Bank, Washington DC
Kuniko Inoguchi, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan
Emmanuel Jimenez, Director, Human Development, East Asia and Pacific Region
and Editor, World Bank Research Observer, The World Bank, Washington DC
Ilona Kickbusch, Senior Adviser, Kickbusch Health Consult, Switzerland
André Laboul, Head, Financial Affairs Division, Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD), Paris
John Llewellyn, Senior Economic Policy Adviser, Nomura, United Kingdom
Olin L. Wethington, Chairman, AIG Companies in China, American International
Group (AIG), USA
Hania Zlotnik, Director, Population Division, Department of Economics and Social
Affairs, United Nations, New York

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Demographic Shifts

Council Manager: Chiemi Hayashi
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Forum Lead: Bernd Jan Sikken
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

87
 Design

Overview

Throughout history, design has been an agent of Sessions in the Annual

change. It helps us to understand the changes in the Meeting programme related
world around us, and to turn them to our advantage to Design include:
by translating them into things that can make our lives • Update 2009: Managing
Resources for the Long Term
better. Now, at a time of crisis and unprecedented • What Is Good Design?
change in every area of our lives – economic, political, • Design for Good
environmental, societal and in science and technology • The Design Flaws of
– design is more valuable than ever. Governance
• The Challenge of Sustainable
Mobility
The crisis comes at a time when design has evolved. • Visualizing Complexity
Once a tool of consumption chiefly involved in the • Growth through Innovation
production of objects and images, design is now also • Innovation: The View from Asia
• Technologies Supporting
engaged with developing and building systems and Creative Leadership
strategies, and in changing behaviour often in • Changing the Culture of
collaboration with different disciplines. Consumption
• Right Brain Crisis, Left Brain
Recovery
Design is being used to: • Rising Population: Overload or
• Gain insight about people’s needs and desires Opportunity?
• Build strategic foresight to discover new
opportunities
• Generate creative possibilities
• Clarify, illustrate and communicate complex information
• Invent, prototype and test novel solutions of value
• Deliver solutions into the world as innovations adopted at scale.

In the current climate, the biggest challenges for design and also its greatest
opportunities are:

• Well-being – Design can make an important contribution to the redefinition and

delivery of social services by addressing acute problems such as ageing, youth
crime, housing and health. Many designers are striving to enable people all over
the world to lead their lives with dignity, especially the deprived majority of the
global population – “the other 90%” who have the greatest need of design
innovation.

• Sustainability – Designers can play a critical role in ensuring that products,

systems and services are developed, produced, shipped, sold and will eventually
be disposed of in an ethically and environmentally responsible manner, thereby
meeting – and surpassing – consumers’ expectations.

88
• Learning – Design can help to rebuild the education system to ensure that it fits its
purpose in the 21st Century. Another challenge is to redefine or reorient the design
educational system at a time of unprecedented demand when thousands of new
design schools are being built worldwide and design is increasingly being
integrated into other curricula. Designers are also deploying their skill at
communication and visualization to explain and interpret the overwhelming volume
of extraordinarily complex information.

• Innovation – Designers are continuing to develop and deliver innovative new

products at a turbulent time when consumer attitudes are changing dramatically,
thereby creating new and exciting entrepreneurial opportunities in the current crisis.
They are increasingly using their expertise to innovate in new areas such as the
creation of new business models and the adoption of a strategic and systemic role
in both the public and private sectors.

89
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Design proposes that:

Confronting today’s complex global challenges requires creative solutions,

collaborative action and, most importantly, a systematic approach to implementation.
Business, government and other stakeholders need to redesign their strategic
models to withstand modern-day risks and resist technological, economic, social,
environmental and political shocks to the system.

Members of the Global Agenda Council on Design have begun the process of
assembling an archive of relevant case studies to illustrate design’s impact in all of
these fields. This information will be disseminated to other Councils using the
WELCOM platform.

During the Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai, the Council was approached by
numerous other Councils individually and collectively and asked to engage with them
on different issues of common concern. For example, the Global Agenda Council on
Climate Change invited us to help them raise public awareness of the gravity of global
warming by developing imaginative and inspiring ways of visualizing the problem. The
Global Agenda Council on Demographic Shifts was especially interested in the
development of design-led solutions to problems of ageing. Similar requests were
made by the Global Agenda Councils on Terrorism, Global Governance, Water
Security, Future of Entertainment and HIV/AIDS, among others.

The Council on Design also developed plans for an important educational initiative to
encourage design schools all over the world to address the specific problems faced
by each of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils. Individual
members made commitments in Dubai for their organizations to collaborate with local
design schools on this project and will now encourage colleagues to follow suit.

By working in collaboration with fellow Councils and the World Economic Forum, the
Members of the Global Agenda Council on Design are committed to ensuring that
design fulfils its potential to help stabilize the current crisis and build a better world.

90
 Council on Design
Members

Chair: *Chris Luebkeman, Director, Global Foresight and Innovation, Arup Group,
United Kingdom

*Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, Museum

of Modern Art, USA
Dan Ariely, Professor, MIT - Media Laboratory, USA
Christopher E. Bangle, Director, Design, BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke,
Germany
*Tim Brown, President, Chief Executive Officer and Partner, IDEO, USA
*Brian Collins, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Collins, USA
*Hilary Cottam, Founding Director, Participle, United Kingdom
Olafur Eliasson, Artist, Olafur Eliasson, Germany
*Kigge Mai Hvid, Chief Executive Officer, Index: Design to Improve Life, Denmark
Chris Jordan, Photographic Artist, Chris Jordan Photographic Arts, USA
Larry Keeley, Innovation Strategist, Doblin, USA
*William McDonough, Chairman, William McDonough + Partners Architecture and
Community Design / MBDC, USA
*John Maeda, President, Rhode Island School of Design, USA
*Toshiko Mori, Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture, Harvard
University Graduate School of Design, USA
*Bruce Nussbaum, Assistant Managing Editor, BusinessWeek, USA
*Alice Rawsthorn, Design Critic, International Herald Tribune, United Kingdom
Milton Tan, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council, Ministry of Information,
Communications and the Arts (MICA), Singapore
Arnold Wasserman, Chairman, The Idea Factory, Singapore

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Design

Council Manager: Emma Loades
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Senior Director: Lee Howell

91
 Diversity

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
In today’s multicultural world, the demand for greater Meeting programme related
diversity is rising. Societies and workforces are to Diversity include:
becoming more diverse. Demographics, ageing • Believing in the Dignity of All
societies and migration patterns make the diversity • Increase Your Cultural Literacy
• Leadership in Teamwork
issue global – although its implications are also • The Girl Effect on Development
domestic. Solutions to today’s interdependent • Update 2009: Dealing with
challenges can only be generated through diverse Dangerous Demographics
approaches and perspectives. • Update 2009: Migration and
Multiple Identities
• Update 2009: The Global Talent
Diversity is in the game. Organizations that build Equation
diverse workforces and create conditions that allow all • Values, Vision and Leadership
people to learn from each other and develop their full • Youth Culture: A Heatmap
potential – from the factory floor to the boardroom –
are believed to be better equipped to address
globalization’s challenges. They tend to perform better, grow faster and innovate
more. Diversity contributes to a more positive public image and reputation, and
catalyses efforts to recruit, retain and promote the best people. Numerous case
studies prove that bigger workforce inclusion produces positive results: reduced
biases, limited disparities and reduced social tensions, as well as creativity,
innovation, bottom-line results, sustainability, reduced attrition, strengthened
employee engagement, easier access to new markets.

However, only true diversity – as opposed to façade diversity – can be a source of

strategic competitive advantage. In fact, popular definitions (gender, race, etc.) may
limit people’s understanding. Implicit biases are part of human nature. Biases tend to
be more severe and deep than we think they are. The notion of diversity must be
broader and include profiles and cultural backgrounds, age and disabilities. North
American and Western Europe centric research, programmes and policies do not
always work well in emerging economies, where the perception of diversity, its value
and importance, are different.

The current financial and economic crisis will have an impact on workforce diversity.
The current downturn increases existing disparities and gaps, and disadvantages
underprivileged groups further. As disparities among different groups increase,
inequalities and gaps grow. Unless this trend is stopped, growing inequalities may
lead to tensions and conflicts within society. Majorities may feel threatened by efforts
focused on including minority groups into the workforce, potentially increasing
protectionist pressures and tighter immigration policies. This is a real threat, not only
to diversity but for economic growth and social development.

92
Diversity is a test of meritocracy. Diversity is often not reflected at the top of the
organization. The greatest level of diversity tends to be among low- to mid-level, non-
critical jobs. But in times of crises, diversity does not rate as a first priority.
Organizations forced to reduce employment may first cut non-essential positions,
which can substantially decrease workforce diversity. However, during an economic
slowdown, it is particularly important – and difficult – not to lose a long-term
perspective on sustainable employment and talent strategies.

93
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Diversity proposes that:

Diversity as a term has run its course as organizing rhetoric. It follows such terms as
“affirmative action” and “antidiscrimination” and is associated with related
connotations.

Fundamentally, this is about talent. It is time to tell a more compelling and

fundamental story about substantial talent management, inclusion and capitalizing on
workforce’s potential. It is about maximizing brain capacity in organizations. There
should be a shift from thinking about diversity as a set of boxes to tick to thinking
about the management of human capital in business and society.

In order to improve the situation, a number of actions are needed. A social change
can only be introduced when public policy, private practices and organizational
strategies are connected.

Not just a
set of activities but a
new way of thinking…

Despite a positive notion of diversity, numerous questions still need good answers,
including:
• how to capitalize on diversity and on differences
• how to create a culture and environment that foster different viewpoints or a culture
of global diversity
• how to promote leadership that advocates diversity

94
 Council on Diversity
Members

Chair: David A. Thomas, H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration;

Unit Head, Organizational Behavior, Harvard Business School, USA

Carlos Arruda, Professor of Innovation and Competitiveness, Fundação Dom

Cabral, Brazil
Martha C. Artiles, Global Chief Diversity Officer, Manpower, USA
Subha Barry, Managing Director and Head, Global Diversity and Inclusion, Merrill
Lynch & Co., USA
*Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairwoman, Carlson, USA
*Caroline Casey, Founding Chief Executive Officer, Kanchi, Ireland
*Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Trust, United Kingdom
*Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford, United
Kingdom
Peter Goerke, Member of the Group Management Board, Zurich Financial Services,
Switzerland
Lynda Gratton, Associate Professor of Management Practice and Fellow, Advanced
Institute for Management Research, London Business School, United Kingdom
Harry Holzer, Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University, USA
Kevin Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, Heidrick & Struggles, USA
Tatsuya Sakamoto, Vice-President, International Affairs, Keio University, Japan
James H. Wall, Global Managing Director, Talent Solutions, Deloitte, Belgium

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Diversity

Council Manager: Anna Janczak
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Forum Lead: David Aikman
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

95
 Economic Growth and Development

Overview

Great minds have devoted their lives to understanding Sessions in the Annual Meeting
economic development and growth. Many potential programme related to
solutions have been put forth: investment in physical Economic Growth and
Development include:
capital and infrastructure, education and training, • Update 2009: The New Economic
technological progress, innovation, macroeconomic Era
stability, good governance, market orientation, and • Update 2009: Hard Lessons
about Global Imbalances
many others. Each of these has strong conceptual • CNBC Debate: No Way Back
foundations, and some have even found empirical • Update 2009: Africa
support – there is an embarrassment of riches in • Update 2009: North America
plausible explanations. This also makes this Global • 2009 World Economic
Brainstorming: Navigating the
Agenda Council a point of integration for many other New Economic Landscape
Councils, since so many of their themes feed into • Update 2009: The Return of State
(and out of) development and growth. Power
• 36 Hours in September: What
Went Wrong?
These potential drivers of development and growth • Business Becoming Social
are by no means mutually exclusive – many may be Entrepreneurs
true simultaneously – and they are interdependent, • Can the World Live with the
Frugal American?
often in complicated ways. This makes it difficult to • Changing the Culture of
put forth a “grand unified theory” of economic growth Consumption
– different circumstances may call for different levers • The Mystery of the Dollar
• Death of the Washington
to be pulled, and many open questions remain. Yet
Consensus?
guiding principles that are largely accepted tenets of • Global Financial Crisis: What
good policy do exist: Lessons Should Be Learned?
• The Economic Governance of
Europe
• International economic engagement – This • Managing Global Risks
includes, but is not limited to, openness to trade. • Global Solutions from the Past
The Spence Growth Commission found that no • A Silver Lining to the Financial
Cloud?
country has successfully developed without trade.
• Financial Recovery: A Long
Journey Ahead?
• Competitive markets – Where possible, competitive • The Global Economic Outlook
markets are the most effective means of resource • Sustaining Civil Society in an
Economic Downturn
allocation.

• Human capital investment – While there are

debates on which types of skills and education are most important, no country has
developed without such investments.

96
• Investment in critical infrastructure – For the economy to function effectively,
“networked” industries like telecom, transportation and energy must be developed.

• Government complements the market – Good government increases private sector

productivity; bad government reduces it. Government sets the “rules of the game”
and may facilitate investment in infrastructure and human capital. Human capital
and networked infrastructure are two sectors where the government may have a
particularly beneficial or detrimental role.

The recent economic crisis has generated distrust in some of these basic principles –
in many countries there are calls for strengthened regulation and a return to trade
barriers. Some regulation is clearly useful – this is a critical complementing role of
government – and the global banking system may well be in need of regulatory
tightening. Yet many countries in the midst of this deregulation backlash are starting
from positions of already very high levels of bureaucracy, countries which furthermore
have a tradition of strong government intervention. The danger thus exists that over-
regulated economies may be about to become even more regulated.

97
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

According to the Global Agenda Council on Economic Growth and Development, a key
advantage of the Forum is that it affords unparalleled exposure to high-level leaders in
business, government and civil society, and also lends a sense of credibility to Council
recommendations. Given this, the Council’s three key roles are:

• Advocating against the deregulation backlash

Given the Forum’s high level of visibility and connections to global leaders, the
Council has an important role in advocating against this backlash. The Council
advocates for market allocation of resources, while understanding the crucial role
played by government.

• Putting forth a list of economic best practices, both “macro” and “micro”
Our principles may sound like old news – they are mostly accepted by economists.
But sometimes old news is new news. Many worthwhile reforms do not take place,
and these ideas must be communicated in a manner that is readily comprehensible
and broadly understood. Further, beyond these big picture principles, many specific
policy innovations have succeeded in practice. Again, it is important to broadly
disseminate the ideas behind these success stories. The Forum is uniquely
positioned to provide an audience.

• Collaborating in developing further best practices

Many prescriptions for economic growth are still poorly understood and remain
untested. By creating opportunities for policy and business leaders to engage with
economics researchers, we can further the frontiers of our understanding of what
works in development. The Forum can facilitate this type of dialogue.

Using the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos and Regional Meetings as focal points, the
Council proposes:

• Providing a number of action- and advocacy-oriented documents to advocate the

above agendas:

– “10 interesting facts about growth and development”

These facts should be surprising and provocative, relating to the larger themes
listed in the first section. The proposal is to put together a short list of such facts,
paired with attempted real-world solutions (both successful and failed).

– Measuring country capabilities – How long does it take for a letter to get from a
country’s capital to its second-largest city? What is the probability that the letter
gets lost? The Forum may develop a set of development metrics, based on
objective data, to make comparisons across countries. Note that this would be
clearly differentiated from the Doing Business reports, which focus specifically on
barriers to business, and The Global Competitiveness Report, which relies on
survey data.

– Short, single-topic development primers that give the state-of-the-art in

development practice for leaders.

• Creating one-on-one networking opportunities between development experts and

leaders. This can facilitate a two-way exchange of information on what we know, and
what issues are seen as being most important. Further, these exchanges can set the
stage for collaboration on best practice development.

• Sending experts to Regional Meetings. In addition to one-on-one interactions, these

may also be useful fora for providing larger information sessions on the state of the
art in development.
98
 Council on Economic Growth
and Development
Members
Chair: *Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor, Economics Department, Columbia
University, USA

Byron Auguste, Managing Director, Worldwide, Social Sector Office, McKinsey &
Company, USA
Martin N. Baily, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, USA
*Amr A. Al Dabbagh, Governor, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
(SAGIA), Saudi Arabia
Esther Duflo, Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
William Easterly, Professor, Economics Department, New York University, USA
*Raymond Fisman, Professor of Economics and Finance, Columbia Business
School, USA
*Kristin J. Forbes, Professor of Economics, MIT - Sloan School of Management,
USA
*Fadi Ghandour, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Aramex International, Jordan
Hai Wen, Professor and Vice-President, Peking University, China Center for
Economic Research (CCER), People’s Republic of China
*Michael Kremer, Gates Professor of Developing Societies, Department of
Economics, Harvard University, USA
*Patrice T. Motsepe, Executive Chairman, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), South
Africa
*Paul M. Romer, Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business,
USA
John Van Reenen, Director, Centre for Economic Performance, Productivity and
Innovation Programme, London School of Economics and Political Science, United
Kingdom
Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President, Council on Competitiveness, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Economic Growth and Development

Council Manager: Jennifer Blanke
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

99
 Economic Imbalances

Overview

Imbalances are major distortions within and between Sessions in the Annual
key markets. The key subsisting global economic Meeting programme related
imbalances identified by the Global Agenda Council to Economic Imbalances
on Economic Imbalances are: include:
• Update 2009: The New
• Continuing, severe dysfunction in the banking Economic Era
sector in inter-bank markets (e.g. credit squeeze, • Update 2009: Hard Lessons
de-leveraging) and other financial institutions about Global Imbalances
(hedge funds, insurance companies) • CNBC Debate: No Way Back
• Update 2009: North America
• The global exchange rate system that, as a whole, • 2009 World Economic
is not flexible enough Brainstorming: Navigating the
• The financing of residential housing which is still New Economic Landscape
impaired, causing downward pressure on housing • Update 2009: The Return of
State Power
prices; the looming refinancing problems in • Update 2009: Europe
commercial real estate • 36 Hours in September: What
• Deterioration of capital flows and financing Went Wrong?
conditions for emerging economies • Can the World Live with the
Frugal American?
• Distortions in credit flows to non ring-fenced • Death of the Washington
countries and economic sectors (non-financial Consensus?
corporations). • Global Financial Crisis: What
Lessons Should Be Learned?
• Managing Global Risks
These problems are currently being exacerbated by • A New Financial Architecture
the sharp economic downturn. How can this process • A Silver Lining to the Financial
of unravelling be managed in order to mitigate the Cloud?
negative impact on output and employment?

100
101
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Economic Imbalances proposes the following:

In the short run

• Address the credit squeeze. Further measures are still urgently needed to
address core dysfunctions in the banking system and credit underwriting.
• Maintain low policy interest rates, including aggressive quantitative easing if
necessary. Low interest rates will help to stimulate demand and the resulting
upward sloping yield curve helps financial institutions and strengthens their balance
sheet.
• Stimulate aggressive macroeconomic measures where possible and feasible.
But care must be taken not to create bad incentives and recreate bubble
conditions.
• Promote greater transparency in the objectives of the plethora of emergency
liquidity facilities and in the valuation of financial instruments.
• Encourage international cooperation for interim measures to strengthen
financial regulations.
• Clear exit strategies from the emergency liquidity facilities that have been put in
place over the past five months (e.g. government equity in the banking system,
distressed asset purchase programmes) must be defined.

In the longer run

• Asset prices can matter for monetary policy. The present financial crisis
demonstrates that it is necessary for monetary policy to take into account
developments in credit growth and asset prices.
• Greater international cooperation in the reforms and redesign will strengthen
the new global financial architecture. Reduce incentives for regulatory arbitrage.
Governments need to coordinate their actions (e.g. deposit guarantees, stricter
capitalization regulations, bail outs) to ensure a level playing field in the banking and
shadow-banking sectors.
• A more flexible exchange rate system and less management of exchange rates
for large economies and regions are needed.
• High level (heads of state) commitment is sought to:
– maintain an open financial market system
– engage in serious cooperation efforts to reform the global financial architecture:
capital adequacy, consistency in soundness principles, stronger consolidation
practices, better valuation.
• Redesign the governance of global bodies to be more efficient and more
representative.

In taking all these steps, it is important to keep an eye on the longer-term challenges
facing the world (e.g. poverty, social imbalances, demographic shifts, climate
change).

102
 Council on Economic Imbalances
Members

Council Chair: *Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor,

Harvard University, USA

Mario I. Blejer, Special Adviser, Banco Hipotecario, Argentina

Richard N. Cooper, Professor of International Economics, Harvard University, USA
Fan Gang, Director, National Economic Research Institute, China Reform
Foundation, People’s Republic of China
*Kristin J. Forbes, Professor of Economics, MIT - Sloan School of Management,
USA
*Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University, Netherlands
Otmar Issing, President, Center for Financial Studies, Germany
Motoshige Itoh, Professor of Economics, University of Tokyo, Japan
*Walter B. Kielholz, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Credit Suisse, Switzerland
Malcolm Knight, Vice-Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, USA
*Moisés Naím, Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy Magazine, USA
Danny Quah, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political
Science, United Kingdom
*Kenneth Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of
Economics, Harvard University, USA
*Nouriel Roubini, Chairman, Roubini Global Economics, USA
*Dennis J. Snower, President, The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany
*Heizo Takenaka, Director, Global Security Research Institute, Keio University,
Japan
Naoyuki Yoshino, Professor of Economics, Keio University, Japan
Yu Yongding, Director, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences (CASS), People’s Republic of China
*Zhu Min, Group Executive Vice-President, Bank of China, People’s Republic of
China

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Economic Imbalances

Council Manager: Irene Casanova
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: Sheana Tambourgi
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

103
 Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Healthy ecosystems – natural areas such as forests Meeting programme related
and oceans – provide essential services for the global to Ecosystems and
economy. In addition to their inherent value, they Biodiversity Loss include:
provide water, fuel, food, health, recreation and • Update 2009: Controlling
Climate Change
climate stability for everyone on the planet. Moreover, • Update 2009: Managing
the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people depend Resources for the Long Term
directly on these services. However, ecosystems and • Dealing with Deforestation
biodiversity are being degraded at an alarming rate, • Global Solutions from the Past
• Latin America: A Global Hub for
and much of this loss is irreversible. Given the wide Sustainability
scope and seriousness of this impact, people and • Will the Environment Lose Out
organizations from all sectors and all societies need to to the Economy?
act urgently.

Building on years of scientific research, issues of

ecosystem and biodiversity loss need to be reframed. There is an enormous need to
raise awareness of the poor state of the world’s ecosystems and better communicate
to leaders at all levels the impact resulting from the destruction of these natural
assets.

A new vocabulary and new research, based on the monetary value of ecosystems,
will help communicate the issue to stakeholders in the public and private sectors, as
well as individuals at local levels. In addition to new messaging, the sense of urgency
must be underscored. The world’s ecosystems are being damaged at
unprecedented rates: according to one current study, preliminary estimates (for forest
biomes only) value losses of natural capital between US$ 2-4.5 trillion per year.1 This
is happening now.

There are several causes of ecosystem and biodiversity loss:

• Infrastructure and urban land use change, including human settlements which
continue to take over natural ecosystems
• Agricultural land use change, including deforestation for pasture and cropland,
aggravated by the growth of some biofuels and food for the changing diets of a
growing population

1 The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity, An Interim Report; P. Sukhdev, European Communities, 2008.

104
• Overfishing, mostly by industrial fleets, and some forms of aquaculture, stimulated
by the need to provide an important source of protein for 1 billion people
• Climate change, expected to become one of the most significant factors in
ecosystem degradation over the next 40 years.

The consequences of ecosystem and biodiversity loss are not just environmental;
they have fundamental social and economic impacts. The financial crisis risks
providing a false reprieve as reduced global consumption slows resource use and
development. At the same time, many of the world’s poor risk falling off the bottom of
the economic ladder and returning to subsistence living with an increase demand on
natural resources. With any restructuring of the rules that govern financial capital,
there is a strong argument to acknowledge the importance of natural capital and its
fundamental contribution as a driver of economic development.

105
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss proposes that six areas
need high-level attention to reduce ecosystem and biodiversity loss on a global scale:
1) Increase awareness and traction at the highest level - Ecosystems and
biodiversity loss belong, along with climate change, at the top of global agendas. There
is a need to raise awareness of the magnitude of the threat to economic well-being and
the urgency for effective action before losses become catastrophic.

2) Engage business in finding solutions - Business relies upon natural capital to deliver
products and services that create customer and shareholder value, supporting an
important role for market mechanisms to encourage responsible business practices.

3) Improve governance - It is acknowledged that, despite all efforts, the current global
governance system is ineffective and has not proved capable of protecting ecosystems
and biodiversity. There is a need to urgently evaluate the relevance of existing
governance structures and rapidly establish how to ensure that issues are addressed
with decision-makers at the international, national and local levels.

4) Involve all stakeholders - While national regulation may drive the implementation of
conservation programmes, ultimately these need to be appropriately scaled to the local
level, and converted into tangible value for local stakeholders, with an acknowledgement
that these are most often the world’s poor.

5) Develop tools to enable implementation - Implementing solutions across different

ecosystems will require well-designed tools and measurable indicators, which can lead
markets and individuals to improve their resource efficiency and decrease their impact
on natural capital.
• Government subsidies for agriculture and fisheries often destroy ecosystems and
biodiversity, while subsidy elimination would help reduce overfishing and unsustainable
agricultural practices.
• New markets for environmental services, highlighting a variety of mechanisms, show
great potential and important lessons to be learned from existing success stories.
• Appropriate pricing of assets using a variety of market mechanisms can be modelled
after best practices used for carbon, waste and water.
• Certification of products harvested without damaging ecosystems, with related
information campaigns, can help shift consumer behaviour towards such products.
• Renewable energy sources, including biofuels, must be developed in a manner that
does not harm ecosystem health.
• Common metrics are needed for more complete environmental accounting for
business and individuals as well as countries and governments.
• Global assessments are needed to ensure that continued scientific and economic
information is available. Existing and ongoing assessments need to be better linked to
policy processes.

6) Encourage systems thinking - Although ecosystem preservation, climate change,

energy security, food security and poverty eradication are critical issues in their own
right, solutions are intimately and inextricably linked. Opportunities to design solutions
should be sought that have multiple positive impacts, build on proven successes and
more efficiently deploy investments.

Leveraging the intangible: The emotional imagery and the inspiration of our natural
planet cannot be underestimated. As Global Agenda Councils discuss the reform of global
and regional capital systems, there is an opportunity to value not just financial capital but
also the human and natural capital, which offer us so much more than we are able to
measure. This presents an opportunity to reward good behaviour and embrace the
intangible blessings of the natural world. Perhaps it is time for a new capitalism – one
which values natural beauty, moral imperative and a deeper cultural identity with our planet.

106
Council on Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss
Members

Chair: *Frances Cairncross, Rector, Exeter College, United Kingdom

Mubariq Ahmad, Executive Director, WWF - World Wide Fund for Nature, Indonesia
Yann Arthus-Bertrand, President, GoodPlanet.org, France
*Aron Cramer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Business for Social
Responsibility (BSR), USA
Roxanne J. Decyk, Corporate Affairs Director, Shell International, Netherlands
*Jamshyd N. Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co.,
India
Claes Johansson, Statistician, UNDP Human Development Report Office, New
York
*Ethan B. Kapstein, Paul Dubrule Professor of Sustainable Development, INSEAD,
France
Lu Zhi, Professor of Life Sciences College, Peking University, People’s Republic of
China
*Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director-General, International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), Switzerland
Ronald G. Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Earth,
Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Bud Ris, President and Chief Executive Officer, New England Aquarium, USA
Martha I. Ruíz Corzo, Founder, Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda, Mexico
David Runnalls, President and Chief Executive Officer, International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD), Canada
Carl Safina, Co-Founder and President, Blue Ocean Institute, USA
Osvaldo Sala, Director, Environmental Change Initiative and Sloan Lindemann
Professor of Biology, Brown University, USA
Pavan Sukhdev, Managing Director and Head, Global Markets India, Deutsche
Bank, India
Emmanuel Ze Meka, Executive Director, International Tropical Timber Organization,
Japan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss

Council Manager: Randall Krantz
Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Forum Lead: Dominic Waughray
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

107
 Emerging Multinationals

Overview

Emerging multinationals are reshaping industries and

creating new dynamics in the global competitive
landscape. These new, fast-growing business Sessions in the Annual
champions come primarily from rapidly growing Meeting programme related
to Emerging Multinationals
emerging markets, such as Brazil, China, India, include:
Mexico and Russia, but also include fast movers from • Update 2009: The New
developed economies. They often operate in markets Boundaries of Financial
Governance
where regulatory conditions and the general business
• Update 2009: Can
environment are challenging. They have managed to Corporations Turn the Corner?
thrive and grow by developing reliable, easy-to-use • Renewing Trust in Corporations
goods and innovative services at low prices. Working • The Global Compact and the
Corporate Citizen
from a solid base in home markets, they have been
gaining market share and entering foreign markets at
an unprecedented pace in the past decade.

The current financial crisis, which has hit the developed world and established
multinationals, is also affecting emerging multinationals. The impact of the crisis is
reflected in:
• the shrinking of export markets
• the massive withdrawal of institutional money and the loss of equity valuation as
currency
• significant withdrawal of finance and credit
• potential additional barriers to expanding their business in other markets, as
governments may introduce protectionist measures.

Internally, several emerging multinationals face a unique situation going into the
current financial and economic crisis: many of them are either relatively young and
therefore hadn’t experienced a global crisis previously or had operated out of
sheltered markets. They may not have the expertise in-house to manage such a crisis
but they can shape and be quicker than larger corporations in responding to it.

108
But emerging multinationals also have some unique opportunities:
• They are used to operating in lower cost environments and are used to being the
underdog, so they are scrappy competitors
• As there is more equitable access to interesting international deals, emerging
multinationals can benefit in their expansion plans
• Valuations are relatively low, so market assets are cheap
• Labour markets are less contested, so emerging multinationals can more easily
attract global talent.

109
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals proposes that:

Emerging multinationals must respond to the crisis innovatively, as the traditional

strategies used during sheltered or booming periods will not work any longer.
Examples include:

• Engage in active risk analysis and management, assessing the level of the
company’s entire exposure
• Manage internal and external stakeholders actively, as solid leadership will be
crucial during the crisis
• Understand operating risk everywhere, including in other emerging markets
• Realize that “cash is king”, especially for state-owned enterprises that have used
“debt as equity”
• Change the organizational structure to achieve more transparency and improve
corporate governance
• Build a global talent machine and acquire best practices to manage a truly
multicultural workforce
• Set foundations to build a global brand, starting by differentiation.

Emerging multinationals have been a key driver of world economic growth. The way
they respond to this crisis will also have an effect on their home market’s recovery
and on building the global brands of emerging markets. The crisis offers emerging
multinationals the chance to make a difference in their ecosystem:

• Address and improve their home country situation

Emerging markets are characterized by investment needs, both in the lack of hard
infrastructure (roads, power plants and telecommunications) and soft infrastructure
(education and healthcare). As local governments cannot address these challenges
alone, emerging multinationals have the opportunity to invest to fill in the gap, while
at the same time building up their brand.

• Counter the ambient protectionism

Emerging multinationals have a chance to emerge as two-way ambassadors of
responsible globalization, making their voices heard in international trade
discussions while also being advocates for fewer barriers in their home markets.

• Start adapting and disseminating good practices

The current crisis offers the opportunity for emerging multinationals to complement
other restructuring and positioning efforts by adopting best practices that will
position them competitively in the future, such as the promotion of gender diversity,
corporate social responsibility and corporate governance.

• Foster a culture of innovation and create the basis for clusters

Emerging multinationals can become innovation poles in their home markets, as
studies predict an increasing share of innovation will come from emerging markets.

110
 Council on Emerging Multinationals
Members

Chair: *Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School,
USA

Mohammed Al Barwani, Chairman, MB Holding Company, Oman

R. Marcelo Claure, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President,
Brightstar Corp., USA
*Francisco D’Souza, Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant Technology Solutions, USA
Arnoud De Meyer, Dean, Cambridge Judge Business School, United Kingdom
Gregory K. Ericksen, Global Vice-Chair, Strategic Growth Markets, Ernst & Young,
United Kingdom
*James Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways, United Arab Emirates
*Kola Karim, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Shoreline Energy
International, Nigeria
*Liu Jiren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Neusoft Corporation, People’s
Republic of China
David C. Michael, Senior Partner, Managing Director and Head, Greater China, The
Boston Consulting Group, People’s Republic of China
*Saeed Al Muntafiq, Executive Chairman, Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding,
United Arab Emirates
*Lubna S. Olayan, Deputy Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Olayan
Financing Company, Saudi Arabia
*Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva
*Deepak Puri, Chairman and Managing Director, Moser Baer India, India
Anand P. Raman, Senior Editor, Harvard Business Review, USA
*Christopher Rodrigues, Executive Chairman, International Personal Finance,
United Kingdom
*Peer M. Schatz, Chief Executive Officer, Qiagen, Germany

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals

Council Manager: Rodolfo Lara Torres
Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Forum Lead: Jeremy Jurgens
Managing Director: André Schneider

111
 Empowering Youth

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Youth is one of the world’s most precious resources. Meeting programme related
In the next ten years, according to the ILO 1.2 billion to Empowering Youth include:
• Update 2009: Dealing with
young people will enter the global labour market. Dangerous Demographics
• Update 2009: The Middle East
The global perception of youth in policy, academic • Africa: Uniting the Continent
and public circles is that they are a problem rather • Power to the People — Politics
in the Internet Age
than a solution to a problem. This perception has • Update 2009: Migration and
influenced both the debate and actions aimed at Multiple Identities
them. • Fixing the Low-Skill, Low-
Opportunity Trap
• Rising Population: Overload or
A host of structural and policy factors affect the Opportunity?
opportunities for empowering youth. The following • Shaping the Post-Crisis World:
chart organizes these factors into three key areas Views from the Next Generation
which should be prioritized for action and intervention. • Youth Culture: A Heatmap
• The Girl Effect on Development

EMPOWERING YOUTH

CONTEXT

Demographics (migration, bulge, pensions)

Vulnerability (conflict, disease, drugs, consumerism, hopelessness,
extremism, violence, poverty, family)
Networks (communication, technology)
Identity (peer pressure, culture, purpose, gangs, family)

3 ACTION AREAS

OPPORTUNITY
- Voice
- Choice
- Influence
- Connectivity
- Mobility
- Diversity

EMPLOYMENT LEARNING
- Jobs - Values
- Entrepreneurship - Skills (life, entrepreneur-
ship, vocational, market-
oriented skills)
- Sense of purpose
- Positive identity &
self-esteem

SUPPORT STRUCTURES
- Family - Teachers
- Community - Mentors
- Faith groups

112
113
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Empowering Youth proposes that:

• Certain principles should guide action aimed at empowering youth, including:

– Holistic approaches to address the multitude of dimensions and issues within
and across cultures and regions
– Public-private-civil society partnerships to ensure ownership, coordination
and coverage
– Sustainability and scale considerations to expand the scope and the span
of effective interventions
– Innovation in approaches and techniques and experimentation with policies
and programmes
– Impact evaluation to measure effectiveness and to disseminate best practice.

• The areas of action that should be considered include:

– Research of best practice at the policy and programme levels in order to
avoid duplication of efforts and identify effective interventions
– Major shifts in government policy across sectors and ministries that target
the challenges in the three action areas (opportunity, employment, learning)
– Public and private investment to scale up identified best practices and to
ensure the availability of funding and resources across regions
– Addressing the attitudes and mindset of policy-makers and business leaders
to realign perceptions and direct action.

• Relevant actors include:

– Youth
– Governments
– International institutions
– Private sector
– Civil society
– Other relevant Global Agenda Councils

114
 Council on Empowering Youth
Members

Chair: *Rick R. Little, Chairman, Silatech Organizing Team, Qatar Foundation, Qatar

*José Ignacio Avalos Hernández, Chief Executive Officer, President and Founder,
Gente Nueva, Mexico
*Jeroo Billimoria, Executive Director, Aflatoun, Child Social and Financial
Education, Netherlands
Martin Burt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fundación Paraguaya, Paraguay
Lolowah Al Faisal Al Saud, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees and General
Supervisor, Effat College, Saudi Arabia
Wataru Iwamoto, Director, Division of Social Sciences, Research and Policy, United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris
*Karim Kawar, President, Kawar Group, Jordan
Martina Milburn, Chief Executive, The Prince’s Trust, United Kingdom
*Jane Nelson, Senior Fellow and Director, Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), New York
*Kim Samuel-Johnson, Director, Samuel Group of Companies, Canada
Zola Sidney Themba Skweyiya, Minister of Social Development of South Africa
Tarik M. Yousef, Dean, Dubai School of Government, United Arab Emirates

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Empowering Youth

Council Manager: Matthias Catón
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

115
 Energy Security

Overview
Economic development and population growth is
expected to lead to strong growth in energy demand, Sessions in the Annual
doubling over the next 30 years. Most of that growth will Meeting programme related
be in developing countries. to Energy Security include:
• Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
at All Cost
Reliable and affordable energy systems are essential to a
• Update 2009: An Integrated
healthy economy. The energy system is also pivotal to
Approach to Energy, Food and
other social objectives, such as protection of the climate.
Water Security
Under current trends, fossil fuels will continue to provide
• Energy Outlook 2009
the great majority of the world’s energy for the • Financing Industry in an Era of
foreseeable future. There are still abundant fossil Capital Scarcity
resources; utilizing them, however, depends on • The Electric Vehicle Conundrum
extracting, delivering and using them at reasonable • Are Renewables the Silver
prices and in manners consistent with sound Bullet?
environmental objectives. • The Challenge of Sustainable
Mobility
Fossil fuels are unevenly distributed geographically. This,
and other factors, has led to an increase in the global
trade of energy resources; that trade is a source of
perceived energy insecurity.

“Energy security” means the reliable, stable and sustainable supply of energy at affordable
prices and social cost. All nations and groups should be taken into account when
considering energy security – rich and poor; developed and developing; producing and
consuming. Often there is confusion between energy security and energy independence.
These are two different issues. Energy security can only be efficiently achieved through
global cooperation.

No single solution to energy security challenges exists. It is possible to imagine a large

number of secure energy systems at varying costs. A mix of demand reduction (efficiency
and conservation) as well as supply diversification will be needed. Few of these will occur
on their own (even where they are cost effective) without clear regulatory, infrastructure and
market incentives. Moving from one energy system to another can be extremely difficult
and requires highly capable governments and institutions and clear long-term policies and
strategies.

Energy security is a dynamic optimization process between market and (regulatory)

institutions and a function of space (region) and time (ever changing). This necessitates a
continued dialogue between consuming and producing countries aiming to improve
energy security.

A link exists between energy security and a wide range of other social, environmental,
economic and political issues, including food, water and health security as well as such
classic security issues as violent conflicts and the protection of human rights. These need
to be harmonized.

Energy systems broadly fall into two categories: liquid fuels, which dominate the
transportation sector, and the power sector.

Fuels for Transportation

There is no shortage of geological resources, but the challenges are growing related to
mobilizing the investment in a timely manner. The financial, technological and human
resources needed are massive but manageable. Whether this happens hinges on

116
producers being confident about the level of future demand. Many nations have viewed oil
security as a geopolitical issue, when in fact security is an intrinsically global phenomenon.

Additional sources of liquid hydrocarbons as well as non-liquid (e.g., electric) sources

should be developed. These range from advanced biofuels and electric vehicles; some are
carbon-based fuels such as heavy oils and coal-based liquids. Attention is needed to
ensuring these liquids are economic and attentive to a wide range of environmental and
other consequences.

The Power Sector

The demand for power in most societies is expected to grow faster than the demand for
other energy uses. Energy security in the power sector hinges on the grid that connects
suppliers and end-users. The system could be designed for much greater efficiency.

The electric power system should play a central role in de-carbonizing the future economy.
While there are many options for reducing emissions, for the next few decades the main
economic options are likely to be wind, clean-coal technologies (e.g., CCS), gas and
nuclear. Coal with carbon storage is promising but poses very big regulatory and
technological challenges. In the longer term, it is possible that other sources of energy will
be developed (including solar power), provided that an adequate R&D&D framework is in
place.

It is necessary to make the production and sale of nuclear fuel, as well as the storage and
monitoring of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). In fact, the current model of sales and supplies of
nuclear fuel should change. The creation of a major public-private international partnership
(organization or company) could become the new model for leasing (not selling) nuclear
fuel and safely storing and monitoring SNF. The central issue for nuclear power is the
creation of a more secure and legitimate fuel cycle.

In some regions natural gas supplies are causing growing concern. While many institutions
have been created, what can be done to improve the confidence of both natural gas
consumers and producers?

117
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Energy Security proposes that:

The mutual interdependence of producing and consuming nations and the rising
anxiety about the reliability of energy supplies imply the need to develop a much more
effective international system for promoting energy security. Such a system could
include organizations and rules that are rooted in collective self-interest and practical
actions. The road to achieving such a system will be long and begins with practical
steps that are in the interest of all major countries. It would begin with strengthening
the existing global organizations that promote dialogue among nations (such as the
IEA, IEF, IAEA). In addition, a series of concrete measures could be undertaken under
the leadership of pivotal countries, including:
• establishing a public-private initiative to create a multilateral nuclear fuel cycle
• collectively managing strategic oil reserves
• encouraging much higher investment in energy research, development and the
demonstration of new technologies
• promoting investment in fuel supply and infrastructure, even during an economic
downturn
• establishing a universal pricing of carbon

The World Economic Forum can be instrumental in beginning the process of

establishing the global system for energy security by bringing together countries to
outline specific measures in each of these pivotal points of cooperation.

118
 Council on Energy Security
Members

Chair: *Armen Sarkissian, President and Founder, Eurasia House International,

United Kingdom

*Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency, France

Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, USA
Nick J. Butler, Chairman, Cambridge Centre for Energy Studies, Cambridge Judge
Business School, United Kingdom
*Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
Mary Kaldor, Co-Director, The Centre for the Study of Global Governance (LSE),
United Kingdom
Steven Koonin, Chief Scientist, British Petroleum, United Kingdom
*Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
Carnegie Moscow Center, Russian Federation
Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Senior Adviser, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kuwait
*David G. Victor, Professor of Law and Director, Program on Energy and
Sustainable Development, Stanford University, USA
Yang Fuqiang, Vice-President and Chief Representative, The Energy Foundation,
People’s Republic of China
*Daniel Yergin, Chairman, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), USA
Linda Yueh, Fellow in Economics, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Vahan Zanoyan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PFC Energy International,
Switzerland

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Energy Security

Council Manager: Pawel Konzal
Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Forum Lead: Christoph Frei
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

119
 Entrepreneurship

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Entrepreneurship is the key driving force behind Meeting programme related
economic growth and innovation around the world. to Entrepreneurship include:
Entrepreneurs have the ability to turn new ideas into • Update 2009: The New
breakthrough solutions while creating employment Boundaries of Financial
Governance
and spreading prosperity. They create innovative • Update 2009: Can
solutions to global problems as well as new products Corporations Turn the Corner?
for consumers, industry and government. • Business Becoming Social
Entrepreneurs
• Keeping an Entrepreneurial
But entrepreneurs alone cannot make change Edge in Tough Times
happen, no matter how visionary and persistent, • Restoring Growth through
unless they operate in an environment that supports Social Business
and rewards risk-taking. An underlying question is • Educating the Next Wave of
Entrepreneurs
what enables and/or facilitates entrepreneurship, in • A Silver Lining to the Financial
relation to problems of access to financing, rewards Cloud?
for entrepreneurs, systems of entrepreneurship • Infrastructure for the Developing
education, and the kinds of entrepreneurial World
• Addressing the Employment
ecosystems that nurture entrepreneurship in a limited Challenge
number of universities and regions. An improved
understanding of the types of regulatory and cultural
environments that foster entrepreneurship can help
develop policies designed to advance continuous innovation and new business
creation.

The status of entrepreneurship globally:

• United States: Boston and Silicon Valley continue apace, with concerns about
Venture Capital (VC) and angel capital availability, but the health of entrepreneurship
in the rest of the US is less sure.

• Europe: Strong support from government exists in some European countries for
what has become lifestyle entrepreneurship but VC funds are lacking to build major
firms. The UK is creating copies of existing firms but is not doing much with
significant innovation. Family-friends funding is prevalent. Risk-taking is less bold in
Europe.

• Middle East: Much of the Arab Middle East primarily uses family-friends financing;
most people work for the government and little effective education of entrepreneurs
exists. Anti-entrepreneurial attitudes persist, but some progress is being made with
the INJAZ programme by Junior Achievement, aimed at teenagers. Non-oil
producing countries differ from oil-rich countries, where entrepreneurship is least
prevalent. Israel presents the opposite case in the neighbourhood, but with a
different culture and results.

120
• Asia: In Asia, the issues are very diverse. Entrepreneurship in China is booming,
despite nearly two generations without any entrepreneurs at all. Korea and Japan
have a different situation. Is the key problem there the lack of tolerance for failure?
Very few if any real VCs exist although there is plenty of private equity.

• Africa and Latin America: In Africa one finds needs-based entrepreneurship but
less “creating innovative business” enterprises. There is poor access to capital and
few role models exist. The situation is somewhat better in Latin America, and
changes are occurring in both regions.

The need for entrepreneurship, both to solve problems as well as to provide jobs, is
greater now than at any time previously. Long-term economic growth cannot take
place without “game-changing” entrepreneurial innovation. But this is a difficult time
for advocates of capitalism in many regions and countries. One of the threats of the
current global financial crisis is that it may legitimize massive government intervention
with new regulations that could thereby stifle entrepreneurs. It is necessary to
maintain incentives for entrepreneurs and their investors and to maintain government
support for entrepreneurs – both to encourage entrants as well as firm growth.

The world faces a unique nexus of interconnected global challenges, including

poverty, global climate change, economic development and crises in financial
markets. The key to meeting these challenges is to harness the potential
represented by entrepreneurs. The time for entrepreneurship has come because
entrepreneurs are the drivers of economic growth, the originators of new jobs, the
providers of opportunities for individuals and a source of possible solutions to global
challenges.

121
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Entrepreneurship proposes that building

entrepreneurial capacity in five dimensions is key:

1. Markets. Because they pioneer new approaches, entrepreneurs need clear and
transparent regulatory frameworks that set them free. Well defined yet flexible rules
must encourage innovation and opportunity-seeking.

2. Human Capital. Business-building skills are critical for creating/building growth-

oriented enterprises. Making people with these skills available to those who are the
sources of technology solutions can enable a focus on the global problems
identified above. Company founders depend upon the encouragement and aid of
helpers, including lawyers, accountants, bankers and business advisers. Those
who start firms that succeed in growing have individual confidence, a willingness to
take risk and an orientation towards partnering.

3. Societal Capital. Regions and nations need to cultivate: (a) values and attitudes in
support of business (and profits) as being legitimate and important; (b) an
appreciation of the risks involved in business creation and that failure necessarily
accompanies success at the societal level; and (c) the rules and regulations that
support both the entry and growth of new firms. We need to recognize that long-
term persistence is required.

4. Risk Capital. This capital is essential for entrepreneurs to succeed. This is

especially true on a global basis for early stage capital which is in short supply. In
developing countries the shortages persist even for established firms that need
capital in the range of US$ 10,000 to US$ 1 million. Risk capital will be most
effectively placed and used when provided by knowledgeable investors, and when
accompanied by strong linkages to experience-based involvement, skill-building
and mentoring. Governments and foundations have an important role in supporting
programmes that stimulate the provision of that capital and that help provide those
business-building skills.

5. Women. Women are a major resource that is underengaged in growth-oriented

entrepreneurship. In contrast they dominate the world of microfinance and
microenterprise, and contribute strong leadership to starting and running these
micro businesses, especially in the developing world. The movement of these
women upward towards larger impact enterprises needs to be strongly
encouraged, in actions by government, foundations and multinational corporations.

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 Council on Entrepreneurship
Members

Chair: *Ángel Cabrera, President, Thunderbird School of Global Management, USA

Philip Anderson, Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD, Singapore

Tom Byers, Professor and Director, Stanford Technology Ventures Program,
Stanford University, USA
*Fadi Ghandour, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Aramex International, Jordan
Michael Hay, Professor of Management Practice in Entrepreneurship, London
Business School, United Kingdom
Jiro Kokuryo, Professor, Keio University, Japan
Richard M. Locke, Professor, MIT - Sloan School of Management, USA
Jan Anders Manson, Vice-President, Innovation and Technology Transfer, Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
*Bruce McNamer, President and Chief Executive Officer, TechnoServe, USA
Joel M. Podolny, Dean, Yale School of Management, USA
Edward B. Roberts, Founder and Chairman, MIT Entrepreneurship Center, USA
Linda Rottenberg, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Endeavor, USA
Joachim Schwass, Professor of Family Business and Entrepreneurship, IMD
International, Switzerland
Sachio Semmoto, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, eAccess, Japan
*Khaldoon Tabaza, Chairman and Managing Director, Riyada Ventures, Jordan
*Donald Tapscott, Chairman, nGenera Insight, nGenera, Canada
Ann Winblad, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture
Partners, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Entrepreneurship

Council Manager: Matthias Catón
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

123
 Faith

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Religion is high on the global agenda. The claim that Meeting programme related
religion would inevitably decline with modernity – the to Faith include:
core of the secularization thesis – has been proved • Update 2009: The Middle East
wrong. Today’s global challenges of war and peace, • Africa: Uniting the Continent
• Update 2009: Migration and
democracy and human rights, and economic and Multiple Identities
social development all have an important religious • The Middle East: Owning Its
dimension. Indeed, the resurgence of religion in world Challenges
affairs over the past decade has unsettled the • Cultural Literacy: How to
Develop It
widespread view that politics, business, society and • Faith in Religion
faith are distinct spheres. • Religion and Human Rights: A
Contradiction?
Faith is often part of the problem; tensions among • Reconciling Religion and
Science in Society
religious communities can impede international
cooperation, political stability, social cohesion and
economic growth. But it is also potentially part of the
solution: these communities are often among the most important forces mobilizing
around core values such as human dignity, solidarity and social responsibility.

More than 80% of the world’s population identifies with a religious tradition. The
ethical resources of faith communities – a source of transcendent values – and their
social influence are underutilized resources in building coalitions for positive change.
Religious traditions prioritize human flourishing, a core value for the creation of a
durable and legitimate global economic and social order. Faith communities have also
been active in providing healthcare, promoting primary and secondary education and
contributing to peacebuilding efforts.

No effort to grasp the evolving global agenda can dispense with religion. Any such
effort must involve religious leaders in deeper dialogue with leaders in other sectors,
including business, government, academia and the media.

124
125
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Faith proposes that religion can contribute in three key
areas:

1. For business: The current global economic crisis extends beyond markets. It is also
a crisis of confidence and a failure of values of transparency, integrity and the
public good. Religious traditions are reservoirs of ethical resources. Each tradition
has its own perspective, but all speak to core values of economic and social life.
• Dialogue among religious, political and business leaders can engage differences
and highlight the shared values that inform the emerging global economic order.
• Educational institutions and the media should place more emphasis on the role
of values alongside material forces in economic life.
2. For society: Globalization has spurred an exchange of ideas, including values of
individualism and equality often in tension with established social norms and
cultural practices. Religious responses to globalization vary, from defensive reaction
to positive embrace. Key issues include: gender, multiculturalism and the role of the
media in shaping perceptions.
• Leaders and citizens should develop new strategies for dialogue and
cooperation that engage religious and cultural differences in building their
societies. Secular leaders and citizens must make more room for faith-informed
discourse in the public sphere.
• This dialogue must be carried on within religious communities as well as with
secular actors. The value of respect for difference is often underdeveloped
among people of faith.
3. For conflict prevention and peacebuilding: The world’s faith traditions embrace the
values of reconciliation and peaceful conflict resolution, even where they accept
recourse to violence in defence of human freedom of dignity. Violence in today’s
world has many roots, including economic resentments, ethnic hatreds and
political grievances. Religious passions are often a contributing factor.
• Through the promotion of interfaith dialogue and concrete peacebuilding
activities, faith-based organizations can promote the negotiation of differences.
• Education at all levels is a critical tool. It can promote religious literacy and a fuller
understanding of what unites and divides the world’s religious traditions, making
the political exploitation of religious differences more difficult.

Over the next year, the Global Agenda Council on Faith intends to:

1. Pursue Council development tasks

• Disseminate results of the Summit for input from other Council Members
• Approve new name and promote the Global Agenda Councils
• Determine the future configuration of the Council to be more representative
2. Explore spiritual capital and educational resources for: business, society and
conflict prevention and peacebuilding. This exploration is to be conducted via:
• An inventory of institutional research capacities around faith and the global
agenda: consulting with other Global Agenda Councils regarding areas of
engagement of religion and possible strategic partnership; circulation of a
document for comment. The Councils to include are: Global Governance,
Human Equality and Respect, Future of Governments, Future of the Middle East,
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
• Possible consultation with government and business, also on areas of
engagement and making religion a strategic partner
3. Publish a report (content to be determined by the results of the consultation)
4. Promote multi-faith educational materials for the Forum community

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 Council on Faith
Members

Chair: *John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University, USA

*Khalid Abdulla-Janahi, Chairman, Ithmaar Bank, Bahrain

Muna AbuSulayman, Executive Director, Kingdom Foundation, Saudi Arabia
*Khalid A. Alireza, Chairman, Saudi Cable Company - SCC, Saudi Arabia
*Wilmot Allen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, 1 World Enterprises, USA
Karen A. Armstrong, Writer, United Kingdom
Azyumardi Azra, Rector, State Institute for Islamic Studies, Indonesia
Trond Bakkevig, Convener, Council of Inter-Religious Institutions of the Holy Land,
Norway
Thomas Banchoff, Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs,
Georgetown University, USA
*Peter Bisanz, Director, Entropy Films, USA
*Tony Blair, Middle East Quartet Envoy, United Nations
François Burgat, Senior Researcher, Institut de Recherches et d’Etudes sur le
Monde Arabe et Musulman (IREMAM), France
Masoumeh Ebtekar, President, Center for Peace and Environment, Islamic
Republic of Iran
John L. Esposito, Professor of Religion and International Affairs; Founding Director,
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown
University, USA
David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity; Director, Cambridge Inter-Faith
Programme, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
William A. Graham, Dean, Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies
and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School, USA
Charlotte Keenan, Project Manager, Tony Blair Faith Foundation, United Kingdom
Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America, USA
Jane D. McAuliffe, President, Bryn Mawr College, USA
*David Rosen, Chairman, International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Relations
(IJCIC), USA
Jorge Sampaio, High Representative of the Alliance of Civilization, United Nations
Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
Emad Shahin, Visiting Associate Professor, Harvard University, USA
Mona Siddiqui, Director, Centre for the Study of Islam and Professor of Islamic
Studies and Public Understanding, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Miroslav Volf, Director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Faith

Council Manager: Saadia Zahidi
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Managing Director: Borge Brende

127
 Financial Empowerment

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
More than 3 billion people around the world lack Meeting programme related
access to formal financial services. These individuals to Financial Empowerment
live in predominantly cash economies, which are include:
• Update 2009: Hard Lessons
considerably more costly and insecure and offer
about Global Imbalances
limited opportunity to leverage income or assets for • Update 2009: Helping Others in
growth. Surprisingly, many of these individuals are a Post-Crisis World
living in countries that would not necessarily be • Business Becoming Social
Entrepreneurs
considered “poor.” For example, regions like Latin
• Keeping an Entrepreneurial
America and Eastern Europe have a growing middle- Edge in Tough Times
class that has not been able to enter the financial • Fixing the Low-Skill, Low-
system. Further, in light of our current financial crisis, Opportunity Trap
• A Matter of Financial
the condition also applies to millions who in the
Empowerment
United States and Western Europe find themselves • Returning to the Base of the
underserved or underbanked. Pyramid
• Sustaining Civil Society in an
Economic Downturn
Access to financial services and the corresponding
financial literacy programmes gives people the ability
to save for lean times, smooth consumption, provide
better healthcare and education for their children, and allows entrepreneurs to start
and grow new businesses. An inclusive financial system that allows the participation
of billions broadens the economic base and diversifies risk.

Microfinance has opened the door to credit and savings for over 100 million people
worldwide and demonstrated the power of extending financial services for the
economic advancement of individuals under various sustainable models, which range
from the development-based to the commercial and profitable. Building on the
success stories, financial empowerment has now been expanded to include basic
non-cash payment systems, affordable person-to-person transfers, effective savings
schemes, accessible credit, investment and asset-building opportunities, insurance
and financial literacy programmes. Yet, we have more to accomplish.

The opportunity for expanding the reach of financial markets has never been greater
than it is today, and the goal of creating inclusive financial markets never more
attainable. For example, the rapid penetration of mobile phone technology has
created a far-reaching distribution channel unmatched by any preceding technology,
setting off a rush of innovation in mobile payment solutions. Expanding global
networks are reducing transaction costs so that businesses can now profitably serve
customers in market segments they previously ignored.

128
The delivery of financial empowerment is limited, however, by inadequate business
models and outdated regulatory frameworks that need to be adjusted to better
accommodate models that are geared to the billions who were previously not
considered by the traditional banking models. These banking models have relatively
high fixed set-up costs that limit access to lower income consumers. For example, in
some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, it takes an average of US$ 700 to open a
checking account, and banks require applicants to provide at least four documents.
Not surprisingly, only 20% of households in the region have an account at a financial
institution, and in some countries account ownership is as low as 5%. This pattern
persists not only between countries, but within them. As examples of alternative
financial service models, partnerships between financial institutions, retailers and
mobile operators can provide the opportunity to reach these underserved customers
in an economically sustainable manner.

129
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Financial Empowerment proposes that:

On the regulatory front, the regulatory bodies supervising the telecommunication and
banking industries, especially in low- to middle-income countries must review and
update the corresponding policies in light of the opportunities for financial inclusion
brought forth by the new technologies and business models. While government
regulation plays a crucial role for creating stability and averting financial crises, they
often inadvertently hinder the expansion of financial services to the poor. For
example, deposit and transaction taxes can keep people from moving away from an
informal and inefficient cash economy, and extraneous “know-your-customer” rules
for small transaction accounts make it more difficult for virtual banking to develop.
Unless countries start to examine how their existing policies hinder this type of
entrepreneurship, they will fall behind this revolution.

The Council proposes to compile a set of principles together with regulators and
other actors that outlines best practice for regulation of financial services, in order to
allow maximum access to financial services by all groups of society.

New technology, especially mobile communications, should be used to make

financial services accessible to currently underserved groups of society. Governments
and multilateral organizations have an important role to play in stimulating this type of
private sector innovation. For example, by moving their existing transfer programmes
into an electronic platform, local governments can encourage the adoption of new
systems while providing the scale that is necessary to bring transaction costs down.

During the Summit on the Global Agenda, the Council for Financial Empowerment
also identified the need to create and innovate in conjunction with the Councils for
Financial Market Development, Economic Growth and Development, Future of Mobile
Communications, Entrepreneurship and Food Security. Through our collaboration, we
hope to address some of the challenges outlined above, particularly those related to
the redesign of regulations and the development of innovative business models that
promote inclusion, financial literacy, the expansion of delivery channels and the
lowering of transaction costs.

130
 Council on Financial Empowerment
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Ricardo Hausmann, Director, Center for International Development, John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
*Roy Sosa, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, MPOWER Labs, USA

*Vikram K. Akula, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, SKS Microfinance, India
Robert Annibale, Director, Citi Office of Microfinance, Citi, USA
*John Bryant, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Operation HOPE,
USA
*Lawrence Elliott, Economics Editor, The Guardian, United Kingdom
Mary Houghton, President, ShoreBank Corporation, USA
Elizabeth Littlefield, Chief Executive Officer, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
(CGAP), USA
*Harish Manwani, President, Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Unilever,
United Kingdom
Gill Marcus, Chairperson, Absa Group, South Africa
Jonathan J. Morduch, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, New York
University, USA
*Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, Chair, Board of Directors, ACCION International, USA
Janmejaya K. Sinha, Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group (India), India
Hernando de Soto, President, Instituto Libertad y Democracia, Peru
*Roshaneh Zafar, President, Kashf Foundation, Pakistan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Financial Empowerment

Council Manager: Matthias Catón
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

131
 Financial Market Development

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
For emerging markets, there are two broad policy areas Meeting programme related
related to the development of their financial systems: to Financial Market
post-crisis models for financial system development and Development include:
the integration of these financial systems into the • Update 2009: The New
Economic Era
international regulatory architecture. • Update 2009: Hard Lessons
about Global Imbalances
Empirical findings illustrate the beneficial impact of • CNBC Debate: No Way Back
financial market development on overall economic • 2009 World Economic
Brainstorming: Navigating the
growth and improved economic opportunity for New Economic Landscape
individuals. In light of the financial crisis, a reassessment • Financing Industry in an Era of
of the relationship between governments and financial Capital Scarcity
markets has begun. Research supports the generally • Financial Recovery: A Long
Journey Ahead?
positive roles of privately-owned financial institutions and • Scenarios for the Future of the
market competition in promoting growth and opportunity. Global Financial System
Nevertheless, pervasive market failures and the global • The Bank of the Future
reverberations of the current crisis highlight the value of
domestic and global regulatory systems that provide
sound incentives for private market participants and that limit systemic risk. Government
intervention to save an unprecedented range of financial institutions has affirmed and
expanded social expectations of the role of government in finance.

Recent developments warrant a sober review of financial policies along multiple

dimensions.

1. Legitimacy and accountability: The crisis has shaken the overall legitimacy of national
and international financial policies and institutions. The recent crisis has exposed sizable
gaps in the risks and activities addressed by regulatory organizations.

2. Global regulatory architecture: Financial markets are global, suggesting the value of a
regulatory architecture that looks beyond national borders. One of the persistent
problems in international organizations is to balance legitimacy, which requires wide
membership, with agreement, which typically becomes more difficult as a group
expands. Within finance, a second problem is that regulatory authority is, and is likely to
remain, national due to deeply ingrained differences in legal systems.

3. Multidisciplinary nature of financial policy: The crisis advertises inadequate

communication and coordination among policy-makers focusing on particular issues,
including monetary policy, macro-prudential regulations and the particular activities of
financial institutions, including lending, underwriting, insurance, derivatives trading, etc.
For example, the burgeoning credit default swap market produced systemic risks that
were not adequately addressed by the insurance regulators overseeing the writing of
these contracts, or by bank supervisors charged with limiting bank risk-taking.

132
4. Regulatory system adaptability: Regulation must adapt to financial innovation to maintain
sound incentives. For example, credit rating agencies worked well for much of the last
century. However, the boom in structured products and the hiring of credit rating
agencies to both create and rate those products produced powerful conflicts of interest.
Credit rating agency profits and employment boomed. Regulators did not adapt.

5. Capacity of regulators: As financial markets and institutions become more complex and
more global, the burden on financial policy-makers has grown dramatically. Those
involved in financial policy-making must assess the incentives of individual actors, as
well as systemic risk. Financial policy analysts must examine national economic
conditions, international developments, and also write very detailed laws and regulations
regarding contracts, markets and transactions. Thus, financial policy involves the
involvement of macroeconomists, financial economists, lawyers, regulators, political
scientists and private market participants. There is a growing concern, in developed and
emerging economies alike, about the capacity of financial policy-makers to obtain and
marshal these skills effectively, quickly and on an ongoing basis.

6. Governance of financial institutions: Recent visibility of “non-correlated” executive

bonuses are symptoms of the larger failures of shareholder governance over financial
institutions. The inability of owners to deter individuals or divisions from undertaking
decisions which are contrary to the long-run profitability of firms highlights the need for
better private governance mechanisms.

133
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Financial Market Development proposes the following:

1. Legitimacy and accountability: At the global level, the representation of emerging

market economies in international regulatory bodies as commensurate with their
economic importance will enhance the legitimacy of these bodies. The relevance of
international bodies will be improved if there are mechanisms and incentives for
domestic regulatory agencies to act on their recommendations.

2. Global regulatory architecture: There is the potential to fortify an existing

international regulatory body or regulatory bodies (such as the Financial Stability
Forum) or create a new, more robust organization which would still allow for
heterogeneity across domestic regulatory regimes. Features of this organization
might include:
• Staffing depth to monitor developments in global financial systems
• The development of a set of core principles of effective regulation implemented
in a consultative capacity to domestic regulatory bodies
• The discouraging of unhealthy and potentially destabilizing “regulatory
competition” between countries
• The comprehensive monitoring of the full range of financial market activities,
perhaps working with existing specialized international bodies.

3. Multidisciplinary nature of financial policy: Regardless of the precise institutional

form, the current crisis reminds us of the importance of developing greater capacity
to assess risk across a wide range of financial market activities. This includes the
systematic monitoring and assessment of macroeconomic indicators as indicators
of systemic risk.

4. Regulatory system adaptability: Regulation should not thwart financial innovation,

which is a crucial input into technological innovation and entrepreneurship – it
should move in tandem. The international community needs to help countries
overcome the political challenges of creating financial regulators powerful enough
to adapt to financial innovation, yet not so strong as to abuse those powers and
distort the effectiveness of the financial system.

5. Capacity of regulators: Effective financial policy involves the coordinated

deployment of an integrated range of skills spanning such areas as
macroeconomics, law and corporate governance. This capacity is needed at both
the domestic and international levels and can assist emerging market countries in
learning from the current crisis, assessing systemic risks and limiting excessive
risk-taking within a competitive, market-oriented system.

6. Governance of financial institutions: As emerging market financial institutions

become more widely-held, rather than having large, controlling owners, recent
events advertise the urgent need to strengthen shareholder protection laws,
empower shareholder governance over financial institutions and reform
management incentives.

134
 Council on Financial Market Development
Members

Chair: *Howard Davies, Director, London School of Economics and Political

Science, United Kingdom

Martin N. Baily, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, USA

Andrew Crockett, President, JPMorgan Chase International, JPMorgan Chase &
Co., USA
*Charles H. Dallara, Managing Director, Institute of International Finance (IIF), USA
Saeb Eigner, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Lonworld Group, United Kingdom
*Anatole Kaletsky, Editor-at-Large, The Times, United Kingdom
Ross Levine, James and Merryl Tisch Professor of Economics and Director, William
R. Rhodes Center for International Economics, Brown University, USA
*Gerard Lyons, Chief Economist and Group Head, Global Research, Standard
Chartered Bank, United Kingdom
Yaga Venugopal Reddy, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2003-2008)
*Nouriel Roubini, Chairman, Roubini Global Economics, USA
*David Schlesinger, Editor-in-Chief, Thomson Reuters, United Kingdom
Nasser Al Shaali, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai International Financial Centre
(DIFC), United Arab Emirates
Andrew Sheng Len Tao, Chief Adviser, China Banking Regulatory Commission,
People’s Republic of China
*David Wright, Vice-Chairman, Barclays Capital, United Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Financial Market Development

Council Manager: James Bilodeau
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: Kevin Steinberg
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

135
 Food Security

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Food security and adequate nutrition is a fundamental Meeting programme related
human need. Over 1 billion people are now hungry – to Food Security include:
a number which rose by nearly 120 million in 2008 • Update 2009: Helping Others in
due to the food crisis. It is unacceptable that one- a Post-Crisis World
• Update 2009: Managing
sixth of the world’s population does not have access Resources for the Long Term
to adequate food and nutrition. • Update 2009: An Integrated
Approach to Energy, Food and
Food security is likely to further deteriorate in the Water Security
• Mending the Holes in the Food
coming five years, due to the dual impacts of the food Safety Net
crisis and the global financial crisis. These are likely to • Fresh Solutions for Food
constrain economic development in general, and Security
agricultural investment specifically. Following the • Unlocking the Food Chain
• Is the Right to Food an Illusion?
difficult years ahead, global food security could either
improve steadily or worsen dramatically, depending
on the actions we take now.

Food security has substantial impacts on economic growth, human health and
productivity – as well as political stability and security. In 2008, more than 60
countries experienced food-related protests and riots.

The world will need to double food production in the next 40 years to meet projected
demand. However our ability to meet current and future production needs is
challenged by increasing water scarcity, climate change, and volatile energy costs
and supplies. New, environmentally sustainable solutions for food production must be
developed to jointly address food, water and energy needs in an integrated way.

Economic growth can improve food security, but growth alone will not solve the
problem – particularly for issues of child nutrition. For example in India, despite
impressive rates of economic growth and poverty reduction in recent years, child
malnutrition remains at around 45%. In Africa, growth in the agriculture sector is
central to both food security and economic growth. The strong potential to create
such agriculture-sector growth is now constrained by the financial crisis and
economic recession, which will bring reduced income and employment as well as
capital constraints. Stakeholders will need to operate within and develop new ways of
overcoming these constraints.

New solutions must address the needs of those who lack access to affordable food
and adequate nutrition. A new architecture of food production and distribution
systems must be developed, integrating local communities and smallholder farmers
into larger production and distribution systems. Women, who make up the majority of
farmers and entrepreneurs in many areas, are central in implementing such solutions.

136
Governments and private corporations must work in partnership with each other, and
with small farmers and local entrepreneurs, to create a more inclusive and
environmentally sustainable food ecosystem. Experience shows that information and
communication technologies will play an essential role in these networked
enterprises. Private-sector business models that improve food production, incomes
and empowerment can play a key role in improving food security.

An adequate enabling environment is needed to facilitate food production and access

at the global, national and household levels. This includes effective public policy and
regulation, as well as adequate investment in infrastructure and services. At policy-
making levels, food security must be integrated into solutions addressing the financial
system, climate change, water scarcity and international trade. A fundamental and
non-negotiable political commitment is needed to assure food security for all.

137
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

I. Expand capacity to address the urgent needs of the most vulnerable

• Engage the private sector to address children’s nutritional needs in partnership
with community organizations and the public sector. Establish multi-stakeholder
dialogues to address the critical nutrition needs of children under two years of
age; further promote breastfeeding; explore lessons learned and new pathways
to appropriate distribution and use of complementary foods
• Establish a negotiation process on key agricultural trade issues that directly
affect food security, especially to allow emergency food-crisis provisions for
grains. This could form part of a new Food Aid Convention.

II. Leverage greater productivity of food and agriculture systems

• Prioritize agricultural technologies needed to improve food security, and
accelerate R&D efforts to develop and deploy them
• Build critical mass in improving food value chains by focusing a “grand coalition”
of key private and public actors on efforts in 6-10 countries
• Develop rural private-sector services in the financial ICT and logistics sectors, to
leverage agricultural productivity by smallholder farmers, particularly women
• Engage youth in agriculture by strengthening entrepreneurship, capacity-building
and outreach targeted to business opportunities along the food value chain
• Establish a “talent exchange” to engage private-sector specialists in
organizations working along the food value chain, targeting concrete needs.

III.Improve leadership focus and decision-making in addressing food security

• Establish an annual report-card for food production systems at the country level,
based on specific indicators of food value chain functions, to measure, rank and
track progress on issues
• Develop food security strategies in close collaboration with the energy and water
sectors to ensure a sustainable, mutually complementary and reinforcing
approach that jointly addresses climate change
• Develop codes of conduct for best practices for large-scale investments in food
and biofuel production in developing countries to be win-win for the investor and
the local communities
• Support government leadership to both highlight successes (e.g. food
production in Ghana, Malawi, India, Vietnam) and to support governments in
addressing gaps (e.g. malnutrition in South Asia)
• Support decision-making through improved information systems on national and
community food security status supported by ICT access and content
• Develop a shared advocacy strategy to advance key action priorities through
global and regional leadership fora and events.

138
 Council on Food Security
Members

Chair: *Josette Sheeran, Executive Director, United Nations World Food

Programme (WFP), Rome

Lennart Båge, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),

Italy
*Peter Bakker, Chief Executive Officer, TNT, Netherlands
Joachim von Braun, Director-General, International Food Policy Research Institute,
USA
Gordon Conway, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for International Development
(DFID), United Kingdom
Jeffrey R. Currie, Managing Director, Head Commodities Research, Goldman
Sachs, United Kingdom
*Carl Hausmann, Chief Executive Officer, Bunge North America, USA
Monty Jones, Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Ghana
Arun Maira, Chairman, The Boston Consulting Group, India
*Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance of South Africa
*Namanga Ngongi, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),
Kenya
*Kendall J. Powell, Chief Executive Officer, General Mills, USA
*Geeta Rao Gupta, President, International Center for Research on Women, USA
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Chair and Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University,
USA
*Rajiv J. Shah, Director, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
USA
Monkombu S. Swaminathan, Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation, India
*Michael Treschow, Chairman, Unilever, Netherlands
Florence M. Wambugu, Chief Executive Officer, Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation
International (AHBFI), Kenya

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Food Security

Council Manager: Lisa Dreier
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Forum Lead: Sarita Nayyar
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

139
 Fragile States

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Fragile states lack the capacity or willingness to preside
Meeting programme related
over development, reduce poverty, ensure security and to Fragile States include:
defend the basic rights of citizens. As a result, they pose • Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
serious threats to global stability and prosperity, as well at All Cost
as to the well-being of their own citizens. In the decades • Update 2009: Africa
• Update 2009: The Return of
to come, the world is likely to see increasing state
State Power
fragility, particularly in the global South. • Update 2009: Threats to
Society
Key “drivers of fragility” are: • The Future of Development
Underdeveloped economy: Fragile states are Assistance
• Afghanistan and Pakistan: Key
characterized by low levels of economic growth,
Countries on the Global
structural inequalities and lack of economic Agenda
opportunities.

Exclusionary elites: Fragile states are often characterized

by patterns of elite coalitions, which are exclusionary, thus creating conditions for
aggravated conflict.

Divided societies: Problems of social exclusion and horizontal inequalities will continue to
plague these societies and create conditions for exacerbated conflict.

Health: Fragile states face the brunt of the socially and economically degenerative impact
of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS with little access to basic healthcare for large
percentages of their populations.

Demographic trends: In many fragile states, high fertility remains in conditions where
populations remain largely rural and exist on extremely low bases of agricultural
productivity.

Criminality: Because of weak capacity in security and policing and due to porous borders,
fragile states are often havens for criminal activity that further weakens state and societal
institutions.

Environment: Fragile states by definition are among those likely to be hardest hit by
processes of climate change, not only due to their geographical location, but also
because they have limited capacity within the state and weak economic foundations to
confront problems of climatic volatility (floods, droughts, etc.).

Remittances and migration: Many fragile states depend on remittances as a major source
of foreign exchange and investment. Opportunities for migration out of fragile states have
acted as an important safety valve for poor and unemployed populations. The economic
crisis is likely to see fewer opportunities for people to emigrate, fewer employment
opportunities abroad, and an overall decline in remittance earnings.

140
Infrastructure: Fragile states are in dire need of infrastructure creation as the basis to
expand economic production. Investment in infrastructure projects, with the decline in
demand for primary commodities, is likely to dry up in the foreseeable future.

The current economic crisis will fuel further state fragility. It is likely to have major
implications for fragile states that might cut in more than one direction, representing both
threats and opportunities. In terms of aid, there is a real danger that OECD countries may
reduce their planned expansion of foreign assistance. This could have a devastating
impact in fragile states that are heavily dependent on budget support. At the same time
this may precipitate the more efficient deployment of scarce aid resources.

The crisis will also usher a rethinking of the role of the state. The intervention by major
OECD countries in their financial systems looks set to provoke a reconsideration of the
role of the state in regulating markets and ensuring they serve the goals of development.
This could have major knock-on effects in fragile states, as a changing paradigm of state-
market relations allows new efforts for state intervention to promote business and
economic growth. This needs to be pursued without suffocating market opportunities.

The crisis may bring in new globalization regulation, thus mitigating those dimensions of
globalization least favourable to the global South. The crisis also suggests new forms of
governance of the global system. The G7 is inadequate and a move to a G20 model now
seems imperative. Such a move could be favourable for addressing the conditions of
state fragility.

Demand for primary commodities is likely to decline; as many fragile states are exporters
of primary commodities, the expected boom in demand which it was hoped would fuel
economic growth is likely to disappear, at least in the near future. A decline in primary
commodities will represent loss in investment and in what most fragile countries rely on as
their major source of revenue.

141
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Fragile States proposes that:

The drivers of fragility are context-specific and require context-specific responses, not
simplistic institutional transfers or “one-size-fits-all” reform templates. Responses to state
fragility should recognize the interconnections between the local and global drivers of fragility
(environmental, economic, health, conflict, migration, employment, etc.).

Investing in effective and inclusive states must be at the centre of any response and requires
action at the national, regional and international levels. Responses should avoid the
temptation to bypass states and focus solely on civil society institutions, which are
important, but can only themselves function within a framework of minimally effective state
institutions. Effective states must perform core functions including security, taxation and the
rule of law, and develop a capacity to generate political and social compacts to promote
inclusive economic and social development. The existence of state institutions capable of
performing these functions is necessary to diminish fragility and reduce the risk of state
failure.

Action Agenda:
Both state and non-state actors need new models of international engagement. These
should be based in mutually beneficial and accountable compacts that promote effective
and inclusive states, economic development and sustainable local capacity. When it comes
to promoting inclusive growth and marginalizing criminal and corrupt activities, global private
actors can be part of the problem – but they can also be part of the solution.
• The aid reform agenda should be pushed vigorously. Aid practices that displace local
capacity, create high coordination costs and block the emergence of effective local public
management systems have to change. The first option for donors must be to use local
systems and budget and accountability processes. Technical assistance must be jointly
managed and monitored by the donor and beneficiary state for effectiveness and
efficiency.
• At both the national and international levels, states and private actors should work
together to develop stronger and more comprehensive normative and legal frameworks
relating to corporate behaviour in fragile states. Such frameworks should encourage
transparency and accountability, e.g. voluntary standards like the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative and legal frameworks such as anti-bribery legislation. Corporate
actors from emerging economies should be brought into these frameworks. An effort
should be made to strengthen the accountability of accountants and lawyers working for
the corporate sector.
• Private philanthropic actors should abide by the same standards as official development
aid and development sectors.
• Developed countries should remove trade barriers and distortions that hold back exports
from fragile states.
• We need to reassess approaches to security sector reform (including disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration programmes, which have rarely been effective). The
international community should develop uniform standards to ensure common
approaches embedded in a rule of law framework. In particular, military assistance
standards should be developed to ensure coherence in doctrine, training and equipment,
and to ensure that military assistance promotes the creation of militaries that are capable
both of national defence and social protection, within a framework of civilian control,
transparency and the rule of law. 142
 Council on Fragile States
Members

Chair: *Ashraf Ghani, Chairman, Institute for State Effectiveness, USA

Lakhdar Brahimi, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General (2004-2005), United

Nations, New York
Rosa Brooks, Professor of Law, Georgetown University, USA
Richard Carey, Director, Development Co-operation Directorate, Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris
Kathleen Cravero, Assistant Secretary-General and Director, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), New York
Francis Fukuyama, Professor of International Political Economy, Johns Hopkins
School of Advanced International Studies, USA
Carolina G. Hernandez, Founding President and Chair of the Board of Directors,
Institute for Strategic and Development Studies and Professor of Political Science,
University of the Philippines, Philippines
Diego Hidalgo, President, Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el
Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE), Spain
Karin von Hippel, Co-Director, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project and Senior
Fellow, The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), USA
*Josef Joffe, Publisher-Editor, Die Zeit, Germany
Clare Lockhart, Director, Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE), USA
Stefano Manservisi, Director-General, DG Development, European Commission,
Brussels
Dirk Messner, Director, German Development Institute (GDI), Germany
Funmi Olonisakin, Director, Conflict, Security and Development Group,
International Policy Institute, University of London, United Kingdom
James Putzel, Professor of Development Studies and Director, Crisis States
Research Centre, Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics and
Political Science, United Kingdom
Mark A. Robinson, Head, Profession for Governance and Conflict, Department for
International Development (DFID), United Kingdom
*Dan Smith, Secretary-General, International Alert, United Kingdom
Dennis de Tray, Principal, de Tray Consulting, USA
Howard Wolpe, Director, Africa Program, Project on Leadership and Building State
Capacity, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA
*Paul van Zyl, Executive Vice-President, International Centre for Transitional Justice,
USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Fragile States

Council Manager: Oksana Myshlovska
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

143
 Future of Africa

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The future of Africa is relevant to both Africans and Meeting programme related
non-Africans. The fate of about 1 billion people who to the Future of Africa include:
live in Africa today is clearly tied to the fortunes of the • Update 2009: Africa
continent. For many of the non-Africans however, it is • Africa: A Safer Bet than Most
• The State of Africa
simply unconscionable that fellow human beings live • The Africa You Don't Know
in conditions that others left behind generations ago. • Infrastructure for the
Many challenges persist and damning statistics Developing World
underline the urgency: every 3.6 seconds someone
dies of hunger; of the 1 million people who die of
malaria each year, Africa accounts for some 90%. Research points to poor
governance, to corruption, to the fact that medical research needed against African
diseases is simply unprofitable. Africa is the second-largest continent in area and
population, and perhaps the richest of all in terms of natural resources, yet its people
are among the poorest in the world.

Recent trends look promising however. Over the past decade, Africa’s real GDP has
risen steadily: 4.3% (2003) to 5.7% (2007). This growth has come with much
optimism but it remains to be seen whether it will indeed transform the region or
whether a slump in global demand for commodities will see a return to the atrophy of
the 80s. Yet there is reason to smile: of the 18 non-oil producing economies that have
been growing at an average of 5.5% over the past decade, 12 are fully-fledged
democracies that have experienced a significant increase in development assistance
flows over the same period. These trends have supported or been supported by
other trends including a continuous rise in investments in Africa and burgeoning trade
relationships.

Some of the biggest challenges today include finding a way to break resource
dependency. Much of the trade and investment is linked to the extraction of
resources. Capital intensive extractive industries leave many African economies
struggling to create enough jobs for the youth. Without these jobs, returns to
education are low, creating a vicious cycle of low education and low employment.
Nonetheless, a recent Economist Intelligence Unit forecast suggests that 15 out of
the 20 fastest-growing economies in 2009 should come from Africa while only one
African country (Zimbabwe) is expected to be among the slowest-growing 20
economies.

144
145
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The future of Africa lies in the hands of its peoples. Its development is primarily the
responsibility of Africans themselves. All engagement by outsiders should recognize this
fundamental principle contained in the NEPAD declaration.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Africa proposes that:

• On the current financial crisis: African governments should resist over-reaction against
market forces, The impact on Africa should be considered in discussions on the financial
crisis; the donor community should not renege on aid commitments
• On business and the economy: Increase international investments in Africa and create a
fund to support African enterprises; Propose that Sovereign Wealth Funds spend at least
1% of their funds in Africa
• On trade: Eliminate tariffs on intra-African trade and factor in adjustment costs; Negotiate
trade with the EU at the African Union level; Deliver on Aid for Trade pledge; Conclude the
Doha deal
• On governing Africa: Take ownership of challenges facing African countries; Support and
strengthen NEPAD and boost the Peer Review Mechanism; Strengthen civil society across
Africa; Craft a lasting response to emerging crises and protracted stalemates; Name and
shame in cases of corruption
• On global governance: Increase Africa’s voice in global governance institutions
• On infrastructure: Build more ports in Africa and increase efficiency, build roads, railways
and other land transportation infrastructure; Focus on supporting the recently launched
pan-African infrastructure fund
• On education and skills: Ensure that foreign investors engage in skills transfer; Commit to
universal primary education and engage in specific efforts to boost education for girls;
Promote real partnerships between African and other universities
• On agriculture: Eliminate developed market subsidies on domestic farm produce; Open
global markets to agricultural produce from Africa; Invest in agriculture in Africa; Support
the German proposal for getting funds from OPEC for investment in African agriculture
• On food security and hunger: Maintain the discourse on the very relevant food and fuel
crises
• On the media: Create a pan-African newspaper and create an “IRIN”-type distribution for
good news stories from Africa (a good-news story published every week from each of
Africa’s 53 nations); Support the BBC World Service Trust’s Media Fund for Africa
• On branding and perception: Share Africa’s positive stories and reinforce the desired
brands
• On aid: Advocate for increases in aid (scale up what works) and reform of the aid
architecture and publish what donor agencies “fund”
• On human rights, humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution: Improve early detection
of crises and conflicts, and ensure continued support for UN/AU missions through
advocacy
• On mining and resource extraction: Consider the impact of the economic slowdown on
communities that depend on the activities of mining companies for their livelihoods
• On China: Engage Chinese leaders in dialogue about their investments in and approaches
to Africa
• On energy: Facilitate coordination on the management of Africa’s energy resources, and
advocate major concentrated solar/thermal investments to provide benefits for Sub-
Saharan Africa
• On sports: Ensure that all of Africa enjoys the benefits of South Africa hosting the 2010
World Cup; Support the Class of 2015 proposal to use the World Cup to promote
universal primary education; Support improved organization of sports in Africa and
leverage Africa’s athletes to highlight the continent
• On culture: Create a greater understanding of the diversity of culture in Africa
• On philanthropy and social investing: Identify African high-net-worth individuals and ask to
engage
• On climate change: Establish carbon measuring and monitoring capacity and link the Doha
Financing for Development process with the Copenhagen process to advocate for carbon
finance for development
• On migration: Support efforts to create jobs in Africa.
146
 Council on the Future of Africa
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Graça Machel, Chairperson, Foundation for Community Development (FDC),
Mozambique
*Nkosana D. Moyo, Partner, Africa, Actis, United Kingdom

Tajudeen A. Adeola, Founder and Chairman, Fate Foundation, Nigeria

David K. Adomakoh, Managing Director, TisoGroup, South Africa
Richard Dowden, Director, Royal African Society, United Kingdom
Jamie C. Drummond, Executive Director, DATA (DEBT, AIDS, TRADE, AFRICA),
United Kingdom
William Easterly, Professor, Economics Department, New York University, USA
Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili, Vice-President, Africa Region, World Bank,
Washington DC
Mo Ibrahim, Chairman, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, United Kingdom
Samuel E. Jonah, Chairman, Jonah Capital, South Africa
Calestous Juma, Director, Science Technology and Globalization, Belfer Center for
Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, USA
*Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank, Tunis
Stephen Lussier, Executive Director, De Beers Group of Companies, United
Kingdom
Miles Morland, Chairman, Blakeney Management, United Kingdom
*Sadako Ogata, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan
*Maria Ramos, Group Chief Executive, Transnet, South Africa
Salim Ahmed Salim, Member of the Board, International Crisis Group, Belgium
*Michael W. Spicer, Chief Executive Officer, Business Leadership South Africa,
South Africa
*Peter Sullivan, Group Editor-in-Chief, Independent Newspapers, South Africa
*Raenette Taljaard, Executive Director, Helen Suzman Foundation, South Africa
*Jubril Adewale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, Oando, Nigeria

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Africa

Council Manager: Adeyemi Babington-Ashaye
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Forum Lead: Katherine Tweedie
Managing Director: Borge Brende

147
 Future of Australia

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Today, Australia has the most robust economy in the Meeting programme related
OECD and is one of the world’s oldest democracies. to the Future of Australia
Australia’s relative isolation and challenging include:
environment have led to a history of social, political, • Update 2009: The Global Talent
Equation
scientific, artistic and economic experimentation. • Update 2009: Controlling
Success has neither been consistent nor guaranteed Climate Change
– growing out of hard lessons learned through a fair • Update 2009: Dealing with
share of failures. The result has been a diverse yet Dangerous Demographics
• Update 2009: Asia
cohesive society. • Dealing with Deforestation
• China, India and Japan: Asia’s
The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Australia Big Three
rejects the language of fear that infects the global • Growth via Travel and Tourism
response to current economic circumstances.
Australia believes in pragmatic optimism founded on:
• confidence in the power of good leadership
• confidence in both Australia’s and the world’s popular capacity
• confidence in the existence of real options and opportunities.

No longer isolated by time or distance, the future of Australia will shape and be
shaped by the region and the wider world. Australia is willing and able to play an
active role in facilitating a response to current and future challenges with the following
guiding principles:
• The future of Australia is inextricably linked to the future of the world and global
solutions
• The financial crisis hasn’t overtaken other global issues – we must reject the
“parochialism of the present”
• Continued experimentation and learning is valuable
• There is a need for firewalls (but not protectionism) in a globalized world
• Globalization does not equal universalism
• A stable future must be designed and built – recognition and conversation are key,
particularly on the issue of Asian security
• Australian culture must be balanced as a diverse, multilingual society that is old
and wise as well as young and free.

148
Current global institutions are inadequate for contemporary challenges. The world is
ill-served by political, business and community leaders who are mastered by fear,
abandon their capacity for vision and lose themselves in petty detail. Demonstrably
successful solutions do exist.

149
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Australia proposes the following:

1. A New Overarching, Coordinating Global Framework

Australia will support sustained and sustainable globalization through a new
coordinating framework to facilitate effective cooperation between national systems
of wealth generation and regulation. Based on robust international institutions,
representation should reflect the realities of economic power.

2. New Sustainable Modes of Wealth Generation

The current situation requires a better approach to economic development.
Australia must seek to meet human needs within the limits of natural systems, and
demonstrate the practical means to achieve socially, environmentally and
economically sustainable modes of wealth generation.

3. Value in Experimentation, Failure and Learning

Australia has significant experience with social and institutional design as well as
considerable success in addressing difficult development issues, including
HIV/AIDS and water security. Australia can contribute by experimenting and
sharing lessons from both successes and failures, particularly the strength of the
country’s macroeconomic frameworks, regulatory institutions and standards,
environmental reporting, technological research, human rights and water
management.

4. Indigenous Economic Development

Australia should develop a model of indigenous economic development as a
matter of justice and national opportunity. The rural indigenous populations of
Australia, while poor and lacking social, technological and economic capability,
own 20% of Australia’s land mass in a variety of titles. Integrating welfare reform
initiatives with economic development and the potential for indigenous Australians
to participate in the “green economy” through taxation reform and economic
incentives will result in durable outcomes.

5. Deep Regional Engagement through Dialogue, Education, Culture, Business,

Sports and the Arts
The global financial turmoil has accelerated the shift of economic and associated
power from the North Atlantic to the Asian region. This creates challenges,
particularly for failed/failing states, and will require sacrifices from all affected
countries, if geopolitical arrangements are to adjust peacefully to new realities.
Australia will contribute actively to discussions around a new framework of regional
and global governance. Regional institutional development within the Asia-Pacific
region is necessary and requires thoughtful design and pragmatic conversations
between all relevant players.

150
 Council on the Future of Australia
Members

Chair: *Michael J. Roux, Chairman, Roux International, Australia

Douglas N. Daft, Director, Wal-Mart Stores, USA

Paul Dibb, Director, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian
National University, Australia
Allan Gyngell, Executive Director, The Lowy Institute for International Policy,
Australia
Marcia Langton, Foundation Professor of Australian Indigenous Studies, University
of Melbourne, Australia
Simon Longstaff, Executive Director, The St James Ethics Centre, Australia
Ian Lowe, President, Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia
Donald McGauchie, Chairman, Telstra Corporation, Australia
Warwick McKibbin, Executive Director, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic
Analysis, Australian National University, Australia
Terry Moran, Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Australia,
Australia
Doug Rathbone, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nufarm, Australia
John M. Schubert, Chairman, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia
Hugh White, Professor of Strategic Studies, Australian National University, Australia

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Australia

Council Manager: Nicholas Davis
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Managing Director: Borge Brende

151
 Future of China

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
China has the largest population, the fastest growing Meeting programme related
economy and the largest foreign currency reserves in to the Future of China include:
the world. As a result, its society and economy are • Update 2009: The Global Talent
changing dramatically at home and it is exerting a Equation
• Update 2009: Controlling
profound impact on the global system. Despite this Climate Change
dramatic increase in both power and prestige, China • Update 2009: The New
still retains the qualities of a developing country. This Boundaries of Financial
makes thinking through China’s role and responsibility Governance
• Update 2009: Asia
in the global system particularly interesting and • Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
challenging. • China’s International Agenda
• Innovation: The View from Asia
It is evident, however, that the world is not only in the • China, India and Japan: Asia’s
Big Three
midst of a financial crisis but is also facing significant • Growth via Travel and Tourism
challenges in the form of global climate change and
rising protectionism throughout the world.

China has naturally been focused on its domestic development, but as the world has
changed it has begun to place more demands on China, particularly in light of the
recent financial crisis. The world should appreciate China’s domestic development
needs. At the same time, the idea that the way China changes the world by changing
itself may have worked over the past three decades may not be sufficient for the type
of strategic thinking necessary to deal with the number and range of crises at hand.
China should realize that if it wants to play a constructive role in the future, it will have
to participate now.

In looking ahead, continuing efforts to promote understanding and cooperation in the

China-US relationship will be especially important. With China’s rapid development
and growing influence, the US may feel threatened at its loss of global leadership,
and the relationship may become more difficult. Therefore, it is important to expand
efforts to promote understanding and cooperation in the bilateral US-China
relationship. At the same time, we recognize that the current international system is in
flux and increasingly multipolar, and that all the large economic and political powers –
the EU, Russia, Japan, China and the US – must work together.

The key topics identified for future consideration are China’s role in addressing the
global financial crisis, its participation in advancing consensus on global climate
change through the next round in Copenhagen and its efforts to promote free trade.

152
On the domestic front, China faces both danger and opportunity with the current
financial crisis, and it needs to develop a strategy for the next stage of its
development including industrial restructuring, talent management and social welfare
issues such as social security. The demographic shift under way in China is also a
critical transformational issue in this regard. Thinking through the balance between
the market and regulation as well as decentralization and centralization are central
points.

Fundamentally, for issues both of China’s participation as a responsible global leader

and in terms of addressing its domestic economic and social pressures, good
governance within the domestic political system will also be a cornerstone of a
responsible China today and a future leader of tomorrow. These include issues of the
rule of law, transparency and official accountability.

153
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of China proposes that:

The current severe crisis has already caused China to review its domestic financial
policies, encouraged China to participate in global cooperation efforts, promoted
greater regional financial coordination and integration (e.g., the Asian regional credit
swap facility now under consideration) and pushed China to consider improvements
on the existing reform process.

Given the importance of the challenge, however, even more action needs to be taken,
which might include:
• Accelerate financial reforms in China because the worst of some of the advanced
capital market instruments have been fully revealed through the crisis
• Allow currency to become partially tradable, leveraging on Hong Kong’s international
financial centre status
• Recommend the establishment by the international community of a world central
bank that has certain roles: adopting international standards in financial instruments,
providing liquidity to nations, acting as an international liquidity
clearinghouse/exchange
• Strengthen Asia’s regional integration and cooperation via more formal mechanisms
• Cooperate with the global financial community to participate in international,
systemwide reform

Regarding the challenges from Climate Change, China is a major producer of carbon
emissions and recognizes that it must participate in global efforts to resolve this issue.
China has a climate change action programme under way but needs to do more to
achieve real progress:
• Use the trend towards urbanization to ratchet up building energy efficiency and new
transportation
• Establish specific and more ambitious targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions
• Work with the international community to develop breakthrough technologies such
as carbon capture and sequestration and provide incentives and develop the
institutional capacity to implement such technologies
• Apply good experience acquired from past Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialogue on
collective actions to tackle the Climate Change issue. Fresh hope looms large as the
new US President takes office.
• In technical terms, mount a major multidisciplinary effort by China and the US to
develop low carbon funds – and jointly design a new platform to make it attractive for
companies to comply with new standards.

International trade is critically important for China and, given the current crisis, China
must focus on improving efficiencies in the manufacturing sector through the right
incentives. China can continue to be a manufacturing centre of the world but with
leading-edge technology that is environmentally and energy friendly. China shall also
play a significant role in reviving the Doha round of talks.

154
 Council on the Future of China
Members

Chair: *Cheng Siwei, President, China Association for Soft Science Studies, China
Association for Soft Science Studies, People’s Republic of China

Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director, Asia Studies, Council
on Foreign Relations, USA
Hu Shuli, Editor, Caijing Magazine, People’s Republic of China
*Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Professor of International Political Economy, IMD
International, Switzerland
Kenneth G. Lieberthal, Professor of Business Administration, University of
Michigan, USA
Jack Ma Yun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alibaba Group, People’s
Republic of China
Tom Manning, Chief Executive Officer, Indachin, Hong Kong SAR
Pei Minxin, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA
Eberhard Sandschneider, Director, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP),
Germany
Katherine Tsang, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Standard
Chartered Bank, People’s Republic of China
*Wu Jianmin, Honorary President, International Exhibitions Bureau, France
Yuan Ming, Director, Institute of American Studies and Vice-Dean, School of
International Studies, Peking University, People’s Republic of China
*Zhu Min, Group Executive Vice-President, Bank of China, People’s Republic of
China

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of China

Council Manager: Xiuying Zhang
Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Forum Lead: Li Zhang
Managing Director: Borge Brende

155
 Future of Entertainment

Overview

From “The Way We Were” (or “Million Dollar Sessions in the Annual
Baby”) to Where We Are Now (or “The Perfect Meeting programme related
Storm”) to the Future of Entertainment
The entertainment industry is experiencing a include:
• Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
significant reduction in ad revenues and a reduction in • Update 2009: Digital
funding for new productions. But since people are Convergence Continues
spending more time consuming media of all kinds, • Fragility in the Fourth Estate
some revenue streams are holding up. Traditional • From Adoption to Diffusion:
Technology and Developing
product gatekeepers have a significantly challenged Economies
business model (e.g. record companies) and the • Cloud Computing: The Next Big
industry is moving from a distribution model to a Thing?
consumer driven model. More media consumption • A New IP Strategy for Growth
• The Next Digital Experience
and, increasingly, creation are now performed by
online communities/grassroots: it is much more
difficult to market to these communities. Production
costs are decreasing – resulting in the growth of the semi-professional market (e.g.
Nollywood).

The financial crisis has accelerated pre-existing trends and will continue to force
costs out of the entertainment industry, resulting in a process of creative destruction
and greater industry efficiency.

Negative influences (or “The Times They Are a Changin’”):

• the reduction in subsidy/philanthropy/public funding
• the question of where “quality” content will come from if traditional broadcasters
and producers are in a funding crisis
• the role of regulation in creating space for new quality content – or is the free
market more powerful or a complementary solution?
• whether training can help; who will fund the training?
• the reduction in public goods provided by the industry

156
Positive influences (or “I Am a Camera”):
• frictionless access to audiences
• the plummeting cost of creation
• talent learning to work for less
• social networks creating new forms of demand by “word of mouth” communities,
leading to new content – a possible virtuous circle
• learning from the emerging market model of low-cost, high-volume production

157
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Entertainment proposes:

Time to do some good? (“The Greatest Story Ever Told”):

• Recognize the power of media, noting that people spend on average 8 hours
consuming media (according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson)
• Acknowledge what Media & Entertainment does best: make them laugh, make
them cry – Media & Entertainment as storytellers
• Influence – the Media & Entertainment industry is “the largest” influencer
• Target/reach discrete niche audiences
• Distribute more stories to more people to influence positively and to help the world
understand itself through storytelling in all its forms (e.g. the performing arts, film,
TV, video games)

How?
a) Call upon the world to support a new global partnership
• The development of a new conversation is needed:
– tools to help the world tell stories using creative know-how
– more stories = more content = more money?
– sharing stories for mutual understanding

b) Include multimedia competence in 21st Century literacy – the next generation will
communicate via multimedia; people need to be taught how to communicate/use
the language of multimedia

Champions and tools are needed to achieve this vision, providing content people do
not know they will love.
Examples:
• Warner Bros. Entertainment PPP with the “President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief” in The Fight Against HIV/AIDS,
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/97698.php
• World without oil, http://worldwithoutoil.org/
• Darfur is dying, http://www.darfurisdying.com/

But this change needs to be industrywide, and embedded in every organization.

158
 Council on the Future of Entertainment
Members

Chair: *Elizabeth Daley, Dean, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern

California (USC), USA

Juliet Asante, Producer, Eagle Productions, Ghana

Saul J. Berman, Partner and Global Executive, IBM Global Business Services, USA
*Sandy Climan, President, Entertainment Media Ventures, USA
Mark Frauenfelder, Writer, Illustrator, Boing Boing, USA
Ulrik Haagerup, Head, News, National Danish Broadcast (DR), Denmark
Sherry L. Lansing, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Sherry Lansing
Foundation, USA
Michael Lynton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sony Pictures
Entertainment, USA
Daniel Sandelson, Partner, Clifford Chance, United Kingdom
David Sanderson, Partner and Global Head of Bain’s Media Practice, Bain &
Company, USA
Neal B. Shapiro, President and Chief Executive Officer, Thirteen / WNET, USA
Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks and President, Disney-ABC
Television, The Walt Disney Company, USA
Iain Tait, Creative Strategist, Poke London, United Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Entertainment

Council Manager: Cristiana Falcone
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

159
 Future of Governments

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Democracy around the world is in danger. A serious Meeting programme related
crisis is in the making, due to four challenges: to the Future of Governments
1. Collapse: the best predictor of democratic survival include:
is per capita income, which may fall dramatically in • Update 2009: The Return of
State Power
many countries due to the economic crisis • Power to the People — Politics
2. Capture: by interest groups, such as the capture of in the Internet Age
regulators by industry groups or the capture of • When Business as Usual Is Not
governments by the military, organized crime or an Option
• Managing Global Risks
tribes • Financing Industry in an Era of
3. Competition: fairly stable authoritarian regimes exist Capital Scarcity
that make the case that democracy is an • Design for Good
unnecessary luxury or inferior • The EU — Model without
Citizens?
4. Constraints: the current economic crisis shows that
national governments and domestic regulation are
inadequate to deal with the challenges of the global
economy. There is also a danger of protectionism and isolationism that could
further undermine democratic institutions.

Meanwhile, the state of government services and operations are facing crises on five
fronts: funding, regulation, talent, service quality and leadership:
1. Funding Crisis: The current economic situation and the need to underwrite the
financial services industry are depleting government coffers. In many countries
citizens lack basic services. Cutting costs is difficult without cutting critical
government services. Government bureaucracies have proven hard to change.
Costs continue to rise.
2. Regulation Crisis: Laws and regulations are not adequate; regulations are often
interest-group controlled. In many countries adequate regulations or enforcement
mechanisms do not exist. Corruption continues to be a major problem.
3. Talent Crisis: Governments need to compete and win the war for talent. This
situation is most severe in Western Europe and Japan where there is a relative
dearth of young people. A huge income gap between senior government
managers and senior managers in the private sector exists. Outsourcing
government services has created additional problems. Governments do not pay
senior staff enough to attract them and as a result outsource to private companies
– at huge costs.
4. Service Quality Degradation: Evidence indicates that the quality of government
services is static or declining around the world.
5. Leadership Crisis: Trust in government has been declining for 15 years.
Transforming government’s operations and structures is proving to be an
intractable challenge. Deep and resilient traditions combine to frustrate progress,
including conflicting time frames and motives, a lack of incentives in the system to
innovate, and deeply engrained cultural and institutional legacies.

160
The current global crisis provides not only profound dangers to governments and
democracy but also creates a burning platform for change, and brings the urgency of
public sector transformation to the fore. Four new forces enable a transformation of
government:
1. A Technology Revolution – Web 2.0: The static, publish-and-browse Internet is
being eclipsed by a new participatory Web that provides a powerful platform for the
reinvention of governmental structures, public services and democratic processes.
2. A Demographic Revolution – The Net Generation: While a severe digital divide still
exists, the first generation to grow up immersed in digital technologies is coming of
age and emerging as a major force. Hundreds of millions of young people think
differently about the role of government in society and will demand increasingly
speedy, responsive and customizable public services and engaged citizenship.
3. A Social Revolution – Social Networking: Online collaboration is exploding and
citizens increasingly self-organize to peer produce everything from encyclopaedias
to operating systems to advocacy campaigns to stop global warming.
4. A Business Revolution: As the current economic crisis creates a crisis of
government and governance, the private sector has embraced new business
models that enable enterprises to innovate, orchestrate capability and engage with
the rest of the world in profoundly new ways. Networked business models
pioneered in the private sector hold promise for the public sector.

161
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Governments proposes that:

Initial positive experiences suggest that a new kind of public sector organization is
required. The breakthrough enabled by new technologies is found in collaborative, cross-
organizational governance networks that leave behind outmoded silos and structures. We
call this Government 2.0.

1. The Transformation of Democracy

• A Digital Marshall Plan. World leaders should launch a global initiative to take
broadband to every corner of the world. This infrastructure can enable the adoption of
collaborative innovation and new business models required for economic growth and
development. It is required for an architecture of Government 2.0 and the new models
of democracy. It would help develop better warning systems for problems in the
global economy and enable new forms of global cooperation and governance.
• Digital Brainstorms. As a step towards Democracy 2.0, each government leader
should create a bold citizen engagement initiative, beginning with a three-day “citizen
jam” inviting all citizens to participate in a discussion on an important issue. This will
lead to other programmes to engage citizens in solving important issues such as the
economic crisis, climate change, corruption or other issues on the global agenda.
This is not direct democracy: it is about a new model of citizen engagement,
decriminalization of politics, policy development, collaboration, learning, mobilization
and building up the capacity.
• A New Accountability Paradigm for Business. To address the current economic crisis
and create sustainable businesses, governments should use their leverage as the
insurer of last resort to achieve accountability of corporations. When governments
underwrite financial institutions they should demand shareholder accountability.
Information and communications technology can be used to achieve this.

2. The Transformation of Government

• Reinvent Public Service Achievement to Networked Government. A fundamental
change in how governments orchestrate capability to deliver government services and
operate is required. Rather than creating and delivering services through traditional
structures, governments need to change the division of responsibilities in society
regarding how to create services. The Web 2.0 enables governments, companies,
civil society organizations and individual citizens to cooperate in forging “governance
networks” that create and deliver superior services at lower cost, even on a global
basis.
• Rethink and Re-architect Human Capital. Every government needs to develop a
strategy to attract and retain talent. Governments need to hire young people, because
in their culture is the new culture of work. Governments need an increased level of
technology sophistication.
• Create the Infrastructure for Accountable Government. Consistent, reliable and
transparent data is critical for accountability and to increase performance. Good
comparative data drives change.

3. The Challenge of Leadership for Achieving Government 2.0.

We call on world leaders to convene a world congress on 21st-Century Government – a
10th anniversary of Al Gore’s historic Global Conference on Reinventing Government.
Government 2.0 is now an idea whose time has come. Don’t regress to Government
0.0. We are proposing a new paradigm in government. It can only be achieved by strong
and thoughtful leadership.

162
 Council on the Future of Governments
Members

Chair: *Elaine C. Kamarck, Director, Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First

Century, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA

Guido Bertucci, Director, United Nations Programme on Public Administration,

Finance and Development, New York
Eduardo Moreira Costa, Director of Innovation, FINEP - Financiadora de Estudos e
Projetos, Brazil
Jane E. Fountain, Founder and Director, National Center for Digital Government
and Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts,
USA
*Pekka Himanen, Philosopher, HIIT, Finland
Yuri Hohlov, Chair of the Board of Directors, Institute of the Information Society,
Russian Federation
Yasar Jarrar, Partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, United Arab Emirates
Mart Laar, Chairman, Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, Estonia
Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director, eLab, INSEAD, France
Pippa Norris, McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, USA
Toshio Obi, Director, Waseda University, Japan
J. Satyanarayana, Chief Executive Officer, National Institute for Smart Governance
(NISG), India
Ian Shapiro, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Director, Macmillan Center
for International and Area Studies, Yale University, USA
*Donald Tapscott, Chairman, nGenera Insight, nGenera, Canada

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Governments

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

163
 Future of the Internet

Overview

The state of the Internet is healthy – it is growing Sessions in the Annual

rapidly and will grow more as billions of people in less Meeting programme related
developed countries come online. It is critical to the to the Future of the Internet
state of the world, as it is the major force for include:
• Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
disruptive change, innovation and creativity. On the • Power to the People — Politics
political front, the Internet is the refuge of free speech in the Internet Age
wherever it’s under threat; and even where freedom is • What Was Privacy?
well embedded, the Internet empowers us to organize • Update 2009: Digital
Convergence Continues
ourselves and our societies better. • Social Computing —
Transforming Corporations and
The economic crisis may have some direct impact on Markets?
the availability of capital for infrastructure investment. • From Adoption to Diffusion:
Technology and Developing
The business model for funding infrastructure is not Economies
always clear; telecommunications regulation is hard. • Innovation: The View from Asia
However there are deeper and more subtle issues. • Cloud Computing: The Next Big
These arise from the fact that the Internet increasingly Thing?
• A New IP Strategy for Growth
reflects the world. • Reality Mining: Changing
Behaviour
Stresses on the Internet exist: deeply transformative • The Next Digital Experience
technologies are always disruptive, and there are • Sociology and the Internet: A
Marriage Made Online
losers as well as winners; several industries blame the • New Frontiers of Conflict
Internet for undermining their business models. Online • Is the Internet at Risk?
crime is also a growing problem. Fear of change can
affect governments as well as businesses.

While the Internet unites people, many of the problems emerging from these stresses
threaten fragmentation. One political driver of fragmentation is censorship, whether
motivated by cultural norms or fear of dissent; it can be reinforced by linguistic
fragmentation. There are also technical and business drivers. The boundary between
the traditional PC-based Internet enjoyed by 1.3 billion people (largely in the
developed world) and mobile communications (used by a further 2 billion in less-
developed countries) is somewhat ragged. Other divisive forces are the trend to
geolocated services, and the network neutrality debate – which is fundamentally a
tussle between telecom and application providers.

Under pessimistic assumptions – if the economic crisis were to move the world in the
Smoot-Hawley direction of protectionist fragmentation – we might easily see a similar
fragmentation of the Internet. This will not just impact the trade in services and
intangible goods, but also do grave harm to political freedom, artistic creativity and
the community of all human beings.

164
But if we can maintain the Internet as the forum of the world – the place where
people meet to trade, to organize and to discuss – then we can reap ever more
benefits from the more perfect distribution of information to multiple points of
decision-making, from the resulting more efficient production, and from growth in
trade and employment. The move of many human activities online also has a huge
potential to decrease the energy intensity of economic growth and development.

It is vital that we expand networks (Internet, mobile and other) beyond their current
reach so as to spread these benefits more widely.

165
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet proposes that:

The Internet has been one of the great economic and social success stories of our
lifetime. It is not just about static information, but interaction; people can easily create
networks that are independent of existing structures. It is a platform for social and
technical innovation, as it has huge potential to provide wide participation and
accurate feedback in solving a large number of problems. In years to come its ability
to aggregate and share information will touch not just free speech, creativity and
technology, but many aspects of governance and global problem-solving. To achieve
this potential everywhere, the Internet must become pervasive, ubiquitous and
accessible – which in turn means freedom for firms and social entrepreneurs to
create the necessary tools.

The Internet has succeeded so far because it is universal, open and end-to-end. As it
moves from the world of technical change into social change, these principles must
be defended more than ever; it must continue to be driven by market forces and
open innovation.

• The Internet should remain decentralized, with decision-making at the edge, to

foster technological and business innovation – including disruptive change.
• The Internet should remain a single global interoperable set of protocols and
networks with no central control and no barriers to innovation at the edge.
• Everyone should have open access to the Internet.
• Governments should therefore ensure that their telecommunications regulatory
regime fosters a market for fixed and mobile network service provision that is
competitive, has low barriers to entry and can sustain growth.
• Governments – like businesses – should understand that disintermediation comes
with online participation, and should embrace the benefits of more modern
organizational structures rather than fighting them.

As with democracy, the implementation of these principles may never be perfect, but
they must remain the yardstick by which we judge our progress.

166
 Council on the Future of the Internet
Members

Chair: *Paul Twomey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), USA

Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine, USA

Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering, University of Cambridge, United
Kingdom
Dorothy Attwood, Senior Vice-President Public Policy and Chief Privacy Officer,
AT&T, USA
*Winifred Mitchell Baker, Chairman of the Board, Mozilla Corporation, USA
Robert Cailliau, Co-Developer of the World Wide Web, CERN, Switzerland
Manuel Castells, Professor, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, University of
Catalonia (UOC), Spain
Vinton G. Cerf, Internet Chief Evangelist, Google, USA
*Chris DeWolfe, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, MySpace.com, USA
*Jeff Jarvis, Blogger and Professor, Buzzmachine.com, USA
Robert E. Kahn, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Corporation for
National Research Initiatives (CNRI), USA
*Jun Murai, Professor, Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University, Japan
Tim O’Reilly, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, O’Reilly Media, USA
*Pamela S. Passman, Corporate Vice-President, Global Corporate Affairs,
Microsoft Corporation, USA
Bruce Schneier, Chief Security Technology Officer, BT Counterpane, USA
*David L. Sifry, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Technorati, USA
*Jimmy Wales, President, Wikia, USA
*Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, Oxford
Internet Institute, United Kingdom
Ethan Zuckerman, Co-Founder, Global Voices, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

167
 Future of Japan

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
A clear disparity exists between the global perception Meeting programme related
of Japan and its actual position and strength when to the Future of Japan
examined based on objective and quantifiable criteria. include:
For example, Japan is the world’s second largest • Update 2009: The Global Talent
Equation
economy; Tokyo has the highest concentration of • Update 2009: Dealing with
headquarters of Fortune 500 global companies (i.e. Dangerous Demographics
50); Japan has highly advanced technologies in • Update 2009: Asia
energy efficiency and the environment; it ranks high in • Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
• Innovation: The View from Asia
development assistance to Africa. Despite this, the • China, India and Japan: Asia’s
international media coverage of Japan is much more Big Three
limited than other major economies’, and Japanese
government activities, such as Official Development
Aid, and other actions by the private sector in Africa,
for example, are not widely disseminated even in Africa.

Japan is a global player in various fields that address global challenges but its role
should be strengthened. Japan can do so at present, particularly by taking full
advantage of its G8 presidency in 2008. The current global economic crisis is one of
the most serious and significant in memory. The shift from the rapid economic growth
that the world has enjoyed in the past decade to the current economic downturn
raises the following concerns, not only for the developed world, but also for emerging
economies: 1) increasing protectionism and the need to reinforce the importance of
free trade; 2) challenges to international institutions such as the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization as well as the
United Nations; 3) potential political instability in the developing world triggered by the
downturn; and 4) the absence of a clear leader/country/economy that speaks for Asia
as the global community seeks solutions to these problems.

As the world confronts the economic crisis, Japan should contribute to reducing the
negative impacts of the crisis on the global economy, including the emerging
economies of Asia and other parts of the developing world. As a leading nation with
advanced technologies and know-how in the area of energy and the environment,
Japan should play a critical role in addressing the challenges posed by high energy
prices, climate change and other global agenda issues.

168
More specifically, Japan should significantly contribute by: 1) setting an example in
promoting domestic demand-led growth and in fighting protectionism; 2) sharing
practices and collaborating with economies in Asia to grow domestic market demand
in a sustainable manner, instead of depending too heavily on the export market,
particularly the United States; 3) sharing practices to address structural issues such
as ageing and demographic shifts, taking advantage of its own experience as the
most advanced ageing society with a low birth rate; and 4) as global governance
issues are further developed, playing a constructive role in promoting Asia’s regional
participation and in addressing issues relating to global imbalances and disparity.

At the same time, Japan can do more to utilize best practices available from the rest
of the world, for example, with respect to models from the US and Europe of
economic growth and development based upon strong entrepreneurship (not only
limited to the Silicon Valley model), corporate social responsibility and conflict
resolution based upon the win-win principle.

169
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Japan proposes that:

• Japan should contribute to the world by sharing experiences of resolving the

serious financial problem it experienced a decade ago. Japan has not suffered
from the current financial crisis as seriously as the United States and Europe, as it
worked over a decade to strengthen its financial system in response to its own
financial crisis. Japan’s structural condition prevented the Japanese financial
service industry from having similar problems again. Hence, Japan can contribute
significantly to sharing best practices as well as negative experiences to resolve the
current crisis.

• Japan should contribute to the world by capitalizing on its excellent technologies in

energy and the environment. For example, Japan leads the world in energy
efficiency calculated in terms of CO2 emission/GDP. By providing such energy
efficient technology to the rest of the world, it can be a global leader in addressing
the current energy and environmental crisis. However, this fact is not well known to
global stakeholders due to the inadequate way these technologies have been
showcased. Hence, Japan should re-examine the way these technologies are
presented to the world and marketed.

• Japan should contribute by sharing its best practices and collaborating with other
nations in areas where Japan is a global leader. These areas include measures to
address ageing and the demographic shift, and its healthcare system that
contributes to long life expectancy, among others. By spearheading the problem-
solving in these areas, Japan can become a role model for other countries as the
need to address these world issues intensifies.

• The Council on the Future of Japan will develop strategies to strengthen the role of
Japan as a global player. The Council will hold further meetings to develop these
initiatives and discuss ways to enhance Japan’s leadership role and the awareness
of its contributions and capabilities. The Council will also consider the possibility of
holding a gathering of Japanese leaders from government, business, media,
academia and civil society to discuss how Japan could enhance its leadership role
as a global player. Council Members will share articles and papers written by its
Members on the WELCOM platform to disseminate their knowledge and best
practices to key stakeholders.

170
 Council on the Future of Japan
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Science Adviser to the Prime Minister, Cabinet Office of Japan,
Japan
*Heizo Takenaka, Director, Global Security Research Institute, Keio University,
Japan

*Yuichiro Anzai, President, Keio University, Japan

Ichiro Fujisaki, Ambassador of Japan to the United States of America
*Motohisa Furukawa, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan
Yoshinori Imai, Executive Vice-President and Executive Editor for Global News,
NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation, Japan
Yoko Ishikura, Professor, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
(ICS), Hitotsubashi University, Japan
*Takatoshi Ito, Professor, Graduate School of Economics and Public Policy,
University of Tokyo, Japan
Motoshige Itoh, Professor of Economics, University of Tokyo, Japan
*Yoriko Kawaguchi, Member of the House of Councillors, Japan; Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Japan (2002-2004)
Yuriko Koike, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan
*Hiroshi Komiyama, President, University of Tokyo, Japan
M. James Kondo, President and Vice-Chairman, Health Policy Institute, Japan
*Charles D. Lake, Chairman and Representative, Aflac Japan, Japan
Oki Matsumoto, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Monex Group, Japan
Makio Miyagawa, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to
the United Nations, Geneva
*Sadako Ogata, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan
*Hirotaka Takeuchi, Dean, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy,
Hitotsubashi University, Japan
*Akihiko Tanaka, Professor of International Relations, Institute of Oriental Culture,
University of Tokyo, Japan
Naoki Tanaka, President, Center for International Public Policy Studies (CIPPS),
Japan
*Junichi Ujiie, Chairman, Nomura Holdings, Japan
*Hiromasa Yonekura, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sumitomo Chemical
Company, Japan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Japan

Council Manager: Akira Tsuchiya
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Managing Director: Borge Brende

171
 Future of Korea

Overview

South Korea underwent three major economic crises Sessions in the Annual
(in 1973, 1979, 1997) and was able to translate them Meeting programme related
into new opportunities and improvements for to the Future of Korea
structural changes. Whereas Korea emerged as a include:
• Update 2009: The Global Talent
bigger and qualitatively upgraded economy from the Equation
first and the second crises, the third crisis offered • Update 2009: Dealing with
South Korea new momentum to undertake corporate, Dangerous Demographics
banking and financial as well as labour reforms, • Update 2009: Asia
• Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
heralding an outstanding economic comeback. • Innovation: The View from Asia
• China, India and Japan: Asia’s
The global financial crisis, accompanied by a major Big Three
credit crunch and a recessionary trend, is eroding
confidence in markets. Korea must now move
forward on internationalization, liberalization and the
development of the financial system, while recognizing the negative consequences of
such reforms. Korea also needs to formulate counter-cyclical macroeconomic
policies. Internationally, it will actively participate in constructing the new international
financial architecture through multilateral cooperation (e.g. G20) and lead regional
cooperation that complements the IMF system (e.g. Asian Monetary Fund). The
private sector (banks and firms) needs to have a global mindset to proactively adjust
to the changing global environment and hence maintain the legacy of multinational
corporations.

172
173
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Korea proposes the following:
1. From High-Carbon Industrialization to the Green Growth Initiative. Korea’s economic
growth has evolved as a high carbon input economy, deteriorating the environment. Korea
has recently adopted an innovative approach integrating somewhat antithetical concepts
of environmental protection and economic growth: the Green Growth Initiative.

Korea needs to lead global society in protecting the global commons by developing and
sharing green technologies. Particularly, Korea needs collaborative innovation between
government and companies to improve and contribute to global environmental protection
and expand global carrying capacity. It is also important to develop energy efficient
technologies and social systems while providing education on the green growth paradigm.

2. Opening New Technological Frontiers. Korea now needs new growth engines and
frontiers: IT (Information Technology), BT (Biotechnology), NT (Nanotechnology) and CT
(Culture Technology). These 4 Ts will provide ample ground for new frontiers. For Korea’s
fourth industrial revolution, it must combine R&D investment with responsible
administrative support and management skills. The future of Korea and its growth engines
will depend upon the convergence of the 4 Ts (hardware) and 2 Ts (software: administrative
technology, management technology), and expanded efforts for international cooperation.

3. Demographic Changes and Human Resource Development. Korea’s economic miracle

was mainly derived from its high quality human resources. But too much emphasis on
equality in education has retarded Korea’s further economic and social development by
lowering the overall competitiveness of its human resources. The basic approach ought to
be opening the education market and promoting more competition. However, to prevent
the polarization of the rich and poor in access to high quality education, the government
needs to discern an innovative policy to produce winners in diverse fields. Korea can make
use of global human resources, including overseas Koreans. In addition, as labour market
flexibility is vital for Korea’s competitiveness, the government must apply greater effort to
strengthening life-time vocational education. Developing female human resources and
helping the female labour force participate actively in the economy by providing them with
social infrastructure including childcare is equally important.

4. Democracy, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Global Compact. South Korean
firms have shown good performance in improving social responsibility, measured in terms
of the financial contribution made to society. But improvement is needed in the ethical
attitude, trust, transparency and integrity of South Korean firms. To upgrade the status of
Korean society even further, it needs to create a “social trust ecology” surrounding people,
companies and the society as a whole. This will lead to a low-transaction cost and high-
trust based economy.

5. Enhancing South Korea’s International Brand Value. A significant gap between South
Korea’s economic strength and its national brand value has been noted. Given its industrial
and cultural competitiveness, South Korea’s brand value is underestimated. Two strategies
have been suggested to improve South Korea’s national brand value: (1) a public sector
strategy based on global responsibility enhancement through an increase in official
development assistance and the strengthening of peacekeeping operations; (2) a private
sector strategy founded on translating corporate and cultural assets into the national
brand, and promoting international understanding and cooperation in the civic minds of the
Korean people.

6. Newly Emerging Order and the Future of the Korean Peninsula. With Barack Obama’s
election as the new US president, the overall milieu surrounding the Korean peninsula is
expected to improve. Taking advantage of this change, the North and South Koreas
should resume inter-Korean cooperation. As part of such efforts, the Koreas should pursue
common projects such as the trans-Siberian railroad system, joint development of
resources in North Korea and other economic projects. Such cooperation will eventually
reduce tension, ensure peace and promote prosperity on the peninsula. A suggested
action plan is the establishment of a North Korean Development Council in collaboration
with other international organizations and NGOs.
174
 Council on the Future of Korea
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Charles Ahn Cheol-Soo, Founder, Ahnlab, Republic of Korea
*Moon Chung-In, Professor of Political Science, Yonsei University, Republic of
Korea

Cho Dong-Sung, Professor of Strategy and International Business, Seoul National

University, Republic of Korea
*Cho Hyun-Sang, Executive Vice-President and Board Member, Hyosung Group,
Republic of Korea
Kim Sang-Hyup, Secretary to the President for Long-Term Assessment, Office of
the President of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea
Kim Sung-Joo, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Sungjoo Group and MCM
Group, Republic of Korea
Kim Hyun-Chong, Minister for Trade of the Republic of Korea (2004-2007)
Lee Geun, Professor of International Relations, Graduate School of International
Relations, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
Lee Sang Yup, Distinguished Professor, Director and Dean, Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea
Moon Kook-Hyun, Member, National Assembly, Republic of Korea
Wang Yun-Jong, Vice-President, Research Institute, Supex Management, SK
Telecom Co., Republic of Korea

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Korea

Council Manager: Jung Hwan Kim
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Managing Director: Borge Brende

175
 Future of Latin America

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Latin America is not a homogeneous entity. Mexico is Meeting programme related
greatly tied to the US, with around 80% of its exports to the Future of Latin America
going there; Central America, more diversified, has include:
less than half and South America 25%. South • Update 2009: Latin America
• Dealing with Deforestation
America’s intraregional trade is higher and Asia has • Latin America: A Global Hub for
become more important. Sustainability
• Brazil: A New Power Broker
Decreasing remittances from the US represent 2% of • Latin America’s Economic
Imperative
Mexican GDP, while Central American countries are
more exposed since remittances are more significant.
In the southern cone, the situation is different.

Latin America is comparatively less influential than other regions in many ways: it is
not poor enough to receive the aid Africa receives, and potential market growth is
smaller than in Asia and thus attracts less investment. It is a region where the
argument of economy is an argument of state.

With three Latin American countries, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, a part of the G20,
the region could wield greater influence in making its interests prevail in the global
arena and could take better advantage of this opportunity. Also, tight credit is
inhibiting exports to a shrinking international market and flow so regional tourism is
diminishing.

Growth in 2009 will decline sharply. The situation in 2010 is still unclear but elections
(the political cycle) will take place by the end of next year. Political stability will largely
be influenced not only by economic indicators but also by the hope (or despair) of the
younger generations as to their own future.

The crisis offers an opportunity for addressing long-term challenges, specifically:

Fiscal policy: Achieving better and fairer spending. In Latin America, before and after
taxation there is almost no change in the Gini coefficient, which is a widely used
measure of inequality. By comparison, within OECD countries such redistribution
reduces the Gini by 20 percentage points. There is no redistributive capacity (fiscal
policies are mostly regressive) and the return on public investment to generate public
good is very low. The pending issue is an efficient and progressive fiscal policy, which
does not necessarily imply greater expenditure.

176
Education: Increasing efficiency. Increasing the education budget exclusively is not a
solution if the expenditure is quantitatively driven (e.g. a linear increase in teachers’
salaries) rather than qualitatively driven. Regarding the education of screen-savvy
youths, a reconnection to real societal issues is needed. Most countries in the region
suffer from poor quality education. In general concerning education and other social
priorities, the Americas need greater integration through the region’s civil societies
and business communities.

Infrastructure: Boosting the needs. Interesting infrastructure mechanisms (reverse

concessions) have recently made important investment possible, principally benefiting
the user. A much higher investment rate needs to be achieved, especially geared
towards innovation and R&D and less on basic commodity exports.

Governance: Improving institutions. Populism is not the result of economics, but

rather of institutional deficiencies. The current economic crisis can be used as an
opportunity to reassert the role of the state as a market regulator and to build
appropriate institutions.

Environment: Capitalizing on natural resource endowments. Latin America can be an

important part of the solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to climate
change. One of Latin America’s biggest endowments is water (with about 20% of the
world’s freshwater reserves), but the region is not using this resource properly, for
example in irrigation. Another endowment is the region’s tropical forests.

177
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Latin America proposes:

 Latin America for Latin America

• Economy
– Promote and secure financial system liquidity and credit (central banks, local,
regional institutional investors and development banks)
– Invest more in infrastructure, both with public resources and using concession
mechanisms, giving priority to productivity and efficiency (ports, airports,
telecoms, etc.) and social demands (education, housing and sanitation)
– Implement fiscal policies that result in better and fairer public expenditure,
focusing on efficient and progressive spending (education, health, social
security)
• Environment
– Better coordinate efforts to preserve Amazon assets and other biome in the
region
• Governance
– Advance and enhance effective regional trade integration

 Latin America for the World

• Economy
– Continue to grow as Latin America represents a US$ 3-trillion economy (about
the size of China) and stay open to the world (trade and investments)
– Take a greater leadership role in multilateral organizations such as the UN, IMF,
G20, OECD
• Environment
– Increase renewable energies in the energy matrix
– Leverage Latin American ecosystems to strengthen world food security
– Preserve water resources and biodiversity for the well-being of mankind
• Governance
– Keep generating innovative social, economic and policy systems (conditional
cash transfer programmes for poverty reduction, public-private equity
diversification, pension funds, etc.).

 The World for Latin America

• Economy
– Provide short-term liquidity for cash-squeezed countries through bilateral and
multilateral systems (the Federal Reserve, World Bank, IMF, IDB, CAF)
– Stay open to Latin America both in terms of trade and investments
– Place Latin America’s middle-income countries among the priorities of
international development finance institutions
• Environment
– Reach a global deal regarding climate change by 2010
– Provide financial compensation for ecosystem conservation
• Governance
– Conclude the Doha Round
– Reduce the demand for illicit drugs in developed economies
– Regularize the status of Latin American migrants in Europe and the US
– Promote institutional reforms targeting conflict resolution, the delivery of
services, justice and the rule of law

178
 Council on the Future of Latin America
Members

Chair: *Luiz Fernando Furlan, Chairman of the Board, GALF Empreendimentos,

Brazil

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission

for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Santiago
Mauricio Cárdenas, Director, Latin America Initiative, The Brookings Institution,
USA
Pamela Cox, Vice-President, Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank,
Washington DC
Clarisa Estol, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer, Banco Hipotecario,
Argentina
Leonel Fernandez Reyna, President of the Dominican Republic
Enrique García Rodríguez, Executive President, Corporación Andina de Fomento
(CAF), Venezuela
Peter Hakim, President, Inter-American Dialogue, USA
Ricardo Kirschbaum, Executive Editor, Clarin, Argentina
*Rolf Kuntz, Editorialist and Special Correspondent, O Estado de São Paulo, Brazil
*Felipe Larraín Bascuñán, Professor of Economics, Catholic University of Chile,
Chile
Jacques Marcovitch, Professor, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
*Luis A. Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC
*Alejandro Ramírez, Chief Executive Officer, Cinepolis, Mexico
*Javier Santiso, Director and Chief Development Economist, Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris
Thomas A. Shannon, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs,
US Department of State, USA
*Andrés Velasco, Minister of Finance of Chile

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Latin America

Council Manager: Arturo Franco
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Forum Lead: Emilio Lozoya
Managing Director: Borge Brende

179
 Future of Media

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
We live in an over-connected, under-informed world. Meeting programme related
to the Future of Media
The revolution in information technology and include:
communications has probably hit no sector harder • Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
• Power to the People — Politics
than the news media itself. No other business has in the Internet Age
found its role so fundamentally challenged, its value • Update 2009: Digital
and worth called into question and its organization Convergence Continues
and business models threatened to the point of • Fragility in the Fourth Estate
• Social Computing —
extinction. Transforming Corporations and
Markets?
The same technology that has allowed people to • From Adoption to Diffusion:
create and share content has also undercut the media Technology and Developing
Economies
providers that served their communities with • Mobile Revolutions in the
information. As blogs and social networks shine a Developing World
light on new parts of the world, in other parts • A New IP Strategy for Growth
newspapers are turning the lights out, cutting • The Next Digital Experience
reporting jobs and coverage.

But throughout that change, the professional, public purposes of journalism – to

stimulate, educate and inform public debate, and to call to account – remain vital to
the process of improving the state of the world. Journalism fosters civic engagement.
It provides much of the raw material for the public sphere. The question that faces us
now is how we pay for that, when good journalism is no longer good business.

Journalism is vital to help societies develop. The challenges facing news media are
not just financial. They are also educational, legal and social. The world is not an
open book. Much that should be made public remains hidden, or is only discoverable
with time and effort.

The news media helps contest and scrutinize decision-making – or at least offer the
potential for scrutiny – and that remains crucial in both a positive sense, and in a
negative sense as a check on corruption. Intervention by journalism helps keep
societies open. But that intervention can also threaten the people and the
publications (in whatever media) that produce it.

180
Censorship and self-censorship remain fundamental barriers to progress in many
countries. Censorship is not just a state issue – interventionist ownership can also
prevent the news media from providing the scrutiny societies need to develop. All
types of censorship undermine the credibility of the established news media.

Journalism needs to be reliable and credible, and that requires training and
professional education – especially in societies striving to develop open and
representative government. A missing component in many developing countries is
the lack of professional journalists. Even well resourced and well respected media
companies have been caught out by the increasing ability of audiences to catch out
their failings.

So how can we save journalism to help it save the world?

181
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media proposes the following:

A new value proposition for journalism and its mission in society. The Council is
championing a new global, independent news and information service whose role is
to inform, educate and improve the state of the world – one that would take
advantage of all platforms of content delivery from mobile to satellite and online to
create a new global network. It could bring together journalists and citizens,
aggregating content to create new communities of interest that cross the boundaries
already crossed by companies and NGOs and that eliminate the barriers that so often
frustrate truly global responses.

And how do we advance the proposals of the Network of Global Agenda Councils if
not through an ambitious act of journalism itself?

It will take innovative public-private funding to provide that global voice, one that can
both generate content and imagine a new global community in which people can
share, participate and disagree, with a focus on mission rather than the bottom line.
That voice, and the content it creates, will act as a focus for providing education,
campaigning for access and championing empowerment.

If we are going to create a global voice, we need to empower it by removing the

restrictions on story-telling. To do that, businesses, governments and institutions
need to embrace both transparency and a readiness to be open to information
provision.

Why is something new required in a world seemingly awash with information? In a

world where there are calls for global governance as a response to a global financial
crisis, where scientific research, capital flows and production chains are globalized,
the media and the communities in which we imagine ourselves remain fiercely
localized.

Even the media voices we think of as international come from London, Qatar or
Atlanta. Via the World Economic Forum committed to improving the state of the
world, the agenda that will deliver those improvements needs a genuine, global voice
that shares that fundamental commitment.

The Forum was created to bring a space for international debate and cooperation
where global stakeholders could talk about global issues. In a world facing global
problems but with little to match in global governance, its foundation was an act of
imagination.

Communicating a global agenda, and motivating and mobilizing people to support it,
requires an initiative of global imagination, and why shouldn’t such an initiative come
from the World Economic Forum and its Members?

182
 Council on the Future of Media
Members

Chair: *Pat Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Paley Center for Media,
USA

Amadou Mahtar Ba, President, AllAfrica Global Media, USA

Charlie Beckett, Director, POLIS, London School of Economics and Political
Science, United Kingdom
Tyler Brûlé, Chairman and Creative Director, Winkreative, United Kingdom
*Yoichi Funabashi, Editor-in-Chief, Asahi Shimbun, Japan
*Thomas H. Glocer, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Reuters, USA
Sulaiman Al Hattlan, Chief Executive Officer, Arab Strategy Forum, Mohammed Bin
Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, United Arab Emirates
Alex S. Jones, Director, Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public
Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Susan King, Director, Journalism Initiative, Special Initiatives and Strategy, Carnegie
Corporation of New York, USA
John Lavine, Dean, Medill School of Journalism Northwestern University, USA
Nicholas Lemann, Dean, School of Journalism, Columbia University, USA
Adrian Monck, Director, Journalism, City University London, United Kingdom
Betsy Morgan, Chief Executive Officer, The Huffington Post, USA
David Nordfors, Director, Innovation Journalism and Senior Research Scholar,
Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, Stanford University, USA
Oh Yeon Ho, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ohmynews Co., Republic of
Korea
Monroe Price, Director, Centre for Global Communications Studies (CGCS),
Annenberg School for Communication, The University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Rui Chenggang, Director and Anchor, China Central Television (CCTV), People’s
Republic of China
Wilfried Rütten, Director, The European Journalism Centre, Netherlands
Geoffrey K. Sands, Director, Global Media, Entertainment and Information,
McKinsey & Company, USA
Orville H. Schell, Director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society, USA
Zafar Siddiqi, Chairman, CNBC Arabiya, United Arab Emirates
Aidan White, General Secretary, International Federation of Journalists, Belgium

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media

Council Manager: Cristiana Falcone
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

183
 Future of the Middle East

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The Middle East is facing a series of challenges on Meeting programme related
various fronts. These challenges are the result of rigid to the Future of the Middle
political systems, the lack of empowerment for youth East include:
and women, limited social mobility, vanishing middle • Update 2009: Dealing with
Dangerous Demographics
classes, limited freedom of expression, weak • Update 2009: The Middle East
educational systems, dominant orthodox • Afghanistan and Pakistan: Key
interpretations of Islam, failed secular parties, tensions Countries on the Global
in majority-minority relations, and a crisis in Agenda
• The Middle East: Owning Its
leadership. The recent economic financial crisis, if Challenges
mishandled in the region, will exacerbate all of these • Is There a Solution for the
issues, fostering instability, political violence, failed Middle East?
states and a crisis of legitimacy. • The Gulf’s New Economic
Agenda
• Taking Success to Scale in the
The Middle East has many forces including a liberal Middle East
force and a more dominant conservative Islamist • Energy Outlook 2009
movement. The two components will continue to
express their agenda in dealing with the challenges of
reform in the Middle East. What is at play in the region is the existence of two
competing cultures, one more religious and orthodox, and the other more secular
and liberal. The two components are essential to the reform agenda.

As a result of the financial crisis, the Middle East has shifted quickly from boom time
to recession. The full impact of the crisis on the region is yet to be seen. Arab
economies open to the international system will suffer from the global slowdown.
International banks are pulling out of projects and commitments in the Middle East.
There is an important loss of revenues, up to 60% in Gulf countries, due to the
decrease in the prices of commodities. This will lead to government budget cuts.

184
185
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The world tends to view the Middle East through the prism of radicalism and
Islamophobia, the Arab-Israeli conflict, energy, capital and migration. To deal with
these challenges, the Council on the Future of the Middle East recommends the
following on:

Radicalism
The region is in dire need for grand reform that contains an evolution of the minds
beyond the existing order. The process of reform must be peaceful and based on
dialogue and inclusiveness. This should include political, social, religious and
educational reforms. These reforms must emphasize values of pluralism, inclusion
and peaceful means when addressing the issues of quality of life, women’s
empowerment, youth, merit, social mobility, political violence, civil society, issues
presented by failed states, governance accountability, rule of law, corruption and the
role of the media.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

A fast track that will take us from conflict management to conflict resolution under the
auspices of a multilateral process is needed. The goal is a two-state solution and a
comprehensive just peace on the basis of international law between the Arab world
and Israel. We also need to develop people-to-people diplomacy.

Capital
It is necessary to change the role of the region’s countries in the international financial
architecture from a passive player to a regional and global stakeholder. This should
mean the collective democratization of the financial international system. Regional
public and private sector institutions must encourage creativity, entrepreneurship and
corporate engagement in society. The region must be able to come up with ways of
addressing its economic challenges resulting from the financial crisis.

Energy
Regional development and job creation are dependent on economic diversification.
The security of supply must be reciprocated by fair access to global markets. The
region should actively develop alternative energy industries to offset its carbon
footprint as well as to generate new sources of income to replace expected losses for
oil exports.

Migration
By addressing the issues of radicalism, the Arab-Israeli wars, capital development,
energy and diversification, the region will be able to create the jobs needed to
minimize illegal migration and the brain drain. We must create the right conditions for
brain gain.

186
 Council on the Future of the Middle East
Members

Chair: *Marwan Jamil Muasher, Senior Vice-President, External Affairs, World

Bank, Washington DC

Bassem I. Awadallah, Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan, Office of H.M.
King Abdullah II, Jordan
*Tony Blair, Middle East Quartet Envoy, United Nations
Saeb Erekat, Head, Negotiations Department, PLO, Palestinian National Authority,
Palestinian Territories
Nabila Freidji, Chief Executive Officer, Cash One, Morocco
Shafeeq Ghabra, President, Jusoor Arabiya Leadership & Consultancy Center,
Kuwait
*Ali Hamadé, Journalist and Editorialist, An-Nahar Group, Lebanon
Bahieldin H. Z. El Ibrachy, Managing Partner, Ibrachy & Dermarkar - ID, Egypt
Hind Aboud Kabawat, Attorney and Director, Foreign Affairs, The Syrian Public
Relations Society, Syria
Rami G. Khouri, Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International
Affairs, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Yuriko Koike, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan
Mohammed J. Larijani, Director, Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and
Mathematics (IPM), Islamic Republic of Iran
*Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain
*Amre Moussa, Secretary-General, League of Arab States, Cairo
Alastair Newton, Managing Director and Senior Political Analyst, Nomura, United
Kingdom
*Hussain J. Al Nowais, Chairman and Managing Director, Emirates Holdings,
United Arab Emirates
*Abdul Rahman Al Rashed, General Manager, Al Arabiya News Channel, United
Arab Emirates
Karim Sadjadpour, Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA
*Barham Salih, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq
Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Middle East

Council Manager: Sofiane Khatib
Research Analyst: Tareq Bouchuiguir
Forum Lead: Sherif El Diwany
Managing Director: Borge Brende

187
 Future of Mining and Metals

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The economic crisis has profoundly (and Meeting programme related
disproportionately) impacted commodity prices, to the Future of Mining and
especially given that the industry is highly capital Metals include:
intensive and has long-term investment horizons. The • Update 2009: Managing
Resources for the Long Term
resulting risks include: • Update 2009: Managing Assets
• underinvestment in corporate social responsibility in a Correlated World
(CSR) / sustainable development • Financing Industry in an Era of
• a race to the bottom with respect to CSR Capital Scarcity
• Cool Ideas from Older
standards and performance Industries
• underinvestment in exploration (which will ultimately • Global Industry Outlook 1
impact future supply) • Leading through Structural
• underinvestment in R&D (which impedes the Change
industry’s ability to increase production in a
responsible manner)
• underinvestment in human resources
• potential increases in resource nationalism
• difficulty for some new entrants, who may be ill equipped to manage cyclical
impacts
• deterioration in the capacity of fragile governments and the revenue streams of
their economies, thus potentially leading to greater conflict
• negative impact upon the industry’s ability to undertake long-term planning
• reduced effort devoted to communicating the impacts and benefits of mining.

But the crisis also offers opportunities to the industry to:

• demonstrate how mining contributes to social and economic development; mining
as a way for local communities to achieve their economic development objectives
• provide the public and civil sectors with a broader understanding of the important
role that mining can play in economic development, which could lead to more
openness among local communities and a greater sharing of potential benefits
thereby improving the alignment between NGOs and communities
• learn from past mistakes
• provide incentive for closer cooperation between different countries, between junior
and major players, between NGOs, communities and mining companies, as allies
rather than opposing parties
• enhance and improve the transparency and reputation of the industry.

Amid the risks and opportunities emerging from the crisis, certain conditions will
remain the same:
• scrutiny/surveillance by NGOs and other interested parties
• consolidation of the industry, which could be a healthy development leading to the
“survival of the fittest”.

188
The Council on the Future of Mining and Metals has important overlaps with Councils
that are addressing capital flows, energy security, water security, ecosystems and
biodiversity, among others. Based on the interactions with these other Councils, it
became apparent that the mining and metals industry needs to do a more effective
job of explaining our potential contributions to communities of interest, opinion-
makers and thought-leaders.

Mining makes a vital contribution to economic and social development and poverty
alleviation, particularly in developing countries. Given the long investment cycles of
the industry and its extensive economic multipliers, policy-makers need to be aware
that if mining investment is constrained due to the current financial crisis, there will be
significant medium-term impacts on the stability and well-being of these countries.
Furthermore, underinvestment now could lead to supply shortages and high prices,
thus destabilizing the global economy at a fragile period.

These conditions present an opportunity, in fact an imperative, for increased

collaboration and engagement with other interested parties on these issues.

189
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mining and Metals proposes:

Specific solutions:
1. Further develop and disseminate best practices (for example, in environmental
stewardship and biodiversity, water management, community engagement, the
development of policy frameworks), and reach out to the whole of the global
industry (both private and state-owned) to join in these efforts

2. Improve the building of alliances with communities of interest and thought-leaders

3. Continue to develop frameworks for public reporting, third-party assurance and

accreditation, including accurate assessments of community engagement

4. Enter into collaborative relationships and projects with interested institutions to

develop tools to assess the full social, economic and environmental contributions
and impacts that accrue through the mine life cycle

5. Move towards a long-term systems approach in our project planning and

development, with an eye towards learning from ecosystems thinking.

The systemic underpricing of risk has led to significant asymmetric consequences in

the collapse of financial and credit markets. We should learn from this and not
underestimate the risks that would follow from curtailing needed minerals-driven
economic, social and environmental investment.

190
 Council on the Future of Mining and Metals
Members

Chair: *Richard B. Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto Alcan, Canada

Tony Andrews, Executive Director, Prospectors and Developers Association of

Canada (PDAC), Canada
Howard R. Balloch, President and Founding Partner, The Balloch Group, People’s
Republic of China
Britt D. Banks, Executive Vice-President, Legal and External Affairs, Newmont
Mining Corporation, USA
C. Fred Bergsten, Director, The Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA
Marketa D. Evans, Director, Strategic Partnerships, Plan Canada, Canada
Audrey Gaughran, Head, Economic Relations, Amnesty International, United
Kingdom
Chris Hinde, Editorial Director, Mining Communications, United Kingdom
*R. Anthony Hodge, President, International Council on Mining and Metals, United
Kingdom
*Klaus Kleinfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alcoa, USA
*Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International, Germany
Olle Ostensson, Special Adviser, International Trade and Commodities Division,
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva
Karen Poniachik, Special Envoy to the OECD, Government of Chile, Chile
Benjamin P. Romualdez, President, ASEAN Federation of Mining Associations and
of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, Philippines
*Michael H. Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, Wesizwe Platinum, South Africa
Yan Yanovskiy, Managing Director, Member of the Board and Head of Investment
Strategy, United Industrial Corporation (OPK), Russian Federation

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mining and Metals

Council Manager: Jan Klawitter
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Forum Lead: Alex Wong
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

191
 Future of Mobile Communications

Overview
Approximately 60% of the world’s population has a
Sessions in the Annual
mobile device used predominately for voice
Meeting programme related
communication; data still remains a small component. to the Future of Mobile
Mobile communications are a delivery and transactional Communications include:
vehicle that fosters job creation in emerging economies • Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
and can transform other industries such as health, • Power to the People — Politics
banking or education. A direct correlation exists between in the Internet Age
• Update 2009: Digital
increased mobile phone penetration and increased
Convergence Continues
macro- and micro-economic development. • Social Computing —
Transforming Corporations and
The vision for the future of mobile communications is a Markets?
fully interconnected world where every citizen will access, • From Adoption to Diffusion:
create and use content. This is the fastest growing Technology and Developing
technology in the history of mankind and is also the most Economies
• Mobile Revolutions in the
effective technology known to date to enable individuals,
Developing World
particularly those at the base of the pyramid, to • Reality Mining: Changing
participate in the global economy. The nearly 4 billion Behaviour
mobile phone subscribers in the world are realizing • Global Industry Outlook 3
multiple macro- and micro-economic and social benefits.
This will only continue as more individuals become
connected to the global economy and more products
and services are deployed. Council Members coined the phrase “Humanity’s Nervous
System” to describe this interconnected and highly personalized world.

As an industry, mobile communications are relatively recession-proof and will continue to

experience growth, create jobs and unlock innovation. Economic crises result in change –
as such, mobile communications will play a huge role in reducing current inefficiencies and
raising the productivity of both individuals and businesses.

Three fundamental dimensions impact the future of mobile communications:

1. Access: the ability for individuals to utilize both voice and data mobile communications
ubiquitously
• Key enablers for access include:
– cost reduction of services (infrastructure sharing, handset recycling)
– a global regulatory framework with the removal of mobile specific taxes and over-
regulation
• Key uncertainties include:
– whether universal access is a fundamental human right
– whether we should strive for regulated universal access or defer to market forces
2. Applications/Platforms: the value added services and capabilities available to end-users
which would be an extension of the larger public Internet
Key applications for improving the state of the world would include health, education
and financial services.
• Key enablers include:
– an open and interoperable system which creates opportunities for “bottom-up”
innovation
– the increasing sophistication of handsets and user experience

192
 • Key uncertainties include:
– why there hasn’t been greater uptake in health, education and financial service mobile
applications given rapid global subscriber adoption
– regulation with mobile banking and financial services
– who pays: financing for health and education
– the literacy challenge of those who only require a phone for voice services
3. Data Ownership (and Associated Personal Rights): the information generated and
gathered on individual behaviours and transactions
This wealth of information holds tremendous transformative potential but clear rules and
transparent regulatory frameworks are needed to ensure personal wealth creation and
the prevention of abuses.
• Key enablers include:
– ownership: you own your own data
– accountability: a “post-privacy view” using watermarks to create an audit trail of who
uses it
– use of anonymous and aggregated data to create new socially intelligent applications
(i.e. health, urban logistics, government services)
• Key challenges include:
– establishment of a global framework for data usage and protection
– general awareness of this dimension and its broad and fundamental power
– privacy and security of data and application
– liability of data ownership or management

Of these issues, three are not sufficiently addressed by existing stakeholders or global
governance institutions: (1) the standardization process could be streamlined to be more
effective and efficient; (2) inter-industry challenges and regulatory constraints (particularly in
banking, healthcare) are not sufficiently addressed; and (3) an international framework for
personal data ownership needs to be created. If these issues are not properly addressed,
fragmentation will continue and a unique moment in time to realize an integrated approach
could be missed.

193
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications proposes that:

Currently there is low understanding of the enabling abilities of mobile

communications to address a broad array of global challenges (e.g. economic
empowerment, hunger, poverty, healthcare, education, logistics and climate change).
To address this issue, a sustained awareness campaign should be created to
educate key stakeholders from industries and governments as to how services and
products can be tailored to meet specific needs. In parallel, benefits can be gained
from a wider publicity campaign to educate end-users on the impact of mobiles.
Specific stakeholder groups that need to be targeted to improve the understanding of
this issue include industry regulators and business leaders outside the
telecommunications arena (e.g. healthcare, pharma, media and banking), NGOs and
the international development community and social entrepreneurs.

• Immediate actions identified:

– Define the dimensions of the data ownership problem statement with greater
precision to stimulate awareness of its scope and potential
– Collect best-in-class case studies and pilots which demonstrate a proven ability
to scale
– Create an environment that encourages and supports entrepreneurs and small
and mid-sized enterprises in launching and maintaining SMS-based services
(e.g. through standardized SMS codes, access to gateways)
– Create a calendar and communications plan for events at which this Council
could convene and promote key industry messages.

• Long-term actions identified:

– Resolve the issue of who “owns” the personal data (individuals, businesses,
institutions or governments)
– Continue to reinforce the long-term transformative opportunity of mobile
communications to regulators and governments, trade associations, cross
industry consortia, NGOs
– Reinforce to mobile operators the importance of leveraging a unique ID created
with each subscriber and the ability to use this asset to connect individuals to
the global economy
– Get to an IP-based world as soon as possible
– Regulators to enable one player (in a competitive marketplace) to create an
open, IP-based network
– Create linkages with leading universities in the developing world to establish
programmes that drive innovation and solutions for the developing world.

Taking into account the membership of this Council and its advisory role to the World
Economic Forum, the Council recommends deeper engagement at Regional events
(with tangible demonstrations of the capabilities), tighter linkage with Industry
Partnership workstreams and better leveraging work done in The Global Information
Technology Report.

194
 Council on the Future of Mobile
Communications
Members
Chair: *Alexander V. Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer, AO VimpelCom, Russian
Federation

Seth Ayers, ICT Policy Specialist, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, The Information for
Development Program (InfoDev), USA
Lourdes Casanova, Affiliate Professor, Strategy Department, INSEAD, France
Chang Suk-Gwon, Professor, School of Business, Hanyang University, Republic of
Korea
Ken Ducatel, Member, Cabinet of the Commissioner for Information Society and
Media, European Commission, Brussels
William H. Dutton, Director, Oxford Internet Institute, United Kingdom
Chris Gabriel, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Africa, Bahrain
*Peter B. Gabriel, Musician, Real World, United Kingdom
Dawn Haig-Thomas, Development Fund Director, GSMA Development Fund,
United Kingdom
Paul Meyer, Co-Founder, Chairman and President, Voxiva, USA
*Takeshi Natsuno, Senior Vice-President, NTT DoCoMo, Japan
*Alex Pentland, Founder and Faculty Director, MIT - Legatum Center for
Development and Entrepreneurship, USA
Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), Geneva
*Solomon D. Trujillo, Chief Executive Officer, Telstra Corporation, Australia
Ralph de la Vega, President and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Mobility, AT&T, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications

Council Manager: William Hoffman
Research Analyst: Tareq Bouchuiguir
Forum Lead: Silvia von Gunten
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

195
 Future of Real Estate

Overview

A fundamental mismatch in the value of real estate Sessions in the Annual

Meeting programme related
assets relative to income levels/profit levels drove to the Future of Real Estate
market prices too high. The regulation of financial include:
institutions and financial markets is inadequate to • Update 2009: Managing
prevent the development of this mismatch. In Resources for the Long Term
• Update 2009: Managing Assets
particular, the lack of regulation and oversight in the in a Correlated World
US residential lending sector led to unethical • Global Industry Outlook
practices and inadequately secured loans. The • Financing Industry in an Era of
challenge for the institutions in the real estate industry Capital Scarcity
• Shaping the Post-Crisis World:
and the economic system in general is to facilitate a Report from the Global Agenda
readjustment of asset prices to levels that are Councils
supportable by income levels and profits. • Scenarios for the Future of the
Global Financial System
• Urbanization: The Unstoppable
The fundamentals of the residential real estate market Global Trend
are severely depressed and have brought the • Will the Environment Lose Out
economy down across a large number of national to the Economy?
economies. Residential real estate finance in the US
has been supported because of federal intervention,
but capital is not flowing to the commercial sector.
Conditions in the commercial real estate market are stable now but will deteriorate
quickly as the global recession deepens.

The current economic crisis will create a constraint on supply that will hamper future
growth. The allocation of resources to housing in many parts of the world is often not
sufficiently linked to demographic demand. In some national housing policies,
provisions for the production of affordable housing are indirect and inefficient.

196
In terms of sustainability, real estate costs fail to take into account all the social,
environmental and economic costs. The incorrect pricing of real estate costs leads to
the inefficient use of resources and extra costs on governments and society, thus
leading to a loss of economic productivity. Governments are often not organized to
recognize the fiscal, environmental and health benefits of sustainable development.
Buildings are only one part of the larger urban fabric, leading to an emphasis on
sustainable buildings rather than sustainable communities.

The current economic crisis also threatens progress towards greater corporate social
responsibility in the finance, development and operation of real estate assets.

197
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

According to the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Real Estate, the industry has two
major challenges:

1. To encourage efficient capital flows into real estate, thereby providing a more reliable
source of funding for the industry, which is the foundation of all economic activities and
productivity

2. In light of the current crisis, to assure that the long-term goal of achieving sustainable
real estate development and operation is not relegated to a secondary role or none at all

In order to address these challenges, the Council recommends that the following steps,
among others, be taken:
• The global financial system needs to begin functioning again on a more normal basis.
• In order to compete with other capital needs, the real estate industry needs transparent
valuations and an origination and funding system where the interests of all parties are
aligned. A reinvention of securitized lending or the creation of new structures to access
cheaper, diversified capital will be critical, not only for the US and many European
markets but for developing ones as well if the housing deficit is to be addressed and
other real estate needs are to be satisfied. For example, in order to better align the
interests of investors and originators of securitized products, issuers could be required
to retain substantial interests in the securitization, and the incentive compensation for
originators and underwriters could be similarly rethought. The role and compensation of
rating agencies will also need to be reformulated.
• The role of regulation in achieving these goals will also need to be revisited both as it
impacts the provision of debt capital and in balancing the needs of society for
sustainability and the needs of real estate to continue attracting private risk capital. This
will require governmental recognition that the real estate industry alone cannot achieve
these goals and that all costs and benefits of sustainability must be accounted for and
apportioned equitably.
• The real estate industry has been an inefficient user of capital and other scarce
resources. The Council on the Future of Real Estate must encourage ideas for efficient
uses of all scarce resources as impacted by real estate development and operations:
capital, tax revenues, energy, social services, natural resources, etc.
• Carbon negative new construction is an economic feasibility.
• The Council can create a process of benchmarking globally acceptable (priority)
sustainable models.
• Social – affordable – workforce housing is to be encouraged by the real estate industry;
the World Economic Forum can facilitate this by being a resource of exemplary public-
private endeavours.
• A review of the SlimCity model from an economic (capital markets) point of view is
needed. To the extent that sustainable development needs to attract private capital or to
become a public priority, then in addition to the other more qualitative value
propositions, sustainable development needs to address the more quantifiable ones
such as profit and enhanced tax revenues. Another way to approach this question is to
identify which places have retained the highest real estate values and assess how they
measure up on a sustainable basis – more broadly defined. It should be noted, however,
that this analysis may ignore the concept of the efficient allocation of capital to real
estate and the overall goal of creation of economic (financial, fiscal, productivity), social
and environmental sustainability. Also, not explicitly addressed is the argumentation and
steps needed to bring public policy and practices to bear in addressing sustainability
and apportioning the costs and benefits of creating and maintaining sustainability.

198
 Council on the Future of Real Estate
Members

Chair: *Steve Wechsler, Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Real Estate
Investment Trusts (NAREIT), USA

*Mohamed A. Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties, United Arab Emirates

Peter Baccile, Vice-Chairman, Investment Banking, JPMorgan Securities, USA
Anthony Downs, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, USA
S. Richard Fedrizzi, President, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Chairman, US
Green Building Council (USGBC), USA
Barden Gale, Vice-Chairman, Real Estate, Starwood Capital Group, USA
Joseph Gyourko, Martin Bucksbaum Professor of Real Estate and Finance and
Chairman, Real Estate Department, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
USA
Jackson Hsieh, Global Head and Managing Director, Real Estate, Lodging and
Leisure Group, UBS Investment Bank, USA
Kenneth W. Hubbard, Executive Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer, East
Region, Hines, USA
Yuichiro Kawaguchi, Professor, Waseda University, Japan
Peter Kozel, Executive Managing Director, Research and Real Estate Strategies,
Newmark Knight Frank, USA
Struan Robertson, Managing Director and Global Co-Head, Real Estate Investment
Banking, Morgan Stanley, United Kingdom
*Ken Rosen, Chairman, Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics and
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Jennifer Wolch, Professor of Geography and Urban Planning and Director, Center
for Sustainable Cities, University of Southern California (USC), USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Real Estate

Council Manager: Julian Jaeger
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: Kevin Steinberg
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

199
 Future of Russia

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Russia, like the rest of the world, is facing a grave Meeting programme related
financial crisis. It has been triggered by external to the Future of Russia
events, but domestic factors are aggravating and include:
expanding it into a general economic crisis. Four main • Update 2009: Controlling
Climate Change
components are affected: liquidity, credit, capital and • Update 2009: Dealing with
trust. Dangerous Demographics
• Update 2009: Asia
The specific features of the Russian financial crisis • Update 2009: Europe
• The Economic Governance of
include: Europe
• Lack of long-term credit • The World According to Russia
• Weak and fragmented financial infrastructure • NATO: Will It Survive Another
• Excessive and highly leveraged borrowing by 60 Years?
• Europe’s Place in the World
industry
• Changing external perceptions of Russia resulting
from the war in Georgia and from projections of
future economic growth
• Small and undeveloped securities market
• Current management crisis – the skills of the past boom are not transferable to this
cost-cutting period
• Heavy reliance on revenues from commodity exports, where prices are currently
falling sharply.

The effects of the crisis are expected to be unusually severe and far-reaching in
Russia. Its present governance model, especially the close relationship between
power and property, non-transparency and the lack of checks and balances, are ill
suited to deal with such problems.

The predicted manifestations of the Russian crisis will include:

• Bailouts and equity acquisition – the government has begun to take major stakes in
companies and will be pressured to continue
• Increased role of the Russian Central Bank
• Consolidation of the banking system, including bankruptcies of smaller and
medium-sized banks
• Bank failures, which will lead to increased social tensions and a resurgence of the
barter and non-monetary exchanges common in the 1990s
• Changes in ownership of key assets, sometimes by means reminiscent of the
discredited loans-for-shares scheme of the 1990s
• Crisis in management.

The effects on the real economy will most severely harm construction and real estate,
retail trade and banking, and manufacturing.

200
Russia is so rapidly spending its accumulated reserves on crisis management that it
could deplete them in under a year (currency and gold reserves have decreased from
an estimated US$ 600 billion to US$ 450 billion over the last two months). This will
have negative consequences for future modernization.

Impending economic trends will likely affect the popularity of the present political
leadership and regime.

In the short term, Russia’s hard times may reinforce the intimate and closed
relationship between the government and business elite and increase the state’s role
in the economy. In the longer term, however, if political leaders have the vision and
will to undertake necessary political and economic reforms, the crisis could catalyse a
long-needed breakthrough. This change from a rapidly expanding economy to
understanding the need for a cost-saving and efficiency-driven economy will require
major adaptation on the part of the elites, businesses and society.

In foreign policy, relations with the West are at their lowest since the collapse of the
Soviet Union, due to geopolitical rivalries and value disagreements. The tendency to
focus on past mistreatment and neglect, rather than positive priorities and needs,
makes it difficult for the rest of the world to understand Russian aspirations. At times,
Russian statements imply a desire to return to a Yalta-like division of Europe, which
undermines trust in Russia as a responsible global partner.

201
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Russia proposes that:

• With respect to the current financial and economic crisis, the government of Russia
has been making urgent decisions and must continue to do so. Over and above
these decisions, however, Russia must pay attention to long-term remedies for
long-term problems, both unique to Russia and faced by many emerging
economies.

• Working through these problems, Russia should be encouraged to do so as a

member of the broader international community and to accept the accompanying
membership obligations. Additionally, other countries should forego stereotypes
and clichés in dealing with Russia, which are often out of date and impede joint
problem-solving. For Russia, anti-Western and anti-globalist slogans stand in the
way of cooperation with others and the country’s modernization strategy, which
cannot be realized in isolation from the rest of the world. The post-industrial
development that Russian leaders are eager to achieve requires economic
competition and efficiency, political pluralism, and governmental accountability and
transparency.

• Whatever the exact nature of its political regime, the current crisis underlines the
importance of continued generational change. New blood must be brought into
systems of corporate governance and public administration, to create an
atmosphere of openness and competitiveness. No such atmosphere can be
created without significant institutional change.

• In the international arena, changes are needed on all sides for these internal
changes to occur. The West should not apply double standards to Russia or
lecture it on inadequacies. Russia and its political elite should relinquish the use of
nationalist sentiments to consolidate society or as a substitute for a constructive
vision of the future.

• The Council recommends rapid action on Russia’s stalled application for WTO
membership and initiation of a new round of arms-control negotiations. There is
promise in President Medvedev’s proposal for discussion of a new security
architecture for Europe as a whole. The West needs a common, integrated
strategy for both Russia and the newly independent states that will provide security
without making Russia insecure.

• No single contemporary issue, from terrorism to climate change, can be resolved

without Russian participation. Russia has been and is a challenge for the global
community. To deal with it adequately, the West must invest in Russia and find
ways to encourage Russia’s inclusion in world systems.

202
 Council on the Future of Russia
Members

Chair: *Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International

Peace, Carnegie Moscow Center, Russian Federation

Kirill Androsov, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Prime Minister of the Russian
Federation, Russian Federation
Anders Aslund, Senior Fellow, The Peterson Institute for International Economics,
USA
Timothy J. Colton, Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies,
Harvard University, USA
Steven Everts, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Council of the European
Union, Brussels
*Charles Grant, Director, Centre for European Reform, United Kingdom
*German Gref, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sberbank RF, Russian
Federation
*James F. Hoge, Editor, Foreign Affairs Magazine, USA
Andrei V. Kortunov, President, New Eurasia Foundation (FNE), Russian Federation
Jean Lemierre, President (2000-2008), European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD), United Kingdom
Edward Lucas, Central and Eastern Europe correspondent, The Economist, United
Kingdom
Michael McFaul, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Stanford University, USA
Vladimir Milov, President, Institute of Energy Policy, Russian Federation
*Yury Spektorov, Partner, Bain & Company Russia, Russian Federation
Maxim Trudolyubov, Editor, Editorial Page, Vedomosti, Russian Federation
*Ruben K. Vardanian, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Troika
Dialog Group, Russian Federation
Celeste A. Wallander, Director, Russia, Eurasia Program and Trustee Fellow, The
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), USA
Igor Y. Yurgens, Chairman of the Management Board, Institute of Contemporary
Development, Russian Federation

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Russia

Council Manager: Sebastian Bustos
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Forum Lead: Benita Sirone
Managing Director: Borge Brende

203
 Future of Sustainable Construction

Overview

“We cannot move to a positive future without Sessions in the Annual

revolutionizing construction.” Meeting programme related
to the Future of Sustainable
Construction include:
• Update 2009: Managing
The social, environmental and economic Resources for the Long Term
consequences of the construction cycle are • Are Renewables the Silver
considerable and have a global impact. It Bullet?
• Leading through Structural
• Contributes 5-44% of national GDP Change
• Will the Environment Lose Out
• Affects 40% of global greenhouse gas
to the Economy?
• Affects 70% of cities’ greenhouse gas • What Is Good Design?
• From Green Tech to Green
• Sends 40% of its waste to landfills Jobs and Economic Growth
• Consumes 12% of the world’s water
• Has a major impact upon quality of life (we spend a
considerable amount of time indoors)
• Employs 10% of the world’s workforce
• Is the largest employer of micro-firms which employ less than 10 people
• Has broad social, labour and human rights impacts
• Occurs in hazard prone geographies
• Sits typically on the most productive land (~250 million hectares worldwide, most
of it primary agricultural land)
• Contributes to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystems
• Consumes 30% of world resources

The current global financial crisis has already and will continue to:
• Impact the budget of the construction industry and create a significant slowdown
in private sector development, and focus attention on short-term horizons
• Initiate a redirection of capital into public infrastructure in an attempt to initiate
economic recovery

The global slowdown provides a breathing space to re-examine the direction, role
and impact of the construction industry so the mistakes of the past may be avoided.
We should take this opportunity to move to a new future vision by revolutionizing the
construction cycle to enable net positive impacts on all aspects of our lives: the
economy, society, the environment and its ecosystems.

This process must begin by recognizing the difference between good (net positive
impact) and bad (net negative impact) infrastructure solutions and advance our goal
to encourage investment into positive infrastructure initiatives such as:

204
• Optimizing low carbon logistics
• Optimizing existing infrastructure
• Retrofitting and upgrading existing buildings (residential/commercial/mixed use,
etc.), particularly by making them radically more resource efficient
• Improving healthcare and education facilities (and making them disaster-proof)
• Enhancing or restoring natural infrastructure such as flood plains, mangrove
forests, watershed restoration and aforestation
• Promoting energy efficient and decarbonized energy infrastructure: renewable
energy sources such as wind parks, sensitive hydropower, utility grids that allow for
feed-in and decentralized electricity generation
• Optimizing new road and airport construction and avoiding traditional power
plants/utilities where possible
• Expanding public/mass transport
• Creating integrated energy, water and waste utilities
• Creating sustainable waste management solutions
• Optimizing urbanization (optimal density of ~150 people per hectare,
residential/work/leisure/services and connectivity)
• Reducing the impact of the supply chain
– Only certified timber - Forest Stewardship Council
– Low carbon lifecycle material
– Carbon positive data centres
– Non-toxic, safe and renewable materials

205
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Sustainable Construction proposes that:

The future depends on sustainable construction. This revolution is founded on a

construction cycle that is integrative and regenerative. Decision-makers must plan at
the macro and micro levels, monitor and report against those plans while respecting
limits and embracing opportunities.

Sustainable construction will support a more resilient society, if these 10 biomimicry-

based principles are applied:
1. Enhancing the systems of which it is part (financial, human and natural capital)
2. Running on clean, renewable energy
3. Recycling and reusing everything
4. Using only the resources it needs (better than zero carbon, water neutral)
5. Contributing to biodiversity and food security
6. Celebrating form and function in response to environmental forces
7. Making the best use of local resources
8. Adapting and evolving with climate, economic and social change
9. Ensuring human health and well-being
10. Facilitating the effective movement of people and goods

Next Steps
• Expand the definition of positive infrastructure and add further to the list of
possibilities
• Translate the principles above into goals, strategies and metrics
• Determine how to make positive infrastructure happen: what is the deal flow to
support its implementation (i.e. incentives, regulation, new market models)?

The ideas for the Annual Meeting in Davos

1. Given that the economic slowdown will bring about a higher volume of public
spending on infrastructure, seize the tremendous opportunity that exists to
ensure positive infrastructure is being built (i.e., infrastructure that does not lock
us into resource consumptive lifestyles but reduces our resource dependency)
and ensure investments will flow to positive, rather than negative infrastructure
projects
2. Develop the guiding principles into a structured delivery plan that can be
developed by government and planners worldwide.

206
 Council on the Future of Sustainable
Construction
Members
Chair: *William McDonough, Chairman, William McDonough + Partners
Architecture and Community Design / MDBC, USA

Maria Atkinson, Global Head, Sustainability, Lend Lease Corporation, Australia

Khaled Awad, Director, Masdar, United Arab Emirates
Guy Battle, Originator and Founder, Dcarbon8, United Kingdom
Raymond Cole, Professor and Director, School of Architecture and Landscape
Architecture, University of British Columbia, Canada
Mark Ginsberg, Senior Executive, US Department of Energy, USA
Alistair Guthrie, Director, Arup Group, United Kingdom
Manfred Hegger, Professor, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
Bernhard Hofmann, President, Construction Chemicals Division, BASF, Germany
Jaime Lerner, President, Instituto Jaime Lerner, Brazil
Thomas F Schuler, Vice-President and General Manager, DuPont Building
Innovations, USA
*Peter Steiner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Karl Steiner, Switzerland
Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director, Global Footprint Network, USA
Zou Lixing, Senior Researcher and Vice-President, Institute of Research, China
Development Bank, People’s Republic of China

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Sustainable Construction

Council Manager: Darren Wachtler
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Forum Lead: Alex Wong
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

207
 Future of Transportation

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
A crisis in transportation is looming. The state of Meeting programme related
transportation is not sustainable if current trends to the Future of
continue. Without a doubt passenger and freight Transportation include:
transport have created significant benefits with regard • Update 2009: Managing
Resources for the Long Term
to the economy and social development. They have • Update 2009: Managing Assets
become faster, more productive, cleaner, quieter, in a Correlated World
safer and cheaper. But significant challenges exist. • Financing Industry in an Era of
The sector’s nearly complete oil dependence is Capital Scarcity
• Cool Ideas from Older
raising concerns associated with energy (oil) security Industries
and greenhouse gas emissions. Further concerns • The Electric Vehicle Conundrum
include safety, traffic congestion and security. One • Are Renewables the Silver
reason for this crisis is that the full costs of transport Bullet?
• Leading through Structural
are not visible to users (while the full benefits are not Change
visible either). The transportation crisis is especially • Infrastructure for the Developing
imminent in the developing world, where rapid World
motorization leads to traffic paralysis, huge road • The Challenge of Sustainable
Mobility
infrastructure costs, safety problems, air pollution and
other externalities. In both developing and
industrialized countries, the main component of this
crisis is related to road and, increasingly, air transport.

Notable trends in the future of transportation:

• Rapid motorization and urban mobility: The 800 million cars and trucks on the
world’s roads today are forecast to surpass 2 billion in 2030. Rapid motorization is
especially relevant for cities because about 4.9 billion people will live in cities by
2030 – roughly 50% more than today.
• Oil dependency: Transport is 97% dependent on oil and accounts for roughly half
of global oil use. Demand for petroleum and other liquid fuels will increase more
rapidly in the transportation sector than in any of the other end-use sectors over
the next 25 years.
• Impact on global climate change: Although sources vary, transport accounts for
roughly 25% of global CO2 emissions.
• Safety and security: Each year there are over 1.2 million vehicle-related fatalities,
the vast majority in the developing world.

208
209
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Transportation proposes that:

This crisis in transportation can be avoided. Important opportunities for reducing

energy use and CO2 emissions via technological improvements and behavioural
changes exist. Innovations that are about to become available in vehicle technology
and mobility (system) management need to be commercialized. These include vehicle
technology alternatives, e.g. electric drive vehicles (battery-electric vehicles and
hybrid-electric vehicles) and the integration of IT technologies into road vehicles and
mobility management. Large government investments in public surface transport
alternatives are unlikely to solve the problem.

1. Increase innovation in the transport sector

• Use IT and telecommunication technologies to create new services and new
choices, including smart paratransit, smart car sharing, dynamic ridesharing,
telecommunication substitutes (“telepresence”)
• Integrate land use and transport via governance/planning, design

2. Encourage the electrification of transport

• Encourage a paradigm change: transform energy supply and vehicles (reduce
carbon and oil use)
• Action 1: Promote R&D for battery incentives to industry, basic science for
government
• Action 2: Implement policies that internalize carbon and energy security costs via
market instruments and/or performance standards
• Action 3: Design charging infrastructure (smart charging)

3. Account for full costs of transport in infrastructure investments, policy-

making and consumer choice
• Incorporate costs of crashes, carbon, pollution, congestion
• Use regulation and/or market instruments

4. Improve measurement (analytics and data)

• Precondition for good decision-making for government and consumers
(instrumentation in vehicles, eco-driving)
• Benchmarking companies, cities, activities
• LCA, social costs, value of mobility

5. Encourage all stakeholders to create an integrated vision of a more

sustainable future of transportation
• Create a roadmap vision document with stakeholder input
• Develop a forum for the transport leaders of tomorrow

210
 Council on the Future of Transportation
Members

Chair: *Daniel Sperling, Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of

California, Davis, USA

*Peter Bakker, Chief Executive Officer, TNT, Netherlands

Susan M. Cischke, Group Vice-President, Sustainability, Environment and Safety
Engineering, Ford Motor Company, USA
Jared Cohon, President, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Ralph Gakenheimer, Professor of Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, USA
David Heyman, Director and Senior Fellow, Homeland Security Program, The
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), USA
Julia King, Vice-Chancellor, Aston University, United Kingdom
*Anand G. Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra,
India
Alan McKinnon, Director, Logistics Research Center, Heriot-Watt University, United
Kingdom
*Gerhard Mennecke, Head, Corporate Strategic Planning, Volkswagen, Germany
André Navarri, President, Bombardier Transportation and Executive Vice-President,
Bombardier, Canada
Patrick Oliva, Corporate Vice-President, Michelin, France
Remy Prud’homme, Emeritus Professor, Université de Paris XII, France
Andreas Schafer, Lecturer, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Jack Short, Secretary-General, The International Transport Forum, Paris
Colin Stewart, Deputy Chairman, Infrastructure, Arup Group, United Kingdom
Jan-Olaf Willums, Chairman, InSpire Invest, Norway

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Future of Transportation

Council Manager: Stefano Ammirati
Research Analyst: Jason Shellaby
Forum Lead: John Moavenzadeh
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

211
 Gender Gap

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Gender gaps are a challenge and an opportunity Meeting programme related
because they are gaps of equity and gaps of to the Gender Gap include:
efficiency. On any global challenge, if women are not • Update 2009: The Global Talent
considered, half the world is missed (inequity) and Equation
• Update 2009: Dealing with
opportunities for optimal solutions are missed Dangerous Demographics
(inefficiency). • A Matter of Financial
Empowerment
Gender inequality is a market failure. Just as markets • The Girl Effect on Development
• Update 2009: Threats to
do not produce stability or sustainability by Society
themselves, they also do not produce equality
between women and men. There are two types of
market failures associated with gender inequality:
1) Market failures to invest in women – i.e. failure to provide the basics (health, safety,
education, micro-businesses)
2) Market failures to reap the returns on investment – i.e. failure to utilize the full
potential of qualified women throughout the lifespan

How can we overcome the challenge and capitalize on the opportunity? We need to
rely on the kind of interventions typically used in markets (through regulation,
incentives, information, education and overcoming psychological biases). Fortunately,
we already know what many of these interventions that decrease the gender gap and
increase efficiency are. Often the crucial missing element is implementation.

Financial and economic crises can lead to high risk aversion. We know from
experience in other times of economic downturn that there is the danger of less
development aid, less philanthropy, less investment in women/girls and that women’s
employment could shrink as women may be pushed out (or take themselves out) of
jobs.

But we also know that crisis situations can lead to greater openness to alternative
problem-solving, solutions and actors. So while there is a danger of relapse in the
efforts to close gender gaps, there is also a major opportunity to reboot these efforts
and make a quantum leap.

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Policy-makers, academics and gender experts representing different geographies
need to make use of this new opportunity to re-examine systems of global
governance by engaging with each other to articulate a new and more inclusive
agenda for designing and implementing gender-sensitive policies, including all those
described above.

213
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Gender Gap proposes the following:

How should we address the market failure to invest in women? The most basic things – the
right to health and safety, the right to education, the right to earnings and the right to
decision-making, the right to property, the right to vote – are missing.

• Begin with human rights: Implement existing international conventions (regulation); Give
and implement property rights; Invest in civic education, through the formal and informal
systems that will improve the ability of women and men, girls and boys, to secure their
rights and entitlements as enshrined in national laws and policies
• Identify and address gender specific barriers in education and health: For education,
provide hygiene facilities for girls in schools and cash transfer programmes to create
incentives to send girls to school; Globally, make the education of girls an international
priority, recognizing the returns on investment in food security, child and maternal health,
environmental sustainability and economic progress; Close the health gaps through
access to food security, safe drinking water (since getting water is women’s/girls’ work)
and through access to safer cooking equipment (since cooking is usually the woman’s
job)
• Focus on getting women to vote: Identify local role models; Benchmark successful
countries; Target women through media and communications
• Look beyond traditional microfinancing mechanisms to bring small enterprises to scale:
Use phone banking to facilitate a creditworthiness ratings mechanism based on some of
the same successful principles as microfinance (copy the key features of group lending
schemes, namely, risk spreading and establishing creditworthiness through third parties,
but make it more efficient – less time-consuming, faster, without requiring face-to-face
interactions); Provide training in business, IT and negotiating skills
• Create awareness and recognize those countries that do well: Include the gender
dimension in national competitiveness measurements; Establish an international
fund/award that helps recognize those countries that meet certain benchmarks (MDGs)
• Develop gender-sensitive policies around development initiatives, e.g. in initiatives that
provide resources to girls and women, take account of the imbalance in power between
male officials and women themselves, in order to protect girls and women from the threat
or reality of sexual exploitation
How should we address the market failure to reap the returns on investment in women?
• Identify mechanisms to increase the number of small women-owned businesses that
become high growth ventures; Overcome gender-based barriers in access to the network
of players involved in the scaling of businesses (e.g. venture capital, mentoring, expertise,
information networks, incubators)
• Put more women on corporate boards and thus break the glass ceiling from the top – this
has top-down effects on overall gender equality in companies; Introduce tradable permits
for gender equality on company boards
• Re-invent the workplace for the digital age: Re-train managers, change the infrastructure
and modify corporate law to reflect today’s mobile workforce (e.g. 39% of IBM’s
employees do not work at the office)
This intervention helps businesses make overall efficiency gains while taking into account
the arc of women’s careers. It also has other associated positive externalities: it can help
reduce traffic congestion, reduce energy use, improve work/life balance and it can help
older-age employment
• Take a lifespan approach to flexibility, leadership development and talent management:
Facilitate second starts for women who experience breaks in their careers – these should
be second chances not just to return to work and have a job but second chances also for
ambition
• Create gender-literacy in graduate and professional schools: Recruit and admit a higher
proportion of women; Enhance faculty awareness and representation; Mainstream gender
issues across the curriculum; Support alumni throughout the arc of their careers
• Do not underestimate the power of eliminating gender bias from basic human capital
practices, including performance evaluation and succession planning mechanisms.
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 Council on the Gender Gap
Members

Chair: *Laura D. Tyson, Professor of Business Administration and Economics,

University of California, Berkeley, USA

Iris Bohnet, Professor of Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government,

Harvard University, USA
*J. Frank Brown, Dean, INSEAD, France
*Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairwoman, Carlson, USA
*Ann Cotton, Founder and Executive Director, Camfed International, United
Kingdom
May Al Dabbagh, Director, Gender and Public Policy Programme, Dubai School of
Government, United Arab Emirates
Esther Duflo, Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Anne Fausto-Sterling, Professor of Biology and Gender Studies, Brown University,
USA
Helen Fisher, Research Professor, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University,
USA
Uri Gneezy, Professor of Management and Strategy, Rady School of Management,
University of California, San Diego (UCSD), USA
Lynda Gratton, Associate Professor of Management Practice and Fellow, Advanced
Institute for Management Research, London Business School, United Kingdom
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, President, Center for Work Life Policy, USA
*Herminia Ibarra, The Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning and
Professor of Organisational Behaviour, INSEAD, France
Kuniko Inoguchi, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration, Harvard
Business School, USA
Ilene Lang, President, Catalyst, USA
*Joanne Lipman, Editor-in-Chief, Conde Nast Portfolio, USA
*Laura Liswood, Secretary-General, Council of Women World Leaders, USA
Pippa Norris, McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, USA
Lauren Resnick, Director, LRDC, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Wu Qing, Member of the Board, Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural
Women, People’s Republic of China
JoAnne Yates, Deputy Dean and Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management,
MIT - Sloan School of Management, USA
*Roshaneh Zafar, President, Kashf Foundation, Pakistan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Gender Gap

Council Manager: Saadia Zahidi
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Managing Director: Borge Brende

215
 Geography of Innovation

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The last decade has seen a significant rise in talk of
Meeting programme related
“innovation”. This is perhaps not surprising given the to the Geography of
general state of the world. The very foundations of our Innovation include:
financial markets, political systems and multilateral • Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
institutions are being reconsidered and new ideas are • Power to the People — Politics
being sought. The complexity and interdependence of in the Internet Age
• Update 2009: Digital
the challenges we face in the world require that we solve Convergence Continues
problems and arrive at game-changing breakthroughs at • From Adoption to Diffusion:
an unprecedented scale and pace. While innovation is Technology and Developing
commonly associated with growth, it is now more Economies
correctly pinned to survival. • Innovation: The View from Asia
• China, India and Japan: Asia’s
Big Three
Government policies can encourage innovation and help • Cloud Computing: The Next Big
ensure that it is given the best chance to develop into Thing?
new products and processes. The trend is in reorienting • Mobile Revolutions in the
innovation policies away from subsidizing research to Developing World
• Growth through Innovation
alternative instruments, such as tax relief on R&D, and • Human Augmentation — From
reinforcing the links between industry and public research Imagination to Realization
organizations to ensure that science is put to good use. • Leveraging Mass Innovation
In addition, a debate is beginning on intellectual property
laws: relaxing these laws potentially removes R&D
investment incentives while excessive intellectual property protection potentially
disadvantages developing countries and stifles innovation.

Many companies recognize that developing innovation “in-house” is not necessarily

sustainable or productive in the longer term. Corporations are moving towards networked
innovation, extending the search for innovation across the globe. Yet open innovation still
faces many challenges.

We see many considerable inhibitors to innovation around the world. These tensions
include:

• Global vs National: Innovations are increasingly carried out by distributed networks of

talent and resources, benefiting to a large extent from, and further spurring,
globalization. Global challenges (like climate change, pandemics and population),
realities and needs are often at odds with national interests and concerns too often
yielding policies that prevent real breakthroughs.
• Incremental vs Disruptive: Innovation is not invention; it is a process more than an act.
We don’t want to rest content on catalysing incremental, linear innovation to the neglect
of disruptive innovation.
• Faith vs Science: Unpredictable and constant change is our new reality. But rampant
fear of the unknown exists, limiting the breadth and depth of any prospective innovation
culture. This is very much due to the failure of math and science education to emphasize
universal evidence-based decision-making and critical and interdisciplinary thinking over
facts and figures.

216
• Advancement vs Cultural Norms: Innovations can come from any person regardless of
background or education. Fostering innovation implies class mobility. It requires
infrastructure that supplies the requisite education, housing, power and transportation
needs.

The supply of innovation talent is undergoing a dramatic shift, with major changes to
demographics, the number of returnees and cultural factors such as four generations in
the same workplace. The demand for talent is also changing due to the increased need of
technology skills in all sectors, cross-disciplinary skills, cross-sector skills and the changing
needs of business.

Given this general state of affairs, it is essential that we foster a global culture of innovation.
A society that permanently strives to create socioeconomic value through the creation and
deployment of new ideas is most competitive in this new landscape. The aspirations,
values, literacy and governance of these societies – regional, national or corporate –
collectively foster an ecosystem that fuels innovation.

In his first speech as President-elect, Barack Obama laid out a vision for a world
“connected by our science and imagination”, capable of great things. The establishment of
a more robust global culture of innovation will help bring forth the imaginative solutions we
now require.

Innovation needs to happen now and the Geography of Innovation Council Members urge
world leaders to use innovation as a proactive and systemic policy; it can mitigate the
global financial crisis. Innovation must, however, be ready when the economy inevitably
picks up again in the future. Today’s global challenges can be met through the benefits of
innovation (alternative energies, health systems, communications, etc.). Therefore a
systemic approach is key to a successful innovation strategy and for its benefits to be
enjoyed globally.

217
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Geography of Innovation proposes the following:

• Establish global coordination of the innovation community via the World Wide Web

• Engage IP holders to reset the IPR framework and valuation system and open up
IP to solve problems in the developing world

• Restructure education to emphasize systems thinking and multidisciplinary

problem-solving

• Re-architect science literacy for the 21st Century to encourage critical thinking and
establish universal science literacy as a global priority for the World Economic
Forum Annual Meeting community in Davos

• Urge world leaders to seize their responsibility and opportunity to genuinely inspire,
to present the opportunities indigenous to our challenges and to encourage a new
global Enlightenment founded on science and imagination and directed towards
improving the world

• Urge government leaders to allow for failure. Real innovation comes from those
willing to take risks and learn from failure. Business environments, including
taxation, need to be structured to enable risk-taking.

218
 Council on the Geography of Innovation
Members

Chair: *Esko Tapani Aho, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Relations and

Responsibility, Nokia Corporation, Finland

*Adam Bly, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief, Seed Media Group,
USA
*Matt Bross, Chief Technology Officer, BT Group, BT, United Kingdom
Jean-Claude Burgelman, Head, ICT Research, Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies (IPTS) - Joint Research Centre, Spain
*Soumitra Dutta, Dean, External Relations and Roland Berger Chaired Professor in
Business and Technology, INSEAD, France
Dominique Foray, Chair of Economics and Management of Innovation, Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
Michael Gregory, Head, IfM and Manufacturing and Management Division,
University Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Pradeep Khosla, Dean, College of Engineering, and Founding Director, Cylab,
Carnegie Mellon University, USA
*David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor, Internet and Technology, Fortune Magazine, USA
*Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Science Adviser to the Prime Minister, Cabinet Office of Japan,
Japan
John Markoff, Senior Writer, The New York Times, USA
Geoffrey Moore, Managing Partner, TCG Advisors, USA
John L. Petersen, Founder and President, The Arlington Institute, USA
*Edmund S. Phelps, McVickar Professor of Political Economy, Columbia University,
USA
*C. K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of
Corporate Strategy, University of Michigan, USA
Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy,
University of California, Berkeley, USA
Paul L. Saffo, Author and Forecaster, Saffo.com, USA
Pamela Samuelson, Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, USA
AnnaLee Saxenian, Dean, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley,
USA
*Donald Tapscott, Chairman, nGenera Insight, nGenera, Canada
Stefan H. Thomke, William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration
and Chair, Harvard Business School, USA
Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Geography of Innovation

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

219
 Global Capital Flows

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Over the past decade, there has been a phenomenal Meeting programme related
growth in cross-border capital flows, to the benefit of to Global Capital Flows
nearly all sectors, regions and asset classes. Cross- include:
border capital flows are the oxygen for the entire • Update 2009: Hard Lessons
about Global Imbalances
economic system, from consumer purchases to • CNBC Debate: No Way Back
funding infrastructure in developing countries. If the • Update 2009: Managing Assets
flow of international capital stops, all areas of the in a Correlated World
global system will wither. This Council advocates • Update 2009: Can
Corporations Turn the Corner?
cross-border capital flows and a regulatory system • 36 Hours in September: What
that protects without being protectionist. Went Wrong?
• Financing Industry in an Era of
Despite the positive aspects of the growth in capital Capital Scarcity
• Financial Recovery: A Long
flows (from US$ 1.5 trillion in 1995 to US$ 8.2 trillion Journey Ahead?
in 2006), the system may have been a victim of its
own success. Capital markets were perceived to
operate so efficiently that they became taken for granted. This made the system
susceptible to its most fragile aspects, and made diagnosis to stop contagion
difficult.

The current crisis began with the housing slump in the US, but quickly became a
global crisis for three reasons. Accelerated mortgage creation and sale to securitizers
by government incentives led to increasing use of securitized mortgage backed
securities (MBS), financed off-balance sheets and sold around the world. Finally, MBS
securitization was overlaid with credit default swaps (CDS) and instruments that
added leverage and amplified risk.

The crisis played out from there:

1. Lack of transparency and accountability: When mortgages began to default, no
one knew where the losses would be taken, because the hyper-efficiency had
resulted in such extensive division of financial assets into securities that it became
difficult to find information. In addition, actors made decisions that would benefit
them in a bonus-cycle to the detriment of the long-term health of the institution or
ultimate owner(s) of an asset.
2. Freeze in short-term lending: The lack of transparency led to a freeze in short-term
lending, especially after Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail in September.

220
3. Demise of institutions: A number of subsequent factors led to the demise of AIG
and Washington Mutual, and the conversion of Morgan Stanley and Goldman
Sachs into bank holding companies.
4. Amplification: The greater interconnectivity of markets as a result of increased
capital flows led to increased negative reverberations once the crisis started. As
investors avoided risk, by investing in short-term treasuries, the emerging markets
suffered and businesses in many countries could not get their hands on enough
money to fund their operations or pay debt.
5. Real economy impacts: This is still unfolding, but is tangible in the sharp decline in
auto sales – and subsequent cuts in jobs – partly driven by consumers’ limited
ability to access loans to finance purchases.

Additional factors are the misalignment of incentives in business and regulators,

failures of management and corporate governance, the chase for high returns in a
low-interest rate world leading to over-leverage and the natural cyclicality of economic
activity.

As a result of the crisis, a protectionist and regulatory backlash is likely. However, it is

critical that we identify the types of capital flows that should be fostered to benefit
global economic growth. If capital flows are not restored, everything from the normal
flow of commerce to the building of critical infrastructure in developing economies
hangs in the balance.

221
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged primarily from the Council meeting in Dubai and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are
the foremost experts on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Global Capital Flows proposes that:

Capital flows can be thought of in four tiers:

• The payments system (the daily flow of settlements and clearance representing the
“plumbing” of the financial system)
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
• Cross-border bank lending
• Debt and equity markets (portfolio flows)

The priorities for action include:

• Keeping the “plumbing” working
• Ensuring capital flows to vulnerable portions of the economy
• Protecting capital flows, prioritized per the tiers above. Protection should target:
– Encouraging inflows from “new capital” sources, by setting the conditions to favour
long-term investors and large share holders. These are the stakeholders with the
greatest vested interest in long-term success and stability
– Ensuring capital flows for both capital projects as well as working capital
requirements for companies in the real economy
– Mitigating reverberations and contagion
– Protecting without being protectionist

The governing principles are to regulate well, without over-regulating, and to protect,
without being protectionist. Specific financial sector, private sector and economic policy
elements follow:

Promote principle-based regulation with the teeth to enforce; inhibit

Financial Sector
regulatory arbitrage
Regulatory Standardize financial products and ratings, where appropriate,
Principles much as gold is measured in standard quality and weights
Base regulatory rules and oversight on the type of activity vs the
type of institution
Differentiate based on goals of regulation (consumer protection,
system stability, etc.)
Ensure compensation, stature and accountability of regulators are
comparable to the private sector
Migrate towards an international collaborative framework that
leverages existing institutions

Align incentives so risks and rewards have appropriate timeframes

Private Sector
Ensure technical expertise on the boards of financial institutions
Incentive Principles Eliminate conflicts of interests and moral hazard (e.g., M&A
arbitrage)
Ensure risk management takes liquidity risk, not just credit and
interest rate risk, into account
Incorporate the value of avoiding risk into compensation and
valuation
Enforce more stringent lending targets and leverage ratios
Match the timing of assets and liabilities to account for liquidity risk
(e.g., no funding land deals with overnight paper)

Avoid erecting barriers to the free flow of capital

Economic and
Avoid government guarantees that crowd out private flows
Financial Policy Exercise extreme caution when considering further downward
Principles action on interest rates
Encourage new intermediaries and capital sources through open
policies

222
 Council on Global Capital Flows
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Michael S. Klein, Chairman, Institutional Clients Group (March-August 2008), Citi,
USA
Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy (2006-2008)

*Manvinder S. Banga, President, Foods, Home and Personal Care, Unilever, United
Kingdom
Andreas Beroutsos, Partner, Eton Park Capital Management, USA
*Ana P. Botín, Member of the Board, Grupo Santander, Spain
*Ibrahim S. Dabdoub, Group Chief Executive Officer, National Bank of Kuwait;
Chair of the Arab Business Council
Michael Drexler, Head, Strategy and Planning, Barclays Capital, United Kingdom
Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of
California, Berkeley, USA
Asaf Farashuddin, Vice-President Corporate Strategy, Visteon Corporation, USA
Diana Farrell, Director, Global Institute, McKinsey & Company, USA
Per-Kristian Foss, Member of Parliament, Norway
Steven J. Gilbert, Chairman, Gilbert Global Equity Partners, USA
*Mario Monti, President, University Bocconi, Italy
*Arif M. Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Abraaj Capital, United
Arab Emirates
Robert Pozen, Chairman, MFS Investment Management, USA
*John J. Studzinski, Senior Managing Director and Global Head, Corporate
Advisory Services, The Blackstone Group, USA
Suresh Vaswani, Joint Chief Executive Officer, IT Business Member of the Board,
Wipro, India
*Levent Veziroglu, Executive Vice-President (EVP), Office of the Chairman, Dogus
Group, Turkey
*Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman, Investor, Sweden

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Global Capital Flows

Council Manager: Bryan Stone
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: Kevin Steinberg
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

223
 Global Governance

Overview
Sessions in the Annual Meeting
Global governance exemplifies challenges to the programme related to Global
sustainability of industrial society and the survival of Governance include:
the world’s peoples. • Update 2009: Controlling Climate
Change
• Update 2009: Crises to Prevent at
In some areas effective solutions to address these All Cost
challenges exist. The Law of the Sea, for example, • Update 2009: Managing
Resources for the Long Term
has earned the acceptance and compliance of the • Update 2009: North America
major stakeholders; the WHO serves as an effective • 2009 World Economic
forum for the management of the SARS epidemic; Brainstorming: Navigating the
New Economic Landscape
public-private partnerships including the Global Fund
• 36 Hours in September: What
are making antiretroviral drugs increasingly available; Went Wrong?
civil society organizations like Rotary International • How Do Leaders Learn?
have made major contributions towards global • When Business as Usual Is Not
an Option
governance including, in this instance, the eradication • Crisis, Community and
of polio. Private organizations, for example ICANN on Leadership
Internet management and ISO in quality standards, • The Values behind Market
Capitalism
have solved problems of coordination that would
• Death of the Washington
typically be handled by intergovernmental agreement. Consensus?
• Global Financial Crisis: What
However, today’s challenges are more complex and, Lessons Should Be Learned?
• The Economic Governance of
as Kofi Annan says, have no passport attached: Europe
• Managing Global Risks
• We confront climate change, where business-as- • The New US Administration: Can
It Meet the Expectations of the
usual scenarios point to a global environment that
World?
in the long run is unsustainable and whose most • The Global Compact and the
immediate political and socioeconomic Corporate Citizen
consequences will bear on countries and groups • Global Solutions from the Past
• The World According to Russia
least able to manage them. • China, India and Japan: Asia’s
• We lack measures to manage weapons of mass Big Three
destruction, and an ability to accommodate • Africa: A Safer Bet than Most
legitimate desires for nuclear technology and • NATO: Will It Survive Another 60
Years?
energy in a fragile global nuclear order with more • Crisis, Collaboration and a
nuclear fuel to be controlled and regulated. Connected World
• We observe the failure of the Doha Round revealing • The Design Flaws of Governance
• Mending the Holes in the Food
an inability to agree on a trade system that
Safety Net
encourages the kind of development that alleviating • Climate Justice: Basis of a New
global poverty will require. Global Solidarity?
• We face a financial crisis of almost unprecedented • Global Challenges: Group Genius
Required?
proportion and global implications. • The Global Economic Outlook

224
Issues like these are correlated, and their effects are observed across countries,
groups, sectors. Addressing them means addressing global market failures,
sovereignty failures and intergovernmental failures: private markets do not sufficiently
address externalities that are public and global in nature; sovereign states can
provide legitimate order at home but do not adequately address problems reaching
across borders; intergovernmental institutions lack the necessary authority, vision,
expertise and resources to govern the world.

Failures of imagination and political will underlie these problems. As a result, in too
many areas global governance today fails as a generator of norms, underperforms as
a mechanism of coordination and collaboration, stalls when it comes to enforcement
and lacks adequate accountability.

What is new is a global context that is radically more interdependent both among
countries and across issues, and which sees the rise of new centres of industrial and
financial power, particularly in Asia, whose role fails to be reflected in global
institutions and practices.

225
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Global Governance proposes global governance solutions
to incorporate principles of genuine dialogue and explore new synergies. In particular:

• Existing institutions and new fora should encourage more extrovert leadership from
outside the circle of established powers. To be effective, this leadership needs to be
explicit in making these commitments. There needs to be a global pool of countries
thinking of the wider good of the global commons and willing to sacrifice an element of
self-interest and make a commitment to global goods.
• A framework is needed in which expert information, where it exists as it does at the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is mobilized to better define the
many factors at play and propose standards and strategies to solve them. But realizing
that the scientific community is sometimes divided and technical solutions are
sometimes fraught with narrowing definitions of the problem, we also require a
framework of deliberation and contestation that includes voices too long excluded from
global public policy-making. How problems are understood is also a political matter as
different understandings and approaches to challenges often reflect vested political
interests between and within nations.
• Public and private partnerships will need to exploit the synergies between public
authority and regulation, on the one hand, and private entrepreneurship and resources,
on the other. In this way, serious and large problems can be addressed by leveraged
solutions.
• Existing international institutions need reform in order to ensure that genuine global
demands are better met. We need a UN Security Council that better reflects the 21st
Century and, because it does, is more legitimate and better able to elicit respect and
mobilize the resources that conflict resolution and peacekeeping require.
• As the forum for genuine dialogue and norm setting available to all countries, large and
small, the UN General Assembly needs radical revision that changes its dialogue from
that of the deaf to a dialogue that listens as well as it talks, raises questions no matter
how controversial, and provides judgements that are coherent and useful.
• No matter how deliberative and responsible, global action is much needed and will
continue to be inadequate without additional resources. These resources can come
through partnerships, international taxation and other innovative forms of market
solutions and financing.

In addition, the Council highlighted the evident gap in crisis management at the global
level, reiterating that crisis management must take place in a much more timely fashion
and incorporate the essential stakeholders to enhance understanding and action.
Solutions available soon, as imperfect as they are, are better than solutions wise only in
hindsight. The global financial crisis roiling the world threatens to evolve into “beggar-thy-
neighbour” policies in the way in which the financial crises of the early 1930s produced the
global depression of the entire decade. Institutions such as the IMF and the WTO need
restructuring to better represent new stakeholders and existing rules, regulations and fora
need rethinking to embody insights pertinent to today’s world.

No quick fix to the immense set of global governance failures that we now face exists.
Failures are not just technical matters, they are deeply political and the current framework
of global governance is as much the problem as it is the solution. Solutions will need to
draw upon many different disciplines, but also the political leadership of inspiring leaders
supported by more effective institutions and a deeper public understanding of
globalization. Effective and legitimate solutions are then a matter of trade-offs.
Effectiveness may require small and efficient management, but there will be instances
where effective management is realized with the support of all stakeholders.

226
 Council on Global Governance
Members

Chair: *Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
Singapore

Naoyuki Agawa, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio

University, Japan
Masahiko Aoki, Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies,
Stanford University, USA
*John Chipman, Director-General and Chief Executive, International Institute for
Strategic Studies (IISS), United Kingdom
Richard N. Cooper, Professor of International Economics, Harvard University, USA
Michael Doyle, Harold Brown Professor of International and Public Affairs, Law and
Political Science, Columbia Law School, USA
Ann M. Florini, Director, Centre on Asia and Globalization, Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy, Singapore
*Ian A. Goldin, Director, The James Martin 21st Century School, University of
Oxford, United Kingdom
*Nik Gowing, Main Presenter, BBC World News, United Kingdom
*Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University, Netherlands
David Held, Graham Wallas Chair in Political Science, London School of Economics
and Political Science, United Kingdom
*K. V. Kamath, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank;
President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India
David Kennedy, Vice-President, International Affairs, Brown University, USA
Ellen Laipson, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Henry L. Stimson Center,
USA
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Policy
Research (CPR), India
Gowher Rizvi, Director, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
John G. Ruggie, Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, USA
Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Affairs, USA
Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Director, Division for International Relations, University of
Tokyo, Japan
*Akihiko Tanaka, Professor of International Relations, Institute of Oriental Culture,
University of Tokyo, Japan
Wang Jisi, Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University, People’s
Republic of China
Ngaire Woods, Director, The Global Economic Governance Programme, United
Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Global Governance

Council Manager: Michele Petochi
Research Analyst: Tareq Bouchuiguir
Managing Director: Richard Samans

227
 Global Trade Regime

Overview

The rules-based multilateral trading system instituted Sessions in the Annual

after World War II has been a successful case of Meeting programme related
institution-building and institutional innovation in to the Global Trade Regime
modern history. The principle of non-discrimination is include:
• 2009 World Economic
its shining hallmark. The great success can be seen in Brainstorming: Navigating the
many ways. While for several decades it was mostly New Economic Landscape
the exclusive preserve of the first world, in the last 20 • Update 2009: Managing Assets
years virtually all countries from the second and third in a Correlated World
• Update 2009: The Return of
worlds have joined it. At the beginning of the 21st State Power
Century, the reality is a global market of • Can the World Live with the
unprecedented scope and depth. Furthermore, in Frugal American?
many cases, the countries that adopted the reform • The Fight against Protectionism
policies of trade liberalization are also those that have
witnessed the greatest amount of poverty reduction.
A major objective in the policy arena should be to ensure that these great
achievements are not destroyed but instead are built upon.

Over the past decade, trade and growth have boomed while the policy process has
stagnated, but this dichotomy mattered little given the buoyant environment. The
trade system is also far more resilient than the financial system; despite the crisis we
have seen the trading system continue to work. We have a financial system that lags
behind in governance and a trading system with rules that work. Regrettably, the
global trade regime does not receive the attention of political leaders that it deserves
and is often deemed to be a low priority.

The financial crisis is having a huge impact; we are now clearly in a completely
different global economic environment. The current crisis’s impact on trade, aside
from the consequences of lower growth, is difficult to measure. However, various
elements of turbulence could potentially (perhaps inevitably) have negative
consequences. The turbulence includes significant volatility in exchange rates, the fall
in commodity prices, the dearth of trade finance and hence the squeezing from the
global trading system of possibly many relatively new entrants primarily composed of
SMEs.

The risks in 2009 are therefore arguably much greater than at any time since World
War II, or at least since the oil crisis of the 1970s. Political leaders might resort to
various protectionist, or disguised protectionist, measures as a means of gaining
political support. This is all the more the case as, even before the crisis, no strong
liberalization wind was blowing in the political arena, especially among industrialized
countries.

228
In assessing risks, and seeking to mitigate them, the question to ask is why the
process has stalled. Why have advocates of the multilateral trading system been
unsuccessful in advancing the public policy process and gaining popular support?
One reason is the significant failure of education and public relations when it comes
to trade. This has been both caused and exacerbated by a significant amount of
confusion over the scope of trade policy and the effects that trade can have. In
particular, the labelling of this round as the Doha “development” round has potentially
raised unwarranted expectations as to what trade can and cannot do in terms of
development.

It must be recognized that there are fairly widespread perceptions that

incompatibilities exist between an open trade regime and some of the other key
global issues, such as climate change, poverty, disease and hunger. Policies urgently
need to be put in place to repair the situation and mitigate the risks.

229
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Global Trade Regime proposes that:

There is an urgent need to address the risks and to better articulate a coherent message
on the global trade regime. However, effective remedies and policies can only emerge
from the highest levels of political leadership (heads of state). This is especially important
as the multilateral trading system that has served the world so well is in danger of being
eroded by diverse forces, including not only protectionism but also the rise of
preferentialism. And in this context, it would be dangerous for policy-makers to take the
global trading system in its current rules-based multilateral form for granted.

The G20 meeting in Washington on 15 November presented an opportunity for the

assembled political leadership to express their commitment to conclude the Doha round
and move the global trade agenda forward. A commitment to the trade regime would be
an important signal to restore confidence. This commitment could potentially include a
general statement of commitment comparable to the ones that are usually provided at
the conclusion of G8 meetings. It can also include the experts’ commitment not to
engage any act of domestic policy that would contravene obligations and commitments
to the WTO, including commitments not to raise tariffs or erect trade barriers. The
meeting also offer a “seize-the-moment” opportunity to commit to closing Doha within a
specified period of time. This could consist of formalizing what’s already on the table and
efficiently resolving some of the outstanding issues.

Beyond the tactical short-term objective of closing Doha within a time frame to be clearly
determined, in the long term the most fundamental challenge is what happens after
Doha. How can the multilateral trading system be made much more productive?

Measures for Improvement

Measures for improving the global trade regime to correspond to the new realities of the
21st Century could be predicated on the concept of the kind of vision one would wish to
have for the global economy in 2030.

In looking at the next 20 years, undoubtedly there will be a number of very challenging
issues, such as changing global demographics, geopolitical instability, climate change,
etc. These and other threats could seriously destabilize the global trade regime, so it is
all the more imperative that measures be taken to continue to strengthen it. In light of
global realities and the huge proliferation of players in the global trading regime, a very
important consideration in this context is that there must be greater organizational
flexibility while ensuring that the key principles remain strictly adhered to. To that end,
one critical element is to ensure that the WTO agenda is not over-burdened. At the same
time, policy-makers need to approach discussions on the trade regime in a holistic
context.

Some of the current initiatives, such as Aid for Trade and trade facilitation, should be
continued. Other possible measures that require more reflection and discussion include:
• the inclusion of business and aid agencies in future negotiations
• the creation of a plurilateral structure with inbuilt flexibility to provide a greater time and
scope for extending MFN
• the infusion of a greater degree of vision in the promotion of the trade regime
• the imposition of rigorous disciplines in preferential trade agreements with the
objective of making them ultimately collapse into a single universal global trade regime
• the inclusion of other key areas that require close attention, such as anti-dumping.
230
 Council on the
Global Trade Regime
Members

Chair: *Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, Director, Yale Center for the Study of
Globalization, Yale University, USA

Uri Dadush, Director, International Trade Department and Development Economics

Prospects Group, World Bank, Washington DC
Ahmed Galal, Executive Director and Director of Research, The Egyptian Center for
Economic Studies (ECES), Egypt
Gene Grossman, Jacob Viner Professor of International Economics, Princeton
University, USA
Gary C. Hufbauer, Senior Fellow, The Peterson Institute for International
Economics, USA
Merit Janow, Professor in the Practice of International Economic Law and
International Affairs, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), USA
*Robert Z. Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of Trade and Investment, John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
*Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Professor of International Political Economy, IMD
International, Switzerland
Donald R. Lessard, Professor of International Management, MIT - Sloan School of
Management, USA
*Paul Rice, President and Chief Executive Officer, TransFair USA, USA
Dani Rodrik, Professor, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University,
USA
Martin Rohner, Chief Executive Officer, Max Havelaar Foundation (Switzerland),
Switzerland
*Michael Treschow, Chairman, Unilever, Netherlands
Shujiro Urata, Professor, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda
University, Japan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Global Trade Regime

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Managing Director: Richard Samans

231
 Healthcare Systems

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Health is valued both in its own right, and as a major Meeting programme related
contribution to human capital and productivity. to Healthcare Systems
include:
The health system comprises all the actions • Update 2009: Healthcare under
Stress
undertaken with the prime intention of maintaining • Live Long and Prosper
and improving a nation’s health. It can therefore • IdeasLab with MIT
embrace many actions beyond conventional • The Cancer Epidemic
healthcare, including health promotion, prevention • Creating Wealth through Health
• Personal Genetics —
and preparedness for health emergencies. It also Revolutionizing Healthcare?
includes coordinating and influencing cross-sectoral • Completing the Malaria Mission
actions to improve health. • Live and Let Die

Even allowing for different stages of development,

health systems vary dramatically in performance. Such variations in performance
appear to be driven not only by system design issues, but also by governance
structures, information flows and managerial competence.

The governance of a health system has a crucial impact on its performance,

measured in terms of its outcomes, in terms of length and quality of life, health
equality, efficiency and financial protection for citizens from healthcare expenditure.
Good governance is needed at every level, including national and local government,
the institutions of healthcare, the medical professions, private providers and civil
society.

Governments have a key role in protecting the health of their populations, and putting
in place mechanisms to ensure that health systems function as intended.

Major challenges confronted by health systems include:

• Rapidly increasing expenditure on healthcare
• Increasing numbers of older people
• Weak or absent performance measurements in many settings
• Policy that develops incrementally in an ad hoc fashion, often in response to
interest groups
• Slow diffusion of efficient practice and new technologies
• Considerable difficulty in assigning adequate priority to prevention and surveillance

232
• The growth of chronic disease
• Great diversity of providers and settings, leading to fragmentation and information
asymmetries
• Access to healthcare for disadvantaged groups.

In low-income settings, agendas are being driven by the Millennium Development

Goals. These have been helpful in focusing policy attention, but may also have
distracted from other important objectives and emerging challenges.

233
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Healthcare Systems proposes that:

There is scope for promoting improvement in many aspects of health system functioning.
However, three fundamental levers exist that offer the most important and practical promise
for systemwide improvement.

1. Create an information infrastructure

The availability of information is a constraint to improvement in all health systems. It is needed
prospectively, to set priorities and inform system design, and retrospectively, to assess
performance and promote accountability. Information is a public good, and can challenge
vested interests. Government therefore has a central role in ensuring that necessary
information is collected, analysed, disseminated and understood. It should be possible to
address any privacy or ethical concerns. The benefits of an enhanced information base
include:
• Helping patients to make better choices about their healthcare
• Providing the ability to evaluate investments in health
• Benchmarking within and across health systems
• Enhancing the policy-making process
• Helping providers improve their performance
• Improving accountability to citizens and patients throughout the health system.

The Council urges the Forum to develop a Charter that promulgates four key principles:
• Adoption by all public and private sector actors of a common data architecture including
standardized nomenclature and interoperability standards
• Recognition that data are a public good; with due provisions for the protection of privacy, all
health data sets should be in the public domain
• Acknowledgement that everyone benefits from a multiplicity of independent analyses of
health data rather than forcing a single view
• Investment by the global health community in enhancing the capacity of developing
countries to analyse their own health data.

2. Guarantee entitlement to a core package of health services

Most health systems seek to deliver a core package of health services to all citizens, funded
by taxation, donor funds or social insurance payments. We believe that major benefits can
accrue if this package is framed as an entitlement to which all citizens have a right, and
created as a social compact. This will require explicit setting of priorities, using criteria such as
cost-effectives, equity concerns and social acceptability. The package could be delivered by
providers in public, private or voluntary sectors. However, the benefits are:
• The package can be designed to secure maximum effectiveness for the funds available
• Governments can be held to account for the health system
• All citizens understand their rights to healthcare
• Vulnerable groups can be targeted
• The system is not unduly influenced by particular patient groups
• Employers and private health insurers can create a market in insurance for those able and
willing to purchase a broader benefits package that complements the core package.

3. Prioritize health promotion, disease prevention and disaster preparedness

Many health systems have considerable difficulty in assigning adequate priority to disease
prevention and other public health initiatives. Yet, viewed in the longer term, these can be
among the most cost-effective use of limited funds. Health systems need to be strengthened
to enable them to address the determinants of health using interventions within the health
sector and cross-sectoral interventions of proven cost-effectiveness. There is a case for
treating health promotion, disease prevention and disaster preparedness as capital
investments rather than current expenditure, both in formal accounting terms and in the
policy-making process.

234
 Council on Healthcare Systems
Members

Chair: *Christopher Murray, Director, Institut for Health Metrics and Evaluation
(IHME), University of Washington, USA

Vishal Bali, Chief Executive Officer, Wockhardt Hospitals Group, India

*David E. Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and
Demography, Harvard School of Public Health, USA
Elizabeth Bradley, Professor of Public Health, Yale University, USA
David Cutler, Dean of Social Sciences, Harvard University, USA
Susan Dentzer, Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs, USA
*Victor J. Dzau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Duke University Medical
Center and Health System, USA
*Christopher J. Elias, President, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health
(PATH), USA
Julie Louise Gerberding, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
USA
M. James Kondo, President and Vice-Chairman, Health Policy Institute, Japan
*Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Science Adviser to the Prime Minister, Japan
Mark McClellan, Director, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform, The Brookings
Institution, USA
Anne Mills, Head of PHP and Professor of Health Economics and Policy, London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
William Moyes, Executive Chairman, Monitor (Independent Regulator of NHS
Foundation Trusts), National Health Service (NHS), United Kingdom
David Peters, Associate Professor, Department of International Health and Deputy
Director, Academic Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
USA
Peter C. Smith, Professor of Health Economics, University of York, United Kingdom
Peter Ubel, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Director, Center for
Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine, University of Michigan, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Healthcare Systems

Council Manager: Michael Seo
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Forum Lead: Olivier Raynaud
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

235
 HIV/AIDS

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The AIDS epidemic continues to be one of the most Meeting programme related
devastating in the history of humankind, with an to HIV/AIDS include:
estimated 33 million people living with HIV in 2007, • Update 2009: Healthcare under
2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million AIDS- Stress
• IdeasLab with MIT
related deaths. AIDS is the leading cause of death in • Creating Wealth through Health
Sub-Saharan Africa and is expanding in many
regions, including the former Soviet Union and Asia.
Because HIV kills people in their most productive
years, not just the young or the elderly, it has a multiplier effect on businesses,
economies and societies. And prevention efforts are lagging, particularly in critical at-
risk groups, as new infections outpace the number of people receiving treatment
globally.

However, the global community is not powerless against the epidemic, and there has
been encouraging progress in recent years. Treatment works, and important
successes in scaling up have been noted. Global investments to fight the epidemic
have grown from millions to billions of dollars per year. We face many AIDS epidemics
– among different at-risk populations, among those co-infected with TB, and in
different cultural, social and economic contexts – and this heterogeneity requires
multiple responses, with attention to the ways in which HIV/AIDS reaches beyond
health into all sectors of society and is shaped by cultures and economies as well as
epidemiology. Increases in funding and coordinated responses by communities,
national governments, bilateral agencies and multilateral organizations have led to
improved outcomes, with fewer deaths and fewer new infections.

“Good politics saves lives, bad politics kills people.” We have seen the importance of
responsible leadership in stopping the spread of HIV infection – not just by politicians,
but also by religious, community, business and youth leaders. Effective leadership on
HIV/AIDS requires sensitivity to cultural issues and a willingness to confront stigma
and discrimination, as well as complacency and inertia.

236
We can’t let the global financial crisis blind us to the continued need for long-term
thinking. There has already been a crisis for the billion people who live on less than
one dollar per day. At the same time, the economic crisis facing developed
economies is likely to have a predictable impact on available donor funding for
HIV/AIDS within the next three years, so that implementers will need to plan for
resource constraints. Strong reasons to invest in the response against HIV/AIDS still
exist, so the progress of recent years is not lost. We should seize opportunities to
look for greater efficiencies and more effective delivery mechanisms, with a focus on
improved health outcomes through solutions based on real evidence.

237
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on HIV/AIDS proposes that:

To build on the encouraging results in the global AIDS response and to achieve a new level
of effectiveness, we need to adopt twin goals. It is important to continue to scale up
treatment, so that those who are already HIV-positive can live well with the disease. This
should be coupled with an ambitious new goal of achieving an HIV-free generation – a
world in which no one need die from HIV infection, where HIV transmission is halted, no
babies are born HIV-positive, and children don’t become orphans because of AIDS. To
reach this future state, we need what might be termed “combination therapy” by
governments, the private sector and civil society organizations working together, pooling
complementary skills and resources to find and implement sustainable solutions across the
spectrum of HIV prevention, care, treatment and support.

How can we achieve an HIV-free generation? New investments in novel approaches

to HIV prevention are absolutely necessary. Two elements of the new paradigm were the
focus of our Council’s discussion: (1) drawing on the skills of business to scale up the
global response; and (2) engaging and empowering young people as architects of a new
HIV-free generation.

First, the business case. There is emerging consensus that HIV is everybody’s business –
and companies need to assess and address the impact of HIV on their workforces and
customer base. It’s clear that HIV affects business in many countries and across
industries. But how can business affect the global response to HIV? There’s an opportunity
to mobilize the use of basic business skills to improve the global response by employing
the “excess capacity” of the private sector to fight HIV on a broader front. Examples
include:

• marketing and branding expertise to drive behaviour change

• using new information technology applications and global connectivity (e.g., gaming,
mobile technology) for behaviour change and HIV prevention interventions
• integrating HIV care and treatment into employee services and human resources
management
• applying systems approaches to human resources, financial management, logistics and
supply chain management, etc.

Businesses can encourage both their customers and their suppliers to get involved. And
by contemplating the use of incentives and even profit-making opportunities, we envisage
a new collaboration between the private sector, the public sector and civil society to reach
the goal of an HIV-free generation. To enable greater business engagement, donors will
need to be more open to working with the private sector in these ways.

Second, engaging and empowering young people must be a new priority if we are to
achieve an HIV-free generation. By designing new interventions that take advantage of
Internet applications (e.g., massively multiplayer role-playing video games and social
networking sites) that already attract the attention of youth, we envision the possibility of
designing environments that will attract participation, while providing platforms to link youth
to prevention education and services that can stop the further spread of the HIV epidemic.

To begin to implement these ideas, the HIV/AIDS Global Agenda Council will reach out to
other relevant Councils to design an Annual Meeting Davos event for a “call to action” on
the HIV-free generation, as well as incorporate these perspectives into the work of the
Global Health Initiative, the Young Global Leaders and the agendas of the World Economic
Forum’s Regional Meetings.
238
 Council on HIV/AIDS
Members

Chair: *Peter Piot, Senior Fellow, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA

Ashok Alexander, Director, Avahan-India AIDS Initiative, Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, India
Pamela Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric
AIDS Foundation, USA
Jed Beitler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Worldwide, Sudler & Hennessey,
USA
Mark R. Dybul, US Global AIDS Coordinator, US Department of State, USA
*Maria Eitel, President, Nike Foundation, Nike, USA
Elisabet Fadul, Co-Founder and Country Coordinator, Dominican Network for
Youth Rights, Dominican Republic
Alex Govender, Manager, Corporate Health Services, Volkswagen, South Africa
Frika Chia Iskandar, Coordinator, Woman Working Group, Asia Pacific Network of
People Living with HIV/AIDS, Thailand
Andrew Jack, Pharmaceutical Correspondent, Financial Times, United Kingdom
*Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria – GFATM, Geneva
Charles M. Mbire, Chairman, MTN Uganda, Uganda
Michael Merson, Director, Global Health Institute, Duke University, USA
*Mabel van Oranje, Chief Executive Officer, Open Society Institute, United Kingdom
Joy Phumaphi, Vice-President, Human Development Network, World Bank,
Washington DC
*Malvinder M. Singh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Ranbaxy
Laboratories, India
*Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Vice-President, Corporate Responsibility, Merck & Co., USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on HIV/AIDS

Council Manager: Tanya Mounier
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Forum Lead: Olivier Raynaud
Managing Director: Richard Samans

239
 Human Equality and Respect

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Questions of human equality and respect must be Meeting programme related
made a priority in a moment of global economic to Human Equality and
crisis. Respect include:
• Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
at All Cost
The current economic crisis and the context of • Update 2009: North America
globalization in which it has occurred has exposed • Africa: Uniting the Continent
more vividly than ever the costs of discrimination, • How Do Leaders Learn?
indifference, hatred and inequality. A great gap exists • When Business as Usual Is Not
an Option
between political and economic leaders and ordinary • Update 2009: Migration and
citizens. In addition, economic inequalities compound Multiple Identities
the divisions between racial, ethnic and religious • Crisis, Community and
groups and vice versa. The current crisis suggests the Leadership
• The Values behind Market
possible benefits of incorporating the perspectives Capitalism
and talents of those who have been excluded from • The Ethics of Science
the process of policy-making and leadership. • Rising Population: Overload or
Opportunity?
• Shaping the Post-Crisis World:
Many people in the world feel that they are losers in Views from the Next Generation
the process of globalization – they suffer extreme • Cultural Literacy: How to
poverty and lack basic human security. At the Develop It
extreme, there is a hierarchy of human worth, one • Faith in Religion
• Religion and Human Rights: A
reflected in the treatment of human beings as Contradiction?
commodities. To them, the march of economic • Reconciling Religion and
globalization appears threatening. Many economic Science in Society
and political leaders offer a defence of globalization, • Live and Let Die
• Values, Vision and Leadership
but do not explicitly address the perspectives of those
whose daily lives are negatively affected by it.

Proclamations of human rights are far more commonplace than practices of mutual
respect among individuals and groups. Our 21st-Century world is still home to the
humanly devastating problems of slavery, ethnic and religious conflict, genocide,
domestic violence, extreme poverty and illiteracy, along with the crippling deprivations
of healthcare. Systematic discrimination on the basis of sex is widespread. Many
suffer from the humiliation and dehumanization that result from oppression and
marginalization. Ultimately, a society is defined by its attitude towards its most
vulnerable members.

240
Exclusion, indifference, racism, gender discrimination and hate limit access to the
talent pool to address pressing social problems and improve human security
nationally and internationally. In every sector of society, there are future leaders of
enormous potential whose talent has not been recognized by those in power – who
must be recruited, nurtured and cultivated. The lack of inclusive leadership narrows
the range of resolutions to social problems, limits our creative potential and breeds
hatred, violence, indifference and inaction that impede practical progress on the most
pressing issues of our time.

Inequality and discrimination foster distrust. A fundamental lack of trust and the failure
of institutions to foster trust exacerbate the economic crisis.

241
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Human Equality and Respect proposes the following:

• Ethical Education
A significant dimension of the problem is ignorance and the lack of access to
education. Education that combats ignorance is a necessary starting point. Every
child needs access to education that provides the skills necessary to be self-
sustaining. But we also call for ethical education, formal and informal, that fosters
respect among people of diverse backgrounds and opens their minds to both
economic opportunities and, just as importantly, to the equality of human beings.
Faith can play a role in ethical education, but it is not a necessary prerequisite. The
ideals of human equality and respect are compatible with different religious and
secular perspectives that emphasize the fundamental dignity and humanity of all
human beings. Beyond literacy, numeracy and skills development, ethical
education must emphasize the skills and virtues of collaboration and critical
thinking. It is essential to educate to overcome indifference and hostility by
emphasizing human interrelationships and their history. We must encourage this
kind of education not only in classrooms but in museums, libraries and on sports
fields.

• Councils of Inclusion
We propose the creation of Councils of Inclusion, consisting of leaders of
governments, corporations, NGOs, international agencies and social movements.
They will provide a voice to individuals from a wide range of groups, especially
those who have been victims of past discrimination and are most vulnerable to
discrimination in the future. On a wide range of local and global issues, these
consultative bodies would offer creative ideas for developing new policies and
institutional and legal reforms that mitigate the discriminatory effects of existing
policies. They would commission investigations, hold hearings, prepare reports,
make recommendations and periodically issue “discrimination impact statements”
about particular policies.

• Inclusive Leadership
We need a more inclusive form of decision-making that does not rely solely on
economic expertise, but also gives voice to those who feel excluded from the
political process. To combat racism, inequality and hatred, it is important for
leaders to challenge barriers and to bridge the boundaries of difference and
distrust. It takes transformational leaders – with the ability to speak for a wide
range of people – to accomplish fundamental change. At every level of society,
current leaders should be on the lookout for exceptional potential leaders who are
diverse and innovative – who do not look, think or talk like them – especially from
excluded or marginalized groups.

Higher education must play a critical role in this process. Professional education,
especially in business, public policy and the law, must emphasize the necessity of
equality and respect, creating ethical leaders who will put a priority on inclusive
rather than exclusive decision-making.

242
 Council on Human Equality and Respect
Members

Co-Chairs:
Amy Gutmann, President, The University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Tukufu Zuberi, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Director, Center
for Africana Studies, The University of Pennsylvania, USA

*Ian Ayres, Professor of Law, Yale Law School, USA

Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Department of
English and American Literature, Harvard University, USA
Henry Louis Gates, Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director, Harvard
University, USA
Conor Gearty, Director, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, London School of
Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Anthony Giddens, Director, London School of Economics and Political Science
(1997-2003), United Kingdom
Dru C. Gladney, President, Pacific Basin Institute, Pomona College, USA
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Cape
Town, South Africa
Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York, USA
Michael Ignatieff, Leader, Liberal Party of Canada, Canada
John L. Jackson, The Richard Perry University Associate Professor of
Communications and Anthropology, The University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Graça Machel, Chairperson, Foundation for Community Development (FDC),
Mozambique
Avishai Margalit, George F. Kennan Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, USA
Achille Mbembe, Research Professor in History and Politics, Wits Institute for
Social and Economic Research, South Africa
Vasuki Nesiah, Director, Office of International Affairs, Brown University, USA
Sari Nusseibeh, President, Al-Quds University, Palestinian Authority
*Sadako Ogata, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan
Thomas Sugrue, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of History and
Sociology, The University of Pennsylvania, USA
Dennis Thompson, Director Emeritus, Alfred North Whitehead and Professor of
Political Philosophy, Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, John F. Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Eve Troutt Powell, Associate Professor of History, The University of Pennsylvania,
USA
Elie Wiesel, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Boston University, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Human Equality and Respect

Council Manager: Oksana Myshlovska
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

243
 Humanitarian Assistance

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Over the past two decades, the international Meeting programme related
community has significantly improved its humanitarian to Humanitarian Assistance
response capabilities through actions such as the include:
development of best practices, standards and codes, • Update 2009: Helping Others in
a Post-Crisis World
and the creation of coordinating institutional • Afghanistan and Pakistan: Key
structures, among others. Despite such Countries on the Global
developments, the humanitarian sector requires Agenda
additional strengthening, and even more so now as it • Rising Population: Overload or
Opportunity?
faces an unprecedented increase in crises around the • Global Solutions from the Past
world. • Extreme Events: Why the
Surprise?
The humanitarian caseload will increase and become • Sustaining the Non-Profit
Sector
more complex. It is possible that it will include
challenges of entirely unprecedented scale if, as
commentators foresee, large scale migration, both
cross-border and internal, results from climate change. This increased caseload
stems from such factors as:
• In a 2-4 year time frame, the pressure of the economic crisis on poorer societies
(due, for example, to declining levels of investment, trade and remittances,
potentially less ODA than foreseen, an inward-looking turn in rich country policies)
• In an 8-10+ year time frame, the social impact of both sudden shocks and slow
onset change resulting from climate change
• Growing population growth and stress on resources including greater food
insecurity
• The likelihood of pandemics
• The heightened political instability and conflict risk that result from the above
• The impact of these factors on already unstable states and regional inter-state
relations
• Their interaction with economic developments (even in times of recovery from
recession there are losers as well as winners), state fragility, the effects of conflict,
etc.

Vicious feedback loops and risk of downward spirals are anticipated, as each risk
factor exacerbates the others. The greatest intersection of risks today is found in
poor countries characterized by state fragility.

244
245
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Humanitarian Assistance proposes that:

The international community needs a new Vulnerability and Protection “Business

Model”. This has six requirements:
• A comprehensive risk framework
• A reworked balance of spending between response and prevention-recovery
• A big investment in national and local capacity for response, prevention and
recovery
• Fuller engagement of the private sector
• Linkage of the humanitarian to broader social and economic development issues
• Regional and international readiness to address cross-border humanitarian issues.

The first requirement is a comprehensive risk framework. Climate change introduces

fundamental uncertainties into future projection. We enter an enterprise of risk
management without hard facts about how things will unfold. We must plan to be
ready for events for which we cannot plan.

The second requirement of the new approach is to rework the balance between
disaster response and the upstream and downstream issues of prevention and
recovery. More resources are needed both to reduce risk in the first place, and
reduce the risk of relapse after the event.

The default mode of the current humanitarian model is external assistance; the
default mode of a new vulnerability and protection model is self-reliance. The third
requirement is to enhance the capacities, readiness and resilience of exposed
societies so they can better handle extreme events. Ensuring that civil society and
local communities are involved will make it possible to identify and meet the
differential needs of groups (differentiated, e.g., by gender, age, social class).

The fourth requirement is to engage the private sector more fully, not just as a source
of donations but also as a source of key skills and technologies, during and after
disaster. We commend the World Economic Forum’s initiative on the private sector in
humanitarian relief. Governments should support local business and donors could
offer tax breaks to companies that invest in risky regions.

The fifth requirement is to link the humanitarian concern to broader development

issues, strengthening social safety nets and supporting resilience.

Finally, cross-border challenges will grow. Regional organizations backed by the UN

need to be able to mediate and mitigate these problems as they arise.

246
 Council on Humanitarian Assistance
Members

Chair: *Simon Maxwell, Director, Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom

Rick Barton, Co-Director, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project and Senior Adviser,

International Security Programme, The Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS), USA
Andy Bearpark, Director-General, British Association of Private Security Companies
(BAPSC), United Kingdom
Andrea Coleman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Riders for Health, United
Kingdom
*Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group, Belgium
*Helene D. Gayle, President and Chief Executive Officer, CARE USA, USA
Angelo Gnaedinger, Director-General, ICRC (International Committee of the Red
Cross), Geneva
Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Undersecretary-General and Adviser to the Secretary-
General for Regional Cooperation, United Nations, New York
*Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva
*John Holmes, Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency
Relief Coordinator, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
New York
Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia
Markku Niskala, Secretary-General Emeritus, International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Geneva
Sarah Sewall, Director, The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, John F. Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Paul Slovic, Professor of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology, University
of Oregon, USA
*Dan Smith, Secretary-General, International Alert, United Kingdom
*Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive, Oxfam GB, United Kingdom
Monique Villa, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Reuters Foundation, United
Kingdom
*Bart Weetjens, Founder and Director, HeroRAT, Belgium

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Humanitarian Assistance

Council Manager: Shruti Mehrotra
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Managing Director: Richard Samans

247
 Illicit Trade

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Illicit trade encompasses not only that which is illegal Meeting programme related
but also that which causes direct human, social, to Illicit Trade include:
political or environmental harm. There are three broad • Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
categories of illicit trade: (1) victimless crimes (e.g. at All Cost
• Update 2009: Threats to
counterfeiting luxury goods); (2) crimes leading to Society
human, social and environmental damage (trade in • Global Organized Crime: An
narcotics, arms, counterfeit medicine or food and Offer that Many Can't Refuse
human trafficking); and (3) legal trade that is not a
crime but that should be (e.g. trade in “conflict”
resources, e.g. conflict diamonds).

Estimates on the prevalence of illicit trade, which ranges from 7-10% of global trade,
do not convey the severe harm resulting from the trade or the urgency of the
problem. Illicit trade is not evenly distributed across the world’s regions, it has
devastating impacts on diverse elements of society, particularly in developing and
conflict regions. Examples of the diverse consequences of this trade abound:
• A WHO study demonstrated that out of 104 malarial medicines circulating in Asia,
38 did not contain any active substance and, therefore, had no effect. Out of every
million people who die annually from malaria, 200,000 could have been saved with
genuine medication.
• There have been more deaths from gun violence in El Salvador since the end of the
Civil War than during the years of actual conflict. The guns left over from the Civil
War and the criminality of the post-conflict society have contributed to record rates
of homicides and domestic violence.
• Between 2001 and 2003, the illegal exports of timber from Liberia (not considered
illegal at the point of import in Europe) were a key revenue generator for arms
purchases flowing into Liberia for the Civil War. This trade resulted in massive forest
destruction and the loss of tens of thousands of lives – there have been no
consequences for the importing European-based timber companies.

Illicit trade is perpetrated by a variety of criminal actors, not just traditional criminal
organizations but also diverse networks that often include a range of individuals
including high-ranking government officials. Corruption is the major facilitating
mechanism for this trade to function.

Illicit trade has grown with particular speed in this recent wave of intensified
globalization. Its cross-border growth has been driven by enhanced communication
and transport systems and enabled by state-based legal systems that cannot
respond to growing transnational crime. The global financial crisis is likely to
exacerbate it further because of the increased pressure to lower prices and the
greater desperation of individuals in impacted economies.

248
Criminality is morphing and is transforming more rapidly than a state or multinational
system can respond. Policies at the state and multinational levels have failed to stop
growth. Gaps in international law, law enforcement and cyclical efforts against one
element of illicit trade have permitted crime groups to move their bases of operation
and to change their illicit commodities. Uncoordinated responses merely result in illicit
trade moving from one region to another. The drug trade has moved to West Africa
from the Caribbean to transport Latin American drugs to Europe. Only selected
traffickers get caught and the networks are not disrupted. Moreover, governments
pick and choose policy responses: they may sign a convention on human trafficking
but ignore broader issues of migrant rights.

The scale, impact and cost of illicit trade require an urgent response by governments,
business, civil society and consumers. It is both a driver and consequence of failed
states, which are most often the source of production. The trade needs to be
addressed in countries and regions of supply, transit and demand, each recognizing
its share of responsibility. Different forms of the trade – arms, endangered species,
counterfeit pharmaceuticals and human beings, to name but a few – must be
addressed in a holistic, non-fragmented way.

Required responses include closing the significant gaps in the international legal
framework, reducing corruption, fighting organized crime, increasing the engagement
of the business community and raising public awareness of the human, social and
environmental costs of this form of transnational trade and the urgency with which it
needs to be addressed.

249
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade recommends the following:

Raising Public Awareness

• Create and sustain a sense of urgency on the severity of the issue

• Establish an informational platform within the World Economic Forum for statistics,
qualitative and quantitative evidence of the scope, pattern and impact of illicit trade

• Create a definition of conflict/asset stripping resources

Sustained Engagement

• Find a comprehensive way of addressing the offshore havens and international

money laundering

• Research illicit trade in different regions of the world including an analysis of cases

• Encourage public-private partnerships – private sector engagement, chain of

supply (self-regulation), secure tracking and tracing regimes

• Use the human trafficking issue as a wedge to mobilization on illicit trade

• Support and engage stakeholders in the source regions of illicit trade

• Integrate illicit trade issues into global trade talks

• Integrate human trafficking and smuggling within the broader migration policy
debate

• Integrate the weapons trade within analyses of conflict and social violence

• Educate, support and protect watchdog organizations and investigative journalism

• Identify the weakest link in absence of enforcement, where there is too limited
response or an absence of response

250
 Council on Illicit Trade
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Moisés Naím, Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy Magazine, USA
*Simon Taylor, Director, Global Witness, United Kingdom

Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Secretary-General, Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Vienna
Steven Broad, Executive Director, TRAFFIC International, United Kingdom
Sandro Calvani, Director, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research
Institute (UNICRI), Turin
Richard Danziger, Head, Counter Trafficking Division, International Organization for
Migration (IOM), Geneva
Pierre Delval, Anticounterfeiting Adviser, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe, Switzerland
Jo L. Husbands, Senior Project Director, National Academy of Sciences, USA
*Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International, Germany
Peter Reuter, Professor, School of Public Policy and Department of Criminology,
School of Public Affairs, USA
Louise Shelley, Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University, USA
Beth A. Simmons, Director, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, USA
Kay Warren, Director, Politics, Culture and Identity and Professor of Anthropology
and Research, Watson Institute, Brown University, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade

Council Manager: Oksana Myshlovska
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

251
 International Legal System

Overview
The international legal system has an important role to Sessions in the Annual
play in addressing current challenges, from the Meeting programme related
environment (climate, water) to financial services and to the International Legal
markets, from security to terror and international System include:
crime, from torture to trade. • Update 2009: The Return of
State Power
• The Global Compact and the
Current challenges (the realization of basic human
Corporate Citizen
rights, financial, climate related, the balance between • The Design Flaws of
national security and fundamental rights, etc.) focus Governance
attention on the deficiencies of the international legal • Climate Justice: Basis of a New
system. Ever more areas require international Global Solidarity?
collaboration, as state-based systems are increasingly • Religion and Human Rights: A
unable to address key issues without effective global Contradiction?
• Update 2009: Threats to
cooperation. Serious doubts exist that the
Society
international legal system that evolved in the 1940s
can address the issues of the early 21st Century,
given the gaps in the system, the inadequacies of many of the rules and of the law-
making process, and the absence (in many areas) of effective international and
domestic enforcement mechanisms.

Global systems – finance, criminality, investment, environment, etc. – are increasingly

complex, interrelated and unpredictable. The challenge for the international legal
system is to address areas that are or may be determined to fall within the ambit of
international cooperation or regulation. That challenge is made all the more complex
by the unpredictability of international events and, in some cases, by a lack of political
will and resources.

There are more international agreements, more actors, more disputes, greater access
to information on international law and compliance and non-compliance, more
demands on the international legal system and greater reliance on international rules
before national courts. Yet the international legal system is ever-more fragmented into
self-contained areas, which leads to an absence of integration and potential
inconsistency.

There is a broad need to develop greater understanding of the strengths and

weaknesses of the existing international legal system, including compliance with
existing norms in particular. Developing the perception that a system of international
rules is able to deliver can itself build confidence.

There is insufficient awareness of the extent to which effective international rules are a
function of political will and available resources. A lack of awareness also exists of the
efficacy of many international rules, and of the failure of others.

Our globalizing world is no longer constructed on a system of states alone. The full
range of actors (states, IOs, civil society, the corporate sector, etc.) needs to be fully
involved in the design and implementation of an upgraded and reconfigured
international legal system, as it is done, for example, in the field of international

252
criminal law through the adoption of the Rome Statute creating a system of
international criminal justice involving the International Criminal Court and national
jurisdictions.

The international legal system is fragmented and decentralized; linkages between

different areas are limited and, in some cases, non-existent. The urgent need exists to
develop a more integrated approach (e.g. trade/foreign
investment/environment/climate). It is sharply apparent that some of the most
important areas – e.g. financial services – are considered to have been insufficiently
regulated at the international level.

An urgent need to strengthen the international legal system exists, and a failure to
take on this objective will make it more difficult to address current challenges in an
effective, timely and efficient way. This moment in time – with a range of major global
issues – provides major challenges but also an opportunity to rethink the post-World
War II settlement in the context of new paradigms. In an increasingly globalized world,
national and international standards and regulatory systems have not kept pace with
the major financial and social challenges we face.

The current financial crisis focuses attention on the challenges facing the international
legal system and points out the gaps in that system, namely the inadequacy of the
rules, the limits of the law-making process and the absence of effective international
and domestic enforcement mechanisms. The rush to regulatory reform will have to
consider the broader, systemic implications of whatever changes may be made. The
complexities of globalization indicate that many issues – from terrorism to financial
crises – require an international legal system that can anticipate and address
unforeseen events in a manner that is rapid, fair, effective and efficient, and which can
attract international support. This moment provides an important opportunity for the
World Economic Forum and its membership to contribute to global well-being.

253
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

To this end, the Global Agenda Council on the International Legal System proposes
that:

• Each Global Agenda Council should identify the two most pressing requirements
for the enhancement of the international legal system.
• The World Economic Forum should place the role and effectiveness of the
international legal system at the heart of its efforts to improve the state of the
world.
• The World Economic Forum should identify principles and practices to address the
current financial crisis, as well as labour, environmental, human rights and other
social concerns.
• The next Annual Meeting in Davos should, as a central issue, address the role and
effectiveness of the international legal system and proposals for its reform and
enhancement, including implementation, to address the current financial crisis and
other pressing social concerns.

The work of the Council on the International Legal System connects directly with that
of many other Councils. Enhancing the international legal system should be central to
the work of the World Economic Forum, and has the capacity to contribute to the
aims and objectives of the Forum if done correctly.

254
 Council on the International Legal System
Members

Chair: *Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor, ICC-International Criminal Court, The Hague

Georges Abi-Saab, Honorary Professor of International Law, Graduate Institute of

International and Development Studies, Switzerland
Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, Chair and Co-Director, Law
School Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law,
USA
Jose E. Alvarez, Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Columbia
Law School, USA
Alexander Boraine, Chairperson and Director, Cape Town Office, International Center for
Transitional Justice, South Africa
Boutros Boutros Ghali, President, Curatorium Administrative Council, Hague Academy
of International Law, Netherlands
David D. Caron, C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law, University of
California, Berkeley, USA
James Crawford, Whewell Professor of International Law and Director, Lauterpacht
Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Professor of International Law, Graduate Institute of International
and Development Studies, Switzerland
Michael J. Glennon, Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, USA
Thomas C. Heller, Lewis Talbot and Nadine Hearn Shelton Professor of International
Legal Studies, Stanford University, USA
Harold Koh, Dean and Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International
Law, Yale Law School, USA
Diane Orentlicher, Professor of International Law, Washington College of Law, American
University, USA
Francisco Orrego Vicuña, Professor of International Law, Law School, University of
Chile, Chile
Michael Posner, President, Human Rights First, USA
Philippe Sands QC, Director, University College London, United Kingdom
Song Ying, Professor of Law, Peking University Law School, People’s Republic of China
Karen I. Tse, Chief Executive Officer, International Bridges to Justice, Switzerland
Ruth Wedgwood, Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and
Director, International Law and Organizations Program, Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the International Legal System

Council Manager: Oksana Myshlovska
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

255
 Marketing and Branding

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Marketers have long been accused of creating a Meeting programme related
desire for goods that are not needed. More recently, to Marketing and Branding
there is discussion whether marketing and advertising include:
have contributed to creating, and possibly distorting, • Changing the Culture of
Consumption
the American Dream of ownership and consumption. • The Next Digital Experience
The current financial crisis has shaken and changed • Global Industry Outlook 2
the world as we know it. Are we entering an era of • Update 2009: Digital
fiscal responsibility, where “excess is out, and frugality Convergence Continues
• Can the World Live with a
is sexy”? How will marketers redefine marketing and Frugal America?
brand building in a new era defined by new economic • Renewing Trust in Corporations
conditions, new digital media and new values? • Restoring Consumer
Confidence
• What Was Privacy?
Digital media has forced corporations to become
more transparent. Building trust with consumers and
engaging them in a conversation is necessary. In
order to do so, you have to trust your consumer, and therefore give up control. The
more you disclose about your company, the more trust you earn. Google gained
brand strength and trust, without spending one marketing dollar, by trusting people.

The role of advertising is changing: a whole economy (mobile, media, entertainment)

is dependent on advertising, which will not grow as fast, as advertising is not always
trusted. So advertisers and their agencies will have to become more integrated in
content creation, sponsorships, products. They have to be focused on the product
rather than on the communication. Agencies are going to look more like investment
banks: managing risk, bundling content, staying close to the product development
(not communication) process. They will play a role that adds value in an imperfect
market. Agencies, however, cannot integrate as closely in the creation of journalistic
content because advertisers cannot be so closely involved in product creation or the
product will lose credibility. It is unclear what the business model for journalism will
be.

A common immediate reaction to the current crisis is to slash marketing spending.

Research on marketing spend in recessions over the last 100 years has shown that
companies that invest in their brands during a downturn gain market share shortly
after the crisis is over. The key to success during a downturn is maintaining focus.
Keep your wits about you and focus on five things: your product, your competition,
your brand, your customers and your communication. If you have a strong,
successful brand, focus on what has worked for you so far. If your brand is in a
relatively weak position, focus on systematically exploiting what strengths you have
while addressing your weaknesses. For marketers, it also means tapping in to the
cultural shift in behaviour that is personified by this New Era of Fiscal Responsibility –
and building integrated marketing strategies to deliver on the emotional brand value
that consumers are looking for.

256
Public policy recommendations often fail to get support because they are not
branded, framed or communicated well. They also have a challenge demonstrating
the long-term value vs the short-term cost. Two examples:

1. During the recent crisis, an aggressive budget to address the problem was labelled
a bail out. That label served to frame the discussion and the way people thought
about the proposal. If it had been called liquidity enhancement, the reaction would
have been very different and much more positive. But it’s not just the label that
counts. There is a narrative that serves to support the frame. The extra liquidity will
allow banks to lend money, thereby enabling small businesses to stay in business
and people to buy homes and cars again. And there is a communication
programme whether actively managed or allowed to evolve.

2. Take a look at the terminology currently used in the consumer facing mass media
with respect to the environment – carbon footprint, zero emissions, sustainability,
offsets, neutrality, weight, rationing, green. It is a bewildering set of complex, hard
to understand concepts. This is not because many possible solutions do not exist
but rather because we have yet to devise a widely available, user-friendly common
language to define these issues in a way that would not only raise awareness but
also produce measurable results.

257
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Marketing and Branding proposes that:

• We must frame, brand and communicate policy recommendations and global

challenges: We need to make large and unpopular changes, and inspire people to
support these changes and alter their behaviours, over long periods of time. We
must research and know our audiences, speak with them in accessible and
straightforward language and use media that allows two-way discussion.

• Financial institutions can only re-earn trust with congruence of belief, values and
actions (policies and risk management). Don’t bother communicating trust unless
you earn it, otherwise it will be counter-productive.

• Lots of industries depend on advertising (mobile, entertainment, journalism). The

marketing mix is shifting away from advertising. This Council can provide
leadership on where marketing investments are likely to migrate so that other
business models can be developed if possible.

258
 Council on Marketing and Branding
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Tom Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP, United Kingdom

David Aaker, Professor of Marketing Strategy, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Tim Armstrong, President, Advertising and Commerce, North America and Vice-
President, Google, USA
*Manvinder S. Banga, President, Foods, Home and Personal Care, Unilever, United
Kingdom
*Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, JCDecaux, France
*Richard W. Edelman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Edelman, USA
Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, Flydubai Dubai Aviation Corporation, United
Arab Emirates
*David W. Kenny, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digitas, USA
Philip Kotler, Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, USA
*Michael Mendenhall, Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, HP, USA
John A. Quelch, Senior Associate Dean, International Development and Lincoln Filene
Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, USA
*Michael I. Roth, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Interpublic Group, USA
David Schmittlein, Dean, MIT - Sloan School of Management, USA
Josh Spear, Founding Partner, Undercurrent, USA
*Hirotaka Takeuchi, Dean, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy,
Hitotsubashi University, Japan
Glen L. Urban, David Austin Professor of Marketing, MIT - Sloan School of Management,
USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Marketing and Branding

Council Manager: Diana El-Azar
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Forum Lead: Cristiana Falcone
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

259
 Migration

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
International migration is large and growing. About Meeting programme related
200 million persons live outside their country of birth, to Migration include:
representing about 3% of the world’s population. • Update 2009: An Integrated
Approach to Energy, Food and
Water Security
The impact of the economic crisis will depend, in part, • Update 2009: Migration and
on the depth and duration of the crisis. If Multiple Identities
unemployment increases, pull factors in destination • Rising Population: Overload or
countries may be reduced, but these could be offset Opportunity?
• Urbanization: The Unstoppable
by the push factors in the countries of origin since the Global Trend
latter are also experiencing significant contagion • Update 2009: Dealing with
effects from the global slowdown. It is also likely that Dangerous Demographics
irregular migration could substitute for reduced
migration through legal channels, particularly labour-
related migration.

In the same vein, the impact of the slowdown on remittances is also difficult to
predict. While remittance flows have been counter-cyclical during past economic
crises, a global economic crisis could affect the capacity of migrants to remit.
Moreover, the banking crisis could have a negative impact on migrants’ willingness to
transfer funds through formal channels.

We can, however, be more categorical about the impact of the slowdown on the
labour market integration of recent immigrants and their children. Past experience
shows that those immigrants who arrive during a period of recession are very likely to
suffer significant and long-lasting losses compared with their native counterparts.
Hence labour market and social policies need to pay specific attention to this group
of recent immigrants.

The crisis is also likely to result in a tightening of policies towards labour migration.
Public discourse on irregular migration and the need to control it will probably get
tougher. But much of this is likely to be “sound and fury” and the real impacts may be
small. The crisis may also hinder global cooperation on migration and increase
pressure on countries to assert their national self-interest in this field.

The Council discussed two principal issues on the public policy agenda. The first
pertains to the rights of migrants. A number of well known international conventions
protect migrant rights, but the ratification record for these conventions is patchy, to
say the least. The urgent need exists, therefore, to develop practical steps to protect
migrants at all stages of migration, from pre-departure through migration to return
and reintegration. It is important to empower the migrants themselves if their rights
are to be respected. It is also important to involve employers since they are key to
ensuring that migrants’ labour rights are respected at the workplace.

260
The second issue is the nexus between migration and development. Various links are
at play: demography (ageing populations in the North); liberalization of trade in goods,
services and FDI; remittances, return migration and diasporas; political trust and
good government; the brain drain vs brain exchange.

Remittances serve to reduce poverty in the origin countries but the impact of
migration on economic growth and development is less clear. Good governance as
well as a certain level of development combined with outward-oriented policies are
needed. While it is possible to cite specific examples of return migration and the
diaspora spurring economic development in the source countries (e.g. Korea, China,
Taiwan, India), this is clearly not a sufficient condition. There is a tendency in the
current political debate to oversell the migration–development nexus. It cannot
substitute for other spurs of economic development such as official development aid,
trade liberalization and targeted aid to human capital development (education and
health) in the sending countries.

261
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Migration proposes the following on:

Knowledge and awareness gaps: There are gaps in public awareness and understanding of the
positive impacts of migration on both source and destination countries. To improve the quality of
public discourse and policies, it is important to improve data on migration and to educate the
media and public officials about the important benefits, as well as costs, accruing from
migration. The private sector, particularly businesses employing large numbers of migrant
workers, need to be brought into the debate on migration, in consultation with trade unions and
migrant associations.

Gaps also exist in anticipating emerging issues, particularly climate change, that affect migration
trends. Migration and climate change experts should collaborate in developing projections about
migration trends and analysing the adequacy of policies and legal frameworks to address
potential movements within countries and across borders.

The nexus between migration and trade is a further area in need of greater attention. Mode 4 of
the General Agreement on Trade in Services, as well as other trade agreements that allow for
greater labour mobility, reflect that significant differences in the perspective of migrant source
and destination countries remain. These need to be resolved in future rounds of trade
negotiations.

Levels of governance: There is urgent need to strengthen national governance of migration. A

whole government approach is needed, with better coordination among government ministries
affecting and affected by immigration, including Labour, Trade, Development, Foreign Affairs and
Interior ministries. Such coordination is needed to achieve greater policy coherence.

Initiatives at the regional and global levels to promote inter-state cooperation are promising but
they are very new and still fragile. They are focused particularly on the migration–development
nexus. The economic crisis could impede progress in identifying areas of cooperation if
protectionism takes hold in destination countries and opportunities for migration are foreclosed
or precipitous return occurs. Divergent views exist about an institutional locus of responsibility for
migration at the global level. Some favour an incremental approach in building consensus and
confidence among states about their ability to cooperate on migration management. Others are
sceptical that a global regime can emerge given sovereign interests in determining who should
be allowed to enter state territory. Still others favour a top-down approach, with the
establishment of a World Migration Organization that would parallel the activities of the World
Trade Organization.

The Council believes that the World Economic Forum could usefully engage the business
community in discussion of future migration trends, policy frameworks and global governance
issues. A meeting between the business leaders involved in the World Economic Forum and the
government representatives involved in the Global Forum on Migration and Development would
be one mechanism for such dialogue.

The Future Role of the Migration Council: The Council found the discussions during the Global
Agenda Fair in Dubai to be useful but noted that migration appeared not to be on the agenda of
a number of the Councils with overlapping interests. There is value in continuing the dialogue,
given the salience of migration to so many of the other Council interests.

There is also value in the Migration Council continuing the discussion of global governance to
explore the possibility of reconciling the divergent views on a future regime. The discussions
could be brought to the Global Forum on Migration and Development, an intergovernmental
consultative mechanism that brought together more than 160 governments at its last meeting in
Manila in October 2008. There is possibility of using the expertise in the Council to develop a
model migration and development agreement that would be beneficial to both source and
destination countries.
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 Council on Migration
Members

Chair:
*Thomas Alexander Aleinikoff, Dean, Georgetown University, USA

Aderanti Adepoju, Chief Executive, Human Resources Development Centre

(HRDC), Nigeria
Ibrahim Awad, Director, International Migration, International Labour Organization
(ILO), Geneva
George Borjas, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy, John
F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Stephen Castles, Director and Senior Researcher, International Migration Institute,
United Kingdom
Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie, Executive Director, African Foundation for Development
(AFFORD), United Kingdom
Philippe Fargues, Migration Programme Director, European University Institute, Italy
*Ian A. Goldin, Director, The James Martin 21st Century School, University of
Oxford, United Kingdom
Rolph Kurt Jenny, Special Adviser to the Chair-in-Office, Global Forum on
Migration and Development (GFMD), Switzerland
Kam Wing Chan, Professor of Geography, University of Washington, USA
John P. Martin, Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris
Susan F. Martin, Director, Institute for the Study of International Migration,
Georgetown University, USA
Mark J. Miller, Emma Smith Morris Professor of Political Science and International
Relations, University of Delaware, USA
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President and Board Member, Migration Policy
Institute (MPI), USA
Lant Pritchett, Professor of the Practice of Economic Development, John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Rita Süssmuth, President of the DGO, German Society for Eastern European
Studies, Federal Assembly of Germany
L. Alan Winters, Professor of Economics, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Zhanna Zaionchkovskaya, Director, Migration Laboratory, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Russian Federation
Klaus F. Zimmermann, President, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW
Berlin), Germany
Hania Zlotnik, Director, Population Division, Department of Economics and Social
Affairs, United Nations, New York
Gottfried Zürcher, Director-General, International Centre for Migration Policy
Development (ICMPD), Vienna

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Migration

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

263
 Mitigation of Natural Disasters

Overview

The risks of natural disasters are large and rising. A Sessions in the Annual
very weak lower bound for the damage from natural Meeting programme related
disasters over the decade from 1996-2005 is to the Mitigation of Natural
provided by the fact that reinsurance losses Disasters include:
• Update 2009: Helping Others in
amounted to about US$ 500 billion. The risks are a Post-Crisis World
rising for several important reasons, including these • Global Solutions from the Past
three important drivers: • Extreme Events: Why the
• increasing concentrations of people in areas with Surprise?
• Update 2009: Controlling
high natural risks (seismic zones, floodplains, areas Climate Change
exposed to cyclones, drought, etc.)
• greater interdependencies among regions, sectors
and components of human systems (agricultural,
economic, political) making disturbances in one region or regime more readily
transmitted to others
• climate change, which is increasing the variance of weather-driving phenomena (air
temperature, water temperature, wind), thereby increasing the number of weather
and climate related natural catastrophes (cyclones, droughts). Since weather-
related events over the last 25 years accounted for 90% of natural disaster
incidents, 75% of total economic losses and 72% of casualties, this trend is of
compelling importance.

Leaders and the public have been less responsive to and effective in managing these
rising risks than one might hope. The Global Agenda Council on the Mitigation of
Natural Disasters has identified a preliminary list of constraints and obstacles to
effective policy development, leadership and action, including:
• cognitive limitations (for both individuals and groups): risk perception myopia,
differential reactions to certain immediate costs versus uncertain deferred loss,
inability to process probability and uncertainty rationally (especially in the case of
extremely low probabilities)
• political and institutional limitations, including differences in capacity in developed
and developing countries
• resource limitations
• technological gaps
• socio-cultural differences
• lack of information and data on risks and returns
• difficulties in linking knowledge and information to practice and action.

264
In coping with these cognitive biases, political constraints and other challenges,
leaders should:
• appreciate the importance of assessment
• recognize interdependencies across different hazards and different systems
• be mindful of cognitive biases (both personal and organizational)
• appreciate and pay particular attention to long-term effects
• work to develop resilience
• recognize and develop methods to cope with cross-boundary risks by building
strategies across jurisdictional and organizational boundaries
• be mindful of inequalities across different groups, particularly as they reflect
historically disadvantaged communities and their exposure to risk and access to
mitigation.

265
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Council on the Mitigation of Natural Disasters proposes the following:

• Be aware that most organizations – probably including yours – have underinvested in the
mitigation of natural disasters.
• Every major disaster has two “waves” – the first wave is the disaster itself, and the
second is the after-action examination of what went wrong, why preparation wasn’t
better, why so much damage was sustained. Leaders are personally at risk for the
“second wave”.
• The best way to survive both the first and second waves is to do a good substantive job
of managing the first wave.
• There are cost-effective actions you can take to mitigate the risks of natural disasters that
will protect you and your organization or jurisdiction on both the first and the second
waves of any natural disaster.
• To determine which actions are cost effective, you need an inventory or assessment of
the natural disaster risks your organization or jurisdiction faces. There are several sources
to which you may be able to turn to find or develop such an assessment:
– many existing inventories and assessments of risks are readily available that will give
some guidance (and an independent benchmark from outside your organization) about
the natural disaster risks your organization or jurisdiction faces
– your organization or jurisdiction probably has a natural disaster risk assessment that
has been completed that should frame the major hazards you face
– if neither of the above applies, you should immediately commission a risk assessment
to familiarize yourself and relevant parts of your organization or jurisdiction with the
main hazards.
• Areas of risk exist where mitigation investments are particularly likely to have been
incomplete, and corresponding types of investments are likely to have particularly high
expected returns. Disaster types: (1) natural disasters: weather-related, seismic,
biological/health; (2) man-made disasters: accidents, terrorism.
• Training – of yourself and others in your jurisdiction or organization – on awareness, on
understanding risks and the dynamics of risk-based events and on methods of sustaining
effective decision-making in the face of stressful evolving events is key.
• Incentive systems that help to bring long-term consequences into short-term focus are a
particularly effective means to overcome personal and institutional myopia. For example,
linking risk-based insurance premiums to long-term loans provides an immediate way to
reward investments in longer-term risk reductions.
• The public sector has a particularly key role to play in creating effective standards and in
developing and enforcing appropriate regulations to cope with negative risk-based
externalities and to encourage mitigation, preparedness and prevention.

We propose that leaders approach natural disasters in the context of a comprehensive risk
management framework, focusing on the mitigation of the consequences of natural risks.
Adopting the focus on mitigating the consequences of natural disasters immediately frames
three different time periods for any given disaster event:
• Time before the event, when we can
– prevent or mitigate the direct consequences of the event
– prepare to respond to the event, thereby reducing the losses suffered in it
– prepare to recover from the event, reducing the continuing economic losses and
losses in quality of life during the recovery period.
• Time during the event, when we can respond more effectively, limiting losses suffered.
• Time following the event, when we can engage in more effective, reliable and rapid
recovery activities.

Our challenge is to identify high-return public and private investments that can be made
ahead of time and actions that can be taken in the moment that will reduce the overall
losses suffered as a result of natural disasters – and to develop policies, strategies and
interventions that will produce the right level and mix of actions by public and private actors.

266
Council on the Mitigation of Natural Disasters
Members

Co-Chairs:
*Howard Kunreuther, Cecilia Yen Koo Professor of Decision Sciences and Public
Policy, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Michael Useem, Professor of Management and Director, Center for Leadership
and Change Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Sean M. Cleary, Chairman, Strategic Concepts, South Africa

Arnold Howitt, Executive Director, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and
Innovation, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Bridget M. Hutter, Director, Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation, London
School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
*Herminia Ibarra, The Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning and
Professor of Organisational Behaviour, INSEAD, France
Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
Geneva
Herman Leonard, Professor of Public Management, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, USA
Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science,
Economics and the Environment, USA
*Erwann Michel-Kerjan, Managing Director, Center for Risk Management and
Decision Processes, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Markku Niskala, Secretary-General Emeritus, International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Geneva
Kristine Pearson, Chief Executive, Freeplay Foundation, United Kingdom
Detlof von Winterfeldt, Professor, Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and
Systems Engineering, University of Southern California (USC), USA
Xue Lan, Executive Associate Dean, School of Public Policy and Management
(SPPM), Tsinghua University, People’s Republic of China
Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Mitigation of Natural Disasters

Council Manager: Matthias Catón
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

267
 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The field of conflict resolution holds reason for Meeting programme related
optimism. Interstate wars are now less likely. There is to Negotiation and Conflict
increased attention to processes of conflict resolution. Resolution include:
Many cases of good peacekeeping exist, as well as • Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
at All Cost
the development of local, regional, national and global • Update 2009: The Middle East
institutions of conflict resolution. • Afghanistan and Pakistan: Key
Countries on the Global
But there is much work to be done. While the roots of Agenda
• The Middle East: Owning Its
conflict have not changed over time, the nature of Challenges
conflict is increasingly defined by the following: • Is There a Solution for the
Middle East?
• Greater complexity and interrelatedness • Cultural Literacy: How to
Develop It
• Faith in Religion
• Intrastate: conflicts are increasingly intrastate rather • NATO: Will It Survive Another
than interstate 60 Years?
• Crisis, Collaboration and a
Connected World
• Identity-based: at times of rapid change, people • The Power of Fear in Times of
tend to cling to aspects of their identity that they Uncertainty
feel are under attack, e.g. religion, ethnicity • New Frontiers of Conflict
• Sustaining Civil Society in an
Economic Downturn
• Fragmentation: increasing divisions within rebel
movements and governments (e.g., DRC)

• Asymmetry: for example – NATO vs Taliban

• Reappearance of ideology: examples include (1) the abuse of religion by extremist

groups; (2) the re-emergence of Cold War rhetoric by politicians

• “Conflict as Business”: groups remain committed to continuing conflict for vested

interests (e.g., the small arms trade; drug trade)

• Conflict over resources: as a result of global warming, water shortage, mass

population movement

• History as a tactic of conflict: drawing on antagonistic history to create a present-

day enemy; useful to governments and rebel groups lacking legitimacy

268
• Conflict over norms and values: Western norms are advocated in some contexts
and less in others (e.g., over women’s rights, freedom of speech in the press),
which is seen by some as Western double standards

• Weakness of international institutions including the UN

• Technology: greater ability (1) to communicate and (2) to destroy

The global economic crisis will destabilize governments that base their legitimacy on
economic performance rather than democracy. For example:
• When growth sinks below 6% in China, protests may increase and acceptance of
the one-party state may decease
• When oil goes below US$ 60 a barrel, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia
may face difficulties
• Governments may go bankrupt, leading to new failed states.

269
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution proposes the
following:

A. On Early Warning and Prevention

• The “Prevention Principle”: act at the earliest possible moment and at the lowest
level
• Pay attention even if a conflict is not on CNN; have the political will to act early; be
prepared to pay a political price, and recognize that prevention often serves self-
interest
• Establish an early warning system, such as an International Crisis Group-type
body linked to regional political organizations like the OSCE and the African Union
• Use financial tools, including incentives and sanctions
• Enhance capacity building (skills set, mechanisms for communal conflict
resolution, etc.)

B. On Negotiation
• Spread negotiation skills more widely to other sectors (e.g., extractive industries,
police and military)
• Talk to your “enemy” and overcome political objections to dialogue
• Strengthen cooperative action by states on security, energy, climate change,
migration, etc.
• Recognize the importance of process; commit to the process, keep it going, show
patience and selectively use deadlines and choreography
• Follow up peace agreements with peacebuilding and reconciliation processes
• Adopt a multi-sectorial approach to peacebuilding including religious actors,
corporate sector, the media, etc.

C. On Information Sharing and Education

• Enhance the profile and recognition of the field of conflict resolution
• Teach negotiation and communication skills; develop curricula on conflict
resolution for schools and universities globally
• Develop knowledge of “the other side” so that their history, culture and politics are
well understood
• Promote information sharing between governmental and non-governmental actors
and institutions involved in conflict resolution
• Promote the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 to ensure that
there are more women at negotiating tables and in peacekeeping – and that the
impact of women is analysed

In terms of its next steps, the Council proposes to:

• Establish the World Economic Forum Global Network on Conflict Resolution; the
purpose is to spread information and share best practice between individuals and
organizations that engage in facilitation, negotiation and mediation
• Use the Annual Meeting to promote the Council’s ideas on improving conflict
resolution (e.g., with a session on “conversations with peacemakers”)
• Initiate a lecture series at Harvard, Keio University, the Norwegian Nobel Institute
and the UN
• Publish ideas in the media and specialized journals
• Assist in capacity building across the world – especially in conflict zones
270
 Council on Negotiation and
Conflict Resolution
Members

Chair: *Daniel Shapiro, Director, Harvard International Negotiation Initiative, Harvard

Law School, USA

Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of Ireland (1997-2008)

Betty Bigombe, Distinguished scholar, the Woodrow Wilson Center, USA
*Kjell Magne Bondevik, President, The Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights,
Norway
Chester Crocker, Professor of Strategic Studies, Georgetown University, USA
James Gilligan, Professor of Psychiatry and Social Policy and Director, Center for
the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Shamil Idriss, Deputy Director, Office of the Alliance of Civilizations, United Nations,
New York
Geir Lundestad, Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute, Norway
Jessica Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA
Jonathan Powell, Senior Managing Director, Investment Banking Division, Morgan
Stanley, United Kingdom
Mary Robinson, President, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, USA
Herbert Salber, Director, Conflict Prevention Centre, OSCE, Austria
Jiro Tamura, Professor of Law, Keio University, Japan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Council Manager: Oksana Myshlovska
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

271
 Pandemics

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
A severe global pandemic will trigger a social, financial Meeting programme related
and political crisis. A conservative estimate places the to Pandemics include:
cost of a pandemic at US$ 3 trillion or 5% of gross • Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
world product. Pandemic influenza is the worst at All Cost
• Update 2009: Healthcare under
known example of such a trigger, because unlike Stress
other natural disasters, pandemic influenza strikes • Global Solutions from the Past
worldwide simultaneously, hindering mutual aid and • Managing Pandemics
increasing the risk of multi-sector failure and the
paralysis of the global just-in-time economy.1 The
fragility of our interconnected systems, highlighted by
the economic crisis, will be writ large in the event of a global public health crisis and
we should take this opportunity to draw lessons from the current crisis that should
inform how we prepare.

Pandemic influenza represents a uniquely acute threat because its speed of

transmission (doubling within a week or 10 days, historically) predicts near-
synchronous pandemics in many parts of the world. This reduces surge capacity and
the ability to draw resources from unaffected areas to affected ones, thereby
increasing vulnerability to social and economic disruption. The direct health effects of
an influenza pandemic, like the initiating events of the financial crisis, will represent
only a small part of the overall disruption. Pandemic influenza should be seen as a
global social and economic disruption, lasting several months, which is initiated by
the spread of the virus but, at current levels of preparedness, will have consequences
far beyond the direct morbidity and mortality caused by the virus itself.

Thinking of pandemic influenza as a social/economic disruption has the following

implications:

Planning must treat a pandemic as a crisis triggered by a health event, not only a
health crisis. Hence, it should focus much more than at present on the resiliency of
key industries, utilities, food supplies and other supply chains, and government
function. Our system for providing the basic necessities of life, including food and
electricity (which is in turn critical for water and sewage) are extremely fragile and will
be easily disrupted by a pandemic. Just-in-time supply chains mean that only very
small stocks of foods and medicines (and their ingredients) are kept on hand, and
many are sourced from far away – freight transport is a part of critical infrastructure.
This represents an increase in vulnerability compared to prior influenza pandemics
and, paradoxically, a threat that is particularly acute to developed countries that are
most reliant on these supply chains. Disruption of food, electricity, water or essential
medicines may cause even more damage than influenza itself, if not adequately
planned for.

1 Just-in-time (JIT) is an inventory strategy implemented to improve the return on investment by reducing in-
process inventory and its associated carrying costs.
272
Pandemic planning is a public good. In planning for pandemic prevention and
mitigation, large positive externalities are present. As with other public goods,
individual companies and even sectors may lack incentives for adequate preparation.
Therefore, coordination between the different sectors and industries is urgently
needed. Apparently altruistic actions (e.g. public provision of stockpiles or antivirals or
vaccines) to critical workers are in fact not altruistic but are in the public interest.
Private companies must understand their need for adequate planning to ensure the
continued provision of critical products and services during a pandemic.

There is a need to ensure resources for developing countries to prepare against

pandemics. Equity in pandemic response is not only a moral obligation, but in many
cases serves the enlightened self-interest of the developed economies and large
corporations. Leaving pandemic preparedness to market forces or to the narrow self-
interest of rich countries will result in procrastination and underinvestment.

273
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Pandemics proposes the following:

Short-term focus: identification of non-obvious priority groups as targets for interventions

– Minimizing collateral damage due to disruption of social and economic functioning
– Identifying non-obvious priority groups for interventions
– Improving stockpiles of key medical supplies

Long-term focus: exploration for a broader influenza vaccine and a pre-pandemic vaccine
– Accelerating the search for a broadly effective influenza vaccine (at least covering
influenza A subtypes)
– Considering pre-pandemic vaccinations, which could reduce or replace seasonal
vaccinations, and reducing seasonal morbidity and mortality

Effective global governance is needed to increase transparency

– Increasing the equity of access to biological and other countermeasures
– Clarifying the expectations from key actors (individuals, corporations, sub-national
authorities, national governments and international organizations) and preparing them at
each level
– Explaining that private benefits from investing in pandemic preparedness may be
modest but collective benefits are large.

The Council also draws attention to the need to respond to actual and potential non-
influenza pandemics. Greater resources are needed for surveillance in those parts of the
world where pathogens are most likely to emerge, for the identification of agents, and for
the translation of scientific knowledge from known to currently unknown pathogens. Other
pathogens, including HIV, multidrug-resistant bacteria (tuberculosis, Staphylococcus
aureus, Acinetobacter spp.), represent actual or potential global causes of severe disease,
and deserve greater attention at the level of surveillance, vaccine design and other
activities.

The Council calls upon the World Economic Forum to draw lessons from the global
economic crisis and advocate for: (1) improved pandemic planning – expanded beyond its
narrow focus on health systems – for social, economic and political disruptions; (2) a global
system of benchmarking and evaluation of the pandemic plans of governments and also of
companies; (3) a clear statement of roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders, from
individuals and corporations, to governments and supranational agencies, taking account
of the possibilities of failures by other stakeholders; (4) development of surveillance
systems for emerging diseases from the animal-human interface and identification of the
agents; and (5) an intensive programme to develop and produce vaccines for broadly
protective immunity to influenza and then for a number of other viruses and bacteria
capable of causing pandemics.

The world is currently not prepared to face the next influenza pandemic. Only integrated,
multi-sectoral, global pandemic preparedness can provide the resilience needed to
effectively combat the next influenza pandemic. Furthermore, while influenza has
repeatedly demonstrated its pandemic potential, we must remain vigilant to other
pathogens that may develop pandemic potential.

274
 Council on Pandemics
Members

Chair: *David Nabarro, UN System Senior Coordinator for Avian and Human
Influenza, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York

Martin Andrews, Senior Vice-President, Global Vaccines, Centre of Excellence,

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), United Kingdom
John D. Clemens, Director-General, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Republic of
Korea
Richard Coker, Reader in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, United Kingdom
David L. Heymann, Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment
and Representative of the Director-General for Polio Eradication, World Health
Organization (WHO), Geneva
Didier Houssin, Director-General, Health; Inter-Ministerial Delegate, Bird Flu Task
Force, Ministry of Health, Youth and Sports, France
Marc Lipsitch, Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Immunology and
Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, USA
Duncan Maskell, Head, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Michael Osterholm, Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
(CIDRAP), USA
Regina Rabinovich, Director, Infectious Diseases, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
USA
David Reddy, Global Pandemic Task Force Leader, F. Hoffmann-La Roche,
Switzerland
Harvey Rubin, Director, Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response, School
of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA
David Salisbury, Director, Immunisation, Department of Health of the United
Kingdom, United Kingdom
*Michael Smalley, Director-General, African Medical and Research Foundation -
AMREF, Kenya
*Tan Chorh-Chuan, President-Designate, National University of Singapore,
Singapore
David H. Walker, Executive Director, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious
Diseases (CBEID), USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Pandemics

Council Manager: Martin Nägele
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

275
 Philanthropy and Social Investing

Overview
Significant improvement is needed in the effectiveness
Sessions in the Annual
with which society invests capital in improving the world.
Meeting programme related
Philanthropic capital and social investing have a critical to Philanthropy and Social
role to play in offering a source of “funding for change” Investing include:
through investing risk capital to fund new ideas and • Update 2009: Helping Others in
strategies – as well as assisting proven strategies in a Post-Crisis World
attaining sustainable scale. However, philanthropy and • Business Becoming Social
Entrepreneurs
social investing need to evolve in their role through
• Restoring Growth through
collaboration with others providing capital to social Social Business
enterprise and businesses. We need to move from an • A Matter of Financial
“either/or”, “maximize profit or maximize social impact” Empowerment
framework to the pursuit of total value with multiple • Returning to the Base of the
returns for shareholders and stakeholders alike. Given Pyramid
the demographic and environmental crises, compounded • Sustaining Civil Society in an
Economic Downturn
by the present financial melt-down and complete lack of
creativity offered by mainstream leaders, change must
happen now!

A range of enterprises (social enterprise, market-rate business and so forth) offer an array
of strategies to create social impact (through job creation, the establishment of health and
education ventures, and so on). And a range of capital providers (foundations,
governmental entities, social investors, individual donors, multilateral agencies, etc.) offer
funds to support any number of NGO and business ventures. These capital providers
themselves rest within a set of tax, regulatory and legal frameworks which create the
enabling environment within which all these activities occur. All of this makes for a variety of
words, conceptual frameworks and perspectives which can create a Tower of Babel that
limits effectiveness and undermines the creation of high degrees of fragmentation, and a
lack of sustainable scale, impact and returns. The complexity of social investing and
philanthropy is represented by the fact that there is a need for an integrated understanding
of the value to be created by philanthropy, social investing and mainstream investing. While
it is difficult to create new mechanisms for philanthropy and investing, to be successful we
must advance new, expanded frameworks for asset management and allocation which
promote a total value commitment and vision.

If unchecked, many resources and talents will be misapplied and underutilized. By linking
various forms of capital (philanthropy, public funding and market-rate capital), we have the
potential to create a seamless flow of funds along multiple stages of organizational
development in order to more effectively structure funds to generate integrated
performance (maximizing the efficient use of various types of capital) for total value creation
with multiple returns.

A variety of definitions are being used with differing meaning and intent. This creates
confusion for investors, practitioners and managers. At the same time, there is great
knowledge locked within a variety of silos (investing, community finance, structured
finance, etc.) which may be brought together into a single knowledge base and set of
practices that promise to create real impact. Moreover, a variety of investment instruments,
such as programme related investments, structured debt and so forth, are emerging out of
the practice of foundations, social investors and donors. These need to be documented

276
and disseminated for broader use. Metrics for assessing performance of all forms of
impact capital (philanthropy, social investing and sustainable investments) are challenging
given a diversity of approaches, organizational types and areas of application (ranging from
economic development to human rights and beyond). Furthermore, metrics are often
applied in the context of limited economies of scale, which restrict a true systems
approach and solution.

Many of the best emerging practices are built upon innovations of the past (coming out of
economic development finance, micro-finance, social investing and various related areas).
Many who are new to these discussions find it difficult to access information to inform
them with regard to previous approaches and strategies that have already been advanced
by those in the field. This leads to replication and a lack of leveraging experience into new
approaches. A variety of stakeholders are attempting to address various facets of the
capital challenge. This is a challenge because often the “customers” of capital (grantees,
clients) are not represented in the decision-making process of allocating funds.

Philanthropy operates with little accountability or transparency to outside stakeholders.

While some great innovations have occurred within this traditional approach, still greater
opportunities for civic engagement and development exist through increasing the
accountability and transparency of philanthropy. Greater transparency is key to building
knowledge and creating a field of effective practices.
Capital is the life-blood of organizations (non-profit and for-profit). Appropriate capital must
be provided to a variety of organizations at various stages of development. This reality
affects virtually ALL the other Councils convened by the World Economic Forum. There is a
role for philanthropy, social capital and investment in advancing solutions to many of the
critical issues. Under the current paradigm which understands philanthropy as charitable
giving, there is simply not enough capital; and there are not enough different kinds of
capital to address the host of social, environmental and political issues that presently
confront us.

277
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Philanthropy and Social Investing proposes the following:

Each of the Global Agenda Councils should engage in a “capital mapping process” to
assess the capital flows and gaps within their specific areas of concern. These maps
could then be used to assess opportunities for more effective philanthropy and
investment. The World Economic Forum could play a critical role in facilitating this
process. The Philanthropy and Social Investing Council will work with its fellow
Councils to execute this task of capital assessment.

1. There is an opportunity to create a set of intermediary organizations representing a

variety of sectors (and to build upon the work of existing intermediaries) in order to:
• Better manage and disseminate knowledge (who are the players? what
approaches are working? what is needed?)
• Offer technical assistance and skills training
• Identify and aggregate the best “deals”, connecting those investment
opportunities with the most appropriate investors and capital providers.

2. More philanthropy should be used to bridge market failures, providing smart subsidies
to enable social and commercial investors to build industry.

3. Investors of capital (and asset owners) should adopt a “long view” of investing and
returns. In addition, when investing for the long term, asset managers must
consider multiple factors which affect financial performance and total return –
including the need for an appropriate exit with sustainable impact.

4. Our corporate structures need to expand (non-profits, for-profit, cooperative) to

allow for the creation of hybrid organizations and legal entities to accommodate
different types of capital and funding.

5. Asset owners should seek to maximize the total impact of their capital by seeking
out a variety of investment opportunities by which their core capital may be
structured in alignment with their mission and purpose.

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 Council on Philanthropy and Social Investing
Members

Chair: *Matthew Bishop, New York Bureau Chief, The Economist, USA

*Vikram K. Akula, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, SKS Microfinance, India
Reem AlHashimi, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs of the United Arab Emirates
Brizio Biondi-Morra, President, AVINA, Costa Rica
*Peter Blom, Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer, Triodos
Bank, Netherlands
Paul Brest, President, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, USA
Stephen Dodson, President, Parnassus Investments, USA
Jed Emerson, Senior Fellow, Generation Foundation, USA
Martin J. Fisher, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, KickStart International,
USA
James R. Fruchterman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Benetech
Initiative, USA
Ronald Grzywinski, Chairman, ShoreBank Corporation, USA
Christine Letts, Lecturer in Public Policy and Executive Director, John F. Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Asad Mahmood, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank Social Investment Funds, USA
Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Acumen Fund, USA
*Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, Chair, Board of Directors, ACCION International, USA
Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, Founder and Managing Director, Bamboo Finance,
Switzerland
Sean Stannard-Stockton, Director, Tactical Philanthropy, Ensemble Capital
Management, USA
*Kumi Tsunoda Fujisawa, Co-Founder and Vice-President, Think Tank
SophiaBank, Japan
Arthur Wood, Head, Social Financial Services, Ashoka, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Philanthropy and Social Investing

Council Manager: Matthias Catón
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

279
 Role of Sports in Society

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Sport is a key driver of economic growth with much Meeting programme related
upside untapped potential. The current economic to the Role of Sports in
crisis increases the urgency to capitalize on this Society include:
available potential. • Youth Culture: A Heatmap
• Crisis, Community and
Leadership
Sport has many touch points ranging from broad- • Live Long and Prosper
based mass participation, by all ages and gender, to • Sport, An Untapped Asset
high profile elite athletic competitions and events. It is
a truly global aspect of all societies.

Sport, properly conceived, is part of an answer to a global economy in a meltdown.

The sporting world has had and will continue to incorporate many areas where there
is both an economic return on investments and the promotion of strong social values.

The sports industry has a leading and unique role to play in societies around the
globe.
– At the PARTICIPATION level, sports has pervasive benefits in its physical aspects,
volunteering aspects and fund-raising capacity.
– At the COMMUNITY level, it has the ability to help build and sustain communities.
– At the FINANCIAL level, it is one of the top ten industries globally, and is the only
one which has truly achieved a global presence.

Sport is already a major contributor to improving the state of the world. It is also a key
force for building human and physical capital at three pivotal levels:
– At the INDIVIDUAL/family level, sport promotes health, belonging and emotional
binding.
– At the SOCIETAL level, this includes physical and mental health, motivation and
reducing youth criminality.
– At the CORPORATE level, sport is a way to showcase corporate values and brand
(which plays a critical role in talent attraction and retention).
It is essential to harness the power of sport at each of these three levels!

The current crisis will exacerbate the push for improved evaluation and
documentation to better identify and justify the resource commitments. These
resources include financial, in-kind contributions, time (paid and volunteer) and
mindshare.

280
A broad-based well-managed sports industry has much upside potential to continue
growing. Going forward, a greater premium will be placed on better evaluation of the
areas where there are imperatives for investments in sports activities and ventures,
and better performance measures to document the impacts of sport at multiple levels
(health, education, crime, etc.). Improvements in these areas will facilitate increased
scaling in the role of sports in society. A structural shift in the way resources are
mobilized is anticipated, with greater emphasis on social entrepreneurship as
opposed to the philanthropic role of the private sector.

By being proactive, this industry can help shape the response to the crisis and scale
some of the best practices in the field. It has unrealized potential but is uniquely
placed to provide long-lasting effects that support economic growth.

281
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Role of Sports in Society proposes that:

It is a shared overwhelming impression that the substantial contribution of the sports

world needs to be much better documented and its impact on society promoted.

The World Economic Forum provides a huge opportunity for this issue to be
addressed and showcased to the various stakeholders from the public and private
sectors, from individuals to international organizations, and from physical education
to professional sport.

The leveraging impact of sports can be promoted by more effective and broad-based
investments in the human capital of participants in sports. Opportunities for human
capital investment exist in all areas, including coaching at the youth and elite athlete
level as well as in all administrative areas.

Entrepreneurial opportunities with both financial and social value creation benefits
exist in many areas of the sports world. Successful examples at the social level
include the various sport related initiatives targeting prevention against obesity,
HIV/AIDS, social exclusion, etc. Successful examples at the financial level include
new sporting leagues such as the Indian Premiere League or new cable sports
channels. The Global Agenda Council views sports and entertainment opportunities
as one of the most exciting platforms for sports to further contribute to society.

Potential Next Steps

• Review and package existing research to provide better access to the evidence
• Develop and implement new business models to further promote success on the
ground
• Better develop explicit performance measures to enable continued milestone-
based funding for ongoing investments
• Explore the building of a social entrepreneurship fund
• Stress that our power is in collaboration with others not for the sake of the sports
industry but as an enabler, facilitator for tangible improvement
• Link with and support the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) to tap into
something that exists
• Explore explicit synergies and partnering with other Global Agenda Councils such
as: Gender Gap, HIV/AIDS, the Challenges of Gerontology, Empowering Youth,
Entrepreneurship, Chronic Diseases and Malnutrition, Technology and Education,
Corruption.

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 Council on the Role of Sports in Society
Members

Chair: *Pierre Lanfranchi, Professor, De Montfort University, United Kingdom

Joseph S. Blatter, President, Fédération Internationale de Football Association

(FIFA), Switzerland
Sean Collins, Partner and Chairman, KPMG Global Telecommunications and Media
Practice, KPMG, United Kingdom
*Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive Officer, British Sky Broadcasting Group, United
Kingdom
*George Foster, Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Professor in Business, Stanford
Graduate School of Business, USA
Tanni Grey-Thompson, Non-Executive Director, UK Athletics, United Kingdom
David Hill, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fox Sports Television Group, Fox
Television, USA
Sean Jefferson, Chief Executive Officer, Europe, MindShare, United Kingdom
*Hannah Jones, Vice-President, Corporate Responsibility, Nike, USA
Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics and London, Cabinet Office, United
Kingdom
Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser and Undersecretary-General, Sport for Peace and
Development, United Nations Geneva (UNOG), Geneva
Tegla Loroupe, President, Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, Kenya
*Stephen G. Pagliuca, Managing Director, Bain Capital, USA
Rosi Prescott, Chief Executive, Central YMCA, United Kingdom
*Timothy P. Shriver, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Special
Olympics, USA
Malcolm Speed, Chief Executive Officer, International Cricket Council, United Arab
Emirates
*David J. Stern, Commissioner, National Basketball Association (NBA), USA
*Mel Young, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Homeless World Cup,
United Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Role of Sports in Society

Council Manager: Valerie Aillaud
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Forum Lead: Cristiana Falcone
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

283
 Skills Gap

Overview

In terms of the current economic crisis, but more Sessions in the Annual
importantly reshaping the post-crisis world, the global Meeting programme related
skills gap is a highly relevant issue. Economic to the Skills Gap include:
• Addressing the Employment
recovery and long-term sustainability will be hugely
Challenge
impacted by the availability of appropriately skilled • Educating the Next Wave of
labour available to meet resurgent demand. This issue Entrepreneurs
needs to be addressed urgently because the workers • Fixing the Low-Skill, Low-
Opportunity Trap
available may not have the relevant skills in the
• From Green Tech to Green
relevant markets (and relevant sectors of those Jobs and Economic Growth
economies), which will affect performance and • How to Answer the
competitiveness, slowing recovery. Compensation Question?
• Leading through Structural
Change
The global skills gap is the imbalance between • Rising Population: Overload or
employers’ skills needs and labour’s available skills. Opportunity?
The way to address the skills gap is through the • Update 2009: Dealing with
Dangerous Demographics
following dimensions: education and training, the
• Update 2009: The Global Talent
migration of workers, the movement of jobs, full Equation
inclusion and diversity.

The global skills gap exists because in each of these dimensions there is an
inefficient, closed-loop system. The system is slow to change because people aren’t
aware of the urgency and impact of the issue. Stakeholders lack awareness of the
scope and scale of the problem primarily because of an information deficit. This
deficit appears both in terms of (a) access to existing information (e.g., Where are the
jobs? Where are the skills?); and (b) the lack of relevant information and metrics (e.g.,
What is the metric for the problem?).

As such, no global responses to these issues exist. One of the great failures of the
Doha Trade Round is that the “service” component of the agreement was thrown out
with the rest (therefore there is no effective framework for moving people around the
world – only bilateral agreements).

284
285
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Skills Gap would like to provide recommendations for
three stakeholder groups: government, business and educational institutions. In order to
develop these recommendations, the Council will collaborate with the Councils on
Diversity, Migration, Demographic Shifts, and Technology and Education given the close
interdependence of the issues.

Since the target stakeholder groups are governments, businesses and educational
institutions, the Council endeavoured to develop recommendations for each. The agenda
developed by the Council is deep and wide ranging so the Council will focus the
immediate work on the following seven recommendations, initially.

Recommendations for addressing knowledge and awareness gaps:

• Improving access to information (e.g., Where are the jobs? Where are the skills?) is
critical for all stakeholders but especially the Business–University link, which could be
strengthened. This Council could create a “Future Skills” study with US Bureau of
Labour Statistics data and corporate projections (e.g., survey the 500 companies who
recruit from University X) to forecast skills gaps, then work with universities to explore
policy recommendations, mechanisms and incentives to ensure the right skills are
available. The notion of “Just-In-Time Training” is appealing.
• Companies should do much more to share best practices in managing diversity and
inclusiveness. Currently efforts invested in this are minimal, leading to sub-optimal
results. Specific, measurable, replicable studies would be helpful.
• Governments must recognize the push-pull factors affecting migration (e.g., available
jobs, wage levels, violence, corruption, etc.) and develop supply-demand based
strategies (e.g., Singapore = Demand-based, Egypt = Supply-based) to engineer the
desired outcomes (e.g., FDI).

Recommendations for addressing global governance gaps:

• Governments should reform their entitlement programmes (e.g., pensions,
unemployment) to reflect and to close the skills gap. The concept of Entitlement =
Training should be espoused. Namely, you cannot collect your unemployment benefits
if you do not attend daily training in the skills deemed needed for the economy. Based
on experience, this also has the added benefit of reducing the informal economy.
• Governments must develop an international framework for managing immigration in a
manner that reflects the reality that most developed world economies will fail if they do
not increase migration. Governments should encourage the WTO to create a Global
Labour Agreement out of the failed Doha Development Round’s Services Agreement.
An element of this could be to pilot the creation of bilateral, circular agreements between
countries. Under such a scheme, governments could grant visas which provide
incentives to return home (X% paid during period of visa, Y% paid on returning home)
thereby reducing illegal immigration and increasing their tax base.
• Governments should partner with the private sector to develop global
certification/accreditation of skills in order to facilitate the mobility of skilled workers.

How can this Council contribute to addressing the above gaps?

• In addition to the “Future Skills” study proposed above, Council Members also
expressed interest to create a pilot “adaptive re-learner” (“T-shaped leader”)
multidisciplinary course or curriculum (“Post-Baccalaureate”).

286
 Council on the Skills Gap
Members

Co-Chairs:
*David Arkless, President, Global Corporate & Government Affairs, Manpower,
United Kingdom
*J. Frank Brown, Dean, INSEAD, France

*Ann Bernstein, Executive Director, Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE),
South Africa
Steven Eppinger, Deputy Dean, Professor of Management Science and
Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Scott J. Freidheim, Executive Vice-President, Operating and Support Business,
Sears Holdings Corporation, USA
*Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys
Technologies, India
Yoko Ishikura, Professor, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy,
Hitotsubashi University, Japan
*Rakesh Khurana, Professor, Harvard Business School, USA
Laura King, People Partner, Clifford Chance, United Kingdom
*Nemir A. Kirdar, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Investcorp
International, United Kingdom
*Paul C. Reilly, Chairman, Korn/Ferry International, USA
Gerard R. Roche, Senior Chairman, Heidrick & Struggles, USA
*Dennis J. Snower, President, The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany
Min Weifang, Executive Vice-President and Chairman, University Council, Peking
University, People’s Republic of China

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Skills Gap

Council Manager: Anna Janczak
Research Analyst: Patrick McGee
Forum Lead: David Aikman
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

287
 Social Entrepreneurship

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
We possess solutions to many of the world’s most Meeting programme related
pressing problems – proven solutions that have been to Social Entrepreneurship
implemented at significant scale – and yet these include:
solutions, created by social entrepreneurs, remain • Update 2009: Helping Others in
a Post-Crisis World
largely unknown to the world’s leading business • Business Becoming Social
people, government officials and citizens. Entrepreneurs
• Keeping an Entrepreneurial
Social entrepreneurship remains in an “emerging Edge in Tough Times
• Restoring Growth through
excitement” phase. The field has established itself in Social Business
academia, and the concept is widely embraced by • Educating the Next Wave of
the next generation; however, for the public at large, it Entrepreneurs
is not yet mainstreamed. While it is generally • Sustaining the Non-Profit
Sector
acknowledged that entrepreneurship is essential for a
healthy economy, it is not yet accepted that social
entrepreneurship has the same importance for a
thriving society. This lack of awareness poses
significant challenges to sustaining momentum and
interfacing effectively with governments and businesses. Key problems include:
• Lack of quantitative evidence: While leading social entrepreneurs have clear
metrics and evaluation systems in place, the quantitative evidence to prove the
value and/or opportunity of social entrepreneurship is missing.
• Spread of solutions: The challenge of scaling – we don’t know how to leverage
social entrepreneurs in the same way as business entrepreneurs.

As a result of the financial crisis, social entrepreneurs will likely face funding
challenges. Working capital and short-term credit are already challenges for social
businesses. And some organizations meeting social needs will shrink, disappear or
merge.

But the crisis can also provide opportunities:

• Can we show that more ethical businesses, or businesses that serve the “base of
the pyramid”, will be more resistant to the current downturn? For example, the
original “sub-prime lenders” around the world are social businesses like Shorebank,
in Chicago, which have successfully lent money to low income clients for 30 years.
Today their portfolios continue to perform with the same 2% default rate.
• People who reduce their philanthropy may be drawn to social investing, with its
stress on cost-effective social impact and preservation of capital.

288
• The funding and liquidity restrictions will increase the demand for innovative ideas
and foster innovation and creativity.
• Social entrepreneurship also provides powerful opportunities to deliver meaning at
a time when other “returns” are not very exciting.
• New talent could be attracted to the field: income drops in business and banking
might tip the scales for people interested in social entrepreneurship but, up to a
few months ago, couldn’t bear to forego the lucrative salaries.

289
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Social Entrepreneurship proposes the following:

Raising Awareness with the Audience of the World Economic Forum

The Council believes that the World Economic Forum is a powerful venue to raise awareness
of social innovation. It proposes a number of activities that engage World Economic Forum
Members, participants and broader audiences, including a publication that would highlight
some of these ideas. It could be thought of along the lines of a must-read publication entitled:
“Ten innovations that have changed the world that you probably have never heard about” or
“Ten business models that are changing their industries and what they tell you about the
future”.

This briefing document would provide:

• An overview of experiences from social entrepreneurship relevant to the Forum’s
participants
• Path-breaking social investment opportunities
• Concrete examples of new business models and products
• Examples of successful government–social entrepreneur partnerships providing big political
pay-offs and major social benefits.

The Council believes that to successfully relay the potential of social entrepreneurship to busy
people in a way that would shift behaviour, priorities and even life, exposure must be
transformative.

Forum Members could see the work of social entrepreneurs firsthand and develop
relationships at the site of the intervention. The Forum could broker these exchanges. If they
are successful, the stories of engagement could be documented and retold to others.

The Council also proposed offering sessions at World Economic Forum events where short
quality films about social entrepreneurs are shown – highlighting both their impact and the
innovative business models they have come up with, and the emotional force of their stories
to deepen the emotional and intellectual appreciation of the work of social entrepreneurship.
The films could be followed up with panel discussions.

Social Investment and Philanthropy

The disconnect between social investors and social entrepreneurs was discussed at a
meeting with the Council on Philanthropy and Social Investing. Investors felt not many social
entrepreneurs had the capacity for large investment – making it difficult to justify due diligence
expenses. In addition, financial savvy required for financial investment was also seen as
lacking. Philanthropic grants are a way to bridge the gap by preparing profitable social
entrepreneurs with the financial skills necessary to secure social investment. From the
corporate perspective, the conversation for companies in the present crisis has to
pragmatically shift from a CSR/philanthropy report to a social investment fund that invests in
social entrepreneurs or goes towards funding internal projects focused on long-term
sustainability.

The Social Entrepreneurship Field

Within this field, the focus on scaling innovation should encompass organizational
considerations like building a cohesive network of funders and intermediaries who consolidate
the most successful solutions rather than reinvent the wheel.

In addition, the field desperately needs advances in metrics and rigorous data development –
data that is persuasive to business people and governments. Foundations or academic
institutions can develop industry standards, measurement tools and performance data.

It is clear that World Economic Forum constituencies can benefit by learning more about the
innovation of social entrepreneurs and influence the future of the world.

290
 Council on Social Entrepreneurship
Members

Chair: *Rick Aubry, President, Rubicon Programs, USA

Fazle H. Abed, Founder and Chairperson, BRAC, Bangladesh

*Nabil Alyousuf, Vice-Chairman, Board of Trustees, and Executive President, Dubai
School of Government, United Arab Emirates
*José Ignacio Avalos Hernández, Chief Executive Officer, President and Founder,
Gente Nueva, Mexico
*Jeroo Billimoria, Executive Director, Aflatoun, Child Social and Financial
Education, Netherlands
David Bornstein, Author, USA
Mirai Chatterjee, Coordinator, Social Security, Self-Employed Women’s Association
(SEWA), India
Vicky Colbert, Founder and Executive Director, Fundación Escuela Nueva Volvamos
a la Gente (Escuela Nueva Foundation), Colombia
J. Gregory Dees, Professor, Practice of Social Entrepreneurship, Fuqua School of
Business, Duke University, USA
*Nic Frances, Executive Chairman, cool nrg International, Australia
*Andreas Heinecke, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dialogue in the Dark,
Germany
Garth C. Japhet, Chief Executive Officer, Soul City Institute for Health and
Development Communication, South Africa
Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives, India
Johanna Mair, Professor, IESE Business School, Spain
*C. K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of
Corporate Strategy, University of Michigan, USA
Soraya Salti, Senior Vice-President, Middle East and North Africa, INJAZ al Arab,
Jordan
Jack Sim, Founder and Director, World Toilet Organization, Singapore
*Hiroshi Tasaka, President, Think Tank SophiaBank, Japan

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Social Entrepreneurship

Council Manager: Parag Gupta
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Forum Lead: Mirjam Schoening
Managing Director: Klaus Schwab

291
 Strategic Foresight

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The strategic foresight field is of critical importance, Meeting programme related
especially in this economic crisis, as it prepares the to Strategic Foresight include:
ground to apply insight about the future to action in • Update 2009: Digital
practice. The field encompasses a variety of sensing Convergence Continues
• Can You Trust Your Model?
and sense-making methods that help decision- • Discovery-driven Strategy
makers and provides an open way of thinking about • Managing Global Risks
possibilities. Its methodologies include scenarios, • Extreme Events: Why the
forecasting, back-casting, searching, issue Surprise?
• Scientific Research: What
management, early warnings, creativity, risk Should We Expect?
assessment and horizon scanning. These both
explore what may be possible in the future and seek
to bring the future into the present in which decision-
making occurs to mitigate consequences or invent new options.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, strategic foresight is not a vehicle for predicting a

single “most likely” future; it is a set of methods for engaging leaders in thinking about
their decisions more effectively, collectively as well as individually. Strategic foresight
frames choice in terms of the impact it may have on the future and on the possible
redirections (including unexpected or unwanted directions) of current trends.
Strategic foresight aims to help leaders develop multiple and dynamic mental maps
to engage with uncertainty more resiliently. New opportunities such as open source
futuring, exploiting relevant communications/engagement technologies to capture the
unfolding of possible futures and decision prototyping with recursive modelling may
transform the field in the near future. Strategic foresight works best when decision-
makers for whom foresight’s outputs are inputs are involved in “producing” the
possible futures. Foresight considers the future a safe and productive place in which
to consider how the plausible and the implausible relate and may be transformed, for
stakeholders to constructively explore their disagreement, and for creativity – both
individually and as a way of mobilizing collective intelligence.

Strategic foresight can be articulated as constituting six distinctive but interlinked

capabilities:
• Framing, as how issues are framed is important; poor frameworks can be
problematic for a long time
• Situating issues in relation to each other, in long time horizons and in broad
systems
• Linking things that may matter in the future but that have not yet been taken into
account
• Imagining, which is difficult but key in building new realities
• Engaging the futures with the present in which its users act
• Communicating with people with different thought processes.

292
With the acknowledgment of uncertainty that crises bring about, the value of strategic
foresight grows, but the intangibility of many of its successes – altered mindsets,
increased resilience, higher quality strategic conversations – makes its value difficult
to quantify, rendering the evaluation of effectiveness difficult. Who evaluates? When?
With what criteria? For whom?

The current economic crisis again underlines the importance for strategic foresight.
Crises such as the first oil shock and 9/11 show how the interaction of many
seemingly unrelated forces and factors create uncertainties that must be engaged
without pretending they do not exist – and thus increase demand for strategic
foresight. While in the short term, questions may be asked about why what was seen
was not acted upon and why certain things were presumably not seen, in the
midterm, efforts to address such considerations seriously will again boost interest in
and activity on strategic foresight. In the longer run, strategic foresight may become a
more formal part of many relevant decision-making and regulatory processes.

293
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Strategic Foresight proposes that:

When leaders from many different backgrounds consider multifaceted problems

together, distinguishing what they can control from what they cannot, they can
creatively engage possible futures to inform actionable opportunity. Efforts to help
think together innovatively helped by rigorous methods that engage the future and its
uncertainties effectively are underemployed – and this needs addressing. The Council
has valuable capabilities to offer in terms of “HOW” and when to engage. As methods
evolve, our Council seeks concrete opportunities to use existing techniques while
improving their reach, cost-effectiveness and efficacy.

Council Members can help the Network of Global Agenda Councils by

interconnecting sets of the 68 Councils to link issues such as climate change, water,
and food and energy issues. It can also work with individual Councils and Forum
Partners to help address intractable, multidisciplinary issues that are broader than the
mandates of single organizations and/or the specifics of individual academic
disciplines.

In terms of themes, the Council proposes that in 2009-2011 it could work with four to
five sets of linked issues, helping (a) to identify frameworks to integrate them with
each other; and (b) to select and engage stakeholders in helpful, futures-based
endeavours to address complex issues. Examples include:

• How can a network of governance for climate change be developed, as cities and
corporations get together to affect their counterparts? A set of cities can be
examined as a key organizing entity of such networks.
• How might the design and construction of climate-change resistant infrastructures
be financed and maintained?
• What happens when five instead of three generations live together?
• What might the future of non-zero sum economic growth consist of in a planet with
limited resources?
• How will humanitarian assistance, failed states and the future of China relate to
each other?
• Where will new global issue governance systems be spawned? Can one consider
large river basins as the right geographical unit of analysis to study this?
• Finally, in the final plenary discussion during the Summit on the Global Agenda in
Dubai, one of the strongest calls for strategic foresight came from the Health
group.

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 Council on Strategic Foresight
Members

Chair: *Rafael Ramirez, Senior Research Fellow, James Martin Institute, Saïd
Business School, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Jeremy Bentham, Vice-President, Global Business Environment, Royal Dutch Shell,

Netherlands
Barbara Bylenga, President and Founder, Outlaw Consulting, USA
Luc de Brabandère, Partner and Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group,
France
Arie de Geus, Visiting Professor, London Business School, Longview Publishing,
United Kingdom
Marina Gorbis, Executive Director, Institute for the Future and Director, Technology
Horizons Programme, Institute for the Future (IFTF), USA
David J. Jhirad, Vice-President, Research and Evaluation, Rockefeller Foundation,
USA
Adam Kahane, Co-Founder, Generon Reos, USA
Art Kleiner, Author, USA
Lam Chuan-Leong, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore
Louis van der Merwe, Managing Partner, Centre for Innovative Leadership (CIL),
Netherlands
*Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House, United Kingdom
Richard O’Brien, Co-Founder and Partner, Outsights, United Kingdom
Michael Oborne, Director, International Futures Programme and Global Science
Forum, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris
Teresa Ribeiro, Head, Scenarios and Forward Studies, European Environment
Agency, Denmark
Paul L. Saffo, Author and Forecaster, Saffo.com, USA
*Peter Schwartz, Chairman, Global Business Network, USA
*Mark Spelman, Head, Global Strategy, Accenture, United Kingdom
Sandy Thomas, Head, Foresight Group, Government Office for Science, United
Kingdom
Alain Wouters, Managing Director and Founder, Whole Systems, Belgium

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Strategic Foresight

Council Manager: Karen Regenass
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Forum Lead: Kristel Van der Elst
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

295
 Systemic Financial Risk

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The outlook for the global economy is grim and there Meeting programme related
is a significant risk of a very serious world recession to Systemic Financial Risk
with ongoing collateral damages on society. include:
• Update 2009: The New
Economic Era
The current crisis is rooted in global imbalances. • Update 2009: Hard Lessons
These imbalances include long regimes of low interest about Global Imbalances
rates and high asset prices, and trade and savings • CNBC Debate: No Way Back
imbalances. Many governments failed to see the full • Update 2009: The New
Boundaries of Financial
impact of resisting exchange rate fluctuations. In the Governance
pre-crisis economic environment, shareholder return • 2009 World Economic
objectives, private incentives and public policies Brainstorming: Navigating the
encouraged excessive risk-taking and leverage New Economic Landscape
• 36 Hours in September: What
systemwide. Went Wrong?
• Can You Trust Your Model?
Risk management and assessment has failed at all • The Values behind Market
levels, within governments, central banks, regulators, Capitalism
• Financial Engineering Revisited
rating agencies, financial institutions, corporations, • Global Financial Crisis: What
media, and households. In addition, the crisis Lessons Should Be Learned?
revealed limitations in the current regime of global • Managing Global Risks
coordination and regulation. • Extreme Events: Why the
Surprise?
• A Risky Time for Risk Capital
There has been a feedback loop between the financial • Financial Recovery: A Long
system and the real economy, which intensifies Journey Ahead?
systemic risk. • Update 2009: Managing
Assets in a Correlated World
• The Economic Governance of
Crisis management has been and is extremely Europe
difficult. Over the course of the crisis, the financial • Shaping the Post-Crisis World:
landscape has altered dramatically and continuously. Report from the Global Agenda
Councils
Traditional monetary and fiscal policy tools have less • Scenarios for the Future of the
traction than in the past and stabilization measures Global Financial System
may have unintended consequences and introduce • How to Answer the
lasting moral hazard. Compensation Question?
• The Global Economic Outlook
• The Bank of the Future
The political knock-on effects of the crisis have been
considerable. Indeed, the crisis has undermined the
perceived advantage of open financial and capital markets and of the current
regulatory frameworks.

296
297
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Systemic Financial Risk proposes that:

• The dimensions of the crisis compel a coordinated international response.
Coordination should involve advanced and emerging economies.

• Regulatory and monetary policies to control bank leverage should be formulated to

be countercyclical, allowing greater leverage in downturns and restricting leverage
in upswings.

• While it is an important goal to de-risk and de-leverage the system, financial

institution regulations must be avoided, which act as restraints on trade or capital
flows, or which induce regulatory arbitrage.

• Regulatory measures introduced to deal with new financial instruments and

products should be carefully crafted to be effective, without inhibiting innovation.

• Centralized counterparty and clearing on exchanges should be considered so as to

reduce counterparty risk for structured products. Improved transparency about off-
balance sheet items and OTC markets is merited.

• The competitive dynamics of the market place may change based on public sector
ownership of private sector enterprises. Ongoing consultations between the public
and private sectors will be important due to the transformation of the private sector.
It will be crucial to develop government exit strategies over the longer term.

• The short-term goal is to restore confidence and reduce fear without compromising
stability in the long run. A necessary condition for the success of financial system
reform is public ownership of such reforms.

• It is critical to design communication strategies to rebuild public and political

confidence in the financial system.

298
 Council on Systemic Financial Risk
Members

Chair: *Suzanne Nora Johnson, Trustee, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA

*Soud Ba’alawy, Executive Chairman, Dubai Group, United Arab Emirates

*Maria Bartiromo, Anchor, CNBC’s Closing Bell and Host and Managing Editor,
Wall Street Journal Report, CNBC, USA
C. Fred Bergsten, Director, The Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA
*Howard Davies, Director, London School of Economics and Political Science,
United Kingdom
Mohamed A. El-Erian, Managing Director, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief
Information Officer, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), USA
*Robert Engle, Professor of Finance, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New
York University, USA
*John Gieve, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, United Kingdom
Gilles Glicenstein, Chairman, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, BNP Paribas
Group, France
Daniel M. Hofmann, Chief Economist, Zurich Financial Services, Switzerland
*Takatoshi Ito, Professor, Graduate School of Economics and Public Policy,
University of Tokyo, Japan
*Anshu Jain, Head, Global Markets and Member, Group Executive Committee,
Deutsche Bank Group, United Kingdom
Reuben Jeffery, Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural
Affairs, USA
Lewis B. Kaden, Vice-Chairman, Citi, USA
Randall Kroszner, Governor, The Federal Reserve Board of Governors, USA
Arthur Levitt, Member of the Board, Bloomberg, USA
*Stephen S. Roach, Chairman, Asia, Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong SAR
*Nouriel Roubini, Chairman, Roubini Global Economics, USA
Myron S. Scholes, Frank E. Buck Emeritus Professor of Finance, Stanford
University, USA
*Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Blackstone
Group, USA
*Robert J. Shiller, Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics, Yale University, USA
*Domenico Giovanni Siniscalco, Chairman, Morgan Stanley, Italy and Vice-
Chairman, Europe, Morgan Stanley Bank, Italy
William White, Economic Adviser and Head (1995-2008), Monetary and Economics
Department, BIS, Switzerland
*Martin Wolf, Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times,
United Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Systemic Financial Risk

Council Manager: Giancarlo Bruno
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: Kevin Steinberg
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

299
 Technology and Education

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
The Digital Age in education is here. In China, e- Meeting programme related
learning is growing at 23% a year, and distance to Technology and Education
learning accounts for up to 15% of all higher include:
education globally, including 30% in Russia.1 But the • Update 2009: The Global Talent
Equation
Digital Age is not yet transforming education. • Digital Asia: A World unto Itself
• Update 2009: Digital
Technology can be the flywheel to advance Convergence Continues
educational access. However, technology to propel • From Adoption to Diffusion:
Technology and Developing
educational achievement can only be value-added if Economies
linked with creative pedagogy to: (1) educate students • Innovation: The View from Asia
with 21st Century skills; and (2) train teachers to use • Cloud Computing: The Next Big
the new materials that engage students. Thing?
• Mobile Revolutions in the
Developing World
Technology has the potential to disseminate quality • A New IP Strategy for Growth
teaching/learning materials and enable global support • IdeasLab with the Technology
networks across domains. There has been an Pioneers
• Reality Mining: Changing
explosion of online content and users, yet outstanding Behaviour
education materials are difficult to find. Current • The Next Digital Experience
intellectual property practices often inhibit • Youth Culture: A Heatmap
dissemination of these materials. • Educating the Next Wave of
Entrepreneurs

Education can be the engine of economic growth and

societal advancement, but a range of issues must be
addressed to achieve these ends, including:

Teacher issues: The role of teacher must change from “sage on stage” to “guide on
the side”. Technology can improve teacher productivity, but professional development
does not include adequate training on using technology to advance learning.
Teachers are not preparing their students to participate in an information society.
There is also an increasing gap between technology-enabled pedagogy and current
assessment techniques that do not adequately gauge 21st Century skills.

Learner issues: Technology creates opportunities for advancement in emerging

economies – if the right channels are established. Children learn when provided
access to well-defined, educational material – even with limited interaction with
teachers. However, new tools for education are not being adequately embraced (e.g.,
gaming, social networks, Web 2.0).

1 “Equipping Every Learner for the 21st Century” developed by the Centre for Strategic Education, Cisco Systems Inc. and
McKinsey & Company (2008), page 14

300
Infrastructure: Technology-enabled education is proceeding at different paces
across/within countries. Broadband in emerging economies is limited, and it’s unclear
if mobile technology will provide adequate access given current economic incentives.

Sustainability: Multistakeholder partnerships are required and proven to be effective in

accelerating technology-enabled education. Many approaches and solutions
implemented in industrialized countries are not practical or scalable elsewhere.
Business models must incorporate operating costs and capital funding for technology
adoption.

301
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Technology and Education proposes that:

There is an inextricable link among education, employment and economic development and
societal progress. The 21st Century requires fundamental changes in education and the way
it is created, delivered and assessed. Therefore, governments, the private sector and other
key stakeholders should collaborate to support sustained and substantial investment in
education and educational technology. We offer the following recommendations to
accelerate progress:

Policy/Government
• Develop a sustainable strategy that prioritizes the use of technology to transform
education
• Provide incentives to support educational innovation (e.g., teacher development, 21st-
Century skills integration and assessment)
• Eliminate structural barriers and leverage capacities among governments, ministries of
education and industry
• Seek out and facilitate institutional linkages both domestically and internationally to make
digital educational content widely available
• Promote policies that increase investment in infrastructure, expand bandwidth/frequency
allocation and reform regulation to provide greater access to the Internet

Innovation/R&D
• Expand R&D on technology in education and apply that research to advance practice
• Identify successful models and find ways to scale and proliferate them
• Develop new methodologies that seamlessly integrate technology with instruction rather
than simply layer technology on top of existing educational models
• Make learning more engaging and effective through the use of new technologies, including
simulation capabilities, animation, language translation, gaming/virtual world,
individualization of instruction and social networking

Teaching and Learning

• Promote an active, learner-centric approach to leverage the promise of technology
• Focus education on developing lifelong learning skills (i.e., learn to learn) versus the
acquisition of specific content that will change over time, so that learners are prepared to
succeed in industries and jobs that don’t yet exist and become productive citizens
(successful in school, career and life)
• Extend the benefits of technology-enabled education to include non-traditional “students”
and subject matter (e.g., ages 0-6, after school, dropouts, adult education, public health,
citizenship)
• Develop a knowledge hub (aka EduNexus) to: (1) aggregate outstanding educational
materials and best practices of teaching techniques; (2) proliferate them globally. The hub
should also include learning content relating to key issues for citizenship (e.g.,
green/environmental curriculum, HIV/AIDS, etc.). The next steps are to: Create a task force
to build an index of educational resources; Establish a protocol to curate and share quality
content, successful lesson plans, etc.; Develop a community of practice to organize,
curate and employ these assets

Systems and Leadership Development

• Create incentives for educational and institutional leaders to adopt new education models
and technologies
• Train teachers to leverage new technologies through ongoing professional development
• Develop sustainable solutions with long-term funding
• Empower learners (students of all ages and abilities) to be aware of educational and career
opportunities to motivate them to take more ownership of their own learning
• Develop linkages between formal and informal as well as centralized and decentralized
learning
• Encourage administration and school leadership to focus on using technology to improve
learning productivity.
302
 Council on Technology and Education
Members

Chair: *Linda Lorimer, Vice-President, Yale University, USA

*M. S. Ananth, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

Rodrigo Baggio, Executive Director, Committee for Democracy In Information
Technology (CDI), Brazil
Hoda Baraka, Director, Egyptian Education Initiative (PMO), Egypt
Tony Bates, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Bates Associates, Canada
Martin Bean, Worldwide General Manager, Education Strategy, Products &
Solutions, Microsoft Corporation, USA
Paul Brest, President, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, USA
Mary Eming-Young, Specialist in Child Development Knowledge Lead, Human
Development Network, World Bank, Washington DC
Dennis R. Foote, Consultant, USA
Toru Iiyoshi, Senior Scholar and Director, Knowledge Media Laboratory, Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, USA
Steven R. Lerman, Vice-Chancellor and Dean for Graduate Education,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Marissa Mayer, Vice-President, Search Products and User Experience, Google,
USA
Brenda B. Musilli, President, Intel Foundation, Intel Corporation, USA
*Rajendra S. Pawar, Chairman, NIIT Group, India
*Rafael Rangel Sostmann, President, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico
Richard R. Rowe, Founding Partner, Open Learning Exchange, USA
Dan Shine, Vice-President, 50x15 Initiative and President, 50x15 Foundation, AMD
(Advanced Micro Devices), USA
Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President, K12, Blackboard, USA
*Tae Yoo, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Cisco, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Technology and Education

Council Manager: Ana Sepulveda
Research Analyst: Zarine Rocha
Forum Lead: Alex Wong
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

303
 Terrorism, Proliferation and Weapons of Mass
Destruction

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) Meeting programme related
proliferation could be addressed singularly, but are to Terrorism, Proliferation and
even more troubling where they intersect. Finding WMD include:
solutions for terrorism and proliferation is of global • Update 2009: Crises to Prevent
at All Cost
importance, requires collaborative thinking and • Update 2009: North America
necessitates multistakeholder involvement. The • Update 2009: The Middle East
international community witnessed the devastating • Afghanistan and Pakistan: Key
effects caused by global terrorism. Consequently, Countries on the Global
Agenda
there must be urgent acknowledgement and • The Middle East: Owning Its
collaboration to prevent a terrorist attack involving Challenges
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) • New Frontiers of Conflict
materials. Further, as modern urbanized society • Regulating Complex Industries
• Global Security: The Next
becomes increasingly interlinked and interdependent Tinderbox
with complex systems at the heart of nearly all • Crisis, Collaboration and a
interactions, the potential for a mass catastrophic Connected World
disruption is high. Although not as deadly as a CBRN • NATO: Will It Survive Another
60 Years?
attack, a major disruption of such systems would • Energy Outlook 2009
debase the very functioning of society as we know it • Preparing for a Pandemic
with profound psychological and economic effects –
both short and long term. In any terrorist attack
situation, the key actors affected range from governments to private businesses to
private individuals. As such, a wise mitigation strategy would engage and respond to
the needs of all of these actors.

The Global Agenda Council on Terrorism, Proliferation and WMD proposes an

analytical framework with the following criteria:
• Vulnerabilities and weaknesses: What sectors are most vulnerable?
• Actors: Who?
• Interlinkages: How do these actors link to each other?
• Mitigation: What strategies must we develop to mitigate and address these risks?
• Institutional/policy innovations needed: Do we need new partnerships? Different
structures? New approaches?

Vulnerabilities are categorized as follows:

Weaknesses of the Global WMD Control System
• Breakdown of nuclear control
– proliferation concerns
– weak control of nuclear materials/technology
– opaque state vs non-state actors and how they relate
– fragile states and lack of sovereign oversight
– nuclear renaissance, an opportunity for addressing energy security but the
temptation for diverting the materials exists

304
• Biological and chemical weapons: lack of attention to biological and chemical
agent usage

Terrorist Motivation / Intent / Opportunities / Use of WMD

• Motivation and intent
– ideological/externally focused: operating with ideological vision/goals in mind
extending beyond state borders
– territorially/regionally focused: operating with a view to a constituency that is
based or linked to a territory. This type of terrorist organization may or may not
have ideological underpinnings

Opportunities / Use of WMD

• Fragile states and lack of sovereign oversight
• Conditional vulnerabilities, e.g. system interlinkages
– massive catastrophic disruption to communication systems, finance systems,
transport, trade, power grids and control systems
– mobile and wireless technologies that penetrate control systems
• Highly concentrated, interdependent urbanized society
– how to create resilience?
– key public works, i.e. water systems, transport, communications, are especially
at risk

305
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

On Nuclear Control:
1. Endorse a nuclear weapons-free world: key steps include eliminating first use policies;
reducing the current threat by de-alerting weapons and reducing deployment; reducing
stockpiles

2. Secure the nuclear complex to make the world safer for nuclear energy: this includes
supporting a global end to the production of weapons-grade fissile material by negotiating
an effective cut-off treaty, banning production of HEU and plutonium for weaponization;
considering a plutonium pause. The need for more national fuel cycles must be removed
by supplementing supply via non-discriminatory international arrangements; the existing
supply of HEU must be reduced by converting research reactors to LEU / RERTR; efforts
to secure radioactive sources and storage must be accelerated

3. Strengthen the international non-proliferation institutional/policy framework: applying

greater penalties for withdrawal including sanctions, limiting technological transfer
knowledge; implementing prompt, predictable enforcement consequences; strengthening
the IAEA, including technical verification, appropriate data sharing and prompt supply of
analysis; rendering protocols universal, e.g. strengthening the Additional Protocol by
implementing stronger verification measures; sustaining the Nuclear Suppliers Group as a
method to limit the transfer of technological know-how; criminalizing global trafficking of
nuclear materials and equipment; considering a new global regime that would govern
skilled nuclear professionals (scientists and engineers) and impose obligations not to
transfer the nuclear technologies/know-how, including a code of conduct

4. Support technological innovation in the areas of verification technologies and nuclear

detection as well as nuclear forensic identification

5. Support the development of infrastructure for peaceful uses of nuclear technology by

supporting the education of skilled nuclear professionals and assisting in civil infrastructure
development

6. Enhance building blocks for disarmament and non-proliferation: support the

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to prevent horizontal and vertical proliferation and revive
fissile material cut-off treaty negotiations

7. Deter nuclear terrorism through a new multilateral regime: characterizing the state as the
perpetrator if it deliberately transfers nuclear weapons or fissile materials to a non-state
actor (terrorist group). In the event of negligent transfer of nuclear weapons or fissile
material to a non-state actor, the government must be warned that negligence could
involve negative consequences. Deterring nuclear terrorism requires capacity to identify
the source of nuclear materials before and after detonation.

On Biological Weapons (Public Health):

A downstream response comes from public health and emergency management
organizations. Health organizations should develop and report specific observations linked to
changes in biological agents that would suggest intentional modifications (virility and
infections).

On Terrorism:
Policy-makers must address motivation and intent by adopting a 5 “P” Strategy: Protection –
homeland protection; Policing – intelligence, detection, prevention; Political – analyse
underlying political grievances; Polity building – rebuild state-capacity, address fragile states;
Psychological – micro (small group), macro (societal norms).

306
 Council on Terrorism, Proliferation and
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Members

Chair: *Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA

Jean-Louis Bruguière, High Representative of the EU to the US, Terrorist Finance

Tracking Programme (TFTP), European Commission, Brussels
Albert Carnesale, Chancellor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA), USA
*Audrey Kurth Cronin, Senior Research Fellow, Changing Character of War
Programme, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Herve de Carmoy, Executive Chairman, Almatis, Germany
Jayantha Dhanapala, President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World
Affairs, Sri Lanka
*Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group, Belgium
Robert L. Gallucci, Dean, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,
Georgetown University, USA
*Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
Makio Miyagawa, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to
the United Nations, Geneva
*Gideon Rachman, Associate Editor, Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist, Financial
Times, United Kingdom
Louise Richardson, Executive Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, USA
Tomas Ries, Director, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), Sweden
Jamie Shea, Director, Policy Planning, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
Brussels
Evgeny P. Velikhov, Vice-President, Academician, Russian Union of Industrialists
and Entrepreneurs, Russian Federation

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Terrorism, Proliferation and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Council Manager: Lena Hagelstein
Research Analyst: Tareq Bouchuiguir
Senior Director: Lee Howell

307
 Trade Facilitation

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Trade facilitation is a badly neglected part of the trade Meeting programme related
agenda. The costs of poor trade facilitation to Trade Facilitation include:
(inefficiencies in trade infrastructure, logistics, trade • Update 2009: Managing Assets
administration and regulation) are high. Empirical in a Correlated World
• The Fight against Protectionism
evidence suggests that in many countries, especially • Update 2009: The Return of
developing countries, they exceed the costs imposed State Power
by more traditional trade barriers such as tariffs and • China’s International Agenda
trade distorting subsidies. Investing in better trade
facilitation practices is a win-win solution for all
stakeholders, governments and the private sector, developed and developing
countries, importers and exporters, consumers and producers.

The main trade facilitation challenges are threefold:

• Correcting inefficient administration and regulation at the border
• Increasing private sector competition in trade logistics
• Building trade related capacity, particularly infrastructure, in developing countries

Policies taken in other areas (e.g., climate change, security, environmental and social
standards, fighting corruption and enforcing intellectual property rights) can also
impact critically on the ease with which trade flows across borders. These policies
should be designed with the costs they impose on trade in mind.

The current crises (financial, food, energy) are exacerbating the costs of poor trade
facilitation. For example, trade finance costs (letters of credit) have exploded and the
market has become severely illiquid. Major food exporters have resorted to export
restrictions, raising anxieties about food security. Volatile energy costs are creating an
inefficient use of trade logistics and infrastructure. Investment in trade facilitating
infrastructure is being badly impacted by current financial constraints.

The current crises also place a high premium on expeditiously concluding the Doha
Trade Negotiations. This is the low-hanging-fruit of better international economic
policy coordination. Harvesting the benefits of an ambitious Doha Round will help
prevent misguided resort to trade restrictions in current circumstances. Falling food
and energy prices could encourage higher agricultural subsidization and backsliding
on liberal trade policies. An Agreement would also send a much needed signal of
confidence in the international economy to the private sector. Concluding the Doha
Trade Negotiations ambitiously will also increase competition in trade related services
and reduce trade transaction costs, e.g., transportation services, warehousing, port
management, freight-forwarding and postal services, etc.

308
Building trade related capacity, particularly infrastructure, also requires actions at
regional and national levels. It is essential that existing aid (ODA) commitments in
favour of Africa and other low-income developing countries be honoured to provide
the financial resources needed.

There are real benefits to be exploited between improved public trade facilitation
practices and procedures on the one hand and, on the other, better governance, less
corruption and better contract enforcement. Corruption feeds off lack of transparency
in trade administration, and complex procedures and poor connectivity between
customs and border agencies and the private sector. Greater public-private
partnerships are highly desirable to facilitate border management and trade flows.

Security issues pose a particular challenge to trade facilitation. The overlap between
these two policy objectives requires further study and careful handling to ensure they
can both be met.

309
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Trade Facilitation proposes the following:

Immediate measures
Anxiety to resolve the current financial crisis must not create complacency about
international trade. The effects of the crisis are already being felt in escalating trade finance
costs and falling freight volumes. Projections of falling world trade volumes in 2009 are
deeply worrying and demand action.

World leaders should immediately declare their support for an open trade regime. All
governments must resist the temptation to raise trade restrictions in response to declining
growth and job losses. The experience of the 1930s proved that protectionist trade policy
will only make matters worse.

The commercial and economic costs of poor trade facilitation are high. The Doha Trade
Negotiations must be concluded urgently, including an ambitious new multilateral
agreement on trade facilitation which is already in a very advanced stage of completion.

If the Doha Round risks being delayed, serious consideration should be given to
concluding the trade facilitation negotiations and implementing them immediately on a
provisional basis.

Development agencies at the multilateral and regional levels must take advantage of
additional aid for trade to deliver capacity building for trade facilitation. This is not a role for
the WTO.

Longer-term agenda
• Engage the private sector through public-private partnerships to identify and prioritize
needs, diffuse international best practice, and build more and better trade facilitation
capacity
• Urgently gain agreement from WTO member governments on the radical simplification of
rules of origin and aim for their eventual elimination
• Increase investment in international standard setting and conformity assessment
facilities. This would remove inefficiencies caused by differing national standards that
affect trade, standards of public administration and of private business
• Develop better mechanisms to measure and benchmark improved performance in trade
facilitation at the national, regional and multilateral levels
• Step up investment in transportation and trade logistics infrastructure
• Increase contestability and deregulation of markets for international transportation and
trade logistics
• Accelerate global networking of customs and other border agencies
• Promote intelligence-based risk management by border agencies to facilitate trade and
meet national security objectives
• Promote increased mutual recognition in certification and conformity assessment
procedures
• Reform regulatory frameworks at the national and international levels for transportation,
postal services, etc. These should allow more competitive market conditions to prevail
• Exploit complementarities between the trade facilitation agenda and the international
anti-corruption agenda.
310
 Council on Trade Facilitation
Members

Chair: *Robert Z. Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of Trade and Investment,

John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA

James Anderson, William B. Neenan S.J. Millennium Professor of Economics,

Boston College, USA
Alan Deardorff, John W. Sweetland Professor of International Economics and
Public Policy, University of Michigan, USA
David Dollar, Country Director, China and Mongolia, World Bank, Beijing
Richard Eglin, Director, Trade & Finance Division, World Trade Organization (WTO),
Geneva
Patricia Francis, Executive Director, International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva
David Hummels, Professor of Economics, Purdue University, USA
Kunio Mikuriya, Deputy Secretary-General, World Customs Organization (WCO),
Brussels
John Sullivan Wilson, Lead Economist, Development Economics Research Group
(DECRG), World Bank, Washington DC
Chelsea White, H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart Chair, Schneider National Chair in
Transportation and Logistics, Georgia Tech University, USA
Clifford Winston, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Trade Facilitation

Council Manager: Qin He
Research Analyst: Liana Melchenko
Forum Lead: John Moavenzadeh
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

311
 Urban Management

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
City-regions are important because they are the Meeting programme related
theatres of all that is possible in terms of human to Urban Management
endeavour. For the first time in human history over include:
half of the world’s population lives in urban places. By • Update 2009: Managing
Resources for the Long Term
the middle of the Century (circa 2050) this proportion • Financing Industry in an Era of
is predicted to increase to anywhere from two-thirds Capital Scarcity
to four-fifths of the global population. This urban • Latin America: A Global Hub for
population lives in areas called city-regions. City- Sustainability
• Cool Ideas from Older
regions are areas containing an identifiable city with Industries
populations living on varying levels of income, at • Urbanization: The Unstoppable
varying levels of density in and around it and all relying Global Trend
upon the area to sustain their lives. Cities are • Infrastructure for the Developing
World
responsible for the use of 80% of the world’s • The Challenge of Sustainable
resources and 75% of the world’s emissions. It is Mobility
therefore clear that the quality of life and
environmental impacts of these cities are critical to a
sustainable future.

These city-regions are the physical locations for the economic activity that determines
the prosperity or poverty of the nation states in which they are located. At present,
about one-third of the populations of these city-regions are living in extreme poverty.
Within the next quarter of a century, this proportion will increase to about two-fifths if
nothing is done. To complicate matters, these proportions are not uniform across the
globe. Proportions of persons living in urban poverty range up to 90% of the entire
population of cities in low- and middle-income countries. In high-income countries,
these proportions are well under 10%. It is going to be impossible to solve any of the
global problems of poverty, sustainability, pandemics, civil unrest, gender equity,
adaptation to climate change, etc., if we fail to come to grips with this expanding
urbanization and the concomitant social inequality. The window of time in which we
have to address this problem is very short.

Complexity is endemic to this process of urbanization. There is no one “correct”

solution to the problem. Crucial to the success of any effort to overcome these
problems is the quality of what we define as governance; the intersection of civil
society, the formal structures of government and the private sector. There are
additional dimensions of complexity added by the interlinkages that urbanization has
with other fields. The dynamic at work in the global process of urbanization is such
that if we take this moment as a theatre of opportunity, it will create a virtuous cycle
leading to the realization of significant opportunities for innovation, growth and
welfare. Conversely, if we do nothing, present behaviour will give us failed cities,
which are the precursors of failed states and failed societies, i.e. we are doomed.

312
The tragedy about urban management is that we know a great deal about what has
to be done technically. Benchmarking will greatly facilitate this. What we need to
know more about is how to bring workable solutions to a scale at which they can
make a measurable impact on the problems that cities face. We also need a very
strong mechanism to stimulate community involvement towards accepting and
welcoming behaviour change. The challenge here is to create platforms for dialogue
among stakeholders so that they can develop effective institutions of governance to
address the challenges of urbanization.

313
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Urban Management proposes that:

The opportunities and promise of urbanization can only be solved by competent

localization of governance. This is critical to successful globalization. Competent
localization means the creation of local governments with the fiscal resources and the
technical competence to carry out their mandates to provide infrastructure and public
services. Empowering local governments is the key. Local empowerment requires
enhancing the quantity and quality of information available to local decision-makers.

Local government includes all stakeholders in equal measure – civil society,

commercial actors, educational institutions and citizens, given the means to express
their opinions. The way to begin to improve local government is to create an urban
model that provides a net positive impact on the planet, its people and ecosystems.

A series of benchmarks must be created to foster truly sustainable cities that

recognize physical, natural and human capital, and that can serve to educate local
decision-makers about the implications of their actions for the well-being of their city-
regions. This benchmarking will prioritize their agendas, in particular reference to
governance, real estate, energy, water, sustainable construction, biodiversity,
mobility/transportation, health and well-being, education and skills, etc. The coherent
introduction of this work will create wealth generation in our cities which will be the
engine for improving quality of life in urban management, nationally and globally.

314
 Council on Urban Management
Members

Chair: *Lawrence Bloom, Deputy Chairman, Noble Cities, United Kingdom

Eugenie Ladner Birch, Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, University
of Pennsylvania, USA
Richard Burdett, Director, London School of Economics Cities Programme, United
Kingdom
*Steve Dobbs, Senior Group President, Fluor Corporation, USA
Edward Glaeser, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, USA
*Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction
Company, India
Terry Hill, Chairman, Arup Group, United Kingdom
Dominic Houlder, Adjunct Professor of Strategic and International Management,
London Business School, United Kingdom
*Gavin Newsom, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, USA
Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, Secretary-General, ICLEI - Local Governments for
Sustainability, Canada
Sheela Patel, Director, Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres
(SPARC), India
Ramesh Ramanathan, Founder, Janaagraha, India
Elliot Sclar, Director, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, The Earth Institute
at Columbia University, USA
Lawrence Vale, Head and Professor, Department of Urban Studies and Planning,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Urban Management

Council Manager: Johanna Lanitis
Research Analyst: Guido Battaglia
Forum Lead: Christoph Frei
Managing Director: Robert Greenhill

315
 Water Security

Overview

The world is living in a water “bubble” as Sessions in the Annual

unsustainable and fragile as that which precipitated Meeting programme related
the collapse in global financial markets. Water is being to Water Security include:
used unsustainably. Groundwater levels drop; rivers • Update 2009: An Integrated
Approach to Energy, Food and
dry up before they meet the sea; in many “hot spots” Water Security
we have over-leveraged our water for the future; we • The Politics of Water
have no means of paying this back. The bubble is • Update 2009: Managing
bursting in some places (China, the Middle East, the Resources for the Long Term
• Will the Environment Lose Out
south-western US) with more to follow. Millions die for to the Economy?
lack of clean drinking water and adequate sanitation; • Rising Population: Overload or
ecosystems and food production are under threat. Opportunity?
There is not enough water to do all the things we
want, as inefficiently as we do them now.

This is the peril – and the promise. The peril comes from overuse and the pollution of
water resources: poor planning for economic growth and development, unplanned
rapid urban expansion and uncontrolled deforestation; unregulated industrialization,
inefficient water use, lack of pollution control. As we try to feed and fuel a growing
and more affluent world, the water situation shows every sign of getting much worse.
Adding to traditional water supply is no longer possible in many places – historical
approaches to water use will not work in the future.

All people, all communities, all economic enterprises use water. Unsurprisingly, strong
water connections to energy, climate and food security policy issues exist. These can
spin negatively or positively. Policy decisions made on energy, climate and food
issues have determinate impacts on water. Tackling energy security without
considering the related food and water impacts can create bad outcomes, as we’ve
recently seen with the push to first generation biofuels that displaced food crops and
intensified water demands. On the other hand, tackling energy security through a
water lens can create good outcomes, e.g. the promotion of those energy
alternatives that are water sparing and have low carbon footprints. Clean energy
would open the door to almost unlimited clean water via desalination.

316
Growing food is an imperative, but if irrigation systems drain the river, much more
than food security is at stake. 70 rivers are close to this stage. Doing nothing is not
an option. The bubbles are bursting. We risk economic growth with political instability.

As the peril increases, the market begins to develop new mechanism. Financial
analysts and investors begin to track water risk profiles of companies, communities
and investments. Investment houses publish new water indices. Water-poor countries
are beginning to look for land elsewhere to grow food (such as Saudi Arabia in
South/Central Asia, China in Mozambique, and Egypt in Kenya). This risks adding
further distortions to an already heavily distorted market for agricultural products.
Market mechanisms will help in many water operations but unfettered reliance on
markets will not deliver the social, economic and environmental outcomes we need.
Water has potent social, cultural and religious dimensions and should never be
viewed as only a pure economic good. To protect the resource everywhere, and to
protect the poorest populations who lack regular access to clean water, good
systems and good regulation are also indispensable.

317
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on Water Security proposes that:

To avoid the peril, we must stop managing water as inefficiently as we do. We must
find the promise of solutions, tools and water management concepts that exist now
but that require – and do not receive – urgent and substantial attention at the highest
level. We must do more with less water and we have the tools. It can be done.

Call for action – today:

• Now is the time to promote investment in water and wastewater infrastructure and
fix what exists: failing municipal infrastructure and inefficient irrigation systems. This
could both provide jobs and help economies meet the MDGs.

• Now is the time for new investment in companies and public projects engaging in
water infrastructure. Water and water technology development are a good pick and
have sustained high returns. A “new blue deal” opportunity may exist. The market
for toilets in the developing world – a true market opportunity – may be in the
billions of dollars.

• We call for sustained discussion within and among governments on the essential
elements of smarter water economics, which set incentives in the right direction.

• We call for renewed attention to protecting the water resource – the world now
understands the need for good regulation and enforcement of the rules.

• We need to raise awareness that water security is an urgent issue and we need to
communicate that message better. We need to put water in its rightful place on the
green reform agenda. Our Council will begin with better messages to the World
Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January.

• We need a series of regional, multistakeholder conclaves, especially in the world’s

key hotspot or water bubble areas. These reform and investment discussions can
be started in 2009 and must be sustained.

• The world needs benchmarks, new data and analytics and better metrics to
provide a clearer view of national and corporate water management performance,
and to provide decision-makers with clearer information and methods to measure
progress.

318
 Council on Water Security
Members

Chair: *Margaret Catley-Carlson, Patron, Global Water Partnership (GWP),

Sweden

Tony Allan, Professor and Head, KCL Water Research Group, King’s College
London, United Kingdom
*Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the Board, Nestlé, Switzerland
John Briscoe, Country Director, Brazil, World Bank, Washington DC
*Daniel C. Esty, Director, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, USA
Franklin M. Fisher, Carlton Professor of Economics, Emeritus, MIT - School of
Humanities and Social Science, USA
*Peter Gleick, President, Pacific Institute, USA
*Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), Paris
C. S. Kiang, Chairman, Environment Fund, Peking University, People’s Republic of
China
Joseph Madiath, Executive Director, Gram Vikas, India
Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Acumen Fund, USA
*Herbert Oberhaensli, Head, Economics and International Relations, Nestlé,
Switzerland
Claudia Sadoff, Lead Economist, South Asia Water Resources Group, World Bank,
Kathmandu
Jeff Seabright, Vice-President, Environment and Water Resources, The Coca-Cola
Company, USA
Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
Jack Sim, Founder and Director, World Toilet Organization, Singapore
Pasquale Steduto, Chief, Water Development and Management Unit, Food and
Agriculture Organization, United Nations (FAO), Rome
Alberto Szekely, Ambassador, Border Resources Division, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Mexico
Arjun Thapan, Director-General, South-East Asia Department, Asian Development
Bank, Manila
Patricia Wouters, Director, UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science,
University of Dundee, United Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on Water Security

Council Manager: Sylvia Lee
Research Analyst: Shubhra Saxena
Forum Lead: Dominic Waughray
Managing Director: Richard Samans

319
 Welfare of Children

Overview
Sessions in the Annual
Children are at the heart of the Millennium Meeting programme related
Development Goals (MDGs), which include to the Welfare of Children
eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving include:
universal primary education and gender equality, • Update 2009: Threats to
Society
reducing child and maternal mortality, combating • Rising Population: Overload or
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and ensuring Opportunity?
clean water and sanitation. • Shaping the Post-Crisis World:
Views from the Next Generation
• The Girl Effect on Development
Nearly 50 years ago it was estimated that some 20 • Update 2009: Dealing with
million children died before they reached their fifth Dangerous Demographics
birthday. In 2006, for the first time, the under-five
mortality rate dropped below the 10 million mark to
9.7 million, according to UNICEF. This represents a
60% decline in child mortality since 1960. While such progress is encouraging much
remains to be done.

Together, Africa and Asia account for 93% of the global burden of under-five mortality,
97% of maternal mortality and 94% of undernutrition (measured by children under
five who are underweight for their age). India alone accounts for 21% of the global
burden of under-five mortality, 22% of maternal mortality and 40% of underweight
children under five.

From a variety of studies prepared by UNICEF and others, there is a clear sense of
the progress made to date on issues of child welfare and the areas where not enough
progress has been made. In particular, discrimination against women and girls
undermines progress on children. The existing investment on key child welfare areas
such as education, health and nutrition, and child protection must be more effectively
communicated:

• Education: Universal primary education is critical and the quality of education is

equally important. This cannot be achieved with a one-size-fits-all approach. It will
require concerted action across sectors, significant political will, wise financial
investment, the integration of technology, and the ability to look at the whole child
and the range of investments required including targeted investment on a host of
issues such as teacher quality, strengthened curricula for early childhood
education, vocational and occupational education, higher standards and more
accountability and girls’ education.

320
• Healthcare: Primary healthcare needs to be addressed through integrated
community-based approaches which link the health of the mother and child,
addressing issues such as nutrition, water and sanitation, immunization. Skills and
professionalization are key, as is the supportive role of the newest technologies.
Prevention and education are as important as are business issues like networking,
data warehousing, information systems, telemedicine and public-private
partnership. And, children are often left out in programmes to prevent and combat
HIV/AIDS; children and AIDS must be addressed through prevention of mother-to-
child transmission, treatment of paediatric AIDS, helping orphans and vulnerable
children, education for prevention.

• Child protection: Child protection is critical to the overall well-being of the child.
Parents and communities must be involved in the protection of children. Key
protection issues include trafficking of children, child labour, children affected by
armed conflict, sexual exploitation and sexual tourism, violence against children
and other issues of child abuse. Public-private partnerships and new technologies
can be used to educate and share information and are key to discerning best
practice information from governments, NGOs and private companies that can
influence policy.

321
Recommendations1
1 The views expressed here emerged from the Council meetings and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the World Economic Forum or those of all the Council Members, who are the foremost experts
on the topic.

The Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children proposes that:

• First and foremost, especially in the current economic crises, a clear economic
imperative to invest in children exists, through universal basic education including
early childhood education, literacy, life skills and teacher quality, improved child
health including under-five mortality, nutrition, clean water and sanitation, and child
protection.

• Investing in human capital is critical to economic growth. The economic cost of

failure to implement these goals is equally clear. But this case needs to be
presented and understood in a way that permits a shared consensus, bringing
public, private and civil society sectors together in full partnership to address the
shared strategies and actions needed to more quickly and effectively reach these
goals. This includes being involved in the design, development, financing, and
monitoring and evaluation of partnerships.

• Solid data analysis, evaluation and research are needed to measure progress
made, what works and economic impact.

• Universal basic education, especially in the current knowledge economy, has a

distinct measurable economic return. Failure to act on the rest of the MDGs, i.e.
maternal and child health or gender equity, also has a distinct economic cost and
therefore must be high on the agenda as well.

• The public sector, private sector and civil society must work together in new and
more effective ways for the benefit of children, including using benchmarking,
evaluation, documenting the clear economic return associated with actions and
committing to sharing best practices and clear results.

• A gender focus is essential. Investing in girls and women produces positive

economic benefits and contributes to the achievement of all MDGs. Educating girls
reduces the rate of HIV infection, delays early marriage, reduces family size,
contributes to healthier children and enhances workforce preparedness.

322
 Council on the Welfare of Children
Members

Chair: *Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund

(UNICEF), New York

*H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Elizabeth Bartholet, Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law and
Faculty Director, Child Advocacy Program (CAP), Harvard Law School, USA
Ishmael Beah, Author, USA
Carol Bellamy, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Learning, USA
Jacqueline Bhabha, Director, University Committee on Human Rights Studies,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Jaap E. Doek, Emeritus Professor of Law, Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rifat Odeh Kassis, President, Defence for Children International, Switzerland
Stanley Litow, President, IBM Corporation, USA
Elizabeth Mason, Director, Department of Child and Adolescent Health and
Development, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva
Olara A. Otunnu, President, LBL Foundation for Children, USA
Furio Camillo Rosati, Professor of Public Finance, University of Rome Tor Vergata,
Italy
Heinrich Von Grünigen, President of the Executive Board, Terres des Hommes -
Child Relief, Switzerland
Michael S. Wald, Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law, Stanford Law School,
USA
Kimmie Weeks, Founder and Executive Director, Youth Action International (YAL),
USA
Peter L. Woicke, Chair, International Save the Children Alliance, United Kingdom

* Registered to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009

Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children

Council Manager: Oksana Myshlovska
Forum Lead: Martina Gmur
Senior Director: Fiona Paua

323
Network of Global Agenda Councils

Node size: Denotes significance of the issue to other

Global Agenda Councils: the more significant the issue
to other Councils, the bigger the bubble.

Line thickness: Denotes the strength of the

interlinkage.

Proximity: The closer the issue to another, the more

tightly they are interlinked.
The World Economic Forum is an independent
international organization committed to improving the
state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships
to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in

Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is
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partisan or national interests. (www.weforum.org)