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Follow UsThe World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 at Davos was slightly low profile, considering not many see a bright outlook for the global economy. Nevertheless there was hope, although a little more philosophical this time around./dq/media/post_attachments/68c7e1f0286f397bccaba6f3b22b69968e366cbcd5cc3fddb1814ea32709d87c.jpg)
India as a Market: A Review
Some countries like India, however, were seen with a lot of hope. In a discussion-How Immune is India?, Anand Sharma, union minister for commerce, industries, and textiles, maintained that India's macroeconomics is fundamentally strong. "Those who have these alarm bells ringing should look inwards,"he said. "India can take care of itself, I can assure you,"he reiterated.
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"India is not immune, but it has its own cushion with the size of domestic demand,"said Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general, UNCTAD. He also praised India's open market and exchange rate policies, which are one of the least interventionist policies among the emerging economies.
"India's investment grade rating of BBB is stable and is more likely to improve than deteriorate,"said Douglas L Peterson, president, Standard & Poor's USA. He cited India's strong domestic demand and domestic growth as reasons for optimism. "There are development challenges such as the need in the agricultural sector for modernization,"said Peterson.
"There are two or three things which need to be fixed such as education and inflation,"said Baba N Kalyani, chairman and managing director, Bharat Forge India. Kalyani believes that any negative perceptions about India's business environment were groundless, since 75% of Indian companies are enjoying a record growth in revenues and profits. However he emphasized, "We need to be a little more self-assertive about what we are doing."
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Summary: Social and Technological Models
Participants engaged in a discussion covering a variety of topics related to social and technological models. Throughout the discussion, a recurring theme was that of science, technology, and innovations, which can help in addressing the worlds serious challenges.
As a part of Global Agenda Council on Robotics & Smart Devices, Chua Kee Chaing, head, department of electrical and computer engineering, National University of Singapore, noted exciting developments in brain science, robotics, and smart devices, which when combined, promise to solve many problems. However he warned that these new technologies come with risks and unintended consequences. We need to think about the social, political, legal, and ethical issues which these new technologies present, he urged.
Similarly, Steven E Hyman, distinguished service professor, Harvard University, noted that brain-machine interfaces, such as implanted stimulating electrodes, promise help for people suffering from Parkinsons Disease, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and drug addiction. Simultaneously, these technologies can influence personality and change behavior.
However these scientific advances and its ramifications require an adequate investment in public education, understanding, discussions, and debates. Hence as per a young global leader Jane McGonigal, creative director, SuperBetter, new media can provide the necessary platform.
Technology and science are evolving from uniform products and services to individually-customized uses and applications. As per the observation of Doreen Lorenzo, president, frog USA, people can now ask: What can this do for me?
The gap between individual understanding and technological progress is growing. As per David Blumenthal, peoples fears about the misuse of personal data is creating a huge barrier to progress. Hence he urged the public to understand science and technology in a better way.
Given the great progress in science and technology, people in the hard sciences are optimistic about the future, noted Ricardo Hausmann, director, center for international development, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. In contrast, social scientists are pessimistic. Scientists do not fully understand science. No one understands everything. The world has become very complex, he said.
Social media has become ubiquitous and has disrupted traditional media and journalism, observed Yuen-ying Chan, director and professor, journalism and media studies center, University of Hong Kong. There is a lot of noise, but communication is lacking. Issues of personal privacy and norms of behavior online are still to be addressed, Chan added.
The digital revolution and advent of smart materials are permitting ordinary people to create technology, noted Neil Gershenfeld, director, the center for bits and atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Technology is allowing ordinary people to change and improve the world, he continued.
Participants debated the role of cities as physical places in shaping the future. There is no successful megacity anywhere, argued Adele Naud Santos, architect, urban designer and dean, school of architecture and planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There is some possibility of leapfrogging, but we are repeating the same old mistakes, she warned. While modern technology is connecting people around the world, the direct and serendipitous human interaction made possible in cities remains vital.
Summary: Shaping New Models with Technology Pioneers
How are disruptive technologies impacting industry and benefiting society?
Idea 1: Transforming education using an adaptive learning technology
Idea 2: Rethinking the future of medicine and diagnosis
Idea 3: Creating a safer, faster, and smarter internet
Idea 4: Enhancing greenhouse gas measurements to meet new standards
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Advances in educational technology will rapidly quadruple the number of people with access to full-time learning, causinga new revolution in education.
The ability to monitor and analyze a bodys biomarkers using advanced molecular techniques will lead to a fundamental change in how we discover, approve, and pay for drugs. The internet was built to have a maximum of 3 bn devices connected to it. Capacity is running out and security isnot robust.
SynopsisThe history of education is, in fact, the history of education technology, from the invention of language to writing and invention of the printing press. Currently, around 50% of the worlds population does not have access to full-time primary education and almost 80% is without access to full-time secondary education.
Specializing in monitoring personalized education data every day, technology company Knewton uses the information collected to adapt the content and learning methods to the specific needs of each individual student. Knewton looks at the data on an individual basis. It can also aggregate and analyze the mass of information, matching unique learning styles of
2 people over millions of records.
Technological advances like this will increase the number of people with access to full-time primary and secondary
school education.
Life expectancy is increasing worldwide. Growing and aging populations need better access to treatment and care. Personalized medicine represents the next generation of medical development, seeking to improve outcomes for patients in a cost-effective manner.
When someone gets sick, they are diagnosed and treated. However not all patients with the same disease react in the same way to the same drug. Its important to understand these differences to improve outcomes and ensure an optimal treatment for every patient.
The ability to continuously monitor and analyze a persons biomarkers using advanced molecular techniques will lead to a significant change in how we discover, approve, and pay for drugs. The technologies to do this already exist, but they are costly and available to few hospitals. A new development makes it possible to bring the data to where the physician and the patient need them, via a lab-in-a-box, which samples many types of biomarkers and delivers a report to the physician within an hour. Given the increasing amount of information available, its important to ensure that the data delivered is useful and pertinent to the case at hand.
Cloudflares mission is to build a better, faster, and more secure internet, by rebuilding the infrastructure from the ground. Entrepreneurs in Africa are concerned with faster; they should not be disadvantaged because of connection and speed issues.
Increasing the safety of the internet is paramount, as the threat of hackers, cybercriminals, and other players trying to knock the internet offline grows. There has been a 700% increase in denial of service attacks against sites.
The internet was built to have a maximum of 3 bn devices connected to it. Capacity is being pushed and the network is beginning to strain at the edges. Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4) website names are about to run out.
If the internet is to be the force it has been, where everyone can get online-and stay there safely-and if it is to continue to grow, it must be a faster, more secure network.
Cities account for 80% of the worlds carbon emissions, 50% of the worlds population live in them, and they account for 2% of the land mass.
Picarro offers greenhouse gas-measuring tools that have a wide application for cities, events, and facilities such as power stations. Measuring emissions can be a safety matter. For example, methane gas can kill trees, and a build-up can cause an explosion. Tracking emissions can be a powerful tool in making authorities and utilities accountable for pollution and environmental damage.
Nik Gowing, main presenter, BBC World News UK, told the audience that he believed the business community's perception of India had become more negative. "It's the first time India has been downgraded in their minds as a safe place to do business,"he shared. "Incidents like the 2G Telecom Scandal have damaged business confidence,"added Gowing. Nonetheless, he drew positive examples of Indian business too. "In the UK, India is saving a lot of businesses which were in doubt,"he said, citing examples such as the Stanlow Oil Refinery and Jaguar Land Rover.
Barry Eichengreen, professor, University of California, predicted solid ongoing annual growth for India of as much as 8%, assuming the economy is not adversely impacted by external factors such as the European debt crisis. "However 2012 could be worse because India didn't keep its powder dry,"he said. "People are more worried about India than any other emerging economies, because India has less scope for doing anything. China can roll out an infrastructure by spending, because it doesn't have the same deficit,"he adds.
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On the Path of Inclusive Growth
Sharma defended India's growing current account deficit. "We need to spend to empower and educate our people,"he clarified. In another discussion, that focused on India's ability to record an inclusive growth, panelists deliberated if the growth has failed to trickle down adequately or speedily enough to many parts of society, especially the traditionally disadvantaged such as women and the rural poor. The panelists noted the role of social media in both creating opportunities as well as giving a platform to the youth to raise their voice against corruption and non-development. However the panel also articulated that in the heady excitement of high growth rates, critical issues such as education and health cannot be ignored. Even the so-called unemployability of India's engineering graduates did find a mention. Overall, the panelists agreed that there are many steps that can and must be taken to use India's demographic gift of nearly 500 mn people under the age of 25.
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A List of Who's Who
The Indian delegation to the summit included about 100 business leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal, Azim Premji, Rahul Bajaj, and Adi Godrej. Top people from the government included ministers Anand Sharma, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission.