Infosys at Davos

Infosys Technologies Ltd has announced that

"As a strategic partner of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting taking place in Davos, Switzerland, Infosys Technologies is taking a leading role in shaping the future agenda of its partner communities. With this aim in mind, Infosys conducted an exclusive CEO panel discussion on January 24, 2008 to look at the world we can expect to see in 2020.

The panel discussion, Welcome to Twenty2O: Creating a Future by Design," involved renowned futurists Paul Saffo and Peter Schwartz to engage with the audience on their view of the scenarios impacting global corporations. Participants included CEOs from Companies across the globe. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys CEO and Managing Director, and Maria Bortiromo, CNBC anchor, led the panel discussion.

In his opening remarks, Kris said, "In today's interconnected world we to have to look at solving today’s and tomorrow’s problems through increased collaboration and innovation."

The CEO discussion centered on managing uncertainty in a rapidly changing world and addressed five global themes that Infosys predicts will shape our future; Environment and Energy, Healthcare, Education, Economic Inclusiveness and Ethical Governance.

Participants discussed potential future scenarios between 2008 and 2020. It was asserted that by 2018 the proliferation of the Internet would enable remote education, apart from electronic delivery of medical services. Further, it would enable workers to complete tasks from anywhere in the world, thereby contributing to a decline in urbanization. It was also suggested that print editions of daily newspapers would cease to exist by 2014.

"Overwhelmingly, participants' concerns in the near future were around enhanced protectionism, the environment and energy," commented Peter Schwartz, the futurist who led the morning's discussions. "However, all saw upsides in the future with regard to technology, society and the economy."

The bottom line is that it is important that this event happened, and the dialogue has led to many great ideas and thought-provoking scenarios. But this barely scratched the surface of a rich load of new ideas. This was a crowd of realistic optimists who fully appreciated the challenges ahead and proposed realistic solutions," said Paul Saffo, technology forecaster also who facilitated the debate.

Kris Gopalakrishnan will also be speaking at the Forum on January 25, 2008 about how corporations can tap local innovation for global impact and how economies can use information communication technology for competitive advantage."