World Economic Forum Annual Report 2006/2007

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World Economic Forum Annual Report 2006/2007 30CreatingknowledgenetworkscontinuedThe competitive performance of Arab worldcountries is compared with international peers,highlighting the great diversity of economiesin the region. The report includes proposedstrategies for enhancing the competitivenessof selected sectors that have been identifiedas potential engines of growth. These includehealthcare, travel and tourism, information andcommunication technologies, insurance andtransport and logistics. The report provided thebasis for public–private dialogue at the Forum’sArab World Competitiveness Roundtable inDoha in April 2007.We issued the fourth edition of The AfricaCompetitiveness Report 2007 (ACR) at theWorld Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Townin June. The publication marks a new level ofcooperation in Africa. It is the first report on theregion’s business environment to leverage thecombined knowledge and expertise within theAfrican Development Bank, the World Bank andthe World Economic Forum. As such, it presentsa unified vision and a mapping of the policychallenges which countries on the continent mayaddress as a foundation for sustainable growthand prosperity.Merrill Lynch has worked closely with theForum on a number of initiatives. As aparticipant in the Finance Governorsprogramme, we explored the interplay amongfinancial markets and the forces impactingglobal markets. As part of the Global RisksNetwork, we discussed how best to addressthe structural risks embedded in the financialsystem. These discussions allow us to hear avariety of perspectives on important issuesand that’s valuable to the Forum, to MerrillLynch and to the industry as a whole.Gregory FlemingExecutive Vice-President and President,Global Markets and Investment Banking,Merrill Lynch, USA
World Economic Forum Annual Report 2006/2007 31The GCN continues to collaborate with over 140partner institutes around the world. The networkof Partner Institutes consists typically of researchor academic institutes located in each countrycovered by the competitiveness report series. Wealso work closely with key Forum members andpartners, which this year included FedEx, GallupInternational, Microsoft and Cisco.Global Risk NetworkNow in its third year, the Forum’s Global RiskNetwork (GRN) continues to grow in stature amidmounting concern over climate change, energyinsecurity, geopolitical instability and potentialeconomic upheaval.We organized a series of workshops in Londonand New York to identify and discuss how toreduce the impact of these key risks. With inputfrom groups of business, academic and policymakingexperts on economics, the environment,societal change and geopolitics, we identifieda list of 23 ‘core’ global risks. We also analysedthe associated trends, likelihood and potentialseverity of impact of these risks, and attemptedto characterize the correlation between them andthe complex scenarios in which they couldemerge. Most of these issues are likely to increaseover the next decade, while the institutionalcapacity to manage them is lagging behind.The findings of the workshops were publishedin the Global Risks 2007 report, which receivedextensive global media coverage. The report’srecommendations included institutional innovationssuch as the development of flexible, fast-movingcoalitions of companies and countries and thecreation of a country risk officer to allow the publicsector to manage a risk in a more balanced andless politicized fashion.The GRN also helped the Forum’s industrycommunities deepen their insight into the mitigationof global risks. Two specialist sessions – one inLondon on avian influenza and one in New York onnatural catastrophes – each brought together morethan 100 strategy officers from the Forum’s IndustryPartner companies. The latter has since grown intoa multistakeholder dialogue on Disaster RiskReduction, in partnership with the World Bank, theUnited Nations and the United States Departmentof Homeland Security. Additional work producedprojects on water risks with the food and beverageindustry and information-sharing with the aviation,travel and tourism sectors.During the year, the GRN also launched theRegion@Risk series, exploring the regional contextsin which global risks emerge. Europe@Riskanalysed the potential role of Turkey in reducingEuropean exposure to global issues, whileIndia@Risk highlighted six key dangers tocontinued human and economic developmenton the sub-continent.Scenario planningThe World Economic Forum’s Scenario Planningteam presented three major scenarios at the AnnualMeeting in Davos.‘The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countriesand the World: Scenarios to 2025’ examinedhow the region could develop over the next 18years. It raised key questions over the ability ofGCC countries to implement necessary reforms,and how they could maintain order and stabilityin the face of regional uncertainty.Following workshops involving over 150 expertsand participants, three scenarios for the GCCregion were developed: ‘Oasis’, ‘Sandstorm’ and‘The Fertile Gulf’. Four themes emerged as beingcrucial to the future of GCC countries: education,innovation, leadership and governance.‘The Digital Ecosystem – Convergence betweenIT, Telecoms, Media and Entertainment: Scenariosto 2015’, the second scenario publication,examined the shape and size of the spaceemerging from the convergence of the InformationTechnology, Telecommunications, and Media andEntertainment industries. User empowerment,market structure, regulation and intellectual propertyrights were among the major factors shapingthis evolution.Three scenarios, ‘Safe Havens’, ‘MiddleKingdoms’ and ‘Youniverse’ were developedin cooperation with the Industry Partners as wellas over 100 academic, social, government andbusiness leaders.‘Technology and Innovation in FinancialServices: Scenarios to 2020’ was a product ofcross-industry cooperation with financial services,IT and telecoms industries. The focus was onhow technology, innovation and regulation maytransform access to and delivery of financialservices by the year 2020.Through the scenario workshops and interviewscomprising over 150 practitioners, three scenarios,‘Global Ivy League’, ‘Next Frontier’ and ‘InnovationIslands’, were created.These three scenario projects, together with ourprevious work on China, India and Russia, providean excellent basis for ongoing dialogue withinthe Industry Partnership programme, the AnnualMeeting and the Forum’s regional meetings.
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