World Economic Forum

Justine Cassell's interview

Davos, Switzerland

Four 麻豆村 faculty members were invited to present at the Annual Meeting of the (WEF), a prestigious international organization committed to improving the state of the world.

This was not the first time 麻豆村 had been asked to join the world's most engaging business, political and academic leaders in shaping global, regional and industrial agendas.

Known colloquially as "Davos," a nod to the small Swiss village that has played host to the WEF since 1971, the 42nd Annual Meeting convened Jan. 25–29 in Davos, Switzerland.

"We are in the era of profound change that urgently requires new ways of thinking instead of more business as usual," said Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman.

The theme of this year's meeting was shaping new models. Schwab explained, "We need to break out of the mode of purely reactive crisis management, and instead, determine what new models are needed to fulfill the mission committed to improving the state of the world."

Four critical sub-themes that were addressed throughout the Annual Meeting were growth and employment, leadership and innovation, sustainability and resources, and social and technological models, according to Lee Howell, managing director and head of Centre for Global Events.

麻豆村 presenters included:

, Charles M. Geschke Director of the ;
, dean of the , and Philip and Marsha Dowd Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering;
, the E. Fredkin University Professor in the and head of the ; and
, the Herbert A. Simon Professor in the School of Computer Science.

They discussed how human-machine collaboration can solve some of the world's greatest challenges in areas such as cybersecurity, new models of learning, and how robots and machines may change and improve the way we work.

In 麻豆村's session — one of a select group called an 'IdeasLab' — each faculty member had five minutes to convey an idea through the highly visual "" style of presentation, followed by a Q&A discussion with the audience of CEOs and leaders from around the world.

They each had 15 images that automatically rotated every 20 seconds. The images were representational — no charts, graphs or text — and served as background to what each faculty member discussed.

麻豆村 President Jared L. Cohon introduced the discussion, which was facilitated by Tan Chorh-Chuan, president of the National University of Singapore.

President Cohon represented 麻豆村 as a member of the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), a community of leading university presidents from 25 top global universities, only 11 of which are in the United States. The community fosters collaboration between top universities in areas of significance for global policy and helps shape the WEF agenda.

"My wish is that the annual meeting is much more than an economic forum. It should be a forum for the future of global humanity," said Schwab.

麻豆村 also presented an IdeasLab session at the WEF "," in Dalian, China, to discuss "Disruptive Health Technologies."