Reuters Brings Davos 2008 to Second Life

The World Economic Forum held each year in Davos, Switzerland will again be accessible, at least in part, to Second Life visitors and residents.  Reuters reports they will be there interviewing several business leaders from Davos next week, January 23 - 27.

I haven't found information as yet on any panel sessions that may be streamed into SL or on the web, although rumors are afloat.  The WEF blogs page has a note in the sidebar: "watch the discussions in Second Life" which links Reuters' SL coverage page.

This year the Forum theme is "The Power of Collaborative Innovation"  within five concept "pillars:"

Business
Competing While Collaborating

Economics and Finance
Addressing Economic Insecurity

Geopolitics
Aligning Interests across Divides

Science and Technology
Exploring Nature’s New Frontiers

Values and Society
Understanding Future Shifts

These topics will hopefully reach the broader ears of leaders and trigger discussions in every sector -  but admitedly collaboration + innovation happens to be a topic in which I am fully immersed in business and for an upcoming publication.

The blindingly rapid shifting market and civic power basis due to collaborative behaviors, expectations and technologies make it imperative that global communities begin to rethink and remodel themselves within that very context in order to successfully address global challenges. 

The pre-Davos press conference addressed how the WEF program of 240+ sessions embraced its own theme by tapping into  more than 1000 people and organization in shaping this year's program.  The Davos Question initiative using YouTube  is inviting questions for discussion (and voting on them) from the global community.

In addition, two new WEF collaborative projects will be launched during this Forum.  The first is WELCOM (World Electronic Community), which is a platform to extend Davos discussion into virtual space - "a virtual Davos" in the words of Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. And the second is a "global agenda council" - a series of panels each with 15-25 key experts who will collaborate on 100 issues WEF has identified for collaborataive discussion.

You can get more information on all aspects of WEF 2008 here.

A pre-Davos press conference is available on YouTube here.

You can submit your question or suggestion on the Davos YouTube channel here.

Watch the Reuters SL page for its schedule of interviews from Davos.

January 16, 2008