Towards a prosperous world: World Economic Forum

From "Great Reset" initiative to "Working together, restoring Trust;" India along with several other countries is moving forward after the pandemic.  The day 1 and day 2 of World Economic Forum wrapped up on Tuesday, which covered several topics from a vast dimension of economy. The topics included  food crisis, geo-political conflict to climate change and employment.

Salil Pareekh, the Chief Executive Officer of Indian IT services firm Infosys, on Monday told a meeting of Global Business leaders at Davos, that technology is changing and people should be trained for it. He was among the business leaders who was talking about change at the annual summit of World Economic Forum.  Speaking on the session on "Accelerating the Reskilling Revolution." Pareekh said that the accessibility is massive and with platforms like coursera it is easier to get skilled in a chosen field. With labour market in flux from the fallout of corona virus pandemic, technological shifts and green transition, upto 1 billion people will need reskilling, training and lifelong learning by 2030. Digital skills, in tandem with communication can help a lot in reskilling a person and is fast becoming the new landscape, the CEO added.

Under the theme of " Working together, restoring  Trust"  the World Economic forum's Annual  Meeting 2022 is the first global in-person leadership event since the start of Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting is taking place in Davos, Switzerland from May 22 to 26. The high-profile annual event began with a welcome reception on Sunday evening and continued till Thursday. From India, Piyush Goyal,  Mansukh Mandaviya, and Hardeep Singh Puri. Several state leaders which also included two chief ministers, Basavaraj S Bommai, and YS Jagmohan Reddy. KT Rama Rao from Telangana, Aditya Thakeray from Maharashtra and Thangam Thennarasu, along with several other public figures and a host of CEOs discussed  the key issues at World Economic Forum 2022, Davos.  Let us take a look on a few highlights from the World Economic Forum 2022:

 

DAY- one:

Telangana attracted huge investments:

On the first day of World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, many companies came forward to invest in Telangana with Lulu Group announcing to invest 500 crore. While Spain's Chemo Pharma announced to invest 100 crore in their Hyderabad site expansion over next 2 years. The investment was announced during a meeting between Rama Rao popularly known as KTR and Lulu Group's company head Yusuf Ali in Davos.

Rama Rao, on behalf of the Telangana government, handed over the necessary permission documents to Yusuf Ali for food processing unit to be set-up by the company. Yusuf Ali also mentioned that they also have a plan besides, setting-up another unit in the food-processing sector. The announcement regarding that would be made shortly. While expressing his happiness over the Lulu Group's investment, KTR said the Telangana government was working towards establishing demands for agriculture products and agriculture allied products through food processing units. Lulu Group's setting-up of an international level food processing unit would help this cause, he mentioned.

Chemo Pharma announced investment of 100 crore in creation of secondline in their production area in Hyderabad for the production of pharmaceutical finished dosage forms. The company is also planning to initiate a new active pharmaceutical ingredient and R&D centre in Hyderabad, along with continuing new product development activities in solids and injectable in Genome valley here, the release mentioned.

The announcement was made after Rama Rao's meeting with leadership of Chemo group, Jean Daniel Bonny, R&D director, Pharmaceuticals Generics  business at World Economic Forum, Davos

Rama Rao said, "I am delighted that Chemo, a leading pharmaceutica company  like Chemo is growing from  Hyderabad. This is indeed a testament to the life-sciences eco-system in the city and Genome valley"Zurich-headquarted Swiss Re said it would set-up office in Hyderabad in August this year. KTR welcomed Swiss Re also for establishing its units in Hyderabad.

Swiss Re, would start with initial head-count of 250 and focus on data and digital capabilities, product modelling and risk management, the release added.

 

DAY-two

Maharashtra joins World Economic Forum's Global Plastic Action Patnership:

India's largest state in terms of GDP and home to the country's financial capital Mumbai, Maharashtra . On Sunday, joined the World Economic Forum's Global Plastic Action Partnership(GPAP), to advance regional efforts to fight plastic pollution. With the new partnership announced here during the WEF annual meeting 2022, Maharashtra has joined a growing group of global economies that will leverage the GPAP platform to drive localised solutions for the circular economy.

The partnership will bring together Maharashtra leading policy-makers, business leaders, civil society organizations and experts to formulate a state level plan to eradicate plastic pollution. By joining Global Plastic Action Partnership, Maharashtra aims to enhance its commitment to curbing plastic pollution, raise its ambition, and ensure accountability and inclusivity throughout the value chain.

The Ministry of Environment and climate change of Maharashtra will work with GPAP to launch a National Plastic Action Partnership(NPAP) in Maharashtra as a platform to tackle plastic waste solution, according to a statement from WEF.  The GPAP-Maharashtra is the first in India. Maharashtra has estimated population of 124 million people, larger than countries like Ethiopia and the Philippines, making this a partnership in per capita terms.

"This agreement with World Economic Forum's Global Plastic Action Partnership marks a critical juncture in our state's battle against the plastic pollution endemic" said Aaditya Thackeray , Minister of Environment and Climate Change, he furthur added "Covid proved a hurdle towards our single use plastic ban, where health priorities in PPP took precedent. Now as we focus on our climate and sustainability objectives, we are laying foundation to deliver the systems- wide change needed across sectors. This partnership is the building block as we transition towards a more resource circular approach to tackle climate change while strengthening our economy "

Maharashtra is positioning itself as a leader nationally in India in the fight against plastic waste pollution. In March 2018, the Government of Maharashtra banned the manufacturing, sale and use of single-use plastic bags, it also banned an array of single-use plastic products including cutlery, straws and containers.

 

DAY-three

HCL collaborates with World Economic Forum, commits $15 million to address Global freshwater insecurity:

HCL Group to commit $15 million over five years to support water-focused entrepreneurs also known  as "aquapreneurs"  to drive innovation in freshwater resource management. HCL has partnered with UpLink, the open innovation program of the World Economic Forum, this connects highly promising start-ups with partners and funding they need to scale.

"Today, freshwater resources globally are extremely burdened and every fifth child on this planet faces water scarcity," said Roshni Nadar Malhotra, CEO of HCL group and Chairperson of HCL Technologies. Our partnership with World Economic Forum's UpLink platform is a step in this direction and our ecosystem approach can be truly transformative." She also added that this will not only encourage and scale innovations in this critical area, but also help to build capacity among "aquapreneurs" to execute on innovative solutions. Through the aquapreneur innovative initiative, HCL is " recommitting to accelerate multi-stakeholder collaboration and innovative in the global freshwater conservation space," she added.

The environment, sustainability and governance (ESG) solutions market, estimated to touch $50 billion by 2030, could emerge as the next big growth driver for domestic IT services provider. Tata Consultancy Services(TCS), Infosys, Wipro are offering their solutions, gleaned from years of best practice to clients looking to go green.  With global population set to hit 8.5 billion by 2030, pressure is increasing on the world's limited supply of freshwater. By 2030 the global demand for water will have exceeded sustainable supply by 40%.

HCL's collaboration with UpLink will encompass building the freshwater innovation ecosystem including: running innovation challenges to the source solution from "aquapreneur", connecting these aquapreneurs to existing initiatives and water networks, unlocking funding opportunities to scale their ventures and raising awareness on the global agenda on the importance of freshwater.

"The aquapreneur innovative initiative comes at a critical time," said Olivier Schwab, managing director, World Economic Forum. "With water scarcity enveloping regions around the world, we need to fast-track progress within the freshwater sector and build security for people and planet." Schwab said HCL's collaboration with UpLink  will harness and drive forward the solutions of the world's top innovators, connecting them to the initiatives and networks which can see them scale and drive transformational change for the world's most fragile water systems.

 

DAY-four

Andhra signs 3 MoUs,  AMNS announces 1000 crore investment:

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, intend to complete the expansion project in 2023. Also, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India has made an announcement  that it will invest 1000 crore in Andhra Pradesh to expand its pellet plant capacity in Vizag.  The State Government also signed three MoUs  for generating green-energy , while big-ticket company heads held discussions with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy at World Economic Forum Summit in Davos.

The planned expansion will multiply pellet production capacity at Vizag by 35%, from 8 MTPA to 11MTPA.  This investment follows a recent announcement by ArcelorMittal  a parent company of AM/NS, India to develop a 'round the clock' renewable energy project  975MW of nominal capacity.

"We welcome these significant investment  ArcelorMittal and AMNS India to Andhra Pradesh, which reinforce the state's leadership in attracting pioneering manufacturing and renewable projects that will not only support India's steel making growth ambitions but also assists the country's efforts to advance industrial decarbonisation, "said CM Reddy. The state government has signed an MoU with Aurobindo Reality Infrastructure Private Limited for generating 6,000 MW of green energy.

The second MoU was inked between the state and Greenko for generating 8,000 MW of green power. The third MoU was signed with Ace Urban Developers for setting up a decarbonized manufacturing unit at Machilipatnam. CM Reddy also met the Finance Minister of  Bahrain Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, and discussed exports and investments in the field of education.

Rajan Anandan , Managing Director of Sequoia Capital also met Reddy and held discussions on start-ups ecosystem development and starting operations in Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Minister also met IBM CEO Aravind Krishna, and discussed technology and skill development to transform Vizag into a technology hub.