MANILA -- World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and executive chairman Professor Klaus Schwab invited the Philippines Tuesday to join a center the WEF is establishing, which is geared at working and sharing the newest technologies that could help countries develop economically.
During a meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Davos, Switzerland, Schwab said there is a lot of excitement and engagement in the forum and the WEF wants to reinforce cooperation by putting up a center for joint cooperation on new technologies.
The organization now has several service centers working on the newest technologies like artificial intelligence, according to Schwab.
“And the idea is to share their own experience. It’s always in support of technology,” Schwab said as he cited India as an example where WEF looks at the application of the newest technologies to increase agricultural activity.
The organization also has a center in San Francisco that looks into crypto and blockchain, the WEF founder explained.
Currently, Schwab said there’s a lot of discussion on the internet on three-dimensional, virtual interaction communities combined with artificial intelligence, which encouraged WEF to develop a global collaboration platform.
“For example, we have a showcase here, we use the oceans, which are very important as a showcase and you can start the discussion but at the same time you dive down into oceans and you see the plastics, you see coral reefs,” Schwab said.
“We have all the representations of some countries, of companies and you can interact every time,” he added.
Schwab told the President that the WEF will invite the Philippines to have a presence when the organization inaugurates the platform.
“When we inaugurate it, we will invite the Philippines to be amongst the first countries to have a… we call it a residence where you can showcase your investment opportunities in a much more effective manner compared to video conferencing because you bring people in the next of what’s happening,” Schwab said.
“So when you have for example energy transformation, the creation of clean fuel or you can show, you can take someone that can guide you along. So this will be the technology of the future which will be applied very much also in education, in healthcare, because you can have consultation,” the WEF executive chairman explained.
The President said he would task the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to engage with the WEF as it hands over materials to the Philippines as a starting point.
President Marcos is in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the WEF’s annual event, where he showcased the Philippines’ economic feat as well as articulate the administration’s vision as it steers the country toward recovery following the crippling impact of the coronavirus pandemic. (PCO)
