posted by Will Swope on January 30, 2009
Day Two (Thursday) - What a day. Bright sunlight. No wind. So, I made the right decision and concluded that anyone who didn’t go skiing yesterday doesn’t have a life. It was fantastic. Davos has the reputation for this sport for a reason!! OH, sorry, now I remember, I don’t have a life. But the dream still lives.
Thursday started at a 7am breakfast with the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and some of her staff. Here they showed a zero carbon approach to water breakage…yep, sunlight to hydrogen and oxygen. And they can do it in a trash can, and the water can be salt, or for that matter, sewage. How’s that for an opening salvo?
I met with sustainability leaders from about six non-governmental organizations and academia. One said “you are the first VP I have met at Intel since Gordon Moore and I discussed why I sued Intel over water usage.” Every one of them said that we were certainly a leader in sustainability and wanted to work with us to make it better. It is energizing to have the world’s sustainability leaders be knowledgeable about Intel’s operations and the quality of our work. Thank you to all who have made that so.
A major (think BIG) company’s VP of Sustainability (and member of the company’s Board) asked if we would like to team with them on a global project that would impact all of the semiconductor industry. Fits into our mission…I told her I’d be back to her shortly. Exciting idea. I look forward to learning more about it.
I had an enjoyable dinner last night with twelve leading international journalists and Intel Chairman Craig Barrett. The conversation was engaging and thoughtful, and the food was great.
Day Three (Friday) - At a session this morning on “Rising to the Challenge of Copenhagen,” I heard an interesting twist on the cap and trade idea…is there a way to reverse auction the funds being generated by auctioning off carbon credits, the thought being that companies would bid on how much carbon reduction could be achieved for a set amount of dollars, and the payment would be made when the results were verified by an unbiased source. Would a politician actually give up the right to direct currency?
Earlier today I had just 12 minutes to get from a hotel on the “far end” of Davos back to the conference center. The session I was exiting had been organized by the World Economic Forum, so they organized vans to assure that the participants could get back to the main conference center. I was on the phone when I walked outside (feeble excuse for what I’m about to write), saw the van, and climbed in. At that time, Craig Mundie turned to me and said, “Will, this is the Microsoft shuttle.” He was quite gracious, would not let me leave, made room, and they gave me a ride to the center. Embarrassing…geez, you think?
And finally, I had a chance to record another YouTube blog today. Check it out …
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tagged: sustainability, WEF, World Economic Forum
posted by Bruce Sewell on January 30, 2009
This year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, YouTube sponsored the “Davos Debates” where anyone can provide their own video response to questions posed on the Economy, Environment, Policy and Ethics. YouTube chose one winner in advance of the Davos conference to come and attend. Pablo Camacho, a student and writer from Bogota, Columbia, was the winner of the contest for his response to the question “Should company executives have a code of ethics similar to doctors and lawyers?” As Vice President of Intel’s Legal and Corporate Affairs, and also as General Counsel - this is a topic of interest to me. So I took a few minutes to watch Pablo’s video and offered my video response.
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tagged: Bruce Sewell, code of conduct, CSR, Davos, ethics, Pablo Camacho, World Economic Forum, YouTube
posted by Lila Ibrahim on January 29, 2009
I’m in Davos this week attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit representing Intel’s Emerging Markets Platform Group for the first time. As everyone would expect, the economic crisis is the focus of the summit this week: What caused it? What did we learn? And — the first question everyone’s asking — when will it be over?
We took a different approach in the discussions I participated in on Tuesday. I have had the honor of attending the summit also as one of 120 selected Young Global Leaders (YGL), a community of under-40 business and political leaders from 82 countries. Among my YGL peers, the talk isn’t so much about when the crisis will pass, but about how much it will change us and how to use it as an opportunity to change the world.
I decided that’s a great way to think about it. It ties into a conclusion we reached in a YGL work group discussion I facilitated: “Crisis is a terrible thing to waste” (a quote from economist Paul Romer). Crisis creates opportunity — for a cultural shift, for rethinking values and ethics, for changing the way power is distributed, for the way decisions are made and communicated.
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tagged: Davos, eWorld Economic Forum, Intel Learning Series, Intel World Ahead Program, WEF, Young Global Leaders
posted by Raju Doshi on January 29, 2009
Yesterday I met one of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists during a visit to his school as part of the surprise prize patrol. Michael Loy from Oregon Episcopal School in Portland was among the 40 students who found out yesterday that they had made it into the final stage of this premier pre-college science competition. The excitement on his face was totally infectious.
Michael’s project has the potential to increase the useful life of concrete infrastructure by protecting steel rebar from corrosion. Considering that billions of dollars are spent every year on infrastructure maintenance, this research can have a huge impact! Michael’s work is to be published in two international journals and he is only 18 - how amazing is that! As I read through the entries submitted this year, I am just blown away by the complexity of the projects and the brilliance of these 16-18 yr olds. Safe to say that we will be hearing about these young students for a long time to come as they go on to solve some of the most challenging issues we are facing today.
Click here to read more about what these top students from our nation are working on. You can also find out more about the Intel Science Talent search and Intel’s other education programs at: http://www.intel.com/education
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tagged: competition, education, innovation, Inspire, Intel STS, science, science fair, Science Talent Search, Scientific American
posted by Craig Barrett on January 29, 2009
This week I am representing Intel at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Many just refer to this annual event as “Davos”. Intel has been involved in Davos over the last two decades and for a number of reasons it has become recognized as the one of the most influential annual meeting of global leaders from the private sector, public leadership and civil society. And on Intel’s behalf, I plan to represent and convey technology’s role in solving major global problems and improving human lives.
The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is “Shaping the Post-Crisis World”, and no surprise this dominates much of the discussion - in formal meetings, panel sessions, hallway conversations and media interviews. One question posed to me concerns the new economic model that I see emerging once the dust settles from this crisis. And then whether I believe the resulting model will lean toward a European approach - with more redistribution, more environmental and social concerns and higher taxes? And is America ready for such a model?
I believe the current economic crisis is a perturbation on a larger global trend. The decline in housing prices, the subprime mortgage mess, and the overt speculation in the financial sector are all serious but they are merely short term symptoms of a bigger systemic change. Although it is difficult to predict when the current crisis will moderate, it seems clear that the longer term trends are bound to be more important in determining the winner and losers in the 21st century. With the inclusion of 3B new participants in the world’s free economic system over the last decade or so we are bound to see major shifts in economic power and global competitiveness. Some of the first obvious signs of this shift have been the rise of a manufacturing industry in China and a software/services industry in India. Fundamental to these changes are the ease of movement of capital, ideas, and information, the presence of well trained and knowledgeable workers, and government policy aimed at attracting investments. None of these environmental parameters are going to change in the foreseeable future and as a result, governments and economies will have to decide if they want to compete or they want to pursue isolationism and the economic decline associated with stagnant markets. The means of competition are very straightforward in principle but rather more complicated to put into practice. Economic competitiveness will be driven by smart people (a good education system), smart ideas (investment in research and development) and the right environment to promote investment in innovation (government policy on taxes, IP protection, availability of venture capital, etc). Any economy which ignores these three fundamentals will be left behind.
Thus a debate over whether the US system is better or worse than the European system misses the point. The point is that worldwide competition is here to stay - capital will move to the points of highest return - intellectual capital will follow opportunity - competitiveness and success will be determined by who does the best job on the fundamentals. As such, the ‘right model’ for the future is one which recognizes the necessity of making the decision to compete and then puts in place the right policies and systems to grow smart people and smart ideas and then create an environment to bring them together to do something wonderful.
For much of the last half of the 20th century competition and success were dictated by geographic location - if you were born in the US or Western Europe or Japan you were almost guaranteed a high standard of living and economic prosperity. Now the rules have changed. Country of birth is no longer destiny. We all have to compete if we want a bright future and it seems that much of the developed world would rather talk about how unfair and distasteful competition is rather than make the decision to compete and then get down to the difficult task of actually competing.
So, let’s move the debate from the US vs Europe to competing in a new world. Right now it seems those 3B new capitalists from the developing economies are more interested in competing than their counterparts in the developed world. As Wayne Gretsky said, skate to where the puck is going, not where it is now. I hope that the Davos leaders will follow Gretsky’s advice.
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tagged: Craig Barrett, Davos, Education, Technology Investment, World Economic Forum
posted by Christine Dotts on January 29, 2009
One of the active corners of the World Economic Forum’s Congress Center is the YouTube “Davos Debates”. Debate topics cover the Economy, Policy, Environment and Ethics - and Davos participants can chime in with their points of view. Today Intel Chairman Craig Barrett stopped to provide his view on the direction of the economy and the role of technology investment.
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tagged: Craig Barrett, Davos, Economy, Technology Investment, World Economic Forum, YouTube
posted by Will Swope on January 28, 2009
The Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum is still a crowded, noisy place. The people and contacts are like no other place in the world. I spent the day attending the open sessions in the Congress Centre and having side meetings with business and non-profit leaders who, like me, are focused on sustainability. Below are a few of my initial observations. You can also view my YouTube video on the topic of environmental sustainability.
There is a different voice in the discussions this year (see last year’s blog here). Governments are no longer viewed as menacing. In fact, not a single person has said that governments should not be involved in working our way out of the current crisis.
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tagged: Davos, economic growth in Asia, education, environmental sustainability, Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations, government's role, Lila Ibrahim, philanthropy, WEF, Will Swope, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders
posted by Christine Dotts on January 28, 2009
I am sending this from Davos, Switzerland - home to the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. Watch this space over the next couple of days - we’ll be posting “live-from-Davos” updates, YouTube videos, and (if we catch them) great photo moments.
Intel has been involved in the World Economic Forum for over a decade. This year Intel will be represented by our Chairman Craig Barrett, as well as our VP and General Counsel Bruce Sewell, our Sustainability Chief Will Swope and EMEA’s Christian Morales. Additionally, Lila Ibrahim attends in a prestigious role as one of the WEF Global “Young Leaders”. And no surprise - the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is “Shaping the Post-Crisis World” and many of the discussions will center on the current global economic crisis, solutions for change and how to prevent this from happening again.
Many ask how Intel plans to spend our time in this Swiss village. I can assure you, it will not be spent skiing. Craig spends many meetings with business and government leaders representing the role of technology in education and economic development. There are two public sessions this week where Craig will cover the need and significance of a 21st century education model. Additionally, he’ll sit on a panel on focused on the next generation of entrepreneurs, where he will stress the importance of a student-centered learning model starting in the earliest grades. At the close of his trip, Craig will lead a session titled “Catalyzing Growth and Innovation through Education”, with the President of Rwanda and other panelists. He will talk about the need for multi-stakeholder partnership in enabling quality global education for all. And in between, countless meetings with influential global leaders and heads of states. (Oh yes, and as Intel’s onsite Public Relations lead, I plan to squeeze in a media interview or two)
More to come….
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tagged: Bruce Sewell, Christian Morales, Craig Barrett, Davos, education, Global Young Leaders, Lila Ibrahim, Will Swope, World Economic Forum
posted by Tony Salvador on January 20, 2009
Intel and ePals were invited to sponsor and attend the Huffington Post Technology Inaugural Ball on the 19th January 2009. Somewhat more cutting edge than most of the standard inaugural celebrations, nearly 2000 people packed - and I mean packed - the Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave. In addition to celebrities, including our host, Arianna Huffington, and sightings of guests like Sharon Stone, Forrest Whittaker, Martha Stewart, John Cusack, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Beals Sting, Sheryl Crow and will.i.am performed live.
Tony in the middle posing with other Intel folks attending the ball including (from left) Peter Cleveland, VP for Global Public Policy, Terri Kokinda, Alice Borrelli and Bruce Sewell , Senior VP of CSR for Intel
However, the real stars of the evening, in my opinion were the many - many - people who took time away from their tequila, sat down and talked with us extensively, engagingly and in many cases extensively about education and the juggernaut of momentum building for meaningful change in our educational systems. Changes that use technologies to build communities of thought leaders, communities of thinking young people engaged not only on facebook for fun, but also seriously in schools for solving the challenges facing our collective future. We talked about the absolute need for teachers of the highest quality - teachers who will lead their students from passive learning to critical thinking. And we talked about the need for the appropriate tools - tools that many kids use in their day to day lives now, but adapted appropriately for schools and kids, because kids just don’t work like adults. And we talked about these things seriously certainly with people whose passion is in education, but also with people from the legal profession or film and move production or advertising and public relations and venture capitalists - people who do not attend the education trade shows or read publications like eSchool News or the American Educator. These are people who given a glimpse of new tools for education - like Intel-powered classmate PCs and the ePALs collaboration community - recognize the potential to significantly enhance how we all learn and live in an increasingly interconnected world.
Jeff Galinovsky, Intel’s regional ecosystem manager, explaining how the Intel-powered classmate PC design works
Being here, in Washington DC the day before an inauguration that’s completely enthralled the city, I can’t help but think about the role of education in civic life. Democracies require an enlightened, educated population. Democratic citizens need to know what they know, know when they don’t know, and know how to get to know. Of course, there are many ways of knowing, the most prominent being our educational system, which by at least one account hasn’t changed much since the European Renaissance, though many reckon the current very industrial nature of education - lecture and learn - to the industrial revolution.
What really matters is not when this education system started, but when it is going to change to reflect today’s realities - preparing our citizens for a more interconnected, dynamic, multivalent world. We must face challenges that bend space and time - as a global populace, we will be come more resilient, even as our planet becomes more delicate. Our day-to-day inventions will move fast, change quickly and have the potential to change societies - and our planet - much more quickly than the planet can absorb. Laws of entropy will brook no dissent.
The history of scientific knowledge is compounded at ever increasing rates. A scientist today needs to know ever more to innovate and push the limits of their fields. They need to collaborate ever more across the arbitrary boundaries of “disciplines”. They need to do more. They also need to be more attentive - to errors, to peer review, to alternative explanations and hypotheses. A peer reviewed academic journal article still requires a year or more to publish. I can publish this note, available to the world in about 10 minutes. Time and work, people and places - it’s all so very dynamic.
Our educational system is rooted in the times when the trip between Oregon and Washington DC took many months and many lives on the Oregon Trail, when it only took me hours to cover the same distance now. Firmly rooted in assembly line manufacturing and heavy industry, as a system, education has hardly changed at all in 150 years. Technology generally has always been at the forefront of dynamic change. And though education isn’t all about technology, appropriately designed technology can and must enable a more dynamic, resilient and thoughtful educational system attuned to the changing nature of our world. Technologies must support the student and the teacher, individually and together, adapting teaching styles and methods, adapting learning styles and methods, adapting what kids learn and how they use what they learn in the service of our world.
My hopes are with the our 44th President, Barack Obama, that he can and will engage and enable America and lead the world to learn what we all need to learn to make the changes we all need to make.
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tagged: Classmate PC, education, huffington post, inaugular ball, inauguration, Intel
posted by Daniel Snyder on January 16, 2009
And now ladies and gentlemen, something completely different from the self-congratulatory, back-slapping, post-CES euphoria flooding the airwaves. Oh yes, there was amazing technology, amazing innovation and a sense of hubris in light of the economy and hard times all around. Less bling, more practical solutions. I think I even got a door held open for me a time or two by someone I didn't have to tip, hehe.
The Intel booth was packed with enthusiastic techies and I met with over fifty of the best and brightest tech press in the world. Their knowledge and class always blows me away. We chatted Core i7, 45nm innovation, Atom, and Classmate PC. And as everybody at CES talked, we drank bottled water. Lots of it.
Bottled water which, when emptied, couldn't find a recycling bin for a hundred miles. Literally. Turns out the
Or worse -- as a recent issue of the Economist writes about in depth - the ocean. Guess how much plastic is floating in the
And yet almost all the exhibitors are companies "embracing sustainability," "going green." Exhibitors want to be seen as embracing the environment, so why not lean on the local convention authorities to embrace it too? A two-watt power saving in your glitzy gadget or fifteen more minutes of battery life is great, but I'd love to see technological innovation reach other areas in desperate need of greening.
Not all is doom and gloom of course. A highlight for me was meeting Anisha Ladha, Intel's e-waste Program Manager. Kudos to Intel for giving her primo CES booth space to talk about how
we reclaim more than 3 billion gallons of wastewater each year in our factories.
Anisha is passionate, with an environmental engineering background and tons of experience at all levels. And months in advance of last year's show, she spent ergs trying to figure out who in show management could help make CES more environmentally friendly. She hit dead ends everywhere, with the fundamental issue being that "LVCC doesn't recycle." When she investigated offering reusable Intel branded beverage mugs she met with an even bigger quagmire of costs, rules, status quo and LVCC labor laws.
Imagine a "gentle nudge" program where attendees reused a water bottle and had it scanned at each meeting to collect a goodie at the end of the show? Maybe a collection of iTunes MP3s with "green" in the title (that's only slightly tongue-in-cheek), or a raffle for a more power efficient, sleek and light Centrino 2 notebook?
Let's not continue letting this convention be a study in "you can lead a CES gadgeteer to bottled water, but you can't make him (or her) recycle." Anisha, myself and several others I talked to last week are going to do our part to help make sure our respective companies walk the walk as well as talk the talk on green. Companies may make broad declarations on sustainability, but it is the employees themselves that must act to make words reality. Let's hope we have enough voices chime in to really unleash the "green"!
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tagged: CES 2008, classmate pc, Core i7, green, Intel, sustainability
posted by Julie Clugage on January 11, 2009
Intel Chairman Craig Barrett gave the opening keynote this year at the Consumer Electronics Show program on Technology and Emerging Countries. The main message of his keynote was that “small deeds done are better than big deeds planned,” and it showcased examples of inspiring programs and people who are advancing education, healthcare and entrepreneurship with technology - in concrete, incremental steps. I include below a summary of these examples as they are definitely motivating in terms of what one person can do to change the world.
Craig also used the keynote to launch (with the help of Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Adam Levine of Maroon 5) the Intel Small Things Challenge, where all of us can contribute in whatever small way to improve education and economic development around the world. Please visit the Small Things Challenge website and join us in taking millions of small steps toward enabling all children to go to school and all entrepreneurs to generate jobs and income. And tell your friends!
For the part of the keynote on education (see photo), Craig was joined onstage by Carolyn Miles, COO of Save the Children, and Ed Granger-Happ, Chairman of NetHope (and CIO of Save the Children). They talked about how they are working with Intel to improve education in Bangladesh, where one in three kids drops out of school by the fifth grade and those that stay are not learning the skills they need to be competitive in the 21st Century economy. In collaboration with Intel, they are going to be able to provide Classmate PCs to these kids and train the teachers in how to use the technology to teach skills that will help the kids get better jobs. Ed also showed how Catholic Relief Services is using the Intel-powered Rugged PC to track the spread of the cassava root disease in Africa and train farmers in its eradication.
In healthcare, Craig showed a cool video game that Warner Brothers, in conjunction with Intel and the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has developed in Kenya, to educate youth about AIDS prevention. He also showed a mobile Internet device enabled by WiMAX that lets doctors at Vanderbilt University evaluate and monitors patients in Africa.
In terms of promoting entrepreneurship, Craig showed a video of the work of kiva.org in Sierra Leon. Kiva uses the Internet to enable micro-lending for entrepreneurs in developing countries like Sierra Leon, creating jobs and income that allows kids to stay in school. Craig also talked about the example of Apurv Mishra from India, a high school finalist in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in 2006. As his project, Apurv created a low-cost device to help people who are paralyzed communicate. He also started a virtual consulting firm of 400 Intel ISEF alumni called the Innovator Factor Foundation to address challenges in developing countries through the use of technology.
Bringing it all together, Craig did a live video link with Dr. Amol Goje, the dean of the engineering school at the Vidya Pratishan’s Institute of Information Technology in India. Dr. Goje showed how, in the village of Baramti, they are using a fleet of mobile computer labs to bring technology education to 20,000 students in the area. He also talked about how 12,000 women are receiving technology training in 107 computer centers, and how the health clinic is using a telemedicine unit to enable remote diagnostics of EKGs and eye exams. The programs charge participants a small fee (for example, the mobile vans charge parents $3 per year for their kids to participate) and are therefore sustainable. Based on the fact that they are about to buy 17 more buses and expand to 6-7 more hospitals, the programs are also scalable!
Adam Duritz and Adam Levine came onstage with Craig at the end of the keynote, to talk about why they are working with Intel on the Small Things Challenge. The bottom line was that all of us have a role to play, every single person matters, every small action makes a difference. Hope you’ll join us!
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tagged: adam duritz, adam levine, counting crows, CSR, education, kiva, maroon 5, save the children, small things challenge
posted by Julie Clugage on January 11, 2009
Intel Chairman Craig Barrett gave the opening keynote this year at the Consumer Electronics Show program on Technology and Emerging Countries. The main message of his keynote was that “small deeds done are better than big deeds planned,” and it showcased examples of inspiring programs and people who are advancing education, healthcare and entrepreneurship with technology - in concrete, incremental steps. I include below a summary of these examples as they are definitely motivating in terms of what one person can do to change the world.
Craig also used the keynote to launch (with the help of Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Adam Levine of Maroon 5) the Intel Small Things Challenge, where all of us can contribute in whatever small way to improve education and economic development around the world. Please visit the Small Things Challenge website and join us in taking millions of small steps toward enabling all children to go to school and all entrepreneurs to generate jobs and income. And tell your friends!
For the part of the keynote on education, Craig was joined onstage by Carolyn Miles, COO of Save the Children, and Ed Granger-Happ, Chairman of NetHope (and CIO of Save the Children). They talked about how they are working with Intel to improve education in Bangladesh, where one in three kids drops out of school by the fifth grade and those that stay are not learning the skills they need to be competitive in the 21st Century economy. In collaboration with Intel, they are going to be able to provide Classmate PCs to these kids and train the teachers in how to use the technology to teach skills that will help the kids get better jobs. Ed also showed how Catholic Relief Services is using the Intel-powered Rugged PC to track the spread of the cassava root disease in Africa and train farmers in its eradication.
In healthcare, Craig showed a cool video game that Warner Brothers, in conjunction with Intel and the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has developed in Kenya, to educate youth about AIDS prevention. He also showed a mobile Internet device enabled by WiMAX that lets doctors at Vanderbilt University evaluate and monitors patients in Africa.
In terms of promoting entrepreneurship, Craig showed a video of the work of kiva.org in Sierra Leon. Kiva uses the Internet to enable micro-lending for entrepreneurs in developing countries like Sierra Leon, creating jobs and income that allows kids to stay in school. Craig also talked about the example of Apurv Mishra from India, a high school finalist in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in 2006. As his project, Apurv created a low-cost device to help people who are paralyzed communicate. He also started a virtual consulting firm of 400 Intel ISEF alumni called the Innovator Factor Foundation to address challenges in developing countries through the use of technology.
Bringing it all together, Craig did a live video link with Dr. Amol Goje, the dean of the engineering school at the Vidya Pratishan’s Institute of Information Technology in India. Dr. Goje showed how, in the village of Baramti, they are using a fleet of mobile computer labs to bring technology education to 20,000 students in the area. He also talked about how 12,000 women are receiving technology training in 107 computer centers, and how the health clinic is using a telemedicine unit to enable remote diagnostics of EKGs and eye exams. The programs charge participants a small fee (for example, the mobile vans charge parents $3 per year for their kids to participate) and are therefore sustainable. Based on the fact that they are about to buy 17 more buses and expand to 6-7 more hospitals, the programs are also scalable!
Adam Duritz and Adam Levine came onstage with Craig at the end of the keynote, to talk about why they are working with Intel on the Small Things Challenge. The bottom line was that all of us have a role to play, every single person matters, every small action makes a difference. Hope you’ll join us!
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tagged: adam duritz, adam levine, counting crows, CSR, education, kiva, maroon 5, save the children, small things challenge
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