Forumblog.org - The World Economic Forum Blog: First time in Davos...

This is my first time in Davos, but not my first time with the World Economic Forum. Last year I attended a meeting with theYoung Global Leaders in Zermatt. I did not know what to expect and to be frank I did fear a lot of talk, but little real action. What I did find, however, was a group of people that really wanted to make a difference.

So, how does going to Davos fit with the objectives of Opera Software, you may ask. The answer is in our values: http://www.opera.com/company/vision/

Making the Internet available to all, based on theirrequirements and needs is important. I believe the Internet ischanging the world in a very positive way. Oh, there are problems, but the benefits are so much greater! The important part is to make the Internet accessible to all. That is our
goal.

Going to Davos is part of that. What I found in Zernatt withthe Young Global Leaders, is something I am hoping to find in Davos as well; real concern and interest in the issues and real interest in doing something about them. Although the people attending Zernatt were quite senior, there will be even more people of power in Davos. I hope to be able to learn a lot, and hopefully also influence the discussion in a positive way.

Some people consider Davos to just be a way for powerful people to meet. Is it? I hope to find out, but to be frank, based on what I saw in Zernatt, I am not expecting that to be the case.

People have also criticized Davos because there are powerful people potentially making decisions outside of government. This is a valid point, although I have to say that with the items being discussed, I think we need all the forces in the world to work on solving them. Assuming that the government should solve any problem and that they are to blame for everything that goes wrong is not the way forward. Each of us must think how we can do our stuff to make the world better. For me, that means working to make the Internet available to all and to influence decision makers to go into that direction. What about you?

Yours, from Davos,
Jon.
Jon S. von Tetzchner is a Young Global Leader