ANNUAL ADVERTISING RATES FOR INSURE-DIGEST

Annual Advertisement Rates
Showing posts with label World Economic Forum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Economic Forum. Show all posts

Friday, January 19, 2018

Switzerland -Davos: How the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help us prepare for the next natural disaster - Scott L David

In the wake of recent devastating hurricanes, floods, wildfires and earthquakes in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America and South Asia, preparing for natural disasters has never been more urgent. Some estimates suggest flooding damage to coastal cities will cost around US$1 trillion per year by 2050. The cost of naturally-caused forest fires - which exceeded $2billion this year and set a new US record - continues to rise.
The human suffering from these emergencies is beyond calculation. Threats to people and property from acts of nature can’t be prevented. Yet, the second-order vulnerabilities they create can be significantly reduced.

The “fog of indecision,” is one such vulnerability that results from institutional hesitancy to collaborate and share data in emergency settings. It’s something that can’t continue. Inaction will only contribute to avoidable suffering.
The technologies and systems of the Fourth Industrial Revolution offer very powerful assets for responding to natural disasters. With nearly 6 billion mobile phone users worldwide, connected individuals have proven to be one of the most effective and efficient ways of strengthening resilience when disaster strikes.

Likewise, social media, drones, satellite imagery and predictive analytics have all been tremendously helpful for coordinating responses and accelerating the recovery of individuals and communities in the aftermath of recent natural disasters.

Read more: How the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help us prepare for the next natural disaster | World Economic Forum

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Switzerland: Davos attendees are in for one of the bleaker WEF meetings of late

The threat of large-scale cyberattacks and a "deteriorating geopolitical landscape" since the election of US President Donald Trump have jumped to the top of the global elite’s list of concerns, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said ahead of its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The growing cyber-dependency of governments and companies, and the associated risks of hacking by criminals or hostile states, has replaced social polarisation as a main threat to stability over the next decade, according to the WEF’s yearly assessment of global risks, published on Wednesday in London. The Davos forum starts on January 23 in the Swiss ski resort.

While the economic outlook has improved, nine in 10 of those surveyed said they expected political or trade clashes between major powers to worsen. About 80% expected an increased chance of war.

"Cybersecurity is the issue most on the minds of boards and executives, given the visibility of state-sponsored attacks in an environment of increasing geopolitical friction," John Drzik, president of global risk and digital at Marsh, which contributed to the study, said in an interview.

"Businesses are increasingly dependent on technology and are aware that the openings hackers have are growing. As they invest in things like artificial intelligence, they are widening their attack surface."

Drzik said recent high-profile security breaches that have fuelled this perception include the WannaCry ransomware attack, which infected more than 300,000 computers across 150 countries, and NotPetya, which caused two companies losses in excess of $300m. The cost of cybercrime to firms over the next five years could reach $8-trillion, the WEF said.

Similarly, thousands of attacks every month on critical infrastructure from European aviation systems to US nuclear power stations show state-sponsored hackers are attempting to "trigger a breakdown in the systems that keep societies functioning," the WEF said.

In the preview, which would suggest Davos attendees are in for one of the bleaker forums in recent memory, almost two-thirds of global leaders saw risks intensifying from 2017. Climate change and extreme weather remained the greatest concerns of those surveyed. Economic worries receded as a unified pick-up in growth and stocks at record highs suggest the world may finally be r

Read more: Davos attendees are in for one of the bleaker WEF meetings of late