The World Economic Forum‘s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, brought together business and nonprofit leaders to discuss the benefits of AI, the tension between sustainability and growth, and the need for collaboration to foster innovation. The conversation, moderated by executive editor and chief strategy officer Dan Macsai, focused on “Innovating for Impact—Pioneering Solutions for a Better World.”
Rob Thomas, IBM’s senior vice president, software, and chief commercial officer, expressed optimism about AI’s potential for businesses. He noted that “the things we do today would have been considered [artificial general intelligence] 20 years ago.” Thomas added, “We need the right guardrails, but I think what this can do in terms of productivity would be very powerful for the world.”
Athina Kanioura, executive vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer at PepsiCo, praised AI’s ability to help businesses move forward.
She said that over the past few decades, technology has helped PepsiCo reduce innovation cycles from around two years to as little as eight weeks. Kanioura also discussed how PepsiCo is balancing its sustainability targets with growth by imposing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets as a hard constraint on its business planning process.
Collaboration and AI benefits discussed
Joseph Ssentongo, chief executive officer of the Global Innovation Fund, highlighted climate change and gender as important issues that require more investment. He said, “Climate change and gender remain very important issues to resolve for global development because [they’re] chronically underfunded, and women and girls, in particular, are severely affected by the effects of climate change.” Ssentongo also mentioned nature-based solutions, soil health, and regenerative agriculture as initiatives that need more attention. The panelists emphasized the benefits of businesses collaborating with each other.
Thomas talked about collaboration in the context of IBM’s open-source models, stating that it makes technology safer when anybody can contribute worldwide. Kanioura said, “The more you can bring companies together to be able to drive the next frontier of growth, to be able to create the next category of growth, to be able to create the next consumer frontier, the more everyone will benefit.
The discussion showcased how collaboration and innovation can drive progress and address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Annual Meeting, themed “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age,” aims to explore these topics further and inspire leaders to shape a more intelligent, interconnected, and equitable future.