Twenty20 - Creating A Future By Design

Welcome to Twenty20: Creating a Future by Design.

On January 24th, 2008, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, CNBC Europe, in partnership with Infosys, worked with some of the world's leading minds in an interactive activity to articulate their visions for the future.

Two internationally renowned futurists, Paul Saffo and Peter Schwartz, joined forces with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo to work with industry leaders from companies such as Lenovo, WEF, MIT, Chevron Corporation, AMD, Deloittes, PriceWaterhouseCooper, CITI, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Credit Suisse, Better PLC, Tibco Software Inc, Industrial Development Corporation, Tokyo Electron Ltd, Felix Schoeller Holdings, Index:, The Coca-Cola Company, Xenel Industries, ZFS, GE, and others, in using various Sure Bets and Wildcard scenarios to plan for the future.

With scenarios ranging from restricted air travel due to rising oil rises, and carbon emissions, to the next US president, to solutions to the oil crisis, to rising tensions between Muslims and Christians, to black markets in carbon credits, to the death of the automobile (and oil use) due to electric cars being the only type produced, to water becoming the most traded commodity on the planet, among many other scenarios, they brought with them a diverse range of opinions for and against each forecast.

The consensus among most at the breakfast though, was for a pessimistic outlook in the immediate future followed by a longer-term optimistic outlook in the late part of the next decade. The breakfast event complemented the CNBC Davos debate Who's in Charge? which commented on the uncertainty of this rapidly changing world.

Read the report

Participants will be looking at possible scenarios for the years 2008 to 2020, speculating on ‘Sure Bets’ and ‘Wildcard’ forecasts for the following categories:


Environment and Energy
The link between human behaviour and climate change is no longer in argument. The long-term survival of humanity itself is being questioned.  This area covers emissions, carbon footprint, water, flora and fauna and renewable energy sources.

Healthcare
Large parts of the world are still susceptible to high infant mortality, pandemics and an endless array of diseases and health concerns. Universal primary health care availability is a must for the long-term health of society. This area covers accessibility, affordability and drug discovery.

Education
An educated population is the best solution for a society to make informed, correct and long-term choices. It also creates the talent pool required for economic growth. This area covers accessibility, affordability and learning maximisation.

Economic Inclusiveness
If large sections of a society are excluded from the benefits of economic growth and prosperity, then the growth becomes unstable and the society becomes volatile. This area covers anything that contributes to the employability of the bottom half of the population of developing countries.

Ethical Governance
This area covers fiscal transparency, diversity & pluralism and the basis of one’s moral compass. It includes any organisation, government, corporation or NGO.

Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo is the anchor of CNBC’s "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo" (M-F, 3-5 p.m. ET), and host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated "Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo," recently rated the most watched financial news program in America.

Bartiromo will be moderating the Twenty20 breakfast at Davos.

Kris Gopalakrishnan
Infosys CEO
S. Gopalakrishnan (Kris to his colleagues) is one of the founders of Infosys Technologies Limited. As Chief Executive Officer, he plays a key role in defining the company strategy and in using technology and innovation continuously to maintain its leadership of the industry.


Paul Saffo
Futurist
Paul is a forecaster and essayist with over two decades experience exploring long-term technological change and its practical impact on business and society. He currently teaches at Stanford University and is a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He was the founding chairman of the Samsung Science Board and serves on a variety of other boards including the Long Now Foundation and the Singapore National Research Foundation Science Advisory Board.


Peter Schwartz
Scenario Planner
Peter Schwartz is co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network, a Monitor Group company, and a partner of the Monitor Group, a family of professional services firms devoted to enhancing client competitiveness. An internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, Peter specializes in scenario planning, working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world.

The above video is a fictional news broadcast from 2015 that explores the impact and implications as the story breaks.

Interactive TimeMap

As part of the Twenty20 project, CNBC has been working with Masters of Business students from a leading international business school to gauge their Sure Bets and Wildcard scenarios to the year 2020.

These young business minds and future leaders will be among the people charged with understanding the challenges that lie ahead within the areas of Healthcare, Environment and Energy, Education, Economic Inclusiveness, and Ethical Governance – and they’ll need to navigate through those changes in a sustainable way.