The UAE to implement three initiatives from WEF’s GFC
Cyberattacks number one risk for businesses, global future council report states
The UAE will implement three initiatives to prepare for the future over the next year, which were discussed at the World Economic Forum’s global future council, a senior government official said yesterday at close of the two-day forum.
“These are: a Future Possibility Report, highlighting promising emerging ideas that bring an opportunity for growth, a Future Possibility Index ranking these possibilities by the level of advancement and a Future Possibility Department, whose task will be to make possible the impossible,” Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, said on the second day of the forum.
According to the WEF, the world needs a new global architecture capable of supporting a “new deal for nature”, tackling social polarisation and providing people with the means to access the education and skills needed to ensure mobility and prosperity in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Over the last two days we have heard your calls for a new narrative for global governance that joins together issues which have become too fragmented. One that weaves together action on climate change, oceans and biodiversity and promote tolerances and dialogue,” said Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum.
“As the Fourth Industrial Revolution accelerates the rate of skills obsolescence, we need new social contracts that go beyond social-safety nets, and target affordable and scalable access to education as well as mobility of work and workers, plus a new economic model that combine the narratives of wealth creation and wealth distribution. Finally, we need our governing institutions to become agile, informed by realtime data which can maximise transparency and build legitimacy,” Brende said.
The GFC also published a report on the risk of doing business in which executives considered cyber-attacks as the number one risk.
“Cyber-attacks are seen as the number one risk for doing business in markets that account for 50 per cent of global GDP. This strongly suggests that governments and businesses need to strengthen cyber security and resilience in order to maintain confidence in a highly connected digital economy,” said Lori Bailey, Global Head of Cyber Risk, Zurich Insurance Group, and Member of the Forum’s Global Future Council on Cybersecurity.
This is relevant due to the financial impact that cybercrime has had on businesses. in 2017 the average cost of cyber crime globally climbed to $11.7 million (Dh42.97 million) per organisation, a 23 per cent increase from $9.5 million reported in 2016, and represents a 62 per cent rise in last five years.