The World Economic Forum will held from the 20th until the 23rd January 2016, at the Davos-Klosters resort in Switzerland. Some of the biggest names in tech will be there, alongside the leaders from politics, finance and the media.
The title of the forum this year is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution", and the panels that these tech titans will speak on demonstrate perfectly that digital transformation is high up on the worry list for many of those in either industries.
Other high profile non-tech names in attendance include Chancellor George Osborne, International Monetary fund boss Christine Lagarde, and former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
The event will also get some star tratement from U2’s Bono, who will lead a celebration of a decade of the (red) charity, and Oscar favourite Leonardo Di Caprio.
Chuck Robbins Chief Executive Officer, Cisco
Robbins has been filling the boots of John Chambers for less than a year, having only assumed the role towards the end of July 2015, and only made his first keynote as CEO in October 2015.
In that he laid out the transformation project that he was undertaking at Cisco. Around 2/3rds of the world’s traffic is routed through his firm, so no doubt many of the other attendees will be hanging on to what he has to say.
Dan Schulman, CEO, PayPal
Schulman’s firm is one of the key players in the fintech revolution that is shaking up the finance industry, and this will be the subject of his discussion with various luminaries of the financial services industry, including International Monetary Fund boss Christine Lagarde.
The panel will touch on issues such as data privacy and regulation, as well as digitisation and new business models.
Devin Wenig President and CEO, eBay
Wenig became boss at EBay in July 2015, having previously been President since 2011. The only auction site had an annual Grosss Merchandise Volume of $83bn in 2014, and has been spun off from Paypal.
John Chambers Executive Chairman, Cisco
The irrepressible former Cisco CEO has been racking up the air miles in his current role. He will put those travels to use as he discusses how India can be a global resource for innovation, growth and talent.
Eugene Kaspersky Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaspersky Lab
Given that the World Economic forum has identified cyber security the biggest risk to business in 2016, it is only right that Kaspersky, one of the biggest names in the cyber security industry will be in attendance in Davos.
The issue of cyber security wil alsol feature in a variety of panel discussions over the course of the event.
Jimmy Wales Founder and Chair Emeritus, Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation
The man behind Wikipedia has turned his hand to a variety of business and charity projects over the years, and will discuss the future of education alongside a panel that includes former British Prime Minister and Chancellor Gordon Brown.
The panel will discuss how do we educate the young to deal with the uncertainties of modern life and take ownership of their own future?
Meg Whitman CEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Whitman will speak on a panel titled The Digital Transformation of Industries. The topic of transformation was high up on Whitman’s agenda when speaking at the first major event since the HPE/HP split, in London in December 2015.
Satya Nadella – CEO, Microsoft
The Microsoft boss will be speaking on panel titled The Transformation of Tomorrow, which will look at the question "How will the Fourth Industrial Revolution transform industries and societies?"
At Microsoft’s annual Convergence conference in March 2015 he focussed on big data intelligence IOT and social, which will clearly play a role in his approach to the question posed to the panel.
Sheryl Sandberg – COO, Facebook
The woman who tuned Facebook from a Silicon Valley startup into a world leading business will be on The Transformation of Tomorrow panel, alongside Nadella. Given that Facebook has totally revolutionised how the world connects and communicates, her insights should be fascinating.
Sandberg will also be bringing the Lean In agenda she turned into a best selling book onto the slopes of Davos when joins Melinda Gates and others to discuss the gender parity.
Adena Friedman President, Global Corporate and Information Technology Solutions, Nasdaq
Friedman has previously been Head of Global Data Products at Nasdaq, amongst other things, and has now expanded her role to rule the roost over strategic issues, as well as financial, tax, and investment.
