Infosys Sets Business Roadmap for 2020 at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008, Davos

As a strategic partner of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting taking place in Davos, Switzerland, Infosys Technologies is taking a leading role in shaping the future agenda of its partner communities. With this aim in mind, Infosys conducted an exclusive CEO panel discussion on Thursday morning to look at the world we can expect to see in 2020.

The panel discussion, "Welcome to Twenty20: Creating a Future by Design," involved renowned futurists Paul Saffo and Peter Schwartz to engage with the audience on their view of the scenarios impacting global corporations. Participants included CEOs from companies across the globe. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys CEO and Managing Director, and Maria Bartiromo, CNBC anchor, led the panel discussion.

In his opening remarks, Kris said, "In today's interconnected world we have to look at solving today's and tomorrow's problems through increased collaboration and innovation."

The CEO discussion centered on managing uncertainty in a rapidly changing world and addressed five global themes that Infosys predicts will shape our future: Environment and Energy, Healthcare, Education, Economic Inclusiveness and Ethical Governance.

Participants discussed potential future scenarios between 2008 and 2020. It was asserted that by 2018 the proliferation of the Internet would enable remote education, apart from electronic delivery of medical services. Further, it would enable workers to complete tasks from anywhere in the world, thereby contributing to a decline in urbanization. It was also suggested that print editions of daily newspapers would cease to exist by 2014.

"Overwhelmingly, participants' concerns in the near future were around enhanced protectionism, the environment and energy," commented Peter Schwartz, the futurist who led the morning's discussions. "However, all saw upsides in the future with regard to technology, society and the economy."

"The bottom line is that it is important that this event happened, and the dialogue has led to many great ideas and thought-provoking scenarios. But this barely scratched the surface of a rich load of new ideas. This was a crowd of realistic optimists who fully appreciated the challenges ahead and proposed realistic solutions," said Paul Saffo, technology forecaster also who facilitated the debate.

Kris Gopalakrishnan will also be speaking at the Forum on Friday about how corporations can tap local innovation for global impact and how economies can use information communication technology for competitive advantage (see details below).

Other Infosys-led sessions include:

Friday 25 January 09:00 - 12:00
Leveraging Technology for Development
Congress Centre, Jakobshorn WorkSpace

Friday 25 January, 14.30 - 15.45
Panel - Congress Centre - Forum
Local Innovation for Global Impact

Friday 25 January 20:00 - 22:00
Using Technology to Create Competitive Advantage - Hotel Fluela, Fluela Post

For further details on Infosys' participation at the World Economic Forum and other social initiatives, please visit http://www.infosys.com/beyond-business

About Infosys Technologies

Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) defines, designs and delivers IT-enabled business solutions that help Global 2000 companies win in a flat world. These solutions focus on providing strategic differentiation and operational superiority to clients. With Infosys, clients are assured of a transparent business partner, world-class processes, speed of execution and the power to stretch their IT budget by leveraging the Global Delivery Model that Infosys pioneered. Infosys has over 80,000 employees in over 44 offices worldwide. Infosys is part of the NASDAQ-100 Index. For more information, visit www.infosys.com.

Media contacts:

For further information, please contact: PR_Global@infosys.com