Davos: Education, knowledge and the Internet

Education is high on the agenda in Davos. Former US President Bill Clinton and Israeli President Shimon Peres were among the panellists debating the crucial role of communication technologies in giving people easy access to knowledge. Education, they agreed, is the best way out of poverty. So countries and companies should invest more in Science.

Shimon Peres, president of Israel:

“I think that the economies are looking in the wrong direction. They shouldn’t look at the financial side of the development, but to the scientific explosion that will take place. It is not the pockets that enrich our brains, it is our brains that fills our pockets.”

Thanks to the wizardry of the Internet, a school in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to the debate in Davos. But in developing countries accessing the Internet is still a privilege, as one of the fathers of the web, Timothy Berner-Lee, points out.

“The web at the moment is only used by 20% of the world. People think it is a wonderful thing that everyone can access, NO, not everyone can access it.”

Education through the Internet to build a better world is not just for young people, permanent training of adults in every professional field is also a new frontier. Even for the police, as the secretary general of Interpol reminds us:

Ronald K. Noble is the secretary general of Interpol:

“For us one area that we are focusing on at Interpol is that we are going to create the world’s first International Anti-corruption Academy, so that police around the world can learn via the Internet and e-learning on how to prevent crimes from occurring involving corruption.”

Euronews reporter Constantino De Miguel concludes:

“Poverty, climate change, financial crisis…In Davos many solutions are on the table to fix the problems of the global village.

They all pass through more education and technology. The Internet revolution should get even stronger in schools, ministries and the media.”

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