World Economic Forum: Green technology gets tongues wagging

BT CIO Clive Selley says delegates are keen to share experiences of low-carbon innovations

The annual World Economic Forum kicked off in Davos today, and as one of the attendees, BT CIO Clive Selley, told Computing, green technology looks like being a hot topic at the event.

"I attended a dinner for technology pioneers last night, and everyone there was excited about hearing other people's ideas and expressing their own," said Selley.

"On my table was a woman who is developing a safer, cleaner and longer lasting battery technology. She explained how something this simple could benefit BT, especially if it were used on our wind farm in the west of England," he added.

"I also talked to someone who was part of a startup that had been spun out of Imperial College London which is developing 'green cement'. He explained that creating cement is normally a very carbon-intensive process and that it emits carbon throughout its life.

"BT is a big consumer of energy – in fact I think we consume 0.7 per cent of the UK's energy. Being CIO, I am responsible for this, and it is a big deal for me, so we need to be looking for new ways to improve and push our suppliers to do the same.

"Judging by what I saw and heard last night there will be a green theme to the forum."

Selley added that the event will also enable him to meet some of BT's biggest customers and suppliers, including Mahindra Satyam, Cisco, Microsoft and HP.

"This is a chance for us to evaluate and compare the roadmaps of our major suppliers and customers," said Selley.

"I expect many of them to be expanding into the Asia Pacific region, and again this fits with the event's big theme, that of responding to 'the new reality'.

"The new reality sees China growing at eight per cent and India at nine per cent, with Europe chugging along at two per cent.

"We need to acknowledge that we aren't just serving western MNCs [multinational corporations] anymore, but that we are also serving the new generation of Asian MNCs targeting the West.".

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