Leaders Responding to the World’s Major Risks – Kevin Steinberg

Kevin Steinberg is a guest blogger for the Forum. He is the Chief Operating Officer, World Economic Forum USA and will be attending the Annual Meeting in Davos.

Although our official launch for the Risk Response Network won't be until next week, I thought a small preview for our on-line followership might help set the stage before then. The Risk Response Network ("RRN") is an umbrella for a set of projects and initiatives focused on helping global leaders better understand, prepare for and take advantage of opportunities associated with the world's most complex and interrelated risks. We hope to engage the most relevant decision-makers, provide the most relevant tools and services, and supply them with the most relevant knowledge and insights, all with the hope of cutting red-tape to make their efforts more effective.

Over the coming days we will unveil several of the RRN's core elements, from a new Risk Officers Community to new public-facing initiatives focused on rapid responses to crises. In the meantime, I draw your attention to two reports recently released by the Forum which help set the stage for why the RRN is sorely needed.

First, last week the Forum released its sixth annual Global Risks Report.  This flagship initiative, now brought under the RRN umbrella, outlines some of the world's most pressing risks, and is available at http://riskreport.weforum.org/.  Amongst other issues, it highlights pressing challenges related to economic disparity and global governance, both of which will be key areas of focus for the RRN this year.

Second, earlier this week we released the Sustainable Credit Report 2011. The research highlighted that over $100 trillion of additional capital will be needed to meet expected GDP growth over the coming 10 years. The sheer scale of global credit expansion poses several significant risks, particularly related to Asian debt markets, funding of European banks and the spectre of  financial protectionism. These issues will also form an area of RRN inquiry.

We look forward to unveiling more of our plans over the coming days, and working many of you on this exciting project.  In the meantime, your reactions and first impressions are most welcome.