At the end of May, I had the honor of attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos for a hectic but inspirational few days. Instead of snow-covered mountains, it was springtime – this was the postponed Annual Meeting from January 2022.

We sent a small delegation – including myself, Jillian Moore, our global advisory lead and executive sponsor for sustainability, Marsha Trant, our general manager for the South Region, North America, and Miranda Hill, our global innovation lead. It was our first time attending and it gave us the chance to assess whether WEF could be a valuable platform for us as a responsible business. We used the opportunity to understand how we could play an active role in the critical conversations taking place with top leaders, from our own clients and other businesses in the private and public sectors to NGOs and government leaders, who are all truly focused on making a difference.

It is clear that our world faces extraordinary challenges that threaten our future. And it will take all of us – businesses, governments, and people – to play an active role in addressing these issues by becoming more responsible in the way we treat the environment, resources, and people. This is very much the agenda of the World Economic Forum, to bring together business, government, policymakers, and academics to discuss the world’s most pressing issues.

For Avanade, being a responsible business is more than providing digital technology solutions for our clients; it is about what and how we, as a business, can make a genuine human impact and help our clients and the world transform in ways big and small. We believe we have a collective responsibility for our planet; that’s why we’re committed to being responsible in everything we do, from forward-looking leadership to long-term sustainability. During our time at Davos, we were able to participate in some critical conversations on topics where we know we can make an impact on sustainability, Web 3.0, and all aspects of Diversity & Inclusion.

We partnered with several organizations that had set up dedicated venues in Davos, including the Female Quotient Lounge, the SDG Goals House, and the Decentralized Web Gateway to attend different sessions, and we ran a couple of our own roundtable discussions. We were able to talk about our commitment to bringing together digital technologies and diversity of thought to innovate new ways to address the many global challenges. This is important to us, as it shows we are prepared to enter the global arena and make a productive contribution. Through many of our client engagements and company programs, we are already achieving success and we have valuable experience, solutions, and innovation to bring to the WEF conversation.

For example, I was invited to join one of our clients, the World Health Organization, for a session called The Global Health Emergency. The session with the WHO focused on what can be learned from the COVID crisis, and further highlighted inequality across communities, with a high percentage of the population in the west receiving vaccines, while only 15% of people in developing countries have received the vaccination to date. Through our work with the WHO, we know that data is critical to understanding how we can impact and improve the health and lives of people around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented demand for information, further highlighting the fragmentation of health data, the inequality, the data gaps that exist, and the challenges that some face in accessing and using health data. In partnership with Microsoft and the WHO Avanade has supported the build of the new home for the world’s health data: The World Health Data Hub. This new hub will use artificial intelligence to create a global information center for disease surveillance and knowledge sharing that could help further the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals by providing a targeted picture of disease patterns and sharing insight into where particular health issues most need attention.

Another is example is how we are increasingly able to help our clients become more sustainable. Avanade is a leader in the green software movement and works with different companies to support them on their journeys to reduce their software carbon emissions.  As one of a select group of global Microsoft sustainability partners, Avanade is proud to help organizations rethink sustainability – and to partner with them to accelerate positive impacts for people, the planet, and profitability with digital. We are a steering committee member of the Green Software Foundation who is committed to creating tooling, sharing processes, and attracting people in the field of sustainability.