After the cancellation of the 2021 edition as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Bridge Tank was back in the Swiss Alps’ Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting from 22-26 May 2022. In the footsteps of its previous edition in January 2020, The Bridge Tank convened another high-level conversation on 25 May as part of its now traditional Innovation Lunch held on Promenade 53.

With Joel Ruet, economist and president of The Bridge Tank & Pranjal Sharma, business columnist and board member of The Bridge Tank, leading the discussions, this year’s Innovation Lunch addressed “The geopolitics era of technology, investment and finance – scenarios, risk mitigation and emerging markets.”

The discussion tackled the current dynamics of globalisation, noting its increasing fragility with geopolitical shocks putting businesses at risk and with economic crises less and less likely to be handled in an efficient collective manner.

Business strategies are now aligning with the grand strategies of states; trade suddenly has strategic areas, investment is sovereign, technology is no longer just competitive but rival. The internet and global finance may hardly remain a unified system as they bump into different geographies. China, the US, Russia have certainly set this trend, but the EU and India now devote more energy to gain strategic positions within this new « no-deal » order. Observers of Africa also recognise early signals of a regional awareness that the continent must play strategic too.

The rules for this next phase of globalisation will not be decided just by the West any more. Indeed, the emerging markets in Asia and Africa will be co-authors of the rules.