From Davos: What’s missing this year

A few not terribly noteworthy things missing from Davos this year: Two of the favorite fancy-ish parties … the French business school INSEAD, which was every year at the Toy Museum. This year, they’ve "already established their brand." And funding issues. Also missing: the Russian investment bank Troika Dialog. This year, "the South Africans are making ...

By , the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

A few not terribly noteworthy things missing from Davos this year:

A few not terribly noteworthy things missing from Davos this year:

Two of the favorite fancy-ish parties … the French business school INSEAD, which was every year at the Toy Museum. This year, they’ve "already established their brand." And funding issues. Also missing: the Russian investment bank Troika Dialog. This year, "the South Africans are making the biggest splash." And funding issues.

No fancy-ish lighting with different designs every night at the Davos reception central: The Belevedere Hotel. Apparently, along with shuttle busses taking everyone around Davos village, this is one of many green initiatives. I quite liked the lighting–evenings are a little too austere, especially given that it’s the Swiss countryside and all. The Davos conference packet this year suggests buying carbon offsets for the helicopter trips in from Zurich this year.  Surely we could toss in an offset for the hotel light display.

Second life booth — Linden labs’ creation, allowing Davos delegates to create avatars and talk to the world, which always amused me. Especially when you got to see a really blocky version of the odd wonky delegate.  Avatar‘s become a big deal, but avatars apparently haven’t … and so much for virtual currency.

Ian Bremmer will be blogging from Davos this week sending reports and commentary from inside the World Economic Forum.

Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. He is also the host of the television show GZERO World With Ian Bremmer. Twitter: @ianbremmer

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