Takeaways from Davos 2023: AI Development, Crypto Equivalent of SWIFT, Support for Ukraine

Support for Ukraine

The topic of the world’s support for Ukraine pervaded virtually every event of the forum. Country leaders, heads of transnational corporations and donors alike confirmed their proactive support for Ukraine and willingness to provide our country with financial aid. Particular attention was given to supporting Ukraine’s army and provision of financial support for our country. According to the European Commission’s forecast, sanctions imposed on the aggressor country will make it slip into recession for decades to come.

Economic Crisis

Global economic crisis was another important issue. While at the beginning of the forum global economy was talked about as being almost doomed, this view later gave way to cautious optimism. The overall forecast by leading economists currently looks better than was expected earlier. As the threat of inflation is still looming over central banks, financiers have to deal with regulators’ requirements to increase levels of capital in order to get ready for the upcoming decline. This, in turn, leads to unprofitability of some enterprises. Speaking at the forum, representatives of the world’s leading companies confirmed that the crisis have already caused massive layoffs. In general, though, forecasts concerning the new global economic crisis waiting ahead in 2023 improved and show more optimism than before.

Climate

As usually, climate change was another major topic of the forum. Among the event’s participants were representatives of renewable energy sector and heads of oil companies. Activists, including famous Greta Thunberg, called for the energy sector to stop hampering the transition to clean energy. Their calls were supported by some politicians who suggested reducing investments in oil extraction or compensating for the environmental harm.

Fintech

OpenAI presented its generative-AI chatbot named ChatGPT. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told that “every product of Microsoft will have some of the same AI capabilities to completely transform the product.” The corporation is planning to invest a massive $10 bln in OpenAI.

Another highlight of this year’s forum was the launch of a universal digital payment network (UDPN) for stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). It is intended to ensure interoperability between these currencies. The authors of the project call their invention a crypto equivalent of SWIFT and say that it is aimed at simplification of cross-border payments in CBDC and stablecoins.

As we can see, trends toward the active implementation of AI and blockchain technologies continue into this year, just as I have predicted earlier.

Ukrainian Projects

Our country is known as one of the world’s fintech leaders. This is particularly due to Diya, Ukraine’s government-backed app, which several leading companies across the world are currently studying in order to scale and localize. At the event, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced the launch of Diya-based application that will provide access to state services for citizens of Estonia.

Also presented at the forum was the Impact Business project aimed at supporting Ukrainian businesses. It is an in-depth acceleration program created by an international team of experts, entrepreneurs and investors for active businesses registered in Ukraine that want to contribute to the post-war recovery of Ukraine and create positive and lasting social impact. It offers Ukrainian entrepreneurs a unique 9-month equity-free virtual program, free access to global tech resources and opportunity to work with hundreds of coaches from leading international companies and successful start-ups. A total of 25 enterprises will be selected to participate in the pilot stage of the project. Two of them will receive €20,000 grants under the Collaborate for Impact program funded by the European Union and implemented in partnership with EVPA.

I can only welcome this great initiative. Ukraine’s fintech enterprises have already proven their highest level and ability to compete with the world’s leading companies. Impact Business will bring more Ukrainian start-ups to global recognition.

Speaking of which, another good news just drew my attention: Ukraine-made Impulse app have topped the App Store chart. This brain-training application that improves memory, attention and logical thinking abilities through bite-sized games was the most-downloaded iOS health & fitness app of 2022. To be more specific, it was downloaded 30 mln times. Since the start of the full-scale war, the app became free for Ukrainians. It is great to see that Ukraine’s fintech companies gained global recognition, and their achievements are being discussed at the World Economic Forum.