The big read: Tech world faces up to burning issues – Chief-Exec.com

Techies around the world would have been hard-wired for insights last week as the DLD17 conference in Munich and the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos ran concurrently. The former – populated by academics and innovators – was marked by a frisky anticipation over technological possibilities, while the latter – made up of politicians and business leaders – succumbed to fear and uncertainty over global events, even as the sun shone outside. Chinese premier, Xi Jinping, speaking in Davos, said: "Unlike the industrial revolution, our fourth technological revolution is unfolding at an exponential, and not linear, pace". One statistic that came out of the meeting was how Hollywood box office takings have been outpaced by App revenues – even though they didn't exist before 2008. Premier Xi opened his address with a quote from Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", to highlight the many contradictions facing modern society.