The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, is all about change — to society, the global economy, technology, the planet, and so much more.
But in 2026, the unrelenting pace of that change represents “a new normal.”
That’s how Cisco Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins described it at Davos last week, where he joined other Cisco leaders — including Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer, and Fran Katsoudas, EVP and chief people, policy and purpose officer — to share how the company is meeting the challenges of this new era. Their talks touched on everything from AI and energy to driving development in Africa and rebuilding trust amid a wide spectrum of global uncertainties.
At a WEF roundtable attended by Robbins titled “Who Brokers Trust Now?”, the discussion touched on upheavals in the post-World War II global order, inequality and rampant wars, and ever-accelerating technology disruptions. All of which contribute to an erosion of trust that spans continents and cultures.
Robbins stressed the responsibility that private-sector organizations have in rebuilding that trust, especially as AI transforms so much of our daily lives.
“There are lots of organizations where trust still exists,” he stressed, “and that work together to actually think about regulation [of AI] and then take ownership in ensuring that we are not utilizing AI in a way that is improper.”
Robbins considers it nothing less than an ethical imperative.
“You have to have a moral high ground,” he continued. “You have to be transparent. You have to be open and interact with governments.”
Robbins also talked of the positive efforts that companies are driving in local communities and globally, including Cisco’s efforts to empower millions around the world with the technology skills for today’s and tomorrow’s workforce and its 40 Communities initiative.
“Companies can actually be a part of that solution,” he added. “We've been very involved in issues like homelessness in the United States. As part of our 40-year anniversary, we chose 40 communities around the world where we wanted to go invest and help rebuild. And, again, it's not just about us, there's other companies that are doing similar things.”
Building the foundation for the AI revolution
In a CNBC interview at Davos, Patel picked up the theme of AI and trust. While he considers AI to be the most impactful technological leap of our lifetimes — and spoke of its great potential in areas like medicine and alleviating poverty — he believes that trust and security are among the three main constraints that could slow its progress (the others being a shortfall in AI-ready infrastructure and the data gap).
“If people don't trust these systems, they're not going to use them,” Patel emphasized. “Safety and security of these systems are paramount.”
In terms of infrastructure, Patel explained how energy-hungry data centers will no longer be centered in one building, they’ll be distributed across far-flung locations where power is available.
To make it possible, Cisco is solving key challenges, like the latency that can result in connecting data centers across long distances.
“As AI gets bigger and bigger,” he said, “you might need multiple data centers to operate like one logical unit as one cluster. And so that requires a whole new set of technologies that are getting built out what they call scale across data centers where two data centers, 800 kilometers apart, can behave like one ultra cluster. That’s technology that we’re building and that’ll help with scaling AI in a big way.”
Patel concluded by sharing how Cisco is taking on all three of the key challenges impeding AI.
“We’ve spent billions of dollars at Cisco actually addressing those challenges,” he expressed. “We have the largest networking and connectivity company in the world. We’re one of the largest security companies in the world, and we are one of the most successful data companies in the world with Splunk.”
Investing in Africa’s future
In recent years, Cisco has expanded its already strong focus on development in Africa. And Katsoudas has been a prime mover in that effort. In a Semafor interview, she shared key insights on development, skills training, and the potential for AI in Africa.
As Katsoudas pointed out, Cisco’s latest AI Readiness Index showed that only 13 percent of companies globally are fully AI ready. South Africa, however, revealed an interesting dynamic that speaks to both its great potential and the obstacles that remain.
“South Africa is closer to 19%,” Katsoudas explained, “which is a pretty big difference, higher than the U.S., higher than Europe. So, companies are truly leaning in, which is amazing. But then you look at that other stat, which is that 60% of people are still not connected. There's something there that we absolutely have to get after.”
Cisco itself is leaning in across Africa, supporting new infrastructure and skills programs, while addressing key concerns cybersecurity and the responsible use of AI.
“When we think about the AI infrastructure that's required,” Katsoudas continued, “we definitely have to include security and responsible AI practices into that infrastructure as well. And the more that this can be established we will have amazing innovation on the continent— there's a huge opportunity.”
AI, connectivity, and cybersecurity demand skilled workers. And the Cisco Networking Academy is one of the largest tech skills programs of its kind in the world.
“From a Cisco perspective, we have trained 1.6 million learners on the African continent,” Katsoudas said. “Our goal is to get to 3 million by 2032. And security is a big part of what we're training on.”
As for the future, Katsoudas sees tremendous potential — and urges more companies to consider that investing in Africa isn’t just the right thing to do, but a tremendous opportunity.
“I'm an optimist” she concluded. “But in our last AI research that we did, we found that across the continent, 75% of young people are thinking about the companies that they want to start over the next five years. Think about those numbers. In 2050, we understand that a fourth of the workforce will be on the continent. So, if you have 75% of young people thinking about that, and if we can give them the tools — and I think AI is one of the tools to be effective in scale — there's tremendous reason to be optimistic. I think the continent will be unstoppable.”
