Once a year, some of the world’s most influential leaders, thinkers and innovators converge for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. For a global innovator of business and technology services like NTT DATA, this gathering in the heart of the Swiss Alps isn’t just a networking opportunity — it’s a strategic imperative.
We know that staying ahead of the curve requires more than just the latest technology. It also demands a deep understanding of global economic, social and environmental trends.
Collaboration is at the heart of how we work. No organization can navigate the complex technology landscape alone. That’s why we partner with technology leaders such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), NVIDIA and SAP to combine best-in-class solutions with bold innovation.
Along the way, we engage with industry leaders, governments and academia to work toward a future that’s intelligent, inclusive and impactful.
The theme of this year’s Davos gathering, “Collaboration for an Intelligent Age,” resonates deeply with our mission. We used the opportunity to strengthen these critical partnerships, gain insights into emerging challenges and position NTT DATA as a leader in a new era of collaboration.
2025 is the year of the AI agent
Image: © 2025 World Economic Forum
Exciting new technologies are solving complex challenges and helping us to shape a future that benefits everyone. For example, GenAI has evolved dramatically in the past 18 months, and 2025 is shaping up as the year of specialist AI agents that can work independently and reliably as part of a business workflow. This bodes well for automation and dramatic cost reductions.
As I mentioned during a discussion on the Journal House main stage at Davos, we’ve already launched Smart AI Agent, our next-generation AI tool that autonomously extracts and organizes data and executes tasks in response to a user’s instruction. It complements existing workforces, streamlines processes and even enables multiple AI agents to work together.
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This is just one example of how NTT DATA is using AI and GenAI to maximize productivity in organizations, and we’re looking forward to bringing more of these initiatives to market in 2025.
Making strides in sustainability to reduce energy consumption
Sustainability is at the heart of our vision. NTT DATA’s sustainability ambition includes being Planet Positive, which means contributing to the global response to the climate crisis, supporting the circular economy and focusing on water management, among other actions.
At Davos, I took part in a meeting of the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders to discuss the impact of climate risks on industries like insurance, telecommunications and agriculture. With deep insight into the challenges these industries face, we can create solutions that support sustainable practices and contribute to meaningful change.
As one of the world’s top three data center providers, we know that data centers consume vast amounts of energy, and this will only escalate as demand for AI solutions skyrockets.
Among other innovations that limit data center emissions, we’re using liquid immersion cooling (submerging servers in a non-conductive, non-flammable liquid that absorbs and dissipates heat efficiently) and direct contact liquid cooling (direct contact between the liquid coolant and the heat-generating components) to manage the heat generated by high-performance computing equipment. Both methods offer superior thermal management, leading to higher performance and lower energy consumption and maintenance costs.
At the same time, our Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative — which uses photonic networking technology — will help us reduce energy consumption by more than 90% compared with current networking systems.
Data sharing: the key to business breakthroughs and social value
Image: © 2025 World Economic Forum
I also participated in an official WEF panel discussion at Davos titled “Sharing Data amid Fracture.”
We’ve been living in an era of siloed data, but we are finally entering an era of data sharing that is fueling transformative, AI-driven breakthroughs across industries, such as the discovery of new drugs in healthcare and the development of self-driving vehicles in transportation.
But how can we scale data-sharing practices in data spaces to maximize the benefits for everyone? There are significant governance challenges to overcome, such as complex privacy frameworks, institutional fragmentation and eroded public trust.
Innovative approaches to address these challenges include reimagining data sharing as a collaborative ecosystem with federated learning architectures, trusted data intermediaries, dynamic consent models and regulatory sandboxes. These strategies are meant to create more flexible, ethical frameworks that balance the individual right to privacy with the potential for collective innovation.
When we standardize interoperability protocols and implement user-centric data governance, we enable cross-sector collaboration, which in turn speeds up scientific research and helps us implement predictive capabilities.
Mining the real value of shared data, safely
The data stored by organizations can create value in two ways.
First, data can be shared between organizations to improve their business performance. In a manufacturing supply chain, for example, if the manufacturer and all its suppliers share their production plans, it becomes easier to optimize production. It’s a straightforward strategy to implement because the manufacturer clearly stands to benefit.
Second, organizations can share data to create social value. NTT DATA is involved in the Ouranos Ecosystem, a Japanese initiative to create a cross-industry data ecosystem, similar to Catena-X in Europe. Ouranos is being used to set up a system to track rechargeable batteries, a process that requires data from all automotive companies and their suppliers. This type of system typically needs government support to incentivize participants.
To ensure secure data access in this environment, NTT Group has developed “secret processing technology” that allows a group of organizations to analyze each other’s data without exposing any one organization’s raw data to the others. This type of technology will encourage organizations to safely share their data in data spaces.
We’ve also joined forces with Gaia-X — the initiative to develop a federated secure data infrastructure for data sharing in Europe — and other partners to deploy the Gaia-X Digital Clearing House, a platform for secure, transparent, interoperable and trusted data exchange.
Data sharing should not be limited to a single country. We need international cooperation, and I hope that we can establish common global rules and spread the data-space initiative around the world. NTT DATA is committed to contributing to this effort.
NTT DATA is shaping a better future for all
This year at Davos, NTT DATA wanted to show how we took the theme of collaboration for an intelligent age to heart, as it’s extremely relevant to our business.
Our mission is to accelerate client success and positively impact society through responsible innovation. This means we strive not only to help our clients achieve their business goals rapidly but also to use technology in a way that benefits society as a whole, while following ethical and sustainable best practices in our innovation efforts.
To achieve this, it is vital that we continue to collaborate closely with our clients and partners, and with organizations like the WEF.
Together, we’re shaping a better future for our clients and society through responsible innovation and impact.
Main article image: © 2025 World Economic Forum