Business Technology Roundtable

Economic growth is fueled by strategic investment. Venture capital (VC) has quietly become one of the most consequential forces in the global networked economy, yet most C-suite leaders engage with it only at the margins. That needs to change. A landmark new report from the World Economic Forum and Stanford Graduate School of Business, released this month, offers a comprehensive and at times sobering assessment of where the VC industry stands and where it is headed. For senior executives navigating technology strategy, capital allocation, and competitive positioning, the findings carry direct implications. The Scale of the Opportunity and the Strain Beneath It VC assets under management have grown more than sixfold since 2008, reaching $3.4 trillion globally in 2025. Seven of the ten largest companies in the world by market capitalization, including Apple, NVIDIA, and Amazon, received venture backing in their early stages. Among U.S. public companies founded in the past 50 years, VC-ba...

To date, the dominant narrative around artificial intelligence (AI) in business was one of cautious optimism shadowed by disappointment. Organizations launched pilots, generated buzz, and then quietly shelved initiatives that failed to scale. That narrative is changing. The World Economic Forum (WEF) inaugural MINDS report, produced in collaboration with Accenture, offers one of the most comprehensive snapshots yet of what successful, real-world Applied-AI adoption actually looks like. The findings are instructive, occasionally surprising, and carry clear strategic lessons for any organization still searching for the bridge between experimentation and ROI impact. The Scale of What is Happening The MINDS program drew applications from over 30 countries spanning every major region, with participation cutting across industries from energy and healthcare to financial services and advanced manufacturing. Information technology (IT) accounted for nearly one-third of all submissions, but what...