At Davos 2024, the theme of ‘Rebuilding Trust’ resonated with leaders across the world.
Every year before and after the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, columns are written that underline the seeming irrelevance of Davos and the decline of its influence.
However, every year Davos manages to grow and surprise delegates in new ways. The sessions in the Congress Centre maintained the tradition of setting the agenda for global debates on a range of issues in 2024 too.
The WEF programme consisted of workstreams directly related to crucial issues driving the future across four interconnected thematic priorities: Achieving Security and Cooperation in a Fractured World; Creating Growth and Jobs for a New Era; Artificial Intelligence as a Driving Force for the Economy and Society; and A Long-Term Strategy for Climate, Nature and Energy. In numbers and quality of participation WEF maintained its high standards.
There were representatives from over 100 governments, all major international organizations and the Forum’s 1,000 partner companies, as well as civil society leaders, issue experts, young change-makers, social entrepreneurs and the media. Close to 3,000 leaders from 125 countries joined the meeting. Over 350 heads of state and government and ministers from all key regions of the world joined in. About 1,600 business leaders, of which over 100 unicorns and technology pioneers participated. Over 200 change-makers from Global Shapers, Young Global Leaders and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship communities engaged at the sessions. More than 200 academic, thought leaders and civil society representatives were present.
The snowy slopes of alpine Davos have been the backdrop to several high profile debates, discussions and decisions over the last half a century.
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in 2024 occurred with ongoing wars in West Asia and Eastern Europe.
As the world came together to heal fractures, Davos 2024 became an urgent gathering of business, political and social leaders who sought normalization. The theme of Rebuilding Trust resonated with leaders across the world. “We must rebuild trust—trust in our future, trust in our capacity to overcome challenges, and most importantly, trust in each other,” said Prof Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. “Trust is not just a feeling; trust is a commitment to action, to belief, to hope.”
The vibrant agenda in the Congress Centre and adjoining venues was complemented by a diverse set of sessions in parallel events in Davos during the WEF annual meeting.
An estimated 3,000 people attend Davos for parallel events which are hosted in lounges set along the main promenade. Several strategic partners of the WEF including the top tech companies and consulting firms, host series of discussions and debates through the Davos days. Firms like Mckinsey prepared insights and reports in partnership with WEF.
More than 50 lounges were hosted by various organisations in Davos, considered to be the highest ever. The biggest such lounge was the SDG Tent supported by many companies to create a space for social development dialogues based on the UN goals.
This year social and technology issues were key themes in the parallel events too. A lounge on Women Leadership was supported by India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Another lounge on Human Change brought health experts to focus on negative impact of technology and mobiles on young adults and children. The Equality Lounge focused on gender related biases for women at workplace. A platform for consumer and economic trends was created by Insight Lighthouse at Davos. At Insight Lighthouse, corporate leaders from various industries deliberated emerging trends on using data intelligence to fuel consumer products and services.
Leading technology companies including from India set up lounges to showcase new ideas and solutions. The CapGemini Lounge focused on sustainability and tech led transformations. “I am deeply convinced that the scale of the sustainability transformation journey will be even larger than that of the digital transformation we have witnessed over the last two decades,” said Aiman Ezzat, CEO CapGemini. Other lounges were hosted by Google, Microsoft, HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, Qualcomm, Cognizant, Accenture and Amazon.
The highlight this year were the five pavilions hosted by Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government hosted the most impressive pavilions that highlighted the deep transformations underway in the country. The pavilion, focused on the grand new project NEOM, offered immersive experience of the project for visitors. NEOM is a $500 billion new sustainable urban development project being built in Saudi. It will include townships, office, entertainment and residential complexes for future living. Covering an area of over 26,000 square kilometers, NEOM will be larger than Kuwait and Israel in size.
Other pavilions by Saudi focused on its youth, its digital initiatives and its cultural history. On the role of the meeting in providing a space for diplomacy and diverse viewpoints, Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, said: “The Annual Meeting serves as a vital platform for inclusive dialogue, bringing together parties to identify pathways toward achieving shared priorities.”
A few years ago, the main buzz at Davos were crypto companies. Nearly half the pavilions on the main promenade were hosted by various crypto startups and unicorns. This year it was the turn of AI to dominate the Davos landscape. Nearly every corporate and country pavilion focused on the impact of AI and GenAI on business models. While technology is being feted, there is an equally strong effort and conversation about mitigating the negative impact of technology on society.
The impact of AI on jobs remains on the top of the agenda. The WEF announced that more than 680 million people are being reached with better skills, job opportunities and education through commitments made as part of its Reskilling Revolution initiative. “With 23% jobs changing over the next four years and 40% of work-hours likely impacted by generative AI, investing in human capital initiatives like the Reskilling Revolution today is fundamental to getting ahead of disruptions to livelihoods and key to solving the environmental, technological and economic challenges of tomorrow,” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum. A WEF report in collaboration with CapGemini identifies and quantifies the jobs most conducive to fully remote work and estimates that by 2030 there will be 90 million global digital jobs, enhancing access to global jobs and talent.
India made its presence felt in Davos with several pavilions. These were hosted by Invest India, Confederation of Indian Industry, and state governments of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
The continued political stability and economic policy continuity helped position India as steady investment destination amidst rising geo-political uncertainties.
For many global business and political leaders, the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos helps begin the year with strong context about the state of the world. The diversity of dialogues will continue to grow at the WEF annual meeting. Davos has become a relevant global pulpit for an increasing number of communities and professionals in the world. WEF is the core of Davos and is inspiring many new voices to be at the Swiss village. These new voices being heard at Davos are a stirring testament to the influential global platform created by Prof Schwab.
Pranjal Sharma is a geo-economic analyst and author of “The Next New: Navigating the Fifth Industrial Revolution”.