The World Economic Forum annual meeting, a yearly gathering of global elites famously held in Davos, Switzerland, is more than halfway through, with President Donald Trump set to take the virtual stage this morning for a speech.
Better known simply as “Davos,” the summit is a place where policy and major deals and decisions are often shaped. The not-for-profit World Economic Forum (WEF) hosts this meeting of minds across the public and private sectors to encourage global collaboration and work towards solutions for the world’s major ills of the day.
Now in its 55th year, eyes are on Davos and its long list of heavy hitters as they convene under the 2025 theme “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.” Here’s what to know.
The World Economic Forum annual meeting, colloquially known simply as “Davos,” is a yearly meeting of elites including leaders in government, business and civil society. Over the course of four days, decision-makers from across the globe discuss what they see as major issues of the day and plans to tackle them. The WEF focuses on promoting collaboration between the private and public sectors to “make the world a better place for all.”
According to the WEF website, business partnerships, political breakthroughs and policy can and often do come out of the summit, which was held for the first time in 1971. It is an exclusive-invite-only event at which many private conversations happen, contributing to the air of mystery surrounding the event amongst the general public.
The WEF meeting is always held in Davos, Switzerland. Located in the Swiss mountains, Davos is the highest town in Europe in terms of elevation. The organization was founded as the “European Management Symposium” by Professor Klaus Schwab in 1971, primarily to discuss Schwab’s “stakeholder theory,” or his vision that businesses should serve all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
In 1973, the Annual Meeting endorsed the Davos Manifesto, a code of ethics for business leaders that lays out Schwab’s principles of stakeholder capitalism.
Davos is typically hosted in January. The meeting has taken place in Davos in January for most of its existence, save for 2001 when it was held in New York City after the 9/11 attacks and 2021 through 2022 during which it was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Davos is taking place from Jan. 20-24 this year. The theme is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”
Davos is an invite-only event for world leaders and decision-makers, including politicians, academics and business people across public and private sectors. According to WEF, it also invites “activists, artists, labour leaders, Indigenous community members and prominent youth voices.”
The WEF lists a swath of big names planning to attend the 2025 session on its website. Some politicians include Donald Trump; Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China; Federal Chancellor of Germany; Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament.
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization; Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund will be in attendance from the international organization category, while over 1,600 business leaders and more than 170 leaders from civil society and the social sector will attend as well.
Some of these include David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee; Sania Nishtar, CEO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance and Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.
Today, Davos hosts more than 300 sessions, 200 of which are livestreamed to a global audience, all of which “aim to accelerate progress and tackle global challenges.”
It lists some of its overarching focuses throughout the years as climate change, inclusion, diversity and economics. WEF also releases the Global Risks Reportahead of the annual meeting to identify the major topics of the year.
Trump will make a virtual appearance at Davos on Thursday at 11 a.m. E.T., followed by a question-and-answer session. Sessions such as these are available for public viewing on the WEF YouTube page.
