Our Impact 2024-2025

This section provides examples of initiatives applying the World Economic Forum’s unique impact methods to drive large-scale progress on critical public challenges and selected meetings held in 2024-2025 to provide a platform for progress, cooperation and trust-building.

The World Economic Forum’s centres develop initiatives that help further the Forum’s mission to improve the state of the world. They typically bring together multiple parties from government to business, academia, civil society groups, experts and youth, all of whom, like the Forum, seek to make progress in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges.

Currently, our multistakeholder initiatives and communities are pursuing work across the following topic areas: economy, geopolitics and trade, people, planet, and technology.

The structure of economies is undergoing significant change. While growth continues in many regions, the multilateral system is under strain, and inflation remains a concern in several economies due to shifting trade policies and supply chain disruptions. Growth forecasts have been revised downward in some regions, and challenges such as widening income inequality, housing affordability and rising costs of living are becoming more acute. Amid this complex environment, the Forum is leveraging its unique stakeholder model to promote collaboration and the exchange of ideas and best practices to help strengthen the global economic and financial system.

The aim of the Future of Growth Initiative is to drive a new conversation around the policies needed to boost rates of growth while also avoiding the errors of previous growth-at-all-costs approaches. The world needs faster growth; it also needs growth that is more innovative, inclusive, sustainable and resilient.

Underpinning the initiative’s output is the Future of Growth Framework, which brings together a wide range of data from 107 economies and shows how economies across the world are performing both on the pace of growth and its quality or character.

In 2025, the initiative launched a series on global economic futures with Global Economic Futures: Productivity in 2030. Developed in consultation with a broad range of business stakeholders, it explored economic scenarios with a 2030 time horizon, assessing how businesses in different sectors may be affected by major changes that are roiling the global economy.

The Future of Growth Champions help to translate the initiative’s work from analysis to action. This group of senior leaders, including government ministers and CEOs, shares the initiative’s vision of driving faster and higher-quality growth to support the vitality and resilience of society. As well as meeting regularly at Forum events, the champions also convene twice yearly on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, DC.

The Future of Growth Accelerators Network – a series of public-private collaborative platforms – also represents an integral part of the initiative. At the Annual Meeting 2025, the first national-level Future of Growth Accelerator was launched in collaboration with the government of Egypt.

States are increasingly using the global financial system to advance geopolitical objectives. These types of geoeconomic statecraft policies, combined with industrial policies like subsidies and domestic capacity-building measures are influencing trade and capital flows, investment patterns, asset returns and the cost and availability of capital across borders.

In response, the Forum launched the Navigating Global Financial System Fragmentation initiative, estimating that unchecked fragmentation could cost up to $5.7 trillion. The initiative seeks to promote understanding of the global financial system, raise awareness of the consequences of fragmentation and develop frameworks that protect the financial system during a period of rising geopolitical tensions. At the core of this effort is a commitment to eight foundational principles that underpin the global financial system, ranging from respect for the rule of law and property rights to the independence of fiscal and monetary policy, institutional integrity and interoperable financial infrastructures. Violating these principles could undermine the very integrity of the financial system and drive fragmentation, which would weaken trust, reduce efficiencies and jeopardize economic growth.

Over the reporting period, the initiative convened leaders from the public and private sectors to generate insights, encourage cooperation and advance shared priorities such as combatting illicit finance. The initiative also presented a positive vision for the financial system as a potential venue for renewed global collaboration on issues of geoeconomic consensus.

To broaden its impact, the initiative also engaged wider audiences through outreach focused on the costs of fragmentation, its upward pressure on inflation and the benefits of integration.

Drawing on its research and consultations, the initiative introduced two strategic frameworks in less than one year, which were validated by more than 25 global CEOs and chairpersons: the Principles to Safeguard the Global Financial System from Fragmentation and the Rules of Engagement for Responsible Economic Statecraft. The former defines the conditions needed to maintain essential financial system operations and confidence; the latter provides guidance for policy-makers to pursue geoeconomic policies without destabilizing global markets and economic prosperity.

Trade, as it has been known since the post-World War II era, is changing. As policy-makers and business leaders grapple with changes ranging from a rapidly shifting geopolitical situation to the growth of frontier technologies, navigating new challenges and opportunities is vital to supporting trade, and with it, domestic and global growth. Amid this, the Forum is facilitating real-world change, supporting partnerships and accelerating solutions.

The second edition of the Global Cooperation Barometer was released ahead of the Annual Meeting 2025 to measure the state of international cooperation.

Rooted in rigorous data and analysis, the barometer quantifies the level of cooperation broadly and across five pillars: trade and capital, peace and security, innovation and technology, climate and nature, and health and wellness. In offering leaders clear insight into where collaboration thrives – and where gaps exist – it serves as a vital guide for developing strategies for bolstering collaborative approaches in today’s more competitive geostrategic context. The barometer’s practical recommendations for identifying pathways towards cooperating on shared interests draw on lessons from the private sector, where businesses have developed approaches for simultaneously strengthening their own competitiveness while collaborating with market rivals on issues like climate action.

Development of the barometer during the reporting period included the launching of an advisory board, composed of experts from the Forum’s Global Future Council Network, and consultation with stakeholders from across Forum communities.

As geopolitical pressures persist, the barometer is emerging as a crucial tool for leaders seeking to strengthen global partnerships and advance collective solutions in the year ahead.

The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF) marked its 10th anniversary in 2025. Over the past decade, it has supported 26 projects in 25 countries, engaging 2,000 local micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). These efforts have helped unlock over $213 million in savings for traders.

The alliance’s mission is to simplify trade procedures, particularly in developing countries, where significant barriers still hinder the movement of goods across borders.

At the heart of each alliance project is a public-private partnership model, enabling collaboration between governments and businesses to co-create tailored trade reforms. These initiatives often focus on streamlining processes around the movement of goods such as manufacturing inputs, foodstuffs, medical supplies and humanitarian aid, ensuring cross-border trade is safer, faster and more inclusive.

During the reporting period, the alliance advanced reforms to simplify customs and border procedures in over 25 countries, including Guatemala, Cambodia, Morocco, Senegal and Ukraine, aligned with World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) commitments. It convened local and international stakeholders to design impactful solutions, aiming to reduce clearance times and costs while expanding access to trade for MSMEs.

A consortium of global organizations leads the alliance, with support from the governments of Canada, Germany, Sweden and the European Union – all committed to promoting inclusive, sustainable economic development through improved trade facilitation.

People face multiple challenges in today’s world, ranging from the changing face of work, where technologies are carrying out more and more human tasks, to the effects of climate change. The Forum is addressing this range of challenges through initiatives that support and create opportunities designed to allow humans to thrive. Focus areas include inclusion, reskilling, upskilling and lifelong education and unlocking new investment concepts and streams.

The Reskilling Revolution, a flagship initiative of the Centre for the New Economy and Society, aims to equip 1 billion people with better education, skills and economic opportunities by 2030. It responds to a global challenge: while emerging trends – like technology, demographics and geoeconomic shifts – may create twice as many jobs as they displace, nearly half of all job skills are expected to change by 2030.

To help people seize these opportunities and support resilient economies, the initiative focuses on scalable solutions, delivered through partnerships, national and corporate commitments, and a growing network of champions – CEOs, ministers and global leaders – who guide its vision and priorities.

It has three core goals: defining future-critical skills, promoting scalable learning models, and ensuring AI and digital integration lead to future-fit education. These are achieved through communities of learning, exchanging best practices and showcasing “what works” across sectors and regions.

The initiative is informed by the Future of Jobs Report, the Forum’s most widely read publication, which maps skill trends and change management strategies across industries and countries.

Since its launch, the initiative is set to reach over 750 million people and most recently launched national Skills Accelerators in India, Qatar, Bahrain, Azerbaijan and an education-focused accelerator in Rwanda. It also developed a Global Skills Taxonomy Adoption Kit to support skills-first talent strategies.

Perhaps its most transformative impact has been a mindset shift: lifelong learning has moved from the HR agenda to the boardroom – no longer a question of whether to invest, but how.

Women spend 25% more time in poor health than men. Yet every $1 invested in women’s health yields $3 in economic growth, and closing the women’s health gap could boost the global economy by $1 trillion annually. These figures underline the urgency behind the Global Alliance for Women’s Health, which is working to transform how women’s health is researched, funded and prioritized.

To close the health gap, the initiative focuses on three core areas: advancing science and innovation, unlocking financing, and reshaping public and policy narratives. This includes promoting research that meets women’s diverse needs, increasing investment through new financing models, driving country-level impact by mobilizing commitments and resources and promoting more data to highlight the benefits of improved health outcomes for women.

The initiative’s strategy is delivered through five interconnected workstreams. For example, it launched the Global Activator Network on Cervical and Breast Cancer Coalition to improve awareness, diagnostics and treatment of cervical and breast cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa and launched its Global Activator Network on Maternal Health in Nigeria to cultivate a robust country-level ecosystem to advance maternal health outcomes. Through the Policy Transformation workstream, the initiative continued its efforts to place sex-based differences at the core of research and clinical trials to transform women’s health research and advance science. Meanwhile, the Responsible Investing Consortium worked to align capital flows with sustainable and equitable health outcomes for women.

A key enabler of this work is the Women’s Health Impact Tracking (WHIT) platform, a tool for measuring and monitoring women’s health gaps to inform policy and investment decisions.

Supporting all efforts is a global community of Champions for Women’s Health, who are elevating women’s health in global discourse and contributing to the initiative’s advocacy, policy and partnership efforts.

Communities around the world are under growing pressure – from climate change and economic uncertainty to conflict, migration and rapid population shifts. In many places, this has led to poorly built environments that fail to reflect local identity or withstand long-term pressures. The Davos Baukultur Alliance brings together government, business and civil society to address this challenge by championing better ways to shape the places where we live, work and connect.

The alliance is built on a shared commitment to creating high-quality, resilient and inclusive places that reflect the unique character of each community. It promotes practical action that integrates cultural, economic, environmental, social and technical considerations – ensuring that what gets built today can adapt and endure tomorrow.

The concept of Baukultur takes a holistic view of the built environment, from buildings and public spaces to infrastructure, planning and reuse. Its approach is guided by the eight criteria of the Davos Baukultur Quality System and emphasizes that shaping lasting, meaningful places is a shared responsibility.

During the reporting period, the alliance made progress across four focus areas. It helped drive more inclusive urban regeneration by embedding Baukultur principles into projects that increase affordability and social value. It strengthened climate resilience through adaptation strategies that reduce risks from extreme weather and other shocks. It promoted sustainable construction through circular design and reuse. It also placed special attention on rebuilding Ukraine, where a dedicated group is helping develop thoughtful, locally relevant approaches to reconstruction.

A major milestone was reached with more than 80 member organizations active in over 140 countries – extending the alliance’s global reach and collective impact.

Frontline Talent of the Future equips senior executives with tools and strategies to build human-centric, high-performing industrial operations. It aims to enable the emergence of “workforce for the future” factories and supply chains by addressing one of the sector’s most pressing challenges: talent.

With 40% of core manufacturing skills expected to shift in the next three to five years – and 71% of manufacturers citing talent attraction, skills gap and retention as their top challenge – the initiative focuses on identifying and promoting effective workforce strategies. It highlights real-world solutions through leading industrial sites, showcasing how businesses are adapting to rapid change through talent innovation, skills development and workforce transformation, while making a positive impact on business productivity and stability.

Over the reporting period, the initiative continued piloting talent strategies in key areas such as workforce development, talent upskilling and reskilling, and talent attraction. It engaged manufacturing leaders and frontline workers through quarterly community meetings and ongoing site visits, facilitated peer learning and shared best practices. A growing network of companies now contributes to this collective effort to transform talent management in the sector.

As part of its knowledge-sharing work, the initiative released a report on unlocking productivity through frontline talent, conducted over 80 interviews with industry leaders and compiled a database of more than 60 talent innovations. These insights have been distilled into a comprehensive playbook designed to guide manufacturers in building resilient, future-ready workforces.

Tackling climate change and nature loss is complex, but the Forum drives real-world impact through multiple initiatives. These include accelerating climate finance, reducing plastic waste, improving industrial emissions and sharing scalable best practices – all rooted in the Forum’s strengths: collaboration, open dialogue and shared learning.

Only 6% of the funding needed annually to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2030 has been mobilized. GAEA (Giving to Amplify Earth Action) addresses this gap by combining public and private capital, public leadership and philanthropy’s catalytic capabilities.

Launched in January 2024, GAEA aims to accelerate system transformation through public-private-philanthropic partnerships (4Ps). It has already convened 140 partners and helped secure $4 billion in direct capital commitments, alongside $200 billion in aggregated philanthropic capital.

GAEA uses philanthropic capacity to reduce risk, enable innovation and attract further investment, supported by an enabling public sector. Its approach is reinforced by thought leadership that redefines the role of philanthropy in scaling climate and nature solutions.

The initiative begins with an Intelligence Hub to amplify catalytic capital and improve risk-return ratios through tools like the Global Future Council on Innovative Financing for Nature and Climate. It then moves into an Impact Assembly Line, identifying, launching and scaling initiatives through the Big Bets Accelerator, community engagement and the GAEA Awards.

Big Bets Accelerator partnerships include the Green Steel Value Chain, Coal to Clean, New Textiles Economy, Wildfire Leadership and Ocean-Positive Pathways.

GAEA’s co-chairs offer strategic direction, drawing on backgrounds in global development, philanthropy and public service. The GAEA Awards celebrate transformative collaborations and support awardees to scale impact.

Plastic pollution is an urgent global challenge, with 19 million tonnes entering the environment annually and production projected to triple by 2060.

Launched in 2018, the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) unites governments, businesses and civil society to turn commitments to reduce plastic pollution into action and advance a circular plastics economy worldwide.

In January 2025, GPAP reached a key milestone: establishing 25 National Plastic Action Partnerships (NPAPs), becoming the world’s largest plastic pollution initiative. It now engages over 2,000 stakeholders to co-develop inclusive, locally owned solutions impacting 1.5 billion people.

GPAP informs global processes like the Global Plastics Treaty and Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, aligning ambition with national realities and advancing collaboration on finance, innovation and value chain transformation.

GPAP launched seven National Plastic Action Roadmaps using proprietary modelling tools. These roadmaps help countries measure their plastic footprint, align priorities and develop data-driven strategies tied to national goals.

Equity and inclusion remain central. GPAP’s Inclusive Plastic Action Programme 2025 supports informal waste workers, with over 20,000 people benefitting from its gender and social inclusion efforts.

GPAP also launched a Biodiversity Small Funds Initiative, with recipients announced at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.

GPAP’s unique approach supports the collective global mission to end plastic pollution for good.

The Transitioning Industrial Clusters initiative facilitates collaboration to promote economic growth, protect jobs and reduce CO2e emissions within industrial clusters. By aligning regulatory frameworks with financial support, the initiative supports clusters to implement effective sustainability strategies.

By the end of the reporting period, the initiative encompassed 35 clusters across 16 countries, representing 66% of global GDP. Throughout its work, it focuses on building strong partnerships between companies and public institutions, ensuring alignment across supply and demand networks to drive cohesive action.

To accelerate decarbonization, the initiative advances enabling policies that create a supportive regulatory environment for sustainable growth. Complementing this, it identifies innovative financing solutions to back large-scale emissions reduction efforts and promotes the adoption of advanced technologies that enhance efficiency and cut emissions.

During the period, the initiative published Unleashing the Full Potential of Industrial Clusters: Infrastructure Solutions for Clean Energies exploring challenges in clean energy infrastructure and highlighting how industrial clusters can accelerate its deployment.

Since its inception, these combined efforts have contributed to protecting and creating 4.3 million jobs and added $498 billion to the global GDP through participating clusters, underscoring the initiative’s role in driving a just and sustainable industrial transition.

The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution pose huge challenges as well as opportunities. As a result, the Forum is working hard to ensure the secure adoption of AI; it is supporting the creation of astutely judged guardrails and regulation, while also helping raise awareness of the wider security implications of its use, particularly in terms of cyberthreats. Alongside this, the organization is also working to ensure equitable access to the digital sphere and its technologies, cognizant of the challenges faced by those left behind.

Technology-driven industrial transformation has the potential to greatly improve the financial, operational and sustainability performance of manufacturing and supply chain sites. In reality, however, most organizations in these industries struggle to unlock this potential.

The Forum runs the Global Lighthouse Network (GLN), which seeks to transform industrial operations through the large-scale adoption of advanced technology. The network’s Lighthouses, which are some of the most advanced sites in the world, inspire manufacturers globally to adopt the latest Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. This, in turn, helps transform not just factories, but also value chains and business models.

This use of advanced technology supports double-digit improvements in productivity, supply chain resilience, customer centricity, sustainability and talent.

Currently, the GLN comprises 189 Lighthouses (36 of which joined during the reporting period), 25 of which are Sustainability Lighthouses. They operate in more than 30 countries and 35 subsectors. This diversity creates a wider range of knowledge and insights, which are shared, helping to accelerate transformation.

During the reporting period, the GLN reported on the lessons learned by the new Lighthouses joining the network. Among the issues addressed were tackling the slump in scaling up the use of digital technologies, the need to invest in frontline workforces and the progress made towards end-to-end sustainability.

The Forum’s AI & Cyber initiative unites senior leaders from the cybersecurity and AI sectors to develop guidance for the secure adoption of AI technologies. This initiative responds to the growing need to understand and mitigate the cyber risks that arise as AI becomes integral to organizational innovation and operations. While AI offers significant benefits, the associated cyberthreats are often underestimated, underscoring the importance of maintaining cybersecurity as a central focus in an evolving threat landscape.

During the reporting period, the initiative advanced its mission by first identifying critical cyber risk scenarios related to the misuse and adoption of AI across various industries. Building on this foundation, it worked to enhance knowledge and awareness among organizations, equipping them with insights necessary to recognize and address the unique challenges AI presents. In tandem, the initiative developed practical guidance to help business and cybersecurity leaders mitigate these emerging risks effectively.

A key output during this time was the release of a comprehensive report designed to support global leaders in shaping strategies and making informed decisions regarding AI adoption and cyber risk management.

Launched in 2023 in collaboration with the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at the University of Oxford, the AI & Cyber initiative also plays a pivotal role within the Forum’s broader AI Governance Alliance.

More than 2.6 billion people around the world remain without internet access, a gap the EDISON Alliance set out to close. Since its launch in 2021, the initiative has connected over one billion people in more than 100 countries to essential digital services such as healthcare, education and financial platforms.

Recognizing that the rapid evolution of technologies like AI offers both opportunities and risks, the EDISON Alliance is committed to ensuring marginalized communities are not shut out of this next wave of innovation, but instead can harness it to improve lives and livelihoods.

To support governments to deliver on their digital inclusion ambitions, the alliance established the Lighthouse Countries Network, which focuses on health, finance and education. By partnering with ministries of the digital economy and ICT, the initiative facilitates regional and national action through peer-to-peer exchanges that promote practical collaboration and shared learning. These partnerships help countries unlock resources, expertise and solutions to bridge digital gaps, while success stories are shared widely to inspire global action.

Behind this effort stands a coalition of champions and changemakers who work to mobilize resources, shape priorities and strengthen the case for investing in digital access.

During the reporting period, the alliance surpassed its 2025 target, making significant strides in Africa and South Asia, where 70% of its impact is focused. With more than 300 partner initiatives driving this momentum, the EDISON Alliance underscores that while universal internet access by 2030 may require an estimated $446 billion in investment, it could generate up to $8.7 trillion in benefits for developing countries.

The AI Governance Alliance seeks to promote the responsible and effective adoption of AI to transform industries, enhance national competitiveness, improve governance and unlock innovation. With 644 members from 500 organizations worldwide, the alliance unites global experts to tackle AI’s complex challenges and provide scalable, practical solutions across sectors.

Its work is organized around three key areas: accelerating impactful AI innovation and adoption, advancing trustworthy technology and effective governance, and preparing countries and society for the Intelligent Era.

During the reporting period, the alliance engaged all 22 of the Forum’s industry communities to explore AI’s strategic impact, opportunities and challenges. It convened public-sector officials and regulators to promote anticipatory governance and build durable institutions capable of overseeing AI’s evolution. In collaboration with chief science officers and AI producers, it developed technical guardrails addressing advances in generative AI while examining how AI-first enterprises are reshaping roles, skills and operations.

The initiative also advanced AI competitiveness by bringing stakeholders together to expand global access, build sustainable infrastructure, improve data quality and empower diverse economies with AI-driven opportunities. Complementing these efforts, the MINDS (Meaningful, Intelligent, Novel and Deployable Solutions) recognition programme highlighted businesses successfully using AI to drive transformation and address societal challenges.

To support its goals, the alliance convened diverse AI stakeholders, produced influential reports and frameworks and promoted proactive, inclusive regulation through public-private partnerships.

Under the theme “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age”, nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries – including around 60 heads of state and government – came together to generate insights and advance solutions on the economy, technological and geopolitical transformations and sustainability imperatives.

Notable participants included António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General; Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China; Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and Chair of the G20; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany; Javier Milei, President of Argentina; Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine; Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chair of ASEAN; and Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, who joined virtually.

The state of the world’s economy was a central theme. Leaders acknowledged geoeconomic uncertainties while also highlighting signs of resilience over the past three years. They stressed that international unity and cooperation are vital to greater resilience. Many leaders also emphasized the importance of multilateralism and urged the development of new models of trade to ensure widespread prosperity, while cautioning that isolationism would undermine stability.

The focus on Intelligent Age technologies underscored innovation’s important role. Participants noted that advances in AI, quantum computing and biotech could boost productivity and improve public services and called for strong governance frameworks – including public-private collaboration – to harness these tools responsibly.

The Forum released key flagship reports, such as the Global Cooperation Barometer, the Global Risks Report, the Chief Economists Outlook, and the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024 in the run-up to the meeting, which informed the deliberations in Davos. Building on the Forum’s ongoing work, close to 50 multistakeholder initiatives were launched or advanced. These included the Industries in the Intelligent Age series, which provides a comprehensive roadmap for businesses and governments to adopt and scale artificial intelligence (AI); the Global Data Partnership for Forced Labour, which accelerates data and accountability into action against forced labour; the Frontier MINDS, aimed at spotlighting and scaling high-impact AI solutions; the Women’s Health Impact Tracking Platform; and the Future of Clean Fuels initiative.

Several regionally focused initiatives were also launched during the Annual Meeting, such as the Humanitarian Resilience Initiative Roadmap for Africa, the Mongolia Strategic Intelligence Hub, and the Saudi Arabia Markets of Tomorrow Accelerator’s Action Plan, while progress continued through the work of established communities, such as the Forum Friends of the African Continental Free Trade Area coalition or Leaders for Sustainable Middle East and North Africa.

More than 1,700 leaders from business, government, civil society, international organizations and academia, as well as top innovators, gathered in June 2025 for the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China. Under the theme “Entrepreneurship for a New Era”, the meeting explored how to craft new pathways for growth through entrepreneurship and innovation.

Despite taking place against a complex geoeconomic backdrop, the meeting was marked by a renewed spirit of collaboration and partnership to drive positive and lasting change. As entrepreneurs play a key role in fully realizing the potential of emerging technologies for the benefit of economies and societies, the meeting gathered over 200 top innovators from across the world to help leaders navigate this transformation.

The meeting was attended by Premier Li Qiang, who provided insights on China’s economic priorities. Also in attendance were Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of Singapore; Pham Minh Chính, Prime Minister of Viet Nam; Ousmane Sonko, Prime Minister of Senegal; Adylbek Kasymaliev, President of the Council of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan; and Daniel Noboa Azín, President of Ecuador.

Together, they all emphasized the importance of sustained and innovative collaboration to unlock prosperity for all. Discussions also revolved around China’s economic outlook and its shift towards technology-driven growth, while underscoring optimism around the role of the wider Asia region as a key driver for the world’s economy.

In addition to the many dialogues, the meeting also saw the release of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report and the announcement of the 2025 Technology Pioneers cohort, comprising 100 start-ups advancing solutions ranging from smart robotics to quantum. The inaugural cohort of MINDS came together to showcase how AI is transforming industries, and the second edition of The Future of Global Fintech report offered new insights to guide industry and policy leaders. In addition, the Global Lighthouse Network launched its first edition in China, and the First Movers Coalition was formally introduced to China’s industrial ecosystem, further expanding the reach of sustainability and innovation efforts in the region. Finally, the meeting saw the launch of a three-year Youth and Social Innovation Initiative to help promote cross-regional collaboration, and the white paper Redefining Value: From Outcome-Based Funding to Tradeable Impact highlighted the overall concept of impact currency and impact exchange.

In September 2024, the Forum convened its communities of purpose for the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings (SDIM24) in New York City. The meetings brought together more than 1,200 global leaders, including approximately 50 senior government leaders, to advance the Forum’s multi-year initiatives to maintain momentum towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Highlighting the critical need for collaboration to address shared challenges, the deliberations focused on three areas: 1) the potential of AI and other frontier technologies, 2) the need to maintain momentum on climate action and accelerate the energy transition, and 3) the new tools necessary to sustain growth and build more resilient economies. During the meetings, the Forum also hosted a series of dialogues with senior religious leaders, underscoring the importance of interfaith cooperation. Additionally, the Forum and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders organized a diplomacy dialogue on Myanmar to strengthen international awareness and humanitarian support towards the crisis in the country.

The meetings’ outcomes included the launch of the Quantum Application Hub; the release of the Rise Ahead Pledge from the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, which focuses on mobilizing the private sector to support social innovation and create partnerships; and the introduction of the Inclusive AI Initiative for Growth and Development and the Equitable Transition Initiative.

The Global Alliance for Women’s Health Community of Champions and the First Movers Coalition’s report, High-Emitting Sectors: Challenges and Opportunities for Low-Carbon Suppliers, was also launched.

The 15th Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils (AMGFC) in 2024 set the scene for the Annual Meeting, bringing together members of this high-level interdisciplinary knowledge network to discuss overarching challenges such as the climate emergency, geopolitical tensions and economic inequality, as well as the more specific effects of disinformation, cyberthreats and rapidly advancing technologies like AI.

A total of 500 experts from 80 countries participated in the meeting, representing 30 future councils. In terms of sectoral spread, 25% came from business, 35% from academia and the remainder from public figures or civil society. For the first time, more than 50 business leaders – including chief economists, chief risk officers, chief health officers, chief people officers and chief learning officers – explored new ways to improve workers’ well-being and learning opportunities and to improve risk preparedness and economic forecasting.

The Industry Strategy Meeting brought together more than 300 strategy officers to develop the lessons and takeaways from the Annual Meeting. Participants had the opportunity to collaborate, engage in peer-to-peer exchanges, explore and anticipate the future of industries, and advance the Forum’s action and impact agenda.

The meeting, an annual milestone for the strategy officers engaged in the Forum’s 22 global industry communities, defined four priorities for the year: 1) powering new business models and industry transformation, 2) augmenting capabilities for people-centric, resilient organizations, 3) accelerating the energy transition and decarbonization, and 4) driving innovation for sustainable and inclusive growth.

The meeting’s outcomes were designed to inform the scope and direction of the Forum’s industry communities and to scale up and magnify the impact of the existing initiatives of the Forum’s centres.