If the gulf between hopes and fears was in stark evidence last year, the context for Davos 2025 is no less conflicted. Geo-economic uncertainty, trade tensions, cultural polarization, and climate anxiety are rumbling but there’s also the promise of rapid innovation – AI, quantum computing, and biotech – to boost productivity and living standards.

One of the catchlines at Davos 2024 was ‘projections are not destiny’. Leaders warned against fragmentation, but they set their sights on unity. There was reference to a new age of economic ‘non-normality’ but also a sense of ‘remarkable resilience’. The AI alarm bells sounded, but we also saw excitement building for what it can help us achieve.

So as we emerge from the disruptions of democracy’s ‘record year’ and look to 2025, the shifts away from incumbent parties suggest the end of an era. The sense of urgency for leaders to regroup shows that collaboration is ever critical, but increasingly challenging.

Davos 2025 convenes under the theme, ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’. The concept draws on Klaus Schwab’s suggestion that converging technologies are rapidly reshaping the world, pushing us to an inflection point, “an era far beyond technology alone”, he says. “This is a societal revolution, one that has the power to elevate humanity – or indeed to fracture it.”

So what are the biggest questions for leaders as they grapple with the challenge of collaboration in an age of converging technologies and hyper intelligence? How can we avoid fragmentation and build a smarter future? How can innovation tackle crises like climate change and the misuse of technology? Will collective action and responsible leadership foster equality, sustainability, and collaboration rather than deepen existing divides?

The meeting is organized under five areas:

Reimagining Growth – Reviving and reimagining growth is critical to building stronger and more resilient economies. How can we identify the new sources of growth in this new global economy?

Industries in the Intelligent Age – Industries have had to adapt their business strategies to account for major geo-economic and technological shifts. How can business leaders strike a balance between the short-term goals and long-term imperatives in the transformation of their industries?

Investing in People – Geoeconomic changes, the green transition and technological advancements are impacting everything from employment, skills and wealth distribution to healthcare, education and public services. How can the public and private sectors invest in human capital development and good jobs that contribute to the development of a modern and resilient society?

Safeguarding the Planet – Innovative partnerships and dialogue that enable investments and the deployment of climate and clean technologies will be critical to make progress on global climate and nature goals, as well as to address the energy triangle of achieving equitable, secure and sustainable energy systems. How can we catalyse energy, climate and nature action through innovative partnerships, increased financing and the deployment of frontier technologies?

Rebuilding Trust – In an increasingly complex and fast-moving world, societal divides have deepened, geopolitics is multipolar, and policy is shifting towards protectionism, hampering both trade and investment. How can stakeholders find new ways to collaborate on solutions both internationally and within societies?

Participation is diverse – by sectors, industries, generations, and gender. This diversity is fundamental to the Forum’s approach to ensure that the most important issues in the world are discussed as widely as possible and solutions are designed with a diverse, cross-sectoral lens.

More than 350 governmental leaders are expected to participate this year, including 60 heads of state and government:

Top political leaders taking part include: Donald J. Trump, President-elect of the United States (who will join via live video link for an interactive dialogue with participants); Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China; Javier Milei, President of Argentina; Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany; Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament; Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Karin Keller-Sutter, President of the Swiss Confederation 2025, Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Department of Finance; Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia; Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh; Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium; Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Mostafa Madbouli, Prime Minister of Egypt; Abdulatif Rashid, President of Iraq; Simon Harris, Taoiseach of Ireland; Isaac Herzog, President of Israel; Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia; Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, Prime Minister of Mongolia; Dick Schoof, Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Mohammed Mustafa, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority; Dina Ercilia Boluarte, President of Peru; Andrzej Duda, President of Poland; Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar; Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia; Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of Singapore; Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden; Asaad Hassan Al Shibani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand; Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine; Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Viet Nam.

Heads of international organizations taking part include: 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; Mark Rutte, Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization; Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

Over 1,600 business leaders, including over 900 of the world’s top CEOs and Chairs from the World Economic Forum’s Members and Partners, will also participate, over 120 of which are Global Innovators, Tech Pioneers and Unicorns who are transforming industries.

More than 170 leaders from civil society and the social sector – from labour unions, non-governmental organizations, religious and indigenous communities, as well as experts and heads of the world’s leading universities, research institutions and think tanks – will participate in the meeting. More than 160 members of the Forum’s communities, including the Unicorn and Technology Pioneers communities, the Community of Global Shapers, the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship will also attend to showcase local innovations and solutions to global challenges.

Heads of civil society organizations participating include: David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee; Sania Nishtar, CEO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; Luc Triangle, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation; M. Sanjayan, CEO, Conservation International; Comfort Ero, President and CEO, International Crisis Group; Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President, Association for Fulani Women and Indigenous Peoples of Chad; Tirana Hassan, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch; Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund; Amitabh Behar, Executive Director, Oxfam International; Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson, Chancellor, Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences of the Holy See.

A list of civil society organization representatives taking part can be found here.

The meeting is accessible to the wider public through livestreaming of the public sessions, complemented by the presence of media leaders and reporting press, and through local engagement at the Open Forum in Davos.

The Forum’s purpose-driven extended reality (XR) platform, the Global Collaboration Village, will also bring together diverse global stakeholders in immersive, real-time environments to accelerate, enhance, and scale up progress on the key themes of the meeting.

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