Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman

I am pleased to share this year’s annual report, highlighting the World Economic Forum’s role in addressing the world’s most pressing and significant challenges. We are on the cusp of a profound systemic transformation driven by interconnected shifts in a rapidly changing world. During these challenging yet opportunity-filled times, our work to foster collaboration, innovation and progress is more important than ever.

The five transformative shifts

The role of the World Economic Forum

In today’s rapidly evolving global landscape, characterized by unprecedented complexities, risks and opportunities, the Forum’s mission is more important than ever. Here’s why:

I’m grateful to our partners, constituents and incredible staff. Their dedication, collaboration and commitment have been instrumental in the progress we have made. Together, we will continue to navigate these transformative times, seizing opportunities, mitigating risks and building a resilient, inclusive and sustainable future.

Børge Brende, President of the Managing Board

The past year saw some of the most complex geopolitical and geoeconomic developments in decades, making the World Economic Forum’s mission to build and strengthen multistakeholder partnerships more vital than ever.

As wars unfortunately continued to be fought and superpower relations remained fraught, global competition and conflict escalated, degrading the security landscape and deepening stress points in the multilateral system. The recession of geopolitical cooperation came as urgency continues to grow for parties to work together in solving shared challenges. The last year was the hottest on record, economic growth, though in positive territory, is projected to be historically low, and the number of people impacted by violence has risen to record levels. At the same time, frontier technologies offer the possibility of enormous gains, but this potential needs to be unlocked responsibly.

The world is at a hinge point in history – when the ways in which we address immediate challenges will have repercussions for years to come. It is for this reason that the Forum’s approach of developing the underlying, lasting systems of cooperation needed to make progress on shared priorities is so vital.

Unfortunately, the bedrock of cooperation – trust – has been eroding in recent years. This is why the Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos was held under the theme of “Rebuilding Trust” and served as a platform for generating new ideas for partnerships that will strengthen resilience, revive economic growth, protect the environment, and invest in jobs, skills and health. Nearly 3,000 leaders from government, business and civil society from more than 125 countries, including 350 heads of state and government, and ministers, participated.

Notably, more than 80 national security advisers from governments and international organizations met in Davos the day before the Annual Meeting to advance a blueprint for peace in Ukraine at the Fourth National Security Advisors Meeting, hosted by Switzerland in collaboration with the Forum.

Against the backdrop of growing geopolitical fragmentation, the Forum redoubled its commitment to convening global leaders to develop cooperative pathways forward. The Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development 2024 held in Riyadh brought together 1,000 global leaders from 90 countries to address pressing security, economic and energy challenges and bridge the North-South divide. It was the first time the Forum held a summit in Saudi Arabia and came as the Kingdom is a crucial player in advancing solutions for long-term peace and stability in the Middle East, the energy transition and responsible innovation.

During UN General Assembly week in September, the Forum hosted over 1,000 leaders from the public and private sectors in New York for our Sustainable Development Impact Meetings to advance progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

These meetings, as well as others the Forum convened, were vital in strengthening dialogue and collaboration within a challenging context. These efforts enabled the Forum’s centres to deliver impact throughout the year.

On climate action, the First Movers Coalition continued to grow, now totalling close to 100 companies as well as 13 government partners representing 50% of global GDP (gross domestic product). These stakeholders are building early market demand for clean-energy technologies to catalyse their commercial adoption.

At the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the Forum, with support from the Government of the United Arab Emirates, launched the First Movers Coalition for Food, bringing together more than 20 corporate and research partners to speed up the adoption of sustainable farming.

The Forum put particular focus on advancing equitable energy and climate solutions. At a time when over $2 trillion is needed per year for the Global South’s clean energy transition, the Forum launched the Network to Mobilize Clean Energy Investment for the Global South. This new alliance of over 45 global chief executive officers and government ministers provides a platform for developing economies to raise awareness about their clean energy needs, share best practices and sustainably accelerate their energy transitions.

At a time of fragile global growth, the Forum focused on supporting measures that strengthen an equitable economic system by launching the Future of Growth Initiative – a two-year campaign to help policy-makers and economists exchange new ideas and best practices for achieving this balance. The TradeTech Global initiative was launched, outlining a vision for the collaborative use of technology for global commerce to unlock trillions in trade, ahead of a major TradeTech Forum alongside the World Trade Organization (WTO) global ministerial in February 2024.

On technology, our Edison Alliance has reached almost 800 million people in its aim to help connect 1 billion by 2025 to essential services like healthcare, education and finance through digital platforms. The Forum’s network of Centres for the Fourth Industrial Revolution grew to 18 members, with Saudi Arabia’s commitment to launch a Centre for Space Futures and South Korea joining the network. These centres are working with governments and each other to address some of the most crucial issues around new technologies.

The Forum’s AI Governance Alliance, which brings together governments, academics and companies, held its first event in San Francisco in November. It now comprises over 300 members who are working to promote the responsible development and deployment of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

The Forum’s achievements are testament to the ability of parties to come together even within a challenging global context. Our new Global Cooperation Barometer, which launched ahead of the Annual Meeting, measures the state of cooperation and shows that stakeholders can indeed align in some areas despite competing in others.

As the Forum continues to grow, with an increase in total headcount of 9% over the last fiscal year, we are even more dedicated to nurturing and strengthening a positive workplace culture. I am proud that, this year, the Forum launched a Leadership Model that focuses on creating a sense of shared purpose and teamwork among and between teams. We have also increased our learning and development budget, which reached CHF 1.7 million (Swiss francs) last year, representing a 20% increase over the previous year.

I am also proud that our increasingly global workforce – 97 nationalities represented (up from 95 in the last reporting period) – is working together for a common purpose. We have also made progress in improving the proportion of women in our executive leadership ranks. As part of a longstanding commitment to maintaining gender pay equity, the Forum also conducted a salary analysis in August 2023, which showed no significant gaps between the salaries paid to men and women at the Forum.

The Forum’s work – and its impact – is only possible because of the commitment of our partners. We closed the fiscal year with 884 partnerships, an increase of 39 over the previous year. At a time of immense global challenge amid strong geopolitical headwinds, this growth is testament to dedication within the private sector to advancing purpose-driven cooperation. I am thankful to all those joining us at this important moment.