Davos 2025, the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, welcomed nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries – with close to 350 governmental leaders, including 60 heads of states and governments – to address key global and regional challenges.
This year’s theme Collaboration for the Intelligent Age emphasised the importance of swift adaptation and global cooperation for the emerging technologies that are shaping the world.
Industries in the intelligent age
As geoeconomic and technological shifts lead industries to redefine their business strategies, the 2025 WEF discussed how business leaders can strike a balance between short-term goals and long-term imperatives in the transformation of their industries. They discussed opportunities offered by artificial intelligence (AI), which continued to dominate the agenda like last year’s Forum, along with the development of new technologies across biotech, robotics and automation.
Participants noted the rapid development of AI across industries, and technology was flagged as the primary driver of change for businesses across sectors, making employee engagement and support crucial. As new technologies emerge, speakers highlighted the importance of addressing cybersecurity, cyber inequity, and questions of electricity demand.
Rebuilding trust
Speakers discussed the widening gap in global cooperation, affecting trade and investment opportunities. However, the role of the digital economy in reviving trade was acknowledged as having an increasingly critical role: according to the World Trade Organization, digitally delivered services have grown fourfold in value since 2005, with average annual growth of 8.2% over 2005-23, outstripping goods at 4.8% and other services exports at 4.6%.
With global cooperation at a crossroads, the Forum’s Global Cooperation Barometer showed a positive trend in collaboration in climate and nature, innovation and technology, and health and wellness. Flows of capital, goods and people increased over the past year, making cooperation on trade and capital a key priority going forward.
Reimagining growth
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook, global growth is projected to remain steady at 3.3% in 2025 and 2026, below the 3.7% historical average. The forum considered the need for new frontiers and sources for growth, along with the importance of innovation. The digital economy is expected to have a key role, already accounting for over 15.5% of global GDP, with estimates that 70% of new value in the global economy over the next decade will be created on digitally-enabled platforms.
Identifying strategies for sustainable growth are key in light of demographical disparities, rising public debt in developing economies, geopolitical tensions, inequality and a transition towards a more interconnected economy. Navigating the sustainability landscape over the next year calls for an increased alignment of sustainability and economic value, as highlighted recently by BNP Paribas.
Investing in people
The Forum’s Future of Jobs report 2025 estimates that 39% of the existing skill set will be transformed or outdated in the next five years. Jobs, health and inclusion featured heavily this year, with the need to reskill and upskill as a result of new emerging technologies. Impacts will vary between industries, all sectors will be impacted to some extent and its global effect on the economy will be visible by the end of the decade. Leveraging AI to engage and empower employees and support them on this transition is therefore vital.
Women’s health was a key focus, as the Forum looked at the new Women’s Health Impact Tracking platform which will help in monitoring and bridging the health gap faced across the world. Leveraging technology and innovation will be fundamental in improving access to healthcare.
Safeguarding the planet
2024 was the hottest year on record, so climate was at the centre of discussions, along with the need to partner for innovative solutions and investments in clean technologies. Participants considered how to catalyse climate and nature action through innovative partnerships, increased financing and the deployment of frontier technologies.
The event highlighted the importance of scaling up ambition, governance, partnerships and capital to accelerate decarbonisation efforts. In this respect, financial institutions will have a key role to play in mobilising funding to support the energy transition.
