“Davos refers to the annual, invitation-only meeting of global political, business, academic, and civil society leaders held every January in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos-Klosters. It acts as a premier, high-profile platform for discussing pressing global economic, social, and political issues.” – Davos
Davos represents far more than a simple annual conference; it embodies a transformative model of global governance and problem-solving that has evolved significantly since its inception. Held each January in the Swiss Alpine resort town of Davos-Klosters, this invitation-only gathering convenes over 2,500 leaders spanning business, government, civil society, academia, and media to address humanity’s most pressing challenges.1,7
The Evolution and Purpose of Davos
Founded in 1971 by German engineer Klaus Schwab as the European Management Symposium, Davos emerged from a singular vision: that businesses should serve all stakeholders-employees, suppliers, communities, and the broader society-rather than shareholders alone.1 This foundational concept, known as stakeholder theory, remains central to the World Economic Forum’s mission today.1 The organisation formalised this philosophy through the Davos Manifesto in 1973, which was substantially renewed in 2020 to address the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.1,3
The Forum’s evolution reflects a fundamental shift in how global problems are addressed. Rather than relying solely on traditional nation-state institutions established after the Second World War-such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and United Nations-Davos pioneered what scholars term a “Networked Institution.”2 This model brings together independent parties from civil society, the private sector, government, and individual stakeholders who perceive shared global problems and coordinate their activities to make progress, rather than working competitively in isolation.2
Tangible Impact and Policy Outcomes
Davos has demonstrated concrete influence on global affairs. In 1988, Greece and Türkiye averted armed conflict through an agreement finalised at the meeting.1 The 1990s witnessed a historic handshake that helped end apartheid in South Africa, and the platform served as the venue for announcing the UN Global Compact, calling on companies to align operations with human rights principles.1 More recently, in 2023, the United States announced a new development fund programme at Davos, and global CEOs agreed to support a free trade agreement in Africa.1 The Forum also launched Gavi, the vaccine alliance, in 2000-an initiative that now helps vaccinate nearly half the world’s children and played a crucial role in delivering COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable countries.6
The Davos Manifesto and Stakeholder Capitalism
The 2020 Davos Manifesto formally established that the World Economic Forum is guided by stakeholder capitalism, a concept positing that corporations should deliver value not only to shareholders but to all stakeholders, including employees, society, and the planet.3 This framework commits businesses to three interconnected responsibilities:
- Acting as stewards of the environmental and material universe for future generations, protecting the biosphere and championing a circular, shared, and regenerative economy5
- Responsibly managing near-term, medium-term, and long-term value creation in pursuit of sustainable shareholder returns that do not sacrifice the future for the present5
- Fulfilling human and societal aspirations as part of the broader social system, measuring performance not only on shareholder returns but also on environmental, social, and governance objectives5
Contemporary Relevance and Structure
The World Economic Forum operates as an international not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with formal institutional status granted by the Swiss government.2,3 Its mission is to improve the state of the world through public-private cooperation, guided by core values of integrity, impartiality, independence, respect, and excellence.8 The Forum addresses five interconnected global challenges: Growth, Geopolitics, Technology, People, and Planet.8
Davos functions as the touchstone event within the Forum’s year-round orchestration of leaders from civil society, business, and government.2 Beyond the annual meeting, the organisation maintains continuous engagement through year-round communities spanning industries, regions, and generations, transforming ideas into action through initiatives and dialogues.4 The 2026 meeting, themed “A Spirit Of Dialogue,” emphasises advancing cooperation to address global issues, exploring the impact of innovation and emerging technologies, and promoting inclusive, sustainable approaches to human capital development.7
Klaus Schwab: The Architect of Davos
Klaus Schwab (born 1938) stands as the visionary founder and defining intellectual force behind Davos and the World Economic Forum. A German engineer and economist educated at the University of Bern and Harvard Business School, Schwab possessed an unusual conviction: that business leaders bore responsibility not merely to shareholders but to society writ large. This belief, radical for the early 1970s, crystallised into the founding of the European Management Symposium in 1971.
Schwab’s relationship with Davos transcends institutional leadership; he fundamentally shaped its philosophical architecture. His stakeholder theory challenged the prevailing shareholder primacy model that dominated Western capitalism, proposing instead that corporations exist within complex ecosystems of interdependence. This vision proved prescient, gaining mainstream acceptance only decades later as environmental concerns, social inequality, and governance failures exposed the limitations of pure shareholder capitalism.
Beyond founding the Forum, Schwab authored influential works including “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” (2016), a concept he coined to describe the convergence of digital, biological, and physical technologies reshaping society.1 His intellectual contributions extended the Forum’s reach from a business conference into a comprehensive platform addressing geopolitical tensions, technological disruption, and societal transformation. Schwab’s personal diplomacy-his ability to convene adversaries and facilitate dialogue-became embedded in Davos’s culture, establishing it as a neutral space where competitors and rivals could engage constructively.
Schwab’s legacy reflects a particular European sensibility: the belief that enlightened capitalism, properly structured around stakeholder interests, could serve as a force for global stability and progress. Whether one views this as visionary or naïve, his influence on contemporary governance models and corporate responsibility frameworks remains substantial. The expansion of Davos from a modest gathering of European executives to a global institution addressing humanity’s most complex challenges represents perhaps the most tangible measure of Schwab’s impact on twenty-first-century global affairs.
References
1. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/12/davos-annual-meeting-everything-you-need-to-know/
2. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2016/01/the-meaning-of-davos/
4. https://www.weforum.org/about/who-we-are/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum
7. https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/events/world-economic-forum-davos.html
8. https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum/
