World Economic Forum

The Davos World Economic Forum was first conceived in 1971 when European Management Forum was formed as a non-profit organisation by Prof. Klaus Schwab in Switzerland. This was start of process which drew business leaders primarily from Europe and other places for an annual meeting in Davos each year. In 1987, European Management Forum changed its name to to World Economic Forum. At this time, the vision of the forum was broadened to include a platform for dialogue. The Davos declaration was signed by Greece and Turkey in 1988 was a milestone for the forum. 

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,  having its offices in New York, Beijing and Tokyo and in 2017, a new office in San Francisco brings together its membership on a year to year basis to discuss major issues concerning the world. These include but are not limited to issues of Politics, Economics, Social and environmental concerns.The forum consists of membership from a cross section of Private and Public sector including some of the prominent CEOs, Ambassadors, Public figures, Media personnel, Govt. officials, Religious leaders and Union representatives from from around the world.
World Economic Forum is funded by its own membership which includes industry leaders with at least $ 5 Billions turnover yearly as well as individuals from all walks of life including Celebrities, Journalists, interested individuals to pay annual dues and meeting fees to attend. Regional meetings are held in developing nations like in Africa, East Asia and Latin America but the Annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland is the central meeting event for all members.
These meetings serves the purpose of introducing new issues, trends and organisations to members for discussion and are believed to evolve Corporate and Public sector agendas for future decision making. The Forum also submits the research into the areas of interest to its members and helps guide public - private sector collaboration and communication.
The recent meeting was held in Jan. 2018 and the theme was titled Creating a shared future in a fractured world. The fracture referred to Brexit, The Trump Presidency, Rise in Automation and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and re-emergence of China. These subjects were highly visible on the conference agenda.
Advancing technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and the impact that automation will have on jobs was a prominent item of discussion. The discussion concluded that although some jobs will undoubtedly disappear over time, there will still be many jobs for Humans in the future, work will just be quite different. In an optimistic forecast, one technology company estimated that approx. 20 million jobs will be created in next decade as Artificial Intelligence and automation are integrated with Human skills with future technology advancements. Digital transformation of organisations was also encouraged to meet the growing digital environment. Despite need for firms to take upon Digital technologies , WEF found that only 7% of firms have done so.
Next meeting of the Forum was held in January 2019.


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