In an increasingly interdependent and hyperconnected world, there is a pressing need for all stakeholders to engage in collaborative efforts to map, monitor and mitigate major global risks, risks defined in the Forum’s Global Risks Report as risks which no single country, region, sector or industry is likely to be able to confront or prevent on their own. In this regard, the World Economic Forum is in the vanguard globally with its Risk Response Network (RRN).

The network is composed of Forum communities whose members have expertise and experience in managing complex risks:

• Global Agenda Councils
• Strategic and Industry Partners
• Young Global Leaders & Global Shapers
• National Governments
• International and Regional Organizations

The RRN serves as a neutral, impartial and trusted platform that connects all of the Forum’s risk related activities by:

• Convening relevant experts from all disciplines both physically and virtually to respond to global risks
• Curating knowledge, experiences and practices from around the world that could offer innovative solutions
• Catalysing partnerships, initiatives and research that shape global, regional and industry agendas

It concentrates currently on four core activities at the global, regional and industry levels:

• Providing a Strategic Assessment of Global Risks:  Each year over 1000 experts worldwide evaluate 50 global risks in terms of their perceived likelihood and impact over a 10-year horizon and most importantly, their interconnections across five categories of risks: economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological. The findings also serve as the basis of the Forum’s flagship publication on Global Risks published in January in advance of its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

• Improving National Resilience to Global Risks: Countries are increasingly vulnerable to exogenous shocks that they have no control over. Often such shocks emanate from risks that are difficult to predict and where there is little experience or knowledge on how to handle its impact. The RRN’s primary effort in this context is to develop innovative ways to improve a country’s resilience  (i.e. its ability to absorb and recover from external shocks while preserving core functions of critical systems) via new diagnostic methods. It also aims to promote the establishment of a Country Risk Officer function in national governments similar to that of a Chief Risk Officer in multinational corporations.

• Advancing Risk-Related Industry Initiatives: Forum industry communities have introduced major initiatives that focus on specific global risks. RRN objectives include fostering cross-industry collaboration and promoting knowledge and data sharing among public, private and academic institutions. Cyber-Resilience, Global Suppy Chain Risks, Corruption in High-Growth Markets, Catastrophic Risks and Global Food Safety are among the industry workflows in this context.

• Identifying and Evaluating Leading Practices: Via the Forum’s virtual interaction and knowledge management platform (Toplink), the RRN connects experts and curates their experiences in the form of an interactive, online exchange  which evaluates successful practices in improving resilience to major risks at the global, national or industry levels. 

Contact details
For more information, please contact rrn@weforum.org