Connecting leaders to make sense of global challenges and move the world forward together.

Since 1971, the World Economic Forum has stood at the intersection of geopolitics and cooperation, believing that the only viable path forward is to connect leaders across sectors, regions, ideologies and generations to make sense of global challenges and move the world forward together.

We are the trusted platform for public-private cooperation —where relationships and trust are built, insights are deepened, and collaboration begins.

For more than five decades, the Forum has served as an impartial, globally respected platform for cooperation. Our Annual Meeting in Davos brings together leaders from across sectors and regions to address the world’s most pressing challenges, while our year-round communities — spanning industries, regions, and generations — collaborate continuously through initiatives and dialogues that turn ideas into action.

The Forum is an independent, not-for-profit organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices in New York and San Francisco, United States, Beijing, China, and Tokyo, Japan.

Founded in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation, the World Economic Forum set out with a transformative point of view: that business should not only to create economic value but also to serve society and the planet.

Since then, the Forum has grown into a globally respected platform for cooperation, bringing together leaders from business, government, international organizations, civil society and academia to shape progress on the defining issues of our time.

From fostering dialogue that helped ease tensions between Greece and Türkiye in 1988, and supporting South Africa’s peaceful transition through meetings between Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, to facilitating governments and industries working together in the shift to a green economy, the Forum has been a catalyst for diplomacy, collaboration and trust.

It has also played a pivotal role in global health and development, including supporting the creation of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, which has delivered vaccines to more than a billion children, and advancing the Global Health Initiative, which mobilized over 170 companies and improved health outcomes for millions of workers and communities.

Through its signature initiatives, including the Reskilling Revolution, preparing one billion people for the future of work and the EDISON Alliance, expanding digital inclusion for a billion people by 2025, the Forum continues to facilitate turning ideas into action.

Today, the Forum’s communities and partnerships work year-round, combining foresight, research and collaboration to address challenges from economic stability to digital trust to climate resilience.