The story of day one at Davos 2023

Published Jan 16, 2023 · Updated Jun 3, 2025

Here's a snapshot of what you might have missed from Day 1 of Davos 2023. Image: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM / VALERIANO

Gayle Markovitz

Head, Written and Audio Content, World Economic Forum

Beatrice Di Caro

Lead, Social Media, World Economic Forum

This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Arts and culture topped the bill at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2023 today.
Here's a snapshot of what you might have missed from Day 1 of Davos 2023.

We're back in Davos in January for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, we started with the Crystal Awards and our opening concert.

We've also launched our latest Chief Economists Outlook, as well as reports on electricity, cross-border data flows, food, AI, and resilience.

Chief Economists Outlook

The latest Chief Economists Outlook, published today at Davos, comes amid continuing economic uncertainty and challenges.

Reports

Chief Economists Outlook: January 2023

Some two-thirds of those surveyed expect a global recession this year, of whom some 18% consider it extremely likely. A figure that has risen significantly since the last survey in September 2022.

There's also significant variation across regions on the economic outlook.

63%

Expect a global recession in 2023

100%

Expect geopolitical faultlines to continue realigning global economic activity

64%

Expect energy crisis to ease by the end of 2023

68%

Expect cost of living crisis to ease by the end of 2023

The Crystal Awards

This evening we met the winners of this year's Crystal Awards. They are recognized for their work to promote environmental conservation, food security, climate change, mental health, and education.

Articles

2023 Crystal Award: Meet this year's winners

Maya Lin, Renée Fleming, Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre Elba received their awards at the ceremony this evening.

The Open Forum begins

The Open Forum is a unique format that allows a broader audience to participate in Davos. It brings together a wide range of voices and welcome the public to participate, listen and share thoughts.

The first of this year's series started today.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.