Why a Spirit of Dialogue needs the next generation

Young people will live longest with the consequences of today’s global decisions – yet they remain among the least represented in the institutions shaping them. At a moment of heightened geopolitical tension, rapid technological change and deepening social fragmentation, this gap is no longer only a question of inclusion. It is a strategic imperative for global governance.

The World Economic Forum was founded on the principle that complex global challenges can only be addressed through multistakeholder cooperation. Increasingly, it is clear that this cooperation must also be multigenerational.

Young leaders bring not only long-term exposure to global risks – from climate instability to labour-market transformation – but also distinctive capabilities such as early insight into emerging technologies and trends, fluency across sectors and borders, and a strong orientation toward open dialogue in divided contexts.

For the Forum, youth engagement is also about expanding time horizons. Young leaders naturally anchor decision-making in the decades ahead rather than the next quarter, strengthening foresight and the design of solutions that endure.

This belief has shaped the Forum’s institutional commitments. It became the first international organization to establish a formal youth quota at its Annual Meeting, the first major convening to appoint an all-youth cohort of Co-Chairs, and a key enabler of the Global Alliance for Youth – supporting private-sector collaboration on skills, jobs and economic mobility for the next generation.

This year, the World Economic Forum’s 56th Annual Meeting takes place at a particularly consequential moment. Held under the theme A Spirit of Dialogue, the meeting reflects the urgent need to rebuild trust and cooperation at a time when the foundations of global governance feel increasingly strained. Across regions and sectors, young leaders participating in the Annual Meeting are up for this challenge and are already translating this spirit of dialogue into action.

Below are five ways young leaders attending Davos 2026 are making a difference.

One of the central questions of #WEF26 is how to sustain cooperation amid rising geopolitical tension and declining public trust. For many young people, collaboration is not just an abstract value; it is a practical necessity for addressing climate change, digital risk and economic fragility.

In Ukraine, Oksana Havryliv, Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Economy, contributes to economic recovery efforts that require coordination between government, private sector and international partners. In the United States, Eden Tolesa, Democracy Consultant at The Carter Center, supports nonpartisan election observation and civic engagement initiatives that strengthen trust in democratic processes at the community level – an increasingly critical task in polarized political environments.

As governments seek ways to cooperate in an increasingly contested world, this disposition toward constructive dialogue becomes an essential asset.

Through dialogue across sectors, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and clean energy are opening new frontiers for growth. Capturing these opportunities, however, requires innovation ecosystems that are more inclusive, more adaptive and more oriented toward long-term value creation.

Across Latin America, Camila Colmenares Perez, Co-Founder of Cressência, connects development finance with social innovators. An economist and educator, she has delivered entrepreneurship programmes to 50,000 people, particularly women seeking access to emerging markets and early-stage capital.

In China, Wan Nin Cheung, Founder of IntelliPort AI Analytics, develops remote-sensing and climate-resilience analytics across Asia while also running a rural education enterprise, illustrating how new technologies can expand opportunity in underserved regions while strengthening emerging-market resilience.

Venancio Mendez Levy, Senior Consultant at Wood, is developing renewable energy infrastructure across the Americas, supporting the delivery of large-scale solar, wind and storage projects that advance low-carbon growth and resilience.

As early adopters of new technologies and economic models, young leaders are helping unlock sources of growth that are more distributed, sustainable and aligned with long-term transformation.

The Davos 2026 agenda emphasizes the importance of investing in people – in skills, well-being and opportunity – as societies adapt to technological transformation.

In South Asia, Drishti Medhi, Co-Founder of QuickGhy, is building vocational pathways for blue-collar workers while advancing cross-border economic cooperation in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.

In the Middle East, Hilal Al-Riyami, Head of National Initiatives at Oman’s Royal Academy of Management, designs nationwide skills programmes in partnership with global institutions, preparing learners for rapidly evolving labour markets.

Daniel Kang, Director at Brick, focuses on digital, designing tools that help people regain control over attention and digital habits to support learning, productivity and long-term economic performance and participation.

Young people increasingly prioritize purpose, flexibility, lifelong learning and equity – priorities influencing how employers, educators and policymakers design the next era of human development.

A fourth pillar of #WEF26 explores how society can ensure that emerging technologies – especially AI – are deployed responsibly. This requires not only technical safeguards, but also ethical frameworks informed by diverse lived experiences.

Joon Baek, Software Engineer at Google and Founder of Youth for Privacy, is contributing to ShieldGemma2 – a DeepMind model designed to detect harmful content at scale, working at the intersection of AI safety, privacy and public trust.

In Latin America, Valeria Tafoya, AI Ethics Fellow at Stanford University and a member of the Forum’s Global Future Council on GovTech and Digital Public Infrastructure, researches the employment and governance implications of AI, helping ensure that innovation benefits national and societal development.

Stephanie Baker, AI and Emerging Technology Lead at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, convenes international dialogues to mitigate risks from frontier technologies, including AI and space systems development.

Their perspectives strengthen institutions’ ability to deploy innovation in ways that benefit society at large.

A Spirit of Dialogue also requires addressing the environmental foundations of shared prosperity. This is especially urgent in regions where climate vulnerability and youth demographics intersect.

In Mongolia, Enkhuun Byambadorj, Co-Founder of Breathe Mongolia and a climate negotiator at COP28 and COP29, helps shape national clean-air policies through community advocacy and evidence-based policy recommendations.

In Central Asia, Dana Shukirbayeva, Founder and CEO of FOREST HERO, leads reforestation and forest-monitoring initiatives while building climate-tech ventures focused on smart cities and ESG design.

Across West Africa, Nyifamu Manzo, Founder of Farmatrix and a member of the Global Future Council on Soils, supports more than 2,000 smallholder farmers in adopting climate-smart agricultural practices that strengthen both livelihoods and ecological resilience.

The global challenges at the centre of #WEF26 – contested cooperation, technological disruption, climate risk and economic transformation – are deeply intergenerational. Addressing them requires dialogue that reflects the full range of lived experience, including that of the world’s 1.8 billion young people.

Across countries and sectors, young leaders are already rebuilding trust, shaping emerging technologies, expanding opportunity and accelerating climate resilience. Their work demonstrates that dialogue is not only something that happens on global stages; it is practised daily in communities around the world.

If the world is to renew cooperation and navigate rising complexity, then A Spirit of Dialogue must also become a spirit of shared leadership – across borders, sectors and generations, and between today’s decision-makers and those who will live longest with their consequences.