What is Davos and the World Economic Forum (WEF)?

What is Davos?

The 2027 meeting runs from January 18 to 22 under the theme “Deliberate Conversations on the Future.”
The agenda covers five topics: people, technology, growth, planet, and geoeconomics.
Attendance is by invitation only. In 2026, delegates represented 130 countries and included a record 400 top political leaders and over 800 CEOs and chairs.
The meeting is famous for the networking in corridors, hotel suites, and restaurants across town, not just the keynote sessions.

Davos is a ski resort near Zürich, Switzerland. But that isn’t why it’s famous. This Alpine town hosts the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Every January, a carefully selected group of delegates from global business, government, civil society, media, and academia converge on this Swiss town to address the most pressing issues of the day—and ultimately develop solutions.

In 2027, the annual meeting will be centered on deliberate conversations about the future. We are living in a time of accelerating complexity, rising fragmentation, and exponential innovation. In this context, the imperative to broaden our perspectives, listen to one another, and be challenged on our views could not be more critical to rebuilding trust and shaping a better future. The delegates of Davos 2027 will explore a range of themes: for example, growth and jobs that reach more people, empowering humanity in the age of AI, turning energy and infrastructure into an accelerant of prosperity, advancing economic progress within planetary boundaries, and driving resilience and competitiveness in a more contested world.

For more on the WEF, the annual meeting in Davos, and insights on what lies ahead, read on.

What is the World Economic Forum?

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WEF is an international not-for-profit organization focused on promoting cooperation between the public and private sectors. Founded in 1971, the WEF seeks to foster a spirit of collaborative entrepreneurship to address global issues and shape government, industry, and social agendas.

In 2020, the WEF issued a new Davos Manifesto, which formally established that the organization is guided by stakeholder capitalism. This concept posits that a corporation should deliver value not only to shareholders but also to all those with a stake in the company’s destiny, including employees, society, and the planet. Its goals include a commitment to “improving the state of the world.”¹

The WEF partners with many international organizations and corporations to run projects addressing global concerns. This year, collaborations focus on reimagining growth, transforming industries in the wake of advancing technology, reskilling and upskilling workers, safeguarding the planet, and rebuilding trust within and among societies.

Learn more about McKinsey’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

What is the Davos agenda?

Davos isn’t just about the keynote addresses. The meeting is also famous for the networking and social interactions that take place in corridors, side rooms, hotel suites, and restaurants across the Swiss town. “For me,” says McKinsey Senior Partner Kate Smaje, “Davos is all about making those unusual connections, where you get to talk to people who are doing very different things than you and being able to connect those dots and start to think about things in different ways. It’s never about a session; it’s often about those coincidental meetings that happen in the margins of the sessions.”

Some 2,500 delegates and hundreds of other participants gather in Davos during this period, making it one of the largest assemblies of global decision-makers all year. For McKinsey veterans attending the Davos meeting, connecting with clients takes center stage. For McKinsey Senior Partner Tracy Francis, the value of the Davos meeting is in “the human interaction of a multitude of different types of entities—start-ups, nonprofits, governmental organizations, businesses. There’s a lot of talk about a new world order, but I do think that just being together in person and exchanging ideas increases connectivity.”

Who attends Davos?

In 2026, the annual meeting welcomed delegates from 130 countries, including a record 400 top political leaders and over 800 CEOs and chairs from the world’s top companies, as well as civil-society leaders, up-and-coming leaders, foremost experts across a range of areas, social entrepreneurs, and members of the media.

Leaders who addressed the meeting included heads of state and government officials such as Emmanuel Macron (France), Friedrich Merz (Germany), Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission), and Mark Carney (Canada); US President Donald Trump delivered an address in person. Other prominent figures in attendance were He Lifeng (China), Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (Egypt), and Daniel Noboa (Ecuador).

Approximately 1,000 corporations are members of the WEF, and each sends a small number of key delegates to the meeting in Davos based on its membership tier. In 2026, business leaders including Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), and Satya Nadella (Microsoft) spoke at the meeting. Official attendance is by invitation only.

What’s on the Davos agenda for 2027?

This year, the theme for Davos is “Deliberate Conversations on the Future.” The program will be oriented around five interconnected priorities:

People. How can the next era of growth and jobs reach more people than before? AI is rapidly changing which jobs exist and what skills employers want. Reskilling, job creation, and wider access to opportunity will influence how many workers and regions share in the next wave of growth.
Technology. How can we empower humanity in the age of AI? The choices made today and tomorrow about how AI is built, governed, and deployed in business will shape who benefits.
Growth. How can we turn energy and infrastructure from a chokepoint into an accelerant of prosperity? AI, industry, and electrification are raising demand for power, and growth can stall where energy supply and infrastructure fall behind.
Planet. How can climate and nature solutions advance economic progress within planetary boundaries?
Geoeconomics. How can we drive resilience and competitiveness in a more contested world? Our era is increasingly defined by contested norms, shifting alliances, and the erosion of trust. Governments increasingly use trade, investment, and technology policy as instruments of competition, and companies feel the effects in their supply chains and costs.

When is Davos 2027?

The meeting in Davos will take place from January 18 to 22, 2027.

What happened at Davos in 2026?

Last year’s meeting was centered on fostering a spirit of dialogue. Participants exchanged insights on peace, security, technology, growth, investing in people, and building prosperity within planetary boundaries.

McKinsey’s partnership with the WEF for each year’s Davos meeting includes events that align with shared goals across geographies and institutions. In 2026, McKinsey’s knowledge collaborations with the WEF included the Global Cooperation Barometer 2026 and research on how AI could unlock productivity-led growth in Latin America. McKinsey’s debrief of the meeting found that two topics centered the discussions: AI and geopolitics.

What impact does Davos have?

The WEF describes itself as a new kind of institution, with the adaptability, entrepreneurialism, and stakeholder trust necessary to make it a platform with the power to effect change. The upheavals of recent years have, to many, underscored the organization’s ongoing value.

To keep up to date with McKinsey’s Davos coverage, visit our McKinsey and the WEF 2027 page. Also, search for #davosagenda on social media and look out for live events with McKinsey experts in the lead-up to the January meeting. And stay tuned for Davos updates in your inbox.

Learn more about McKinsey’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

This article was updated in October 2026; it was originally published in January 2023.