World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) was founded in February 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab as the European Management Forum, a symposium in Davos, Switzerland for European corporate leaders. It was renamed the World Economic Forum in 1987 and expanded its scope to include geopolitical dialogue and global issue-setting. Headquartered in Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland, the WEF operates as an international non-governmental organization and foundation under Swiss law, funded primarily through membership fees from approximately 1,000 global corporations. The WEF's mission is to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. Its annual meeting in Davos draws around 3,000 participants including heads of state, CEOs, central bankers, and civil society leaders for up to five days of sessions on pressing global issues. As of 2024, the WEF employs approximately 990 staff from 97 nationalities, with around 780 based at its Geneva headquarters. On artificial intelligence, the WEF has become a major convening body for global AI governance. In June 2023, it launched the AI Governance Alliance (AIGA), a multistakeholder initiative dedicated to the responsible design, development, and deployment of AI. By early 2024 the Alliance had attracted over 250 members from more than 200 organizations across six continents, organized into three workstreams: Safe Systems and Technologies; Responsible Applications and Transformation; and Resilient Governance and Regulation. The WEF also manages the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) network, launched with a flagship centre in San Francisco in 2017. By early 2026 the network had expanded to 24 centres across five continents, addressing AI governance, cyber resilience, energy transition, and other frontier technology challenges at a regional level. In January 2026, the WEF announced five additional C4IR centres, including a European Centre for AI Excellence in Paris. The WEF publishes an annual Global Risks Report that consistently highlights AI-related risks, including AI-enabled misinformation (ranked the top global risk in 2025) and concerns about catastrophic misuse of AI systems. It also releases AI-focused research publications, playbooks for responsible AI innovation, and hosts global convenings such as the AI Safety Summits. The WEF reported consolidated revenues of CHF 469 million for financial year 2024-2025 (July 2024 to June 2025). In 2025-2026, the WEF underwent significant leadership transitions: founder Klaus Schwab stepped down as board chairman in April 2025, and president Børge Brende resigned in February 2026 following scrutiny of his past connections to Jeffrey Epstein. Alois Zwinggi became interim president, with Larry Fink and André Hoffmann serving as interim board co-chairs.