Growth Summit 2023: Here's a recap of what just happened
Panelists discuss the future of jobs at the Growth Summit 2023. Image: ©ï¸World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz
- The World Economic Forum convened the Growth Summit 2023 between 2-3 May in Geneva, Switzerland.
- The summit focused on three core themes: enabling resilient growth; developing human capital; and accelerating economic equity.
- Sessions included spotlights on generative AI, the future of growth, creating a future-ready workforce and diversifying innovation.
How can we shape economic growth and a future of work that is resilient, inclusive, sustainable, and equitable?
Leaders from around the world gathered in Geneva from 2-3 May to discuss these key questions at the World Economic Forum's Growth Summit 2023.
The summit revolved around the theme of "Jobs and Opportunity for All" and brought together experts from diverse sectors, including business, government, civil society, academia, and international organizations.
Over the course of two days, more than 400 leaders attended 60 sessions to discuss topics such as generative AI, the future of growth, creating a future-ready workforce, and diversifying innovation.
Here are some of the key highlights.
Themes
If you're playing catch-up, start with our series of Deep Dives, covering the three key themes.
9 must-watch Growth Summit sessions
Now take a deeper dive into 9 of the key sessions from across the two days.
With global economic headwinds and a world where finance is much more difficult to come by, what role will trade and investment play in resilient growth?
The public and private sectors working together will be essential, explained participants in this session, as will efforts to bring together the multiple elements that drive global trade - from human capital to natural resources.
The challenges facing the global community, particularly in developing countries, were a clear concern in this session.
The path forward needs to consider not only economic growth, but also nature and social and welfare spending, to tackle inequality and poverty, stressed participants. AI and technology will also play a pivotal role, in particular for workers.
To learn more about participants' thoughts on growth and its head- and tailwinds, watch some of the key clips on Twitter.
Skills are central to building the businesses and workforces of the future, today's participants argued.
Getting the right mix of skills in the right jobs to support business growth and tackle labour shortages will be a major challenge - but also an opportunity.
Find out more by watching some of the key moments on Twitter.
Education and training needs to change for the jobs of the future, our participants explained.
Traditional models will have to adapt, but, it will also remain the responsibility of employers to provide opportunities and guidance to their staff.
Learn more about the session by watching some of the best clips on Twitter.
AI presents threats and opportunities, both at work and beyond, our participants agreed.
Regulation around the development and deployment of artificial intelligence will be vital. From ethics to skills and training, there are numerous areas that need careful consideration.
Leaders are facing the triple challenge of boosting growth, mitigating the climate crisis and driving job creation.
These aims are not necessarily mutually exclusive - and there is a window of opportunity in which the green transition may open a new phase of jobs-rich growth.
But it must be inclusive growth and it will require public-private partnerships, state planning, just financing and citizen trust, to bring everyone along.
Inequality is widely viewed as one of the key drivers of national polarization and international disruption in recent years.
But what do we mean when we talk about inequality? Essentially, it's inequality of inclusion.
In order to achieve resilient growth globally, we need a new social contract, with greater investment in the care economy and inclusive systems that support the meaningful financial inclusion of women.
To hear the panelists' views in full, watch the session or catch up on the key quotes on Twitter.
Participants in this session looked at the prospects for the global economy.
From recession to inflation, structural challenges, and emerging markets, the discussion covered a ride range of topics.
Learn more about the key talking points on Twitter.
It remains a challenging environment for growth, participants agreed in this session.
Inclusive, resilient growth needs to solve systemic issues and not just short-term or cyclical shifts. It should foster people and ideas, it was argued.
For more on the prospects for global growth, follow our thread on Twitter.
Key report and initiative launches
More than 20 high-impact initiatives were advanced at the summit, with a focus on educating, reskilling and upskilling workers for the future of jobs.
Among these, Code.org launched a new coalition of education and technology leaders –TeachAI – in collaboration with the Forum that aims to provide much-needed global guidance on integrating AI effectively in global primary and secondary education to promote future-ready skills.
The Global Future Council on Job Creation will work to identify pathways to job creation, including green, tech and social investments. A briefing paper was released to prepare the work of the council.
Members of the Good Work Alliance – jointly employing 2.5 million workers – published a toolkit and set new targets to promote fairness on wages and technology, provide flexibility and protection, drive health, inclusion and development opportunities for its employees.
We also launched our latest edition of the Chief Economist Outlook, with experts split about the likelihood of a global recession and predicting highly divergent economic outlooks across regions.
Our 'Putting Skills First – Global Skills Playbook', launched with PwC, provides an action framework for businesses and governments to shape their 'skills-first' approach. This paper is the first in a two-part series, with the second paper to be launched at our Annual Meeting in 2024.
Our 'Future of Jobs' report has key insights from change-makers on the future of jobs and skills over the next five years.
9 must-read Growth Summit blogs
You can also check out our new content series on emerging jobs and how they are shaping the future of work:
Listen to this: Growth Summit podcasts
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Beatrice Di Caro
December 17, 2024
