The World Economic Forum’s network of Global Future Councils is the world’s foremost multistakeholder and interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking to shape a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable future. Each council’s insights are taken forward by the Forum’s ongoing initiatives, communities and meetings to ensure impact.
The Network is an invitation-only community. Members join for a two-year term. It works as a time-bound think-tank and convenes around 600 of the most relevant and knowledgeable thought leaders from academia, government, international organizations, business, and civil society, grouped in expertise-based thematic councils. The current term started in March 2023 and will end in December 2024.
Mission
The Network helps to identify and disseminate transformative ideas with the potential for global impact. The Global Future Council members provide strategic insights, scientific evidence, forward guidance, and multidisciplinary understanding of major issues through three pillars:
• Fresh ideas and innovative thinking: Nurturing cutting-edge and disruptive ideas and developing the foresight to identify and shape key areas
• Grounding in expertise and evidence: Providing a foundation for data-, evidence-, fact- and research-based public-private cooperation
• Interdisciplinary and systems approach: Connecting the dots between established and frontier issues and integrating thought leaders from business, academia, civil society, government and international organizations
Find out more about the Network of the Global Future Councils.
Trade policies have evolved beyond economic efficiency, increasingly reflecting non-trade objectives (NTOs) like climate action, human rights and sustainability. This trend sees countries...
Trade and domestic policy interventions can help address challenges women and their businesses face, while gender-disaggregated data assists in identifying issues and evaluating the impac...
Future Focus 2025: Pathways for Progress from the Network of Global Future Councils 2020-2022 offers a positive and inspiring agenda around which a sustainable and inclusive recovery can ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to benefit society, but the technology’s full potential can only be realized if it is representative of the diversity of populations it im...
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted whole economies. Immersive media businesses, which focus on technologies that create or imitate the physical world through digital simulation, have been no...
Companies face increasing scrutiny of their social and environmental performance from consumers, communities, workers, governments and investors. Business leaders are being urged to consi...
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been met with unprecedented trade and other economic sanctions. Some members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have revoked Russia’s most-favoured-...
This White Paper authored by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Nature-Based Solutions takes a practical look at the investment landscape for nature and Nature-based Solu...
World Economic Forum: This year's Report, shares the results of the latest Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) in the context of the current global outlook, followed by an analysis of g...
Robust governance is a critical underlying factor in any strategic determination and execution of environmental and social commitments. Read more in this latest paper on integrity.
This White Paper, from the Global Future Council on Urban Mobility Transitions, evaluates road pricing mechanisms and calls for an acceleration towards equitable, clean and financially re...
To achieve the goal of a safe climate, we will need to both dramatically reduce emissions to achieve absolute zero greenhouse gases and simultaneously start reducing the stock of pollutan...
This report looks at synthetic biology’s embodiment and advancement of equity, humility, sustainability and solidarity over time: four values that are important in realizing its future be...
This Insight Report invites policy-makers, regulators and investors to place greater focus on the demand side of the electricity system. It presents the technology, business models and sy...
Global Future Council has been exploring means for financial system stakeholders to accelerate technology-enabled solutions. In this publication, they highlight 3 Accelerators - Digital I...
Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges. The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly from anthropogenic emissions, is changing Earth’s climate at ...
This white paper, produced in collaboration with an advisory committee consisting of experts from around the world, is intended to guide policy efforts towards combating data-driven harms.
The report can be used by diverse organizations to guide them in educating teams about their role in advancing AI fairness.
This paper puts forward a set of six pathways to rapidly address longer-term dynamics of recovery while simultaneously building preparedness for future shocks.
This toolkit aims to provide stakeholders exploring the use of disruptive technologies in mental health with the tools to develop, adopt and engage standards and policies that address any...
This report, co-authored with Boston Consulting Group, is the second in our series for the Net-Zero Challenge. It showcases the opportunity that all companies have for huge climate impact...
The 16th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report analyses the risks from societal fractures—manifested through persistent and emerging risks to human health, rising unem...
This report provides a global framework and recommends an integrated energy approach, defined as “systemic efficiency”, as a solution to the current environmental, economic, health and so...
These are the most exciting technologies that emerged in 2020 and – according to our experts – have the greatest potential to positively transform society and industry. What opportunities...
After years of growing income inequality, concerns about technology-driven displacement of jobs, and rising societal discord globally, the combined health and economic shocks of 2020 have...
The report builds on the latest economic policy research as well as extensive consultations with the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the New Economic Agenda and a growing ...
In this publication members of the Global Future Council on Financial and Monetary Systems highlight how the financial system has rapidly adapted to the COVID-19 crisis, provided support ...
This paper offers an opening frame for a multiyear, cross-industry programme to co-create the new playbooks for executive decision-making and action in a post-pandemic business normal. It...
The Future of Nature and Business, prepared in collaboration with AlphaBeta is the second of three reports in the World Economic Forum’s New Nature Economy series. It provides the practic...
A series of reports showing the relevance of nature loss to boardroom discussions on risks and opportunities. These insights provide pathways for business to be part of the transition to ...
Quantum Computing may seem mysterious and not easy to understand. This FAQ document answers common questions at a high-level on what makes quantum computing so special and how we expect i...
The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on New Network Technologies, during its 2018-2020 term, focused on the benefits to society and the role of partnerships between government...
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Toolkit explores the practical opportunities and risks that rapidly emerging technologies represent for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The to...
As governments and businesses grapple with the effects of COVID-19, other global challenges remain. Once the immediate crisis abates, countries must intensify environmental action to tack...
Developed by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Mobility, the Guidelines for Transforming City Mobility Systems reflect shared goals for liveable and just transport netwo...
The 50th anniversary of the World Economic Forum coincides with a period of profound global change. These events prompted the Forum to draw on its network of diverse experts to develop a ...
The World Economic Forum has created a new index to measure social mobility, providing a much-needed assessment of the current state of social mobility worldwide.
Nature Risk Rising, the first report in the NNE series, explains how nature-related risks matter to business, why they must be urgently mainstreamed into risk management strategies and wh...
In this report, developed in collaboration with PwC, we showcase the significant opportunity to harness new technologies for the Global Goals. Through analysis of over 300 technology appl...
“Schools of the Future: Defining New Models of Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution” outlines a new framework for defining quality education in the new economic and social conte...
Forjar un entorno espacial sostenible tiene múltiples facetas, entre ellas, una acción proactiva y voluntaria, conocimiento y mejores prácticas apoyadas por IA.
Forging a sustainable space environment is multifaceted including proactive and voluntary action, knowledge and sustainable best practices with AI support.
See how the Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils helps generate systems-level solutions to guide businesses and governments in future strategies.