World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

23–26 January 2018 Davos-Klosters, Switzerland

Davos 2018

Last update: 22 Jan 19:02 UTC
08:46 UTC

Welcome to Davos 2018

Welcome to this year's Davos liveblog. We'll be bringing you highlights from the key sessions, commentary from around the globe, and some of the bits you might have missed. The liveblog team will guide you through the meeting, from today, all the way through to the finish on Friday.

The doors might not yet be open officially, but here's what you need to know before we get going.

Image: World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez

Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World

That's the theme of this year's Annual Meeting.

Political, economic and social fractures risk dividing us, by fostering intolerance, indecision and inaction. The meeting will call for leaders to work together to create a shared narrative that will improve the state of the world.

This will discussed in more than 400 sessions - around half of which you'll be able to watch in the live player above.

09:20 UTC

Your pre-Davos reading list

From the Prime Minister of Norway on a turning point for women, to Sir Elton John on leadership in dark times.

Read the full article
09:41 UTC

Snow, snow, snow

It's been snowing heavily here in Davos - nearly covering the windows in some of our session rooms.

It's created plenty of work for the local snow ploughs as well.

It's piled high on buildings and by the side of the road, too.

Image: World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez
Image: World Economic Forum / Pierre Abensur
10:25 UTC

Davos in the media

Here's a quick round-up of what the world's media are saying about the Annual Meeting.

The New York Times explores how pioneering women are leading again at Davos.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's participation is looked at in this piece by Bloomberg.

In this interview CNBC Africa, Global Shaper Khethi Ngwenya says Africa needs to become a maker of technology, and not just buy it.

How Davos has changed from a long-time participant.

11:07 UTC

24th Annual Crystal Awards

This evening the World Economic Forum plays host to the 24th Annual Crystal Awards.

The awards recognise the achievements of outstanding artists who are committed to improving the state of the world.

This year's winners?

Cate Blanchett, Elton John and Shah Rukh Khan.

You can find out more about this year's winners here.

11:35 UTC

My Davos moment

I walked into the booth, and there she was. As large as life, as vivid and engaging as always, so realistic I wanted to reach out and hug her. My father's best childhood friend, Eva Schloss, was sitting there waiting to have a conversation with me. I'm used to meeting all sorts of people in Davos, but this caught me a little off guard.

Davos is famous for the high-level public figures, political, business and arts personalities, set-piece panels, high-level discussions and powerful conversations that take place over the course of the week. Equally impressive is the depth and range of live experiences the Forum curates to weave the humanities, art, science and technology into the programme. It is like the world’s best museum, open for just a week, featuring the world’s top cultural pioneers.

Eva is hosted by New Dimensions in Testimony, a project of the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California. Eva’s testimony of her life and time at Auschwitz was recorded digitally, and the New Dimensions project allows real time interaction with Holocaust survivors. I sat and had a digitally-enabled conversation with this person very dear to me, and especially to my father who died not long ago.

What will it mean when we can talk to all our friends and family like this?

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11:58 UTC

82% of new wealth last year went to the richest 1% - while the poorest half got nothing, says Oxfam

Things are particularly bad for women, who consistently earn less than men and are usually in the lowest paid and least secure forms of work.

Read the full article
12:40 UTC

Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution podcasts

Before the meeting gets underway, why not take a moment to listen to our podcasts on the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Episode 1:

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Episode 2:

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Episode 3:

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13:07 UTC

Social Media Millionaires

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung has kindly described us as social media millionaires in its list of 48 things to know about this year's meeting.

In the time since the article was published, we've ticked over to 5 million likes on Facebook. (5,000,190 at the time of writing, if you really want to know.)

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram for everything that's going on in Davos.

13:30 UTC

Building on Baukultur

Ahead of the Annual Meeting, European Ministers of Culture were invited by the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, to an informal conference in Davos.

Alongside the President, and Professor Klaus Schwab, the ministers called for a new concept of high-quality Baukultur.

Their discussions focused on how quality of life could be improved across the continent.

Image: Davos Declaration 2018

Baukultur refers to how we construct our built environments, and also how the quality of what we build can be improved. You can find out more here.

13:50 UTC

World Economic Outlook - An Update

What will happen to the global economy in 2018? Where will global growth come from?

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is in Davos to discuss the findings of the latest update to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.

In its previous report, published in October 2017, the IMF projected global growth would rise by 3.7% in 2018, with the positive performance of the euro zone, Japan and emerging nations in Asia and Europe offsetting downward revisions for the US and UK.

Have those projections changed?

Image: IMF

The full World Economic Outlook update is available on the IMF website, here.

"Gobal growth has been accelerating since 2016, and all signs point to a continuing strengthening of this growth", says IMF head Christine Lagarde, as the session gets going.

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Lagarde says this is good news and we should feel encouraged, but not satisfied. Why?

Because too many people are still left out of this growth. About one-fifth of developing and emerging economies saw their per capita income decline in 2017.

There is also uncertainty in the year ahead, due to public sector vulnerability and a troubling increase in debt in many countries.

"It is when the sun is shining that you want to repair the roof," says Lagarde. Despite the heavy snow in Davos, now is the time for world leaders to fix their roof. She then gives three reasons why.

Firstly, policy makers should use these circumstances to make the structural or fiscal reforms that are too hard to make in more difficult times. Secondly, growth needs to be more inclusive, not just across countries but within countries.

Finally, we need robust global collaboration to fight corruption, improve conditions for trade, stop tax evasion and prevent catastrophic climate change.

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The discussion then moves to the findings of the latest update on the IMF's World Economic Outlook.

There is good news for the global economy.

The IMF raises its growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 to 3.9%, saying it expects the global economy to continue to recover on the back of buoyant trade and investment, as well as recent US tax reforms.

The new estimates are 0.2 percentage point higher than the IMF’s last projections in the autumn. About half of the global revision was attributed to the impact of the US tax package.

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India remains the world's fastest growing major economy, with a projected growth rate of 7.4%, ahead of China at 6.6%.

For a more in-depth look at the report's main findings, take a look at this piece by one of my Agenda colleagues.

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14:25 UTC

Shah Rukh Khan is enjoying the snow

Ahead of the Crystal Awards in a few hours, Shah Rukh Khan has been enjoying the snow here in Davos.

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15:11 UTC

6 reasons to be optimistic about the future of work

The average American worker has no fewer than 48 new career pathways to choose from, says a new report on the future of work.

Read the full article
16:00 UTC

Some reading to get you ready

To get yourself ready for this week's discussions and sessions, you can take a look at our Davos collection page here.

Image: World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez
16:27 UTC

The snow continues to fall here in Davos

16:55 UTC

Your day-by-day guide to Davos 2018

From Narendra Modi to Donald Trump, over 120 Davos sessions will be live-streamed this week.

Read the full article
17:15 UTC

Welcome Message by the Executive Chairman

Professor Klaus Schwab opens by telling participants that they're here because they're part of a community - the foremost multi-stakeholder community in the world.

No stakeholder group alone can address the complex global agenda in a constructive way, he explains.

The spirit of Davos is based on 3 values, he says, and calls on participants to respect them.

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He asks that they're here not just with their brains, but with their soul and their heart.

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Professor Schwab then welcomes Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson to deliver a message from Pope Francis. You can read it here.

Men and women risk being reduced to cogs in a machine, he says. We must safeguard the dignity of the human person.

17:30 UTC

The 24th Annual Crystal Awards

The 24th Annual Crystal Awards celebrate the achievements of outstanding artists who have shown exemplary commitment to improving the state of the world.

Cate Blanchett is this year's first awardee. She tells the audience that nowhere is the fractured world more humanly embodied than in the refugee.

We need to drop the loaded label of refugee, she says, and see the person behind it.

Tonight's second awardee is Shah Rukh Khan. He has a special request - a selfie with Cate Blanchett and Elton John.

The service of others is not a choice, but a duty we have to all perform in the name of humankind, he says.

The third and final awardee is Sir Elton John, for his leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

You've all made it, baby, he'll tells the audience. But, what are you making? If you're not seeking to improve the state of world, what is the point?

He urges participants to use their sense of human connection to change the world.

Image: World Economic Forum / Valeriano Di Domenico
19:02 UTC

That's it for today

But there's lots to look forward to tomorrow. Highlights include:

10:15 GMT: Opening Plenary with Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

13:00 GMT: An Insight, An Idea with Cate Blanchett

14:00 GMT: An Insight, An Idea with Shah Rukh Khan

14:30 GMT: Gender, Power and Stemming Sexual Harassment

16:30 GMT: Special Address by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Thanks for following us today and have a great evening,

Your liveblog team.

Image: World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez
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