Around 2,500 participants gather in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016. The 4 day conference takes place January 20-23 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, a town at 1,560 m above sea level. Davos has a population of 11,000 people, which reaches 30,000 people during the meeting, which is strictly by invitation only.

The Annual Meeting engages the world’s top leaders in activities focused on shaping the global, regional and industry agendas. It is also an opportunity for them to hold private meetings, reaching important agreements behind closed doors.

Among the 2,500 attendees from more than 100 countries, there will be more than 1,000 are chief executives, 40 Heads of State or Government, 14 Nobel Laureates and 4 Grammy winners. Only 18% of the participants are women. Around 250 journalists will cover the conference and the cost of a business ticket is $27,000.

The World Economic Forum was started in 1970s by Klaus Schwab. This year, the theme for its annual meeting is “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution“.

According to Klaus Schwab, the four industrial revoutions are:

• 1^st Industrial Revolution – Mechanization: use of water and steam power to mechanize production.
• 2^nd Industrial Revolution – Mass Production: use of electric power to create mass production.
• 3^rd Industrial Revolution – Automation: use of electronics and information technology to automate production.
• 4^th Industrial Revolution – Robotization: use of cyber-physical systems, the fusion of technologies, blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

Source: World Economic Forum

As Schwab explains, participants reflect on:

• The challenges and opportunities arising from the 4^th Industrial Revolution: it can increase income levels and improve the quality of life around the world but it could also contribute to greater global inequality through the disruption of labor markets.
• Its impact on business: by means of new supply channels and value chains, new patterns of consumer behavior, global data-based digital platforms and collaborative innovation.
• Its impact on governments: with new forms of citizen engagement, surveillance systems, transparency and efficiency, hybrid defense and security.
• Its impact on people: our changing notion of privacy, skills and leisure, human augmentation, health, moral boundaries.
• How it will shape the future: need for a new consciousness to lead the evolution according to common values.

Infographic to explore Davos 2016 in numbers:

Sources

• http://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2016
• http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond
• http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35285852
• http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/18/news/economy/davos-2016-need-to-know/
• http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35343008
• http://www.weforum.org/about/klaus-schwab
• https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/four_industrial_revolutions.html