Talk:World Economic Forum/Archives/2012

NPOV

 * In the 2002 WEF Annual Meeting, 75% of participants were from Europe (39%) and the US (36%), which together represented approximately 17% of the world's population. West Asian participants were about 5x overrepresented relative to their population, i.e. they constituted 4% of participants while representing 0.8% of the world's population.

Does this paragraph comply with NPOV it highlights the west asian ratio of 5x overrepresentation but ignores the europe/us ratio 4.41x overrepresentation. Gnangarra 04:25, 20 March 2006 (UTC)


 * This paragraph needs to be edited to include the overrepresentation of Europeans and Americans if it is to say that West Asians are overrepresented. It may even be beneficial to mention the underrepresentation of other nation-states, including East Asians and Africans. In it's current wording, it clearly represents a bias. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.180.230.206 (talk • contribs) 23:25, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

World Economic Forum responses to critics
The section "World Economic Forum responses to critics" contains criticism of the WEF that should be moved to the section "Criticism", and also the sentence "This section should mention the criticism against the WEF before a section concerns itself about the response to the criticism. There are several points of criticism that were not addressed in this article:" should be removed. Anyone who has the time? Thx Skaakt 21:17, 21 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I've done some quick tidy up of this, but it still needs work. On the whole, I think that this article is poor.  It reads like a list of facts and statistics. Beest 13:12, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Please update/add external links
"Davos Diary" link should be re-labeled "Davos Diary 2006".

A link to Davos Diary 2007 should be added. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tstec (talk • contribs) 07:49, 27 January 2007 (UTC).

Criticism Section Not NPOV
These phrase in the the first sentence give a non NPOV tone: "'a large media circus', 'feel good discussions', 'panoply of', 'accomplishing little of substance'" Plus, nothing in the section is referenced. Vudicarus 08:19, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Merge from Forum of Young Global Leaders
Please merge any relevant content from [ Forum of Young Global Leaders] per Articles for deletion/Forum of Young Global Leaders. Thanks. —Quarl (talk) 2007-02-09 08:21Z 

Bad article + bias
This article lacks any useful information about the WEF, and contains almost only vague or open criticisms. It should be completely rewritten, and the criticism should be clearly placed in the criticism section. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.36.66.250 (talk) 00:21, 9 March 2007 (UTC).


 * I agree completely. I went to this article to learn more about the WEF and found only unsubstantiated opinion. Users go to the Wikipedia for NPOV information, not 'rant'. Someone should start this article again, with plainly-stated facts, and place the various criticisms of the WEF in a section of their own section.--OldCommentator 16:34, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Forum of Young Global Leaders (again)
Hello, I did an article about Forum of Young Global Leaders in Dutch and inserted a paragraph in the WEF article today, but for some reason I was unable to insert any references. There was no references box and I couldn't put them in, so I have to state my sources here. I used for sources:, ,. - For article in Dutch, see, maybe some Dutch user could translate and incorporate it. Thank you. - Art Unbound 19:29, 14 September 2007 (UTC) PS: please answer on my Dutch talk page thanx - Art Unbound 19:36, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Removed section
Here is an unsourced section I removed after a few weeks/months of weasel inline and so forth. If anyone wants to adapt it, here it is:
 * Other criticisms include:
 * that the WEF costs the state millions a year to guarantee safety against protesters, criminals and terrorist threats (as a private happening, the WEF should bear its safety costs itself)
 * Davos and its surroundings are a military security zone during the WEF: the right to congregate is cut drastically
 * that the total costs of US$60 million would be better invested in actual development aid
 * that the WEF as a forum - many statesmen meet each other - is not democratically legitimated, but important decisions are made nonetheless
 * only a very small part of the people at the WEF are actually from developing countries

--Bombastus (talk) 16:48, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Massive lack of citations, unattributed criticisms
The article suffers terribly from lack of citation and unattributed criticisms. All the critical remarks about this wikipedia article could be met by providing these cites and deleting unattributed crits since these are most likely individual editors ranting. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 13:34, 1 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Not only criticisms must be attributed: positive claims should be attributed as well. Wikipedia is not an advertising agency. Boud (talk) 01:10, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

This Article Is a Mess
I wouldn't even know where to start. This is Wikipedia at its very worst. Imagine you looked up the WEF, knowing nothing about it, and this is what you found... Asav (talk) 02:44, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Revised draft article
I agree that the article is a mess and I have tried to improve it. I have taken the issues in consideration, please find below a revised draft article. If I haven’t received any comments until Thursday (within the next 72 hours) I regard the draft as supported and publish it. Matthias Lüfkens, Associate Director, World Economic Forum, 12:45, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world including health and the environment. The Forum also organizes the "Annual Meeting of the New Champions" in China and a series of regional meetings throughout the year. It was founded in 1971 by Klaus M. Schwab, a business professor in Switzerland. Beyond meetings, the Forum produces a series of research reports and engeges its members in sector specific initiatives.

Organization
The Forum is headquartered in Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland. In 2006 the Forum opened regional offices in Beijing, China and New York, USA. It is impartial and not-for-profit and is not tied to any political, partisan or national interests. It has observer status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Government. Its highest governance body is the Foundation Board consisting of 22 members including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Rania of Jordan. The Forum’s mission is "committed to improving the State of the World".

Membership
The Forum is funded by its 1000 member companies. The typical member company is a global enterprise with more than five billion dollars in turnover, although the latter can vary by industry and region. In addition, these enterprises rank among the top companies within their industry and/or country and play a leading role in shaping the future of their industry and/or region. As of 2005, each member company pays a basic annual membership fee of CHF 42,500 and a CHF 18,000 Annual Meeting fee which covers the participation of its CEO at the Annual Meeting in Davos. Industry Partners and Strategic Partners pay CHF 250,000 and CHF 500,000 respectively allowing them to play a greater role in the Forum’s initiatives.

Annual Meeting in Davos
The Forum’s flagship event is the Annual Meeting held every year at the end of January in Davos. The meeting in the Swiss alpine resort brings together CEOs from the Forum’s 1000 member companies as well as selected politicians, representatives from academia, NGOs, religious leaders and the media. Participation at the Annual Meeting is by invitation only. Around 2200 participants gather for the five-day event and attend some 220 sessions in the official programme. The discussions focus around key issues of global concern (such as international conflicts, poverty and environmental problems) and possible solutions. In all about 500 journalists from online, print, radio and TV take part in the Annual Meeting. The media has access to all of the sessions in the official program, some of which are also webcast live.

All plenary debates from Davos are also available on YouTube, pictures are available for free at Flickr and the key quotes are available on Twitter. In 2007 the Forum opened pages on social media platforms such as MySpace and FaceBook. At the Annual Meeting 2008 the Forum invited the general public to answer the Davos Question on YouTube allowing YouTube users to interact with the world leaders gathered in Davos who were encouraged to reply from a YouTube Video Corner at the congress centre. In 2008 press conferences are live streamed on Qik and Mogulus allowing anyone to put questions to the speakers. In 2006 and 2007 selected participants were interviewed in, and the closing session was streamed into, Reuters’ auditorium in Second Life.

Participants
In 2008, some 250 public figures (head of state or government, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, heads or senior officials of international organization) attended the Annual Meeting, including: Abdoulaye Wade, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Alvaro Uribe Velez, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Ban Ki-moon, Condoleezza Rice, Ferenc Gyurcsany, François Fillon, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Gordon Brown, Hamid Karzai, Ilham Aliyev, Jan Peter Balkenende, Lee Hsien Loong, Pervez Musharraf, Queen Rania of Jordan, Salam Fayyad, Sali Berisha, Shimon Peres, Umaru Musa Yar'adua, Valdas Adamkus, Yasuo Fukuda, Viktor A. Yushchenko and Zeng Peiyan.

Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Bono, Paulo Coelho and Tony Blair are also regular Davos attendees. Past attendees include: Angela Merkel, Dmitry Medvedev, Henry Kissinger, Nelson Mandela Raymond Barre and Yasser Arafat.

The participants at the Annual Meeting were described as “Davos Man” by Samuel Huntington, refering to a global elite whose members view themselves as completely international.

Annual Meeting of the New Champions
In 2007 the Forum established the “Annual Meeting of the New Champions” held annually in China. This is a meeting for what the Forum calls the “Global Growth Companies”. These are business champions primarily from rapidly growing emerging countries, such as China and India, but also including fast movers from developed countries. The meeting also engages with the next generation of global leaders, fast-growing regions, competitive cities and technology pioneers from around the globe.

Regional meetings
Every year some ten regional meetings take place, enabling close contact between corporate business leaders, local government leaders and NGOs. Meetings are held in Africa, East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East The mix of hosting countries varies from year to year, but China and India have hosted consistently over the past decade.

Young Global Leaders
In 2005 the Forum has established the community of Young Global Leaders, successor to the Global Leaders of Tomorrow consisting of under 40 year old leaders from all around the world and a myriad of disciplines and sectors. The leaders engage in the ‘2030 Initiative’ - the creation of an action plan for how to reach the vision of what the world could be like in 2030. Among the Young Global Leaders are : Bandar Bin Khalid Al Faisal, Barry Appleton, Isabelle Guichot, Jae-Woong Lee, Marcel Reichart, Maria Consuelo Araujo, Rahul Gandhi and Violet E. Awotwi. New members are selected on a yearly basis and the Forum of Young Global Leaders will count 1111 members.

Social Entrepreneurs
Since 2000, the Forum has been promoting models developed by the world’s leading social entrepreneurs in close collaboration with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. The Foundation highlights social entrepreneurship as a key element to advance societies and address social problems. Selected social entrepreneurs are invited to participate in the regional meetings and the Annual Meetings of the Forum where they have a chance to meet chief executives and senior government officials. At the Annual Meeting 2003, for example, Jeroo Bilimoria met Roberto Blois, deputy secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, an encounter that produced a key partnership for her organization Child Helpline International.

Research Reports
The Forum also serves as a think tank and produces a series of annual economic reports (first published in brackets): the Global Competitiveness Report (1979) measures competitiveness of countries and economies; The Global Information Technology Report (2001) assesses their competitiveness based on their IT readiness; the Global Gender Gap Report (2005) examines critical areas of inequality between men and women; the Global Risk Report (2006) assesses key global risks; the Global Travel and Tourism Report (2007) measures travel and tourism competitiveness and the Global Enabling Trade Report (2008) presents a cross-country analysis of the large number of measures facilitating trade between nations.

Initiatives
The Global Health Initiative (GHI) was launched by Kofi Annan at the Annual Meeting in 2002. The GHI’s mission is to engage businesses in public-private partnerships to tackle HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and Health Systems.

The Global Education Initiative (GEI), launched during the Annual Meeting in 2003, has brought together international IT companies and governments in Jordan, Egypt and India which has resulted in new PC hardware in the classrooms and more local teachers trained in e-learning. This is having a real impact on the lives of children. The GEI model which is scalable and sustainable is now being used as an educational blueprint in other countries including Rwanda.

The Environmental Initiative covers Climate Change and Water. Under the “Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change”, the UK government asked the World Economic Forum at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in 2005 to facilitate a dialogue with the business community to develop recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This set of recommendations, endorsed by a global group of CEOs, was presented to leaders ahead of the G8 Summit in Toyako/Hokkaido held in July 2008.

The Water Initiative brings together different stakeholders like Alcan Inc., the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, USAID India, UNDP India, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Government of Rajasthan and the NEPAD Business Foundation to develop public-private partnerships on water management in South Africa and India.

In an effort to combat corruption, the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) was launched by CEOs from the Engineering and Construction, Energy and Metals and Mining industries at the Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2004. PACI is a platform for peer exchange on practical experience and dilemma situations. Some 140 companies have signed.

History
In 1971, Klaus M. Schwab, then Professor of business policy at the University of Geneva, invited 444 executives from Western European firms to the first European Management Symposium held in the recently built Davos Congress Centre. Under the patronage of the European Commission and European industrial associations Schwab wanted to introduce European firms to US management practices. He then founded the European Management Forum as a non-profit organization based in Geneva and drew European business leaders to Davos for their annual meeting each January.

Schwab developed the "stakeholder" management approach which based corporate success on managers taking account of all interests: not merely shareholders, clients and customers, but employees and the communities within which the firm is situated, including governments. Events in 1973, namely the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate mechanism and the Arab-Israeli War saw the annual meeting expand its focus from management to economic and social issues, and political leaders were invited for the first time to Davos in January 1974.

The European Management Forum changed its name to the World Economic Forum in 1987 and sought to broaden its vision further to include providing a platform for resolving international conflicts. Political leaders have used Davos as a neutral platform to resolve their differences. The "Davos Declaration" was signed in 1988 by Greece and Turkey which saw them turn back from the brink of war. In 1992, South African President F. W. de Klerk met Nelson Mandela and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi at the Annual Meeting, their first joint appearance outside South Africa. At 1994’s Annual Meeting, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a draft agreement on Gaza and Jericho. In 2008 Bill Gates held a keynote speech on ‘Creative Capitalism’ – the form of capitalism that works both to generate profits and solve the world’s inequities, using market forces to better address the needs of the poor.

Criticism
In the late 1990s the Forum, as well as the G7, World Bank, WTO and the IMF, came under heavy criticism by anti-globalisation activists who claim capitalism and globalization are increasing poverty and destroying the environment. 1500 demonstrators disrupted the World Economic Forum in Melbourne, Australia, obstructing the passage of 200 delegates to the meeting. Demonstrations are repeatedly held in Davos to protest against the meeting of “fat cats in the snow” as rock singer Bono termed it.

In January 2000 1000 protestors marched through Davos and during the demonstrations the window of the local McDonalds was smashed. The tight security measures around Davos have kept demonstrators away from accessing the Alpine resort and most demonstrations are now held in Zürich, Bern or Basel. The costs of the security measures which are shared by the Forum and the Swiss cantonal and national authorities have also been frequently criticised in the Swiss national media.

Starting at the Annual Meeting in January 2003 in Davos, an Open Forum Davos was held in parallel with the main Annual Meeting opening up the debate about globalisation to the general public. The Open Forum has been held in the local high school every year featuring top politicians and business leaders and is open to all members of the public free of charge.

The Annual Meeting has also been decried as a “mix of pomp and platitude” and criticized for moving away from serious economics and accomplishing little of substance, particularly with the increasing involvement of NGOs that have little or no expertise in economics. Instead of a discussion on the world economy with knowledgeable experts alongside key business and political players, Davos now features the top media political causes of the day (such as global climate change and AIDS in Africa).

Reference books

 * Barbara Kellerman, Reinventing Leadership: Making the Connection Between Politics and Business, Published by SUNY Press, 1999, ISBN 0791440729, 268 pages.
 * David Bornstein, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Published by Oxford University Press US, 2007, ISBN 0195334760, 358 pages.
 * David Rothkopf, Superclass: The global power elite and the world they are making, Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, ISBN: 0374272107, 400 pages
 * Geoffrey Allen Pigman, Global Institutions: The World Economic Forum – A multi-stakeholder approach to global governance, Published by Routledge, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-415-70204-1, 175 pages.
 * Klaus M. Schwab and Hein Kroos, Moderne Unternehmensführung im Maschinenbau, Published by Verein Dt. Maschinenbau-Anst. e.V. ; Maschinenbau-Verl, 1971
 * Mike Moore, A World Without Walls: Freedom, Development, Free Trade and Global Governance, Published by Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0521827019, 292 pages.

Regarding Hypnosadist edit
The Forum’s official logo includes its mission statement. I uploaded another version of the image in PNG format (allows transparency for the web/ 24 bits) which indeed is better than a JPG format. World Economic Forum, 15:33, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The use of the SVG image format is officially encouraged on wikipedia. The PNG logo you upladed is not a free image. I updated the SVG. - SSJ ☎ 16:01, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Addition of Global Leadership Fellows
I would like to add the following paragraph about the Global Leadership Fellow programme at the World Economic Forum.

Global Leadership Fellows Programme
In 2005 the Forum launched the Global Leadership Fellows Programme, an executive master's degree programme to prepare future leaders of global public and private institutions. The 3-year programme is a combination of 80% work for the Forum and 20% academic study.

The curriculum has been developed in collaboration with Columbia University, INSEAD, the London Business School and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

If there is no objection within the next 72 hours I consider the addition as supported and will add it. Thanks Matthias Lüfkens World Economic Forum (talk) 15:01, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

individual annual meetings
The individual annual meetings seems to have enough importance that surely we should have articles on them. We should perhaps approach this first by having a break-out article on Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, with a section for each meeting. I cannot see that this material is covered elsewhere in Wikipedia in the appropriate detail. There are certainly enough sources available.  DGG ( talk ) 23:50, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Update of this page
I intend to embark on a comprehensive update of this page over the next few days and will post changes here for discussion. As a starting point I have deleted the photo of Rajat Gupta as he is no longer a member of the Foundation Board, and Gloria Arroyo as she is no longer a public figure in good standing following her arrest.

Further edits will be discussed here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikeh101 (talk • contribs) 20:53, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

-- I deleted the section on Rosneft-BP as the deal appears on the Rosneft Wikipedia page, and the fact that the deal was signed in Davos has limited relevance to the World Economic Forum. Mikeh101 (talk) 08:43, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

-- I shifted the Public Eye Awards section into the crititicism seciton as the Public Eye Awards are not organised by the Forum, as could be implied by their presence in the "Awards" section, but are organised by critics. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikeh101 (talk • contribs) 08:47, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

-- /* Participants */ Updated participants from 2008 to 2011. Will add reference asap. Mikeh101 (talk) 09:30, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Archive Article World Economic Forum 2012
There should be a separate article for each World Economic Forum, sorted chronologically by year. This article should link to the Wikipedia article World Economic Forum 2012.

The conclusion of the World Economic Forum is:


 * 1) The penalty for an official maiming a civilian is death.
 * 2) The penalty for an official using chemical or radiation weapons against a civilian is death.
 * 3) The penalty for recidivist stealing is death.
 * 4) The penalty for an official failing to protect a civilian from persecution is death.

Also the World Economic Forum should have a 'special' plenary session this year on economic crimes committed by mutants. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.31.139.5 (talk) 12:48, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

meaningless jabbering ?
knowing participants, who have never had a meaningful thought in their lives, i thought to put in perspective WEF/Davos, as meaningless jabbering, as it is mainly ab backstroking among these jabbering mediocrities !!! hercool pahrow 9th  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.186.56.245 (talk) 10:25, 14 June 2012 (UTC)