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The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 marks the 40th year of the organization, which was founded in 1971 as the European Management Forum. In January that year, the first European Management Symposium was held in Davos, Switzerland. In 1987, the European Management Forum was renamed the World Economic Forum and the European Management Symposium became the Annual Meeting, reflecting the expansion of the Forum’s scope and focus.
Through the years, numerous business, government and civil society leaders have made their way to the Swiss Alpine resort, the perfect venue for a gathering to consider the major global issues of the day and to brainstorm on solutions to address these challenges. The Annual Meeting has also been a critical platform for furthering peace and reconciliation in many parts of the world, promoting understanding between East and West, introducing emerging economies such as China and India to the international community, and bringing to the forefront the latest trends and developments in every field – from information technology to global security, from architecture to philanthropy.
Davos has been a place where incipient changes in the world are first discerned and where ideas for changes that have shaken the world have been conceived or refined. What has never changed since its beginning is the Forum’s dedication to collaboration among stakeholders, the steadfast adherence to high-level participation of leaders sharing the Forum’s commitment to improving the state of the world, and the Forum’s trust in the power of dialogue and exchange based on mutual respect and civility to bridge divides and shape actionable solutions to global challenges. While many global institutions are notable for the breadth of nations or the powerful political leaders attending their gatherings, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and indeed all the activities and initiatives of the Forum around the world are distinguished by the active participation of government, business and civil society figures, both the most experienced and the most promising, all working together in the collaborative and collegial Spirit of Davos. This book provides a year-by-year summary of the highlights of the four decades of the World Economic Forum. For the most part, it tells the Forum’s story through the eyes of its members, the participants in its activities, and its leadership, as well as through media reports. What is clear from this compilation of impressions, insights and memories is that the Forum has evolved from a modest yet groundbreaking attempt to bring European corporate managers and their stakeholders together to discuss business strategies into an organization that today is widely regarded as the world’s foremost multistakeholder platform for addressing the most pressing issues on the global agenda.