Based out of Cologny, Switzerland, WEF began as the European Management Forum fifty years ago on 24 January 1971 under the leadership of Klaus Schwab, a business professor at the University of Geneva. It refashioned itself as the World Economic Forum in 1987 to broaden its vision beyond the European continent and provide an impartial platform to resolve international conflicts.
Mission: Its mission statement declares, “committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas”. The organisation claims to provide a safe space for leaders from different walks of life––businesses, governments, and civil society to interact and collaborate on multiple projects and initiatives. In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural keynote for the annual meeting at Davos. In his plenary talk, he emphasised that climate change, terrorism and protectionism are major global concerns that can be tackled only with collective global effort.
Funding: The funding for WEF mainly comes from 1000 member companies, typically industry leaders of different countries who have the power to reshape the future of the industry/ region. The conference doesn’t come cheap either. An individual representing a company is charged 27,000 Swiss francs ($28,000) to attend. Membership fees for WEF begin at an annual payment of 60,000 Swiss francs ($62,000) and goes all the way up to 6,00,000 Swiss francs ($6,20,000), depending upon the nature of membership.
Criticisms: WEF spends approximately $12 million for the security of world leaders who descend upon Davos every year. This exorbitant expenditure has been heavily critiqued by various non-governmental organisations. According to a report published by the European Parliament Think Tank, “the Forum, and specifically its annual meetings, is nothing more than an opaque venue for political and business leaders to take decisions without having to account to their electorate or shareholders.” The lack of financial transparency has also raised some eyebrows across the world. Political scientist Samuel P Huntington created a neologism the “Davos Man” in 2004, referring to the hyper-privileged and elite who are in coveted positions and need to necessarily share ideologies with the common populace.