2025 Summer Davos sees sustainability and AI meet global collaboration

Guests attend the parallel session "Checking In on the Energy Transition" during the 2025 Summer Davos Forum at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin) in north China's Tianjin Municipality, June 24, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

A premier barometer of global economic trends and industrial transformation, the 2025 Summer Davos Forum has seen record attendance for recent years, with over 1,700 participants traveling from around the world.

Its popularity is testament to both the convening power of the event, which is taking place from Tuesday to Thursday in north China's Tianjin Municipality, and the unparalleled magnetism of China's mega-scale market.

Also called the 16th Annual Meeting of New Champions of the World Economic Forum (WEF), this year's forum is themed "Entrepreneurship for a New Era."

"The theme, which builds on the DNA of this meeting since its inception, particularly focuses on how innovation, entrepreneurship and technological advancements can unlock growth, competitiveness and productivity," Mirek Dusek, managing director of the WEF, said on Tuesday at the forum's opening press conference.

The event spotlights five key areas: deciphering the world economy, outlook on China, industries disrupted, investing in people and the planet, and new energy and materials.

Unlike the annual meeting of the WEF held every January in Switzerland's Davos, the Summer Davos Forum places greater emphasis on the future of business and technological advancement. This year's edition not only demonstrates China's achievements in high-quality economic development and its steadfast commitment to high-standard opening-up to the international community -- it is also a platform for China to actively share the opportunities and dividends of its development with the world.

Green transformation 

On the rooftop of the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin), where the 2025 Summer Davos Forum is being held for the first time, solar panels supply continuous clean energy to power the venue during the event.

According to the State Grid Corporation of China, this edition of the forum has achieved a 100 percent green power supply for its venues, utilizing a total of 800,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity -- equivalent to saving about 300 tonnes of standard coal combustion and cutting approximately 600 tonnes of carbon emissions.

The venue utilizes photovoltaic power generation and sponge city technologies, replacing conventional energy sources with renewables to reduce infrastructure carbon emissions, while significantly enhancing energy, water and material efficiency.

Sustainability is at the core of WEF events, said Severin Podolak, head of event management and operations for WEF, adding that the sofas and other furniture used in the venues are recycled materials from 2023, and some of the paints used for decoration were derived from renewable resources such as fishing nets.

Additionally, a fleet of hundreds of new energy vehicles (NEVs) from six leading carmakers, including Audi FAW, are facilitating eco-conscious transportation for forum participants, advancing the event's carbon neutrality goals.

The concept of sustainability has been integrated thoroughly -- from venue design to the forum's agenda, with key topics such as Asia's carbon markets and the next steps for climate resilience becoming focal points of discussions, addressing sustainable development directly.

Green nitrogen fixation has been named in the WEF's Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025, alongside innovations like collaborative sensing and autonomous biochemical sensing, further solidifying sustainability as a global priority.

Today, China stands as the global leader in renewable energy investment. The nation has pioneered transformative technologies in the fields of batteries and electric vehicles, creating millions of high-quality jobs in these future-oriented sectors, according to Gim Huay Neo, managing director of the WEF.

"I think this is an area where there's a lot of scope for us to learn from China's experience, where there could actually be constructive partnerships between China and other parts of the world to also support the global energy transition," Neo said. "The climate emergency and the planetary crisis cannot be resolved if we do not bring everybody along on this journey."

AI revolution

A futuristic exhibition zone at the venue has become a major attraction, where cutting-edge AI products like humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces and fully autonomous drone inspection systems are drawing large crowds of attendees. These innovations vividly showcase Chinese enterprises' technological breakthroughs and pioneering applications of AI.

"China may have found the key to restarting global economic growth -- its 'AI Plus' strategy," said Liu Gang, chief economist of the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies.

He explained that integrating artificial intelligence with the real economy yields remarkable economic benefits. For example, research conducted by his team shows that applying AI to the development of new materials can improve efficiency 100-fold to 1,000-fold.

Across various sessions at the 2025 Summer Davos, discussions on AI are unfolding with remarkable intensity, mirroring the fervent debates witnessed at other premier global forums. Notably, a dedicated session titled "Understanding China's approach to AI" will be convened, underscoring the international community's growing recognition of China's pivotal role in the global AI development landscape.

"It will be like the industrial revolution," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said when talking about new technologies at the forum. Countries that embrace it go up, and countries that don't go down, he said.

"I think how you understand, master and harness the technology revolution solution is the single biggest government challenge for the 21st century," he noted.

Global synergy 

According to the WEF, the global growth outlook has reached its lowest point in decades. Reigniting the spirit of cooperation will require greater commitment and creativity than ever before.

Professor Tong Jiadong at Nankai University, who has served as the long-term Chinese agenda research leader for the Tianjin Summer Davos Forum, observed that the event has evolved beyond a premier global thought leadership summit into a dynamic platform facilitating international exchange and cooperation.

Zhao Yan, chairman and general manager of Chinese firm Bloomage Biotech, has been a regular participant at the Summer Davos Forum. Over the years, the company has established a comprehensive global supply chain network across over 70 countries and regions.

"Despite navigating complex uncertainties, the enterprise has never resorted to isolationism, but instead strives to reshape global competition rules through open innovation," Zhao said.

In the first five months of this year, the total volume of China's imports and exports of goods grew 2.5 percent year on year, and the consumption enthusiasm of foreign visitors surged significantly.

"We value our cooperation with China very much. We're seeing more and more interest and participation coming here," said Borge Brende, president and CEO of the WEF. "I'm relatively optimistic for the Chinese economy, both in medium term and long term."