Purpose

Improving the state of the world requires catalysing global cooperation to address pressing challenges and future risks. Global cooperation in turn needs stakeholders from business, government, the media, science, religion, the arts and civil society to collaborate as a true community. To this end, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting has engaged leaders from all walks of life to shape the global agenda at the start of the year for the last four decades.

Rethink, Redesign and Rebuild In response to new priorities, the organizing theme for the 40th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2010 is a call to action, "Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild".

Driving the rethink at the 40th Annual Meeting will be the Network of Global Agenda Councils comprised of over 1,000 experts active in over 70 Councils created to advance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the world.

Redesign discussions in Davos will leverage the ongoing work of the Forum’s Global Redesign Initiative (GRI), an unprecedented multistakeholder dialogue focusing on adapting structures and systems of international cooperation to the challenges of the 21st century.

The effort to rebuild trust and confidence needs to begin before, and extend well beyond the next Annual Meeting. To that end, WELCOM, a collaborative platform that integrates Web 2.0 technology, will enable leaders to build knowledge, share insights and reach out to key stakeholders as an online community throughout the year.

Thematic Pillars of the Programme

The programme will focus on the following six areas of inquiry and their global, regional and industry dimensions:

• How to Strengthen Economic and Social Welfare
• How to Mitigate Global Risks and Address Systemic Failures
• How to Ensure Sustainability How to Enhance Security
• How to Create a Values Framework
• How to Build Effective Institutions

The programme is continuously updated to reflect the latest developments around the world.