China’s ties with the World Economic Forum

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With its rising economic status and engagement in the global economy, China has played a more and more important role at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in recent years. In fact, China’s ties with the pioneer forum go way back to 1979.

That was a time of seismic change in China, as the country just started its reform and opening up, leading to astonishing economic achievements in the following decades.

Since then, an increasing number of Chinese policy makers and corporate representatives have been attending the annual meeting in Davos.

In 2018, a record of 136 participants from China attended the event in Davos.

The growing number reflects China’s capacity to participate in the global discussion as well as how important the country is to the world, said Jonathan Woetzel, senior partner of Mckinsey & Company.

When China’s economy embraces diversification and innovation, the forum realized that having the annual meeting in Switzerland alone was not enough to bring China's views to the world.

Therefore, the Annual Meeting of The New Champions, or the Summer Davos, was created in China in 2007.

“So we created the annual meeting of new champions in order to be the world's global meeting on science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship”, said David Aikman, Chief China Representative of World Economic Forum.

This annual meeting, held alternatively in northern China’s Tianjin and Dalian, a city in northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, has been a source of insightful conversations on China’s policies, business environment and technology.

As some of the world’s most powerful tech firms have emerged from China, the subsequent meetings have become more tech-focused. It’s also a platform for international innovators who take interest in China. Daan Roosegaarde is a Dutch designer. He invented this, the Smog-Free Tower, which was showcased during the 2017 Summer Davos.