The World Economic Forum, a non-profit foundation based in Geneva, was conceived by Dr Klaus Schwab in 1971. 

The forum is best known for its annual meeting at the end of January in a mountain resort in Davos. In 2007, the foundation established the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also called Summer Davos, a gathering held annually in China and alternating between Dalian and Tianjin.

The history between WEF and China can be traced back to 1979, when the "European Management Forum," the WEF's former name, officially set up a cooperative relationship with China. 

Two years later, the forum co-hosted the first International Symposium on Business Management with the China Enterprise Confederation. From 1983, China started sending delegations to the forum. Those groups include high-level representatives from both the political arena and business community.

Looking back through the meeting's 12-year history, it focused on "growth" for six years with themes including "Next Round of Growth," "Relaunching Growth," "Driving Growth through Sustainability," and "Mastering Quality Growth" from 2008 to 2011. "Chart a New Course for Growth" came in 2015 and last year's theme was "Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

The second favorite topic was innovation with themes "Meeting the Innovation Imperative" in 2013 and "Creating Value through Innovation" in 2014.

Nowadays, the fourth industrial revolution is an emerging trend and was discussed during the 2016 and 2017 meetings. Participants this year will brainstorm solutions to "Shape Innovative Societies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution."