Every January, the World Economic Forum transforms Davos, Switzerland, into a snow-covered stage of world power. Its summer gathering in China serves a different purpose: to show where the platform believes innovation, capital and influence will follow. Officially known as the Annual Meeting of Young Champions—commonly referred to as Summer Davos—this year’s meeting will be held June 23 to June 25 in Dalian, China. Under the theme “Innovation at Scale,” the WEF’s second largest annual gathering is expected to attract more than 1,700 policymakers, business executives, entrepreneurs and academics. They will gather for high-level discussions on international trade, AI, energy systems, technological innovation and the evolution of the Chinese market.
“The DNA of this meeting is about innovation,” said WEF director Mirek Dušek, in a statement. Radio Davos podcast last year. “And since we are in Asia, in China, this meeting has been very useful in terms of clarifying the rapidly changing landscape in the new areas of Asia and China.”
In Switzerland, China and the wider Asian market can sometimes feel like a backwater. In Dalian, they are at the heart of the agenda. While January Davos is defined by heavy snow and a tightly packed calendar, Summer Davos trades the Alps on China’s coast and focuses more on entrepreneurship, industrial growth and emerging technologies.
The gathering is smaller and less popular than January Davos, but attendees often describe it as unusually intimate. Sarah Tong, founder of Big Bang Academy, wrote: LinkedIn after attending last year’s meeting as part of the Hong Kong delegation. Entrepreneurship panels, he wrote, “hit a different note when you realize you’re actually part of an innovation conversation.”
WEF founder Klaus Schwab’s long-term relationship with China
Summer Davos grew out of the long association of WEF founder Klaus Schwab from China. January Davos hosted its first Chinese delegation in 1979, during its ninth edition, as China began to open up its economy after decades of a closed, government-organized system. Seeing an opportunity, Schwab quickly traveled to Beijing with a European business delegation of 20 CEOs, beginning what the WEF described as a long-term relationship. In the 1990s and early 2000s, China had become a major destination for Western companies, which eventually 2001 entry in the World Trade Organization.
Schwab proposed to bring the Davos model to China in 2005. After visiting several cities, the forum chose Dalian, a port city known for trade and maritime trade, and Tianjin, an industrial center near Beijing, as the traveling hosts. The first Summer Davos opened in Dalian in 2007.
“Countries like China and India have emerged as new global players and partners,” Schwab said in his opening speech that year. “Above all, corporations are suddenly driving the global economy as the new champions.”
Almost twenty years later, that same global change is taking place under much more difficult circumstances. This year’s meeting opens as Washington and Beijing remain at odds over tariffs, supply chains, AI chips and software, while the US. increase scrutiny of Chinese companies say they are tied to the Chinese military.
In contrast, China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng used the Davos on stage in January arguing for global dialogue and cooperation. “We are committed to building bridges, not walls,” he said.
Who is attending this year’s Summer Davos?
This year in Dalian, the gathering remains large, although public figures suggest it has not yet returned to pre-epidemic levels. The 2018 meeting in Tianjin attracted more than 2,000 participants; Last year’s rally drew more than 1,700, and this year’s is expected to attract the same number from more than 90 countries.
Political participation seems to be less than last year. By 2025, the WEF said it expects more than 160 senior political leaders, compared to more than 90 this year. Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is open last year’s meeting, will present a special speech this year. China’s Foreign Ministry said the prime ministers of Bangladesh, Guinea, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Mongolia and Montenegro will attend.
This year’s shared seats provide a window to the leaders who are shaping the conversation. They include Robin Zeng, founder of Chinese EV battery CATL; Ester Baiget, CEO of the Danish company Novonesis; Giovanni Caforio, chairman of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis; Margery Kraus, founder and executive chairman of APCO in Washington, DC; and Jonas Prising, CEO of Milwaukee-based ManpowerGroup.
At least 130 innovators have registered for Dalian, according to Verena Kuhn, WEF’s head of Innovator Communities. Many are building “materials,” including innovations, AI and energy infrastructure and robotics, he wrote LinkedIn. Kuhn also pointed to a wave of companies focusing on infrastructure for AI agents — “a clear sign that the agency economy is moving forward,” he wrote.
This year’s agenda is organized around five core questions for managers and policymakers: how trade is changing, where China’s economy is headed, whether AI and other technologies can deliver real productivity gains, how growth is turning into next-generation jobs and how energy is turning into competition.
“At a time of economic uncertainty, global tensions and rapid technological change, this meeting is an opportunity to focus on practical solutions,” WEF President and CEO Alois Zwinggi said in a statement.
