AMNC26: What just happened at the Summer Davos?

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Alois Zwinggi, President and CEO, World Economic Forum: The global economy is facing uncertainty. Artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, biotechnology and digital systems are reshaping industries and societies. At the same time, the world's most urgent challenges cannot be solved by one country, one company or one institution alone. This year's meeting takes place at a moment of profound transformation.

Robin Pomeroy, host Radio Davos: Welcome to Radio Davos, the podcast from the World Economic Forum that looks at the biggest challenges and how we might solve them. This week, what just happened at the Summer Davos last week in China?

Gim Huay Neo, Managing Director, World Economic Forum: The voice of China, this will really help shape the discourse of conversations, of business opportunities in the coming months.

Robin Pomeroy: With close to 2,000 leaders from 90 countries, including heads of government, industry, academia and hundreds of technology innovators, what were those conversations about? Innovating at scale was the official theme, and we heard lots on that, but also geopolitics, not least the rivalry between China and the US.

Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School of Government: China's a meteoric rising power, and as far as I can see, it's going to continue to rise. On the other hand, we have the US, a colossal ruling power, the greatest global power since Rome, with more reach. There's going to continue to be increasingly, in my view, a suspicion, hostility, and otherwise. The challenge for the leaders is to contain that set of forces, recognising what the consequences would be.

Robin Pomeroy: Follow Radio Davos wherever you get podcasts or visit wef.ch/podcasts.

I'm Robin Pomeroy at the World Economic Forum and asking what just happened at the Summer Davos...

Akshay Joshi, Head of the Centre for Cybersecurity: These are conversations that can only happen under this roof and it made it really special.

Robin Pomeroy: This is Radio Davos.

If you're a regular listener to Radio Davos, you'll know that all last week we were coming to you from China: the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos. The Forum hosted leaders from governments, business, academia and civil society for three days of meetings and discussions.

The main theme of this AMNC held in the port city of Dalian was "innovating at scale" and lots of discussions were about how to get great ideas out into the real world and how to ensure society benefits from them and can mitigate any drawbacks. Artificial intelligence and physical AI were top of mind, but there were also lots of discussions about the state of the world, geopolitics and economics.

On this episode, we'll hear some clips from the sessions that were livestreamed and can be watched on our website. And we'll speak to senior colleagues at the World Economic Forum to hear what impact AMNC26 had in their particular field.

First up, this is Gim Huay Neo, who heads the Forum's activities in the region.

Gim Huay Neo: My name is Gim Huay Neo and I'm Managing Director and Chair of Greater China at the World Economic Forum.

Robin Pomeroy: Really important event for you in that role, Managing Director of Greater China, what was the big impact of this meeting would you say?

Gim Huay Neo: I would say it's the engagement. All our sessions were very oversubscribed. Participants were very engaged and interested to hear what each other had to say. And there were also a lot of conversations around practical solutions. So for me, really, the whole conversation, engagement amongst participants was probably one of the most impactful and highlights of this meeting for me.

Robin Pomeroy: Do you think there's something that happened here that has shaped the rest of the year as we look ahead to January and the next Davos?

Gim Huay Neo: I think it's the voice of China. It obviously remains a very fast-growing economy. It's one of the largest in the world with a very strong innovation machinery. And with Premier Li Qiang talking about China 2.0, opportunity China 2.0, I think this will really help shape the discourse of conversations of business opportunities in the coming months.

Robin Pomeroy: Is there anything that really inspired you this week?

Gim Huay Neo: I think my most emotional moment was actually this morning in the Leadership Pulse conversation with Liang Dong, who is actually a former media leader, but who has also become a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. And he talks about rhythms and how we have to be in rhythm with each other and how the best interviewers are the ones that can actually be in the rhythm with their interviewee.

And this for me was a really powerful moment because our business is in the business of connecting people. And for me, the insight was really how I can also be in rhythm with the people that we convene, help them come into rhythm with each other. Because even without words, that can actually strengthen understanding, build trust. And through that, I think we can create a better world.

Robin Pomeroy: Gim Huay Neo of the World Economic Forum.

One of the big draws of AMNC26 was a speech by the Chinese Premier Li Qiang. You can watch his speech and read the text in English on our website.

And here's a short clip of Premier Li with audio dubbed by an interpreter saying how the world should not fear China's continued rise and technological innovation.

Li Qiang, Premier of the People's Republic of China: China's rapidly growing innovation capacity has been widely welcomed and recognised by most in the world.

Some, however, respond differently. They are anxious about China's high-tech and industrial innovation. And for various reasons even come up with some unfriendly narratives. For instance, the so-called China Shock 2.0, as reported by some media outlets, they claim China's development is a shock to the world.

But as I have noticed in the recent discussions about this narrative by some institutions and media outlets, they are more mentioning of an opposite term, that is, China Opportunity 2.0, not China Shock 2.0. They believe China's development provides opportunities for the world.

Today, China's large open source AI models have been downloaded by over 10 billion times globally in cumulative terms. Large scale scientific facilities in controlled nuclear fusion, quantum technology and other areas are open to the world. And the Tiangong space station is set to welcome foreign astronauts as you may have seen in relevant media reports.

These are proof enough that what China's technologies and products in emerging areas bring to the world are not shocks or threats, but opportunities and empowerment.

Robin Pomeroy: That was Chinese Premier Li Qiang addressing the AMNC, you heard the simultaneous interpretation into English.

And that was one of the most widely discussed parts of his speech as he addressed directly concerns by some other countries about the continuing strength of China's exports and that that might become a "China shock 2.0".

It was picked up in a session at AMNC called 15th Five Year Plan Unpacked, where experts looked at the recently published plan for policy goals set out by the Chinese Communist Party.

Here's part of that discussion. One of the speakers there was Yuen Yuen Ang, professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Yuen Yuen Ang, Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of Political Economy, Johns Hopkins University: The 15th five-year plan is "catch up on cutting-edge technologies plus boost consumption".

And these two things are completely connected because China's ability to manufacture is now unparalleled around the world. From the simplest objects to advanced products, China is able to manufacture them at scale and affordably.

If there isn't the domestic demand to absorb this amount of production, then it becomes a shock to the world.

However, if China is able to boost domestic consumption so that this production can be absorbed internally, then, to use the words of Premier Li from yesterday, the shock can become an opportunity.

So this is where the two parts are completely connected together. And one might then ask, how is it then possible to turn the shock into an opportunity?

I think one of the key areas here is that China would need to balance its emphasis on the types of innovation it wishes to promote. There has been a lot of emphasis on the zero to one in the last five to 10 years for good reasons because China saw that that is strategic for China's geopolitical position. But in order to boost domestic consumption, China would have to put some of the emphasis back into application or innovation, commercialization, scaling, like e-commerce, for instance, which China was very good at, because these are the kinds of innovation that produces the mass employment and participation in the labour market that can then fundamentally boost consumption.

Robin Pomeroy: Yuen Yuen Ang of Johns Hopkins. Also speaking on that panel was Adam Tooze, director of the European Institute at Columbia University.

Adam Tooze, Director, European Institute, Columbia University: Germany also for many decades was accused of preying on other people's demands of swamping other people with high quality goods which they couldn't resist because they were very high quality and they were actually affordable and people bought them and oh what a problem.

And of course obviously this is an absurd point of view. China's industrial development, China's technological development on net is clearly a positive thing.

The questions are political and they're macroeconomic. They are, in other words, not about the forces of production, but the relations of production, to invoke the classic Marxist dichotomy. How is it that we make the extraordinary innovation of a country like yours into a benefit, not just for society and not just for you yourself as an entrepreneur in your workforce, but for us collectively, rather than an object of contestation?

And so I think we can distinguish. It's very hard for me, for instance, to see photovoltaics and battery storage as anything other than a net gain globally. This was an industry that didn't previously exist. It's an industry which is benign in its consequences. It is one that transforms the possibilities of electrification above all in poor countries, above all, in Sub-Saharan Africa, where there are hundreds of millions of people without power who can now easily be electrified. That seems to me a baseline, a bottom line, and China should stick to it, insist, clearly.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have something like AI which is obviously profoundly ambiguous in its impact. It takes what all of us does and substitutes a machine for what all us do and it has eminently national security strategy related issues and it is a domain which the United States is still going to and is designated an area of massive competition. No one should be surprised if this is an area in which there is ongoing struggle.

Robin Pomeroy: Adam Tooze, and before him,Yuen Yuen Ang, speaking at a session at AMNC26 called 15th Five-Year Plan Unpacked. You can watch that back on our website. And if you want to hear more from those two experts, I interviewed both of them in Dalian for future episodes of Radio Davos. Make sure you're following the podcast so you don't miss that.

Let's now hear from another World Economic Forum leader. Here's the person who heads the Forum's work on the environment.

Sebastian Buckup, Managing Director, World Economic Forum: Sebastian Buckup, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum. I'm focusing on nature and climate and the next generation.

Robin Pomeroy: Was there one big impact you would say from the AMNC26?

Sebastian Buckup: From the nature and climate point of view, to me the big impact is the impact on participants to realise that in China the green agenda is firmly about competitiveness and growth. It probably stems from an appreciation of the physical environment in China, maybe to some extent it's cultural. Maybe it is also born out of the experience of the decay of the environment during the massive growth spurt of the past decades.

But I think it also comes from an understanding that there are lots of boundaries one can push to stay in, the one boundary we can't push, which is the one of planetary boundaries. You see China is producing 80% of solar energy, 80% of battery cells, 60% of wind energy components. So China has taken this agenda into a growth and competitiveness dimension.

Robin Pomeroy: And do you think this meeting is somewhere shaped the rest of the year, particularly for climate and nature, as we look ahead to the next Annual Meeting in Davos?

Sebastian Buckup: It does, in the sense that we are building on that momentum. We have gathered here, for instance, the First Movers Coalition for industry decarbonisation. For the first time, we have a major Chinese enterprise joining that coalition. It will hopefully be followed by many, it's JD Logistics.

So we are using market signals and market signal and demand pooling to bring down the cost of low carbon technologies. We have lots of companies around the world that want to decarbonize, not just for climate reasons, but increasingly also for geopolitical reasons. We have a lot of technologies in the industrial base here in China to help companies do that. So we are building those partnerships and work towards the Annual Meeting in that regard.

Robin Pomeroy: We often talk about Davos moments. Was there a summer Davos moment for you? Did you have a conversation or a meeting that you felt was inspiring?

Sebastian Buckup: You know, one Summer Davos moment for me was a conversation that I had about clean energy and data centres. I spoke to an entrepreneur here who said, well, we are able to have swimming wind turbines in the high seas and we also are able now to put data centres swimming under the sea underneath the wind turbines, solving the cooling problem, solving the energy problem.

For me that's an example, I mean that's early stage, but it's an example of the ingenuity that you can apply to push out technological boundaries to stay in the boundary you cannot push which is the planetary boundary.

Robin Pomeroy: Sebastian Buckup of the World Economic Forum talking about the environment.

Closely related to the environment, but also closely related to geopolitics and to artificial intelligence, is energy. My colleague Spencer Feingold spoke to the Forum's head of that.

Roberto Bocca, Head, Centre for Energy and Materials, World Economic Forum: I'm Roberto Bocca and I'm the head of the Centre for Energy and Materials.

Spencer Feingold, Lead Editor, Public Engagement, World Economic Forum: What was one big impact achieved this week at AMNC 26?

Roberto Bocca: If we think about energy and industrial transformation, this is happening often in a localised area, what we call the industrial cluster or industrial zone. So we were very, very pleased that during the Dalian meeting, during the Summer Davos, one of the most important clusters, the Dalian Jinpu cluster, signed up to this initiative that is now counting 40 clusters in 20 countries around the world.

Spencer Feingold: What happened here this week that will help shape the rest of 2026 and move us into the Annual Meeting 2027?

Roberto Bocca: The energy transition is a very complex issue. It's not just about supply and oil, but it's much more complex.

So what we have seen in this meeting is that these complexities start being articulated and understood. We have seen exchanges. We have see that there is need for new type of collaboration.

And so if we look at the future, what is in between here and Davos, we'll be really looking how this possible collaboration can evolve and can develop. Because this is a new world and we have to find a new way to connect.

Spencer Feingold: And this week, was there any anecdote or special chance encounter that you experienced here at AMNC that kind of shows why this meeting is special?

Roberto Bocca: It was very important in this meeting to see the variety of people from different countries. Half of the participants here were international, so I didn't have any specific moment. But I had these multiple interactions in which I saw that there was honest and respectful disagreement.

We always talk about agreeing. Actually, it's actually very good to disagree, but with respect, we share, and then some of the solution was starting emerging, and also this is what we're looking for we're in front of working on.

Robin Pomeroy: Roberto Bocca, head of energy at the World Economic Forum, was speaking to my colleague Spencer Feingold.

Spencer wrote an interesting article at AMNC called, "US-China Competition is the Fiercest Thucydian Rivalry of All Time". Quite an esoteric headline, but one worth digging into. Spencer was quoting the veteran political scientist Graham Allison, who has analysed what happens in history when a dominant power is challenged by an up and coming one. His term, the Thucydides trap, is named after the Greek historian Thucydides, who chronicled the power struggle between Sparta and Athens and the subsequent war.

You can read Spencer's article about that on our website. Here's a flavour of what Professor Allison had to say in a session at AMNC called US and China: From Here to Where?

Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School of Government: This is the fiercest, Thucydian rivalry of all times. China is a meteoric rising power. And as far as I can see, it's going to continue to rise. China wants to be all it can be, with four times as many people as the US. Over time, it should overtake the US in every arena if it were successful. And if you ask President Xi, would he like for China to be any less than it could be? No. If we were Chinese, would we? We wouldn't, no.

On the other hand, we have the US, a colossal ruling power, the greatest global power since Rome, with more reach.

You have here a rising power and a ruling power. Thucydides told us with a rapidly rising power seriously threatens to displace a major ruling power. That structural dynamic creates conditions that multiply, magnify misperceptions, multiply miscalculations and produce conditions in which incidents or accidents that would otherwise be manageable can trigger a vicious spiral that ends where nobody wants, in a war.

Robin Pomeroy: Later in the same session, Professor Allison spoke about his hopes that Presidents Trump and Xi, who met at a summit in Beijing early this year, would be able to avoid the Thucydides trap.

Graham Allison: I think at the summit, in the first instance, they began what I think they, both Xi and Trump hope will be a reframing or redefining the relationship over the course of 2026.

They got from great power competition, which is the normal way to discuss, describe this, or more precisely a Thucydidean rivalry, to a constructive strategic stability as a pointer, not all filled out. They are now going to have another summit in Washington September 26, I think, or four. President Xi will go to Washington. Then they'll meet on the sidelines of the APEC here in November. And then in December in Miami at the G20. So we may have four summits of these two leaders, something we haven't seen before.

And if I were being optimistic, which I'm trying to be, you could imagine by the end of the year having a landing point that's somewhat better than the way we've thought about the relationship, that would say, hey, we have this complicated situation. We're fierce rivals, and we're going to be fierce rivals. We would like to win in all of these contests, and you would like win in these contest. At the same time, we had these realities that require cooperation both for our own survival and also for benefits, and were trying to manage these at the same time.

Now can two leaders do that with the complex governments that they have and then the complex societies, well, over the long run, Thucydides would say, good luck.

Robin Pomeroy: Graham Allison speaking on the session, US and China from Here to Where. Watch that session on the website or listen on our sister podcast, Agenda Dialogues. Several of the best sessions from AMNC26 will be landing on there over the coming weeks. If you prefer just to listen to these sessions rather than watch them, check out Agenda Dialogues.

A meeting like AMNC is a place where people with differing views on things like geopolitics can meet to talk them through. Joo-Ok Lee is head of regional agenda Asia-Pacific at the World Economic Forum. Here are his reflections on the meeting's impact.

Joo-Ok Lee, Head, Regional Agenda, Asia-Pacific, World Economic Forum: The event here in Dalian means a lot, both in the sense that, you know, we're here in China, the second largest economy in the world, but it's also a very important part in Asia, which I look after.

And for us, the aim was to really try and have our constituents work more closely and more effectively together, leveraging architectures like APEC, which is actually hosted here this year, and also ASEAN, which has, of course, overlapping membership. So in this meeting, we've had both a closed-door discussion as well as a public panel with related goals in trying to align the agenda and also the mechanism for APEC and ASEAN.

And for us, this will carry on in terms of, hopefully, impact for this year as well as next year, because this year, Philippines is hosting ASEAN, China, of course, is the host for APEC. But next year both APEC and ASEAN chairmanships will rest within ASEAN. So it's a good moment for us and also constituents to try and sort of accelerate the alignment so that the policy coordination for ASEAN can also be informed by the new set of ideas and initiatives that are born out of APEC.

And it creates a positive loop, ultimately creating a much stronger, both economic drive, but also inclusion and resilience for the broader region.

John Letzing: What was the one big impact achieved at AMMC?

Joo-Ok Lee: Mongolia. Of course, as many people know, has a huge landmass, but at the same time struggles with many challenges.

And, you know, fittingly, they are hosting the UNCCD COP, COP 17 this year in Ulaanbaataar. And the Prime Minister, as part of that agenda, but also addressing the importance globally for food security as well as soil health, made a call for all the business leaders as well governments in this meeting to really urgently address this issue. And from the government's perspective, together with many of the business leaders academics will convene in Ulaanbaataar. He plans to make significant investments in terms of soil health, and we feel that it's a critical issue combined with food security that's rising in terms of importance, also because of what we've just seen in the industry, support moves and a lot of the choke points that have related impact to this part of the world as well as the rest of the world.

So from our view, we feel we have a good milestone that's being planned, and this meeting helped to provide that platform for the Prime Minister to make that urgent call towards all the relevant stakeholders.

Robin Pomeroy: Joo-Ok Lee speaking to my colleague John Letzing.

Time to hear some highlights from AMNC26 about health and longevity.

Andy Moose, Head, Health Systems Transformation, World Economic Forum: My name is Andy Moose and I'm Head of Health Systems Transformation in the Centre for Health and Healthcare.

Robin Pomeroy: So on health and healthcare, was there one big impact or achievement at AMNC26?

Andy Moose: There was. I mean, for the Centre for Health and Healthcare, at the Annual Meeting of New Champions, we really established the foundation for our community, for our engagement in China, in Asia, and really beyond.

We launched the Global Longevity Initiative at this meeting and we also laid the foundation to continue our work in digital health, not just to advance the technologies that are driving that, but also to improve health outcomes.

Robin Pomeroy: Was there anything happening here that will shape the rest of the year up to the next Annual Meeting in Davos?

Andy Moose: I definitely think so. I mean, I think we understood really what it takes to innovate at scale. Premier Li talked about China Opportunity 2.0 and a lot of that's represented by stability, the need for long-term planning, the need integration across academic research, business and capital and policy, and also the opportunity to really thrive on the basis of competitive and healthy markets.

Robin Pomeroy: Did anything inspire you?

Andy Moose: There was something inspiring. It was a conversation, maybe just an anecdote, but we were working with one of our technology pioneers who we've been working with for some time to really bring forward some new advanced brain health technologies and opportunities to really improve the ability to detect and diagnose conditions early when you actually have time to intervene and improve people's health. And they've struggled to find access to capital and other things.

And so I think for us, it was a reminder of the importance of this meeting to really bring together entrepreneurs with investors.

He was able to establish some really critical connections that had been elusive to that point. And I think sometimes we forget about the value of having this signature event around entrepreneurship, innovation, and how that affects and drives not just individual lives, but the global economy overall.

Haleh Nazeri, Lead, Longevity Economy,
Financial and Monetary Systems, World Economic Forum: My name is Haleh Nazeri, and I lead the Longevity Economy work at the Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems.

At AMNC26, we helped put a spotlight on one of the defining economic questions of this decade, whether growing trade, financial and technical fragmentation becomes a permanent feature of the global economy. Through the launch of our latest report, Deepening Divides, the Cost of a More Fragmented Financial System, we moved the conversation from theory to evidence. Quantifying the costs at $300 billion annually and creating a foundation for future action on guardrails and cooperation.

Robin Pomeroy: So what happened at this meeting that's going to shape the rest of the year?

Haleh Nazeri: What we saw at AMNC was that the longevity economy emerged as a key cross-sector theme at AMNC and will continue to be explored through AM27, highlighting how demographic ageing is reshaping all sorts of sectors, from financial services to health care, labour markets, and public policy in a more interconnected way.

We also launched a new report, The Longevity Dividend, the business case for linking health and wealth which highlights that longevity is not an old age challenge, but rather an opportunity for countries at all stages of the demographic transition to capture. And we conducted new analysis with Marsh that highlighted how three relatively modest interventions can generate $5.8 trillion in healthcare savings and $645 billion in productivity gains by 2040.

And finally, to further this work, we did announce this week that the Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems and the Centre for Health and Healthcare are launching a new global longevity initiative that we're really excited to kick off. It will bring together financial and health leaders around a shared opportunity, enabling longer, healthier lives while unlocking economic growth and resilience.

We also launched the AI Playbook for Financial Services, which offers practical guidance for financial institutions at every stage of their AI journey. The report draws on insights from more than 150 senior leaders across 100 institutions and highlights how institutions can move from AI experimentation to scaled use across their organisations. And agentic systems are raising new questions about accountability, human oversight, and customer trust.

Robin Pomeroy: Do you have a Davos or a Summer Davos moment?

Haleh Nazeri: I really loved AMNC and Summer Davos. I thought it was really amazing getting just a completely different point of view. It was amazing hearing from all of our partners in Asia, what they're focused on, how they see things differently. And I think it really contributes to a better, more well-rounded view of how we see all of the economic issues around the world.

Robin Pomeroy: Haleh Nazeri of the Forum's Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems, and, before her, Andy Moose on Health and Healthcare.

During the AMNC event, the Forum published its annual Top Ten Emerging Technologies report. As you all know, if you're a loyal follower of Radio Davos, we published a special video podcast on it last week. I urge you to go back and watch or listen to that one. At a meeting whose theme was all about innovating at scale, that report was a centrepiece. Here's Akshay Joshi, head of Cybersecurity at the Forum.

Akshay Joshi, Head of the Centre for Cybersecurity, World Economic Forum: So from my perspective, the Top 10 Emerging Technologies report was a huge success. This was the 14th iteration of the report, and it brought to the fore 10 technologies that have the transformative potential to have a very positive impact on society overall. The reception was great, and we were able to have number of sessions that went into individual technologies and get some very unique perspectives. So really excited about it.

Spencer Feingold: And what happened here this week that will help shape the rest of 2026 and get us into the Annual Meeting 2027.

Akshay Joshi: I'd probably make a link with the Top Ten Emerging Technologies report, because as I mentioned, there were a number of sessions that we held on it. And some of the insights that we've gleaned as a consequence, some real world use cases, they're going to be instrumental in feeding the year-round work that we do, and also the run-up to Davos.

To take an example, we had a fascinating discussion about data centres in space. Now that's really exciting, especially as we think about, you know, the rush for data centres, in light of the AI revolution.

Spencer Feingold: Are there any anecdotes or stories that you experienced this week that maybe show how special this meeting is?

Akshay Joshi: You know, this meeting is really special. And this was, for me, was illustrated through a multilateral that we had on robotics and embodied AI in general. It was an intimate gathering around 20 people, but you had representation from virtually every part of the globe and an openness to share what are some of the key developments in the space and what are some barriers we need to break in order to take it to the next level.

So these are some kind of conversations that can only happen under this roof and it made it really special for me.

Robin Pomeroy: Talking of innovation, here's the Forum's head of artificial intelligence.

Cathy Li, Head, Centre for AI Excellence: Cathy Li, head of the Centre for AI Excellence.

Kateryna Gordiychuk: What was the one big impact for you that AMNC 26 has achieved?

Cathy Li: For me personally, I think it's really encouraging to see the amount of innovation, the kind of excitement and enthusiasm that we have observed here at AMNC26.

It's always been great to be back in China for AMNC because this meeting has always been focusing on innovation. And particularly with this year's theme being innovation at scale, I just think it really brings the concept home.

Kateryna Gordiychuk: What does innovation at scale mean to you?

Cathy Li: Innovation at scale, I think, particularly coincides with the domain that I work in, AI, because with generative AI, it's been almost three years and there's a lot of enthusiasm since ChatGPT came to the market. However, for most of the organisations, we are still only observing that productivity may have increased at the individual level, but when it comes to the you know, transformation of the organisations, we're still not seeing that much of evidence globally, but that makes it even more exciting to be back in Asia because Asia has been one of the more advanced regions in terms of the end-to-end AI transformation because it benefits from the strong industrial base, from the whole digital ecosystem and real-world applications scenario and environments. So that's what we call innovation at scale.

Kateryna Gordiychuk: What has happened here already this week that you think will shape the rest of 2026 and into our Annual Meeting?

Cathy Li: One thing that's been standing out is really physical AI now has become much more of a prominent concept, just as when generative AI, when AI in the form of text and images when they first took off. And now I believe that maybe the same moment for physical AI is arriving.

And physical AI is a very broad concept. It both covers the brain part of the embodied AI, the software that directs and interacts with the outside world but also the robotics itself. So it's many of the concepts coming and converging together.

I think 70-plus percent of the world's robotics are currently in Asia, so we're seeing more and more of those experiments and I do think that's going to continue to shape the rest of 2026.

Robin Pomeroy: Cathy Li was speaking to my colleague, Katerina Gordiychuk.

AI and its potential impact on economies was a central theme at a session called Chief Economists Briefing. Here's Carsten Fink, Chief Economists at the World Intellectual Property Organisation speaking on that session.

Carsten Fink, Chief Economist, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): For me, the most intriguing possibility that AI will have more significant long-term effects is by its potential in boosting innovation, empowering innovation.

The microscope greatly expanded what scientists could see. The computer greatly expanded how researchers could run calculations. And, you know, AI with AI, AI potentially can propose hypotheses, proteins, designs, proofs in a way that humans so far haven't.

And I think if one looks at the recent news about AI having tackled math problems that really escaped humans for many decades, one sees the upside potential.

Now, all of that, of course, is anecdotal. It's not a trend. We don't see that in broader, let's say, R&D productivity statistics.

There's the interesting example also of Google's AlphaFold, which was very helpful in predicting protein structures. And there has been a notable impact in a sense that basic research on neglected proteins. You know, has increased by significant amounts. At the same time, we are not necessarily seeing an increase in experimental use of these proteins and drug research. So there still seem to be essentially downstream bottlenecks.

So in the end, I would say, you know we should be realistic about the short-term productivity gains. I think in a cumulative sense, I think they're, it's reasonable, in line with historical breakthrough technologies, to expect meaningful productivity gains and potentially even more if AI can really empower innovation in a meaningful way.

So that's not a forecast to bet your retirement savings on, but it's a possibility that's I think too serious to ignore.

Robin Pomeroy: Carson Fink, Chief Economist at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, speaking on the session called Chief Economists Briefing. That's already available to listen to on our sister podcast, Agenda Dialogues. And of course, you can also watch the session on the World Economic Forum's webpage.

Also speaking on that session was Saadia Zahidi, head of the Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society. Here's Saadia with her reflection on AMNC26.

Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum: I think we've really moved the conversation forward beyond excitement about something that is possible, towards more nuance about how to actually make it happen. And let me try to unpack that, that's quite abstract.

But it's basically moving from this idea that, you know, technology will either me. All good or all bad. It's either a utopia or it's something that's going to create a lot of challenges and risks for societies.

I think we've been able to move the conversation forward to something that is much more nuanced and much more realistic. Both things are possible, but what needs to happen is leaders need to act today with a lot more foresight and a lot bolder vision for what we want for humanity, economies, societies. And not just for the very few. And I think that shift was very powerful here.

Pooja Chhabria: Is there one conversation or an anecdote that comes to mind that you think captures that essence for you?

Saadia Zahidi: I think we had quite a lot of focus on "technology for who?" We had focus on who does this actually work for? What might be the biases in these systems? We brought together women and had a focus on artificial intelligence, and if we're likely to see gender equal outcomes or not, and how that can change.

And the Forum has been doing quite a bit of research in this space. And that was an opportunity to bring the group together.

We also zoomed out a bit and just looked at women's leadership as a whole. And one thing that's really struck with me is somebody saying never underestimate the power of being underestimated. And the thinking behind that was that even when there is all of this bias, there is an opportunity to have your agency and to be able to move ahead.

Now that said, the Forum's goal is let's look at broader systems change and really accelerate towards parity, but I think offering that moment for women to be able to share with each other and discuss where things are going in their personal experiences, their lived experiences, that was also very powerful.

Pooja Chhabria: So let's talk about that one moment or serendipitous encounter that you had at Summer Davos that was special this year.

Saadia Zahidi: I heard something very powerful many times from several people which was business leaders talking to each other and saying, if none of us do the hiring and the talent development of young people today, then none of will have the senior talent that we want in a few years' time.

And I think that really lays out very clearly both the challenge and the opportunity here.

So, if businesses think of entry-level workers as the most easily automatable part of their workforce, they're being very short-sighted about it. Where the focus needs to be is, how do we actually still continue to build leaders for the future, workers for the future.

And that is a piece that I think we actually managed to make a lot of progress on here at the Annual Meeting of New Champions.

We kicked off a first conversation of the First Mile Sandbox. And that's essentially educators and employers coming together and looking at how that first mile, that first leg up into the labour market needs to be redesigned. And how both educators need to play a role and employers need to pay a role.

Robin Pomeroy: Sadia Zahidi was speaking to my colleague, Pooja Chambria.

Here's our last Forum Centre head. Kiva Allgood is in charge of Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, as well as Urban Transformation, and the Experience Economy.

Kiva Allgood, Managing Director, World Economic Forum: I think, actually, the premier and his outlining of the next five-year plan was a confirmation on the work that we're doing across the board on industrial transformation and innovation.

So it was a great inspiration to keep focused, laser focused, on ensuring that our constituents really understand how important it is to invest in intelligent infrastructure, how important is for human machine collaboration to be at the centre, and humans have to be a key contributor on an ongoing basis, and that talent really matters.

So especially on the manufacturing and supply chain side, there's been a lot of discussion around people being displaced. And I think after this week, we all know that the human machine collaboration is a component, but humans are going to be part of the equation.

Robin Pomeroy: What about your Forum work as well? You had some launches here. There are some special moments for you here, right?

Kiva Allgood: Yeah, actually, we had an amazing moment. We're kick-starting and have been actually leaning into what we call the experience economy. And as part of the experience, economy, we've got the work on sports, and we've the work in travel and tourism.

So we had a amazing session around sports. I think, in geopolitical situations like now, the one thing that we heard from almost all the constituents, we asked the one question, what does sport mean to you? And undeniably, it was community, bringing together, a sense of belonging. It really is the one thing that I think kind of activates the core for people. Whether you play sports or not, you rally behind them, right?

I think the FIFA that's going on right now, the World Cup, and just seeing communities come together around the thing that they love is something that really inspired me.

Robin Pomeroy: What can the Forum do in that? What can the Forum add to that experience economy?

Kiva Aklgood: I think what we heard from the community is it's a very fragmented industry, right? It's a growing industry. It's going from 2.3 trillion to over 8, some say 10, but it's also one that is super fragmented. And if you think about its impact on the planet and people, we're really going to focus on that in the intersection of how sports can lift economies, how sports can help with mental health, and how sports can really help shape new industries.

Robin Pomeroy: There's this AI presentation happening nearby here, Lumina, what was that about?

Kiva Allgood: Super excited, we launched the next generation of our AI platform for industrial transformation. And this is built on eight years worth of data from our Global Lighthouse Network. And it really is a how-to, how to go from not being digital at all to level one, to level two. And then obviously the Global Lighthouse sites, the 238, we announced 16 new winners as well. 100% of those used AI in their transformations, but the key is those are all level four, level five sites. We're really trying to create that blueprint and toolkit for people, whether they're a small and medium-sized enterprise or a leading manufacturer in the world. So we're giving them guidelines and tools to use.

Robin Pomeroy: Remind us what a Lighthouse is.

Kiva Allgood: Lighthouses? A Lighthouse, so the Global Lighthouse Network. It's a Michelin star type of award for those in the industry. It is the best of the best, so it is people apply. We have an amazing steering committee and evaluation committee built by industry experts from Schneider Electric, Foxconn, Aramco and the like. So again, really the best of the best.

The team goes and visits those sites, they evaluate them, and they determine whether or not they get the awards, and every year we hand out some.

Robin Pomeroy: Any inspiring moments this week?

Kiva Allgood: Always, I mean, I think being with the community is always one of my favourite parts. I think, especially in the industrial space, unlike new industries, manufacturing or building things has been around for centuries. And they don't change their ways that quickly, but we're really starting to see a more open and collaborative community around acting on collective action. So that's been super inspiring for me.

Robin Pomeroy: Kiva Allgood speaking to me at the end of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 26, AMNC26 in Dalian, China. There's so much to catch up on from AMNC26. You can watch all of those live stream sessions on our website and do follow Radio Davos. We're going to have more reflections on this next week, plus the Agenda Dialogues podcast, our sister podcast, which carries just the audio from some of the best sessions at events including AMNC26.

And look out for great interviews recorded in Dalian on this podcast, Radio Davos and on our other sister podcast, Meet the Leader, dropping in the coming weeks.

Let's hear from one last voice from the World Economic Forum speaking in Dalian. This is the World Economic Forum's President and Chief Executive Officer Alois Zwinggi.

Alois Zwinggi, President and CEO, World Economic Forum: This year's meeting takes place at a moment of profound transformation. The global economy is facing uncertainty, fragmentation, and uneven growth. Technology is advancing with extraordinary speed. Artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, biotechnology, and digital systems are reshaping industries and societies. At the same time, the world's most urgent challenges from climate change and energy security to supply chain resilience and inclusive growth cannot be solved by one country, by one company or one institution alone.

Robin Pomeroy: Alois Zwingi.

This episode of Radio Davos was written, presented and edited by me, Robin Pomeroy. Studio production was by Taz Kelleher. Thanks so much to everyone who appeared on this bumper episode.

Thanks to you for listening to Radio Davos. We'll be back next week.