Media Session: Meet the Founders on the Frontier

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Emerging businesses are reshaping the global economy, scaling rapidly and achieving market influence once reserved for established institutions. Today, eight of the world’s ten largest publicly listed companies are technology firms, most built on innovations that did not exist a generation ago. Join leading Technology Pioneers and Innovators to explore what distinguishes their business models from traditional market players and how they are poised to shape the next decade of growth and transformation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvOleT3X_VM

What if Fixing the System Isn’t the Answer?

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Many of today’s systems are under strain, yet solving global challenges increasingly depends on them. From climate to healthcare, meaningful change often requires coordination across complex, slow-moving structures. But what if transformation doesn’t always start by fixing the system?

Join this session to discover how “workarounds” can become powerful pathways to systems change, unlocking progress where traditional approaches stall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk6XhFXlghA

What’s the Limit for AI-First Enterprises?

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

As AI inference costs have dropped by over 90%, enterprises are embedding data and intelligence at the core of their operating and business models, enabling always-on, global execution beyond human limits.

How are these AI-first enterprises reorganizing around AI in practice, and under what conditions does this actually translate into long-term value for society?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjcbbWQ0d4

Where Are We on Belt and Road?

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

In 2025, the Belt and Road Initiative saw signs of renewed activity, with investment and construction picking up and trade with the Global South on the rise. Beyond infrastructure, the initiative evolved, combining megaprojects with growing investment in green energy and industrial ecosystems, while helping China rewire trade flows.

Amid an uncertain geoeconomic landscape, what do efforts to transition the initiative toward a more sustainable and innovation-led approach mean for participating countries?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5tLHRrfnEg

Are Women Missing Out on AI?

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

AI is reshaping markets in ways that fall unevenly on women, from automating roles where they are overrepresented to
concentrating venture capital in male-dominated networks.

As the technology accelerates, what steps are needed to ensure the AI transformation supports a level playing field rather than widening the gap?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydr3UcByBvE

Nature Is Infrastructure

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are not only environmental concerns but also economic ones, affecting agricultural output, water security and supply chain stability. Nature-positive models could unlock significant business value.

How can leaders integrate natural capital into economic strategy and treat ecosystem protection as a foundation of long-term competitiveness?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTw5GUQlrxk

When Cars Became Software

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Vehicles are evolving into software-defined systems built around centralized compute, modular architectures and continuous updates. This shift is decoupling hardware and software lifecycles and redistributing value across OEMs, suppliers and technology players. As control moves from distributed components to integrated software stacks, traditional roles across the automotive value chain are being redefined.

How is the transition to software-defined architectures reshaping industry structure, and who will control the key layers of the automotive stack?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxEeN9XrWmc

The Many Lives of an Athlete

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

The economics of sport are being rewritten from two directions at once. Across Asia, a new generation of fans is consuming sport through entirely different platforms, formats and loyalties, dismantling the broadcast model that built the industry. At the same time, athletes are no longer just performers but platforms: investors, entrepreneurs and brand architects who capture value far beyond the arena.

As sport’s value migrates from the stadium to the screen and the balance sheet, what will the industry look like when the dust settles?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsA4BwCJAK0

Energy Corridors, Reshuffled

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Emerging markets, home to the critical resources underpinning the energy transition, are becoming the centre of global energy growth. From rapid renewable scale-up in India and Brazil to China’s leadership in clean technologies and the GCC’s deep investment capacity, a new model is taking shape.

How are these and other partnerships accelerating power system expansion in emerging markets as global cooperation corridors are redefined?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soLkAegjdCs

A World Out of Balance

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

From energy price swings and growing inflationary pressure to rising debt and interest rates, economic data shifts are sending mixed signals across the developed and developing world.

What picture is the data sharing about the state of the world economy and which numbers are the most important?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmGe2E8zsHU