Day 2 Highlights of the 2021 World Economic Forum Davos Agenda

We’re recapping the key themes from the World Economic Forum annual meeting this week, with a focus on how it is attempting to advance sustainability, equity, and purpose in capitalism.

Missed the highlights from Day 1? You can find them here.

Below are the highlights from Day 2:

1. The need for a ‘great new contract’ in health and healthcare (TL;DR: It’s no surprise that COVID was at the center of the conversation this year, but what is interesting is the emphasis on corporate involvement in solving a public health problem – and using this to springboard other important but forgotten healthcare priorities, like cancer.)

2. Healthcare is finally going digital, and the most innovative solutions are from the places you might not expect (TL;DR: We’ve known for a long time that we could improve health and lower costs with telehealth, but now we’re actually putting some action behind it. There is a massive consumer shift underway with exciting new mobile apps being developed in countries around the world.)

3. Digital learning can help us close the global education gap (TL;DR: COVID is negatively impacting the education of over 800 million children, and this will have long-term implications. Though many schools have adapted to remote learning, there are 1.3 Billion children don’t have access to internet at home. The online education market valuation will be more than $350 billion by 2025, and the engine of this growth is private sector innovation.)

4. Democracy is at risk because we have not addressed inequalities and systemic racism (TL;DR: Past failures to address income and racial inequalities spurred social movements and protests across the political spectrum. Hard work is needed to fix the evils of our past, and now is the time to do it. We need to rebuild our systems with equity at their core to revitalize our democracy. This video is great, and CEOs need to do more.)

5. Art is amazing, and has the power to inspire social change and better leadership (TL;DR: Art can help develop better leaders. According to Wanuri Kahiu, “If ever there was a need to deepen an understanding of artistic leadership, it is now, in the face of global fear, uncertainty and isolation.”

6. If we want to save the planet, we need to measure what matters (TL;DR: What gets measured, gets managed. The Climate Crisis is worsening and CEOs of some of the world’s biggest companies have endorsed an initiative to support sustainable capitalism metrics. Companies like IKEA are leading the charge for better metrics and circularity.

A theme across today was the “need for speed“, and the focus on big issues combined with a sense of urgency has me hopeful that real actions will be taken in a coordinated way. Together, we can change the world.