Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 

The Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report is widely recognized as the world’s leading cross-country comparison of factors affecting economic competitiveness and growth. First released in 1979, the report provides the most comprehensive assessment of competitiveness of over 140 developed and emerging economies and provides businesses with a unique benchmark. 

The Global Enabling Trade Report 

Published on a biennial basis, The Global Enabling Trade Report assesses the quality of institutions, policies and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to their destinations. At the core of the report, the Enabling Trade Index benchmarks the performance of over 130 economies in four critical areas: market access, border administration, transport and communications infrastructure, and regulatory and business environment. As a widely used reference, the report helps economies integrate global value chains and companies with their investment decisions. It informs policy dialogue and provides a unique tool to monitor progress on various aspects of the global trade agenda. 

Europe 2020 Competitiveness Report 

On a biennial basis, the Europe 2020 Competitiveness Report assesses Europe’s performance against its 2020 strategy to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It does this by bringing in the perspective of the business community on the relative progress of European countries in meeting the goals. The system complements Europe’s own monitoring activities of the 2020 agenda via the European Semester, an annual cycle of EU economic surveillance, launched in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis to align coordination of fiscal, economic and structural policy. 

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, produced in partnership with our Industry and Data Partners, is a unique analysis of the drivers of T&T around the world. Assessing 140 economies, the report is an important benchmarking tool for making decisions concerning business and industry development, as well as informing policy-makers about obstacles to T&T competitiveness. The aim is to enable dialogue between private and public sectors, with a view to creating an environment that fosters T&T development at a national level.

Global Risks Report (GRR) 

The annual Global Risks Report analyses global risks over a 10-year time span in terms of their perceived impact, likelihood and interconnections. These risks are divided into five categories: economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological. Drawing on a survey conducted among the Forum’s multistakeholder communities, the report connects the dots between different risks to form three key narrative “risks in focus”.

The European Potential for Open Innovation Networks 

The Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report highlights innovation as a key factor in sustainable economic growth and job creation. This project brings together entrepreneurs, businesses, researchers and policy-makers to develop the process of “open” innovation, which makes use of new digital capabilities and connectivity to spread ideas and boost Europe’s economy. 

This initiative aims to improve open innovation as part of the Forum’s Europe Regional Programme. The project will be delivered in three phases: 

• Identifying and bringing together relevant value chains and stakeholders across Europe 
• Finding new ways to innovate and anticipating the impact of new innovations 
• Creating the supporting conditions – information networks, discussion platforms, useful products – for open innovation to get off the ground 

Global Strategic Infrastructure Initiative 

African Strategic Infrastructure Initiative – Without adequate infrastructure endowment, Africa risks sacrificing approximately 2% of GDP growth a year. To ensure its competitiveness, the continent must make the development of infrastructure one of its top political priorities. This Forum initiative is jointly coordinated by the African Development Bank, with the support and guidance of the Africa Union Commission and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency 

The aim is to define a process of accelerating the implementation of sustainable infrastructure, in two phases: 

• Developing a way to identify projects and programmes with high potential for immediate acceleration by the private sector (Phase 1, presented at the World Economic Forum on Africa, Cape Town, May 2013) 
• Applying best practices and models drawn up in concept papers that were based on discussions in Cape Town (Phase 2)

Strategic Infrastructure – Although infrastructure development is a key driver of social prosperity and competitiveness, it cannot effect real growth unless it is fully aligned with the country’s economic goals. This initiative aims to help governments prioritize investments and deliver the most effective infrastructure. The main objective of this project is to develop tools, frameworks and policies to inspire action at national, regional and global levels. It has three distinct but interrelated goals: 

• To develop strategic infrastructure 
• Implement innovative financing 
• Carry out regional portfolio studies, such as in Africa or Asia 

Global Financing of Infrastructure – Despite the attractiveness of infrastructure as an asset class and the reduced role of traditional financing, it is challenging for investors to find infrastructure projects that are globally competitive on a risk-adjusted return basis. This initiative has, to date, focused on developing a blueprint resource for policy-makers that helps them attract infrastructure funding in an era when investors compare investment opportunities globally. The objectives are to catalyse dialogue amongst governments, investors and other stakeholders on the evolving role of private finance in public infrastructure and develop concrete mechanisms for enhanced collaboration. 

Enabling Trade 

Trade can bring economic and social benefits; cooperation is needed between government and business to facilitate it. The Enabling Trade initiative provides frequent opportunities for dialogue, supported by in-depth research and analysis. 

Specific objectives of the project include: 

• Helping businesses source, trade and distribute their products. 
• Supporting multilateral and plurilateral negotiations. 
• Creating new insight into global, regional and sectoral trade priorities.

Harnessing Entrepreneurial Disruption 

New technologies and business models that disrupt big markets are invented all the time, and entrepreneurs play an important role in developing them. This initiative will examine entrepreneurial disruption in this context and argue that, as a society, entrepreneurs are important not only for the employment they create, but for the technologies and progress they drive. 

This initiative aims to broaden our understanding of entrepreneurs and highlight their vital role in thriving economies and social progress. The objectives for this initiative include: 

• Producing insights into how disruptive entrepreneurs create and transform industries 
• Providing a platform for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to explore various means by which they create value to society 
• Furthering government understanding of disruptive entrepreneurs and developing policy tools that address barriers to their growth 

Emerging Best Practices of Chinese Globalizers 

Since China’s reform and liberalization, many Chinese companies have explored and participated in the globalization process. In doing so, they have experienced considerable success and learned valuable lessons. However, given the global competition, Chinese companies have yet to build a truly effective operating model. This initiative will look at ways they can go about it, synthesizing and distilling best practices in four areas: culture, management architecture, global processes and systems, and people capabilities. 

The objectives for this initiative include: 

• To produce insights into how Chinese companies can go global 
• Provide an impartial platform for governments, businesses and other stakeholders to share emerging best practices 
• Advocate best practices for the further development of Chinese globalizers

New Vision for Education

Technological innovations continue to disrupt the status quo in every aspect of society, redefining skills and changing the face of education. The New Vision for Education project explores what the future of K-12 education may look like to inspire students’ life-long passion for learning, lay a solid foundation for their future career success, and deliver sustainable talent resources to meet society’s long-term needs. The project will focus on examining the following four pillars: 

• Designing Education – Content and Curriculum 
• Delivering Education – Distribution and Access 
• Measuring Education – Performance Metrics, Data Management and Analysis 
• Funding Education – Sustainable Models 

Collaborative Innovation: Future of Biorefineries and Energy Harnessing 

Following a recent Energy Harnessing white paper, which tackled the issues of energy storage and helping regions maximize their sources of alternative energies, this project looks at promoting collaboration in the areas of biorefineries, shale gas and alternative energies. 

This is an umbrella initiative, currently in two parts. Future of Biorefineries aims to develop insights into the sustainable use of biotechnology and biomass as part of a wider plan for global transformation, while Energy Harnessing looks at the global energy landscape with all relevant stakeholders. Specific objectives include: 

• Using insights from the Energy Harnessing white paper to find solutions to energy storage, alternative energy sources and smart materials for enabling industry 
• Developing strategies specific to individual regions and creating a map of local natural-energy advantages 
• Pushing the following task forces, among others: Emerging Technologies, Energy Storage and The Future of Electricity