(Summer Davos) Economic Watch: 2025 Summer Davos spotlights entrepreneurship amid global challenges

This photo taken on June 22, 2025 shows the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin) in Tianjin Municipality, north China. (Xinhua/Li Ran)

BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming 2025 Summer Davos Forum in north China's Tianjin offers a timely opportunity for participants to explore how entrepreneurship can unlock economic growth potential amid global challenges.

Exceptional economic uncertainty, rising tensions, major technological disruptions and the climate emergency are what chief economists refer to as the "exceptional uncertainty" facing the world today, Gim Huay Neo, managing director of the World Economic Forum (WEF), told Xinhua in Beijing ahead of the event, scheduled from June 24 to 26.

According to the WEF, the world is undergoing a fundamental economic transformation as geopolitics, technology, sustainability, and demographic changes reshape traditional growth engines. Meanwhile, complex and shared challenges in development and climate change require urgent cooperation, innovative thinking, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Gong Ke, research lead for the 2025 Summer Davos topics, said that the entrepreneurial spirit, rooted in innovation, social responsibility and teamwork, plays a vital role as a new driving force and leader in economic development.

"Entrepreneurs in the new era contribute to optimizing global resource utilization and promoting resource sharing, providing an important economic foundation for building a community with a shared future for humankind," he added.

The Summer Davos Forum, also known as the 16th Annual Meeting of New Champions of the WEF, carries the theme "Entrepreneurship in the New Era" this year. The forum will focus on five key areas -- deciphering the world economy, outlook on China, industries disrupted, investing in people and the planet, and new energy and materials.

The event is expected to bring together around 1,800 participants from over 90 countries and regions, according to the organizers.

Explaining the choice of theme, Neo said the entrepreneurial spirit is centered on solutions and inspires hope and optimism. She emphasized the importance of focusing on areas with opportunities and potential for innovation to tackle the many challenges ahead, while maintaining a long-term perspective.

At a time like this, it is important for all of us to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit, to view the challenges we face as opportunities, to create business solutions that address issues affecting people and the planet, and to be open to learning from one another in order to constantly improve and adapt, she said.

Neo added that the record number of participants at the forum since the COVID-19 pandemic reflects the global community's strong interest in gaining first-hand insights into China's evolution, artificial intelligence (AI), and the broader innovation ecosystem, as well as exploring potential business opportunities and partnerships.

Li Jiayi, a member of the forum's preparation team, noted that the economic growth model driven by science and technology has injected new vitality into China's development, making AI, green energy, and the country's innovative momentum key topics of discussion among participants.

Hailing China's progress in green growth, Neo said the country has seized the global environmental crisis as an opportunity to transform industries and stimulate the growth of new green industries.

At a press conference last week on the upcoming Summer Davos Forum, Chen Shuai, an official from the National Development and Reform Commission, reaffirmed China's commitment to pursuing high-level opening up and to sharing the opportunities created by its development with the rest of the world.

The Annual Meeting of the New Champions was established in 2007 through a collaboration between the WEF and China. What began as an initiative to spotlight emerging economies and future-oriented businesses has grown into a global platform for economic dialogue.

Now in its 16th edition, the 2025 meeting reinforces the forum's commitment to fostering international cooperation and addressing complex global issues.

"Through action-oriented dialogues, the meeting aims to accelerate progress on shared imperatives and offer participants the opportunity to explore how entrepreneurship and emerging technologies can unlock more dynamic and resilient economies," reads the introduction on the event's official site. ■