Topics: Social Innovation and the 4Ps
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
From Fragmentation to Flow: Re-wiring Philanthropy & Impact Capital for a Multipolar World
Tue 20 Jan 2026 10:00 am - 11:00 am (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
What if the greatest constraint on philanthropic and impact capital is not scarcity of funds, but fragmentation of intelligence and rewiring the system upstream could turn trust from a late-stage outcome into an early operating condition?
Session Partners Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, NO.17 Foundation, Philanova.AI, UBS Optimus
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
From Fragmentation to Flow: Re-wiring Philanthropy & Impact Capital for a Multipolar World
Tue 20 Jan 2026 10:00 am - 11:00 am (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
What if the greatest constraint on philanthropic and impact capital is not scarcity of funds, but fragmentation of intelligence and rewiring the system upstream could turn trust from a late-stage outcome into an early operating condition?
Philanthropic and impact capital has never had more intent, more tools, or more urgency yet it still moves too slowly. The system remains fragmented, opaque, and overly dependent on personal relationships and late-stage trust-building. Trillions may flow annually, but coordination costs stay high, duplication is common, and opportunities for aligned capital stacks are missed when actors can’t “see” each other early enough.
This session convenes a small group of leaders to name the structural bottlenecks upstream where the system breaks down first and to explore what it would take for capital to move with coherence from the outset. The aim is to establish a shared diagnosis across regions, institutions, and capital types, and to introduce a collective response at the operating system level through a prototype walkthrough.
At the heart of the dialogue is a simple shift: trust is too often built too late. If shared intelligence, alignment signals, and risk visibility appeared earlier in the lifecycle, collaboration could become the default unlocking faster co-funding, clearer roles, and more effective systemic portfolios across a multipolar world.
Speakers:
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Beatrice of York
Founder, By-Eq Limited and Trustee & Co-Founder, The Big Change Charitable Trust
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Chavalit Frederick Tsao
Chairman, TPC (Tsao Pao Chee)
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Luis Alvarado
Chief Executive Officer, NO.17 Foundation by TPC (Tsao Pao Chee)
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Tom Hall
Head of Social Impact and Philanthropy, UBS Group AG and CEO, UBS Optimus Foundation Network
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Lili Thomas Buffett
Vice President Investor Relations, Power Sustainable
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Aileen Lee
President, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
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Leslie Johnston
Chief Executive Officer, Laudes Foundation
Please note: As space is limited, registrations are subject to confirmation. We warmly encourage early registration, and we’ll do our best to accommodate everyone.
Register to Join
Session Partners
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Catalyst Now: Social Innovation House
Tue 20 Jan 2026 11:00 am - 4:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
This session comprises panels and discussions that articulate an integrated narrative: in a fragmented and volatile world, lasting impact emerges when economic systems are redesigned to serve human well-being,and trust is rebuilt from the ground up.
Session Partner Catalyst Now
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Catalyst Now: Social Innovation House
Tue 20 Jan 2026 11:00 am - 4:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
The Social Innovation House Day brings together leaders and innovators to explore how collaboration and social innovation can drive a wellbeing economy. The day focuses on moving from intention to implementation, restoring the partnership membrane that allows social innovation and systems change to reach communities and lives. Aligned with Catalyst Now’s mission, the day highlights how cross-sector collaboration can translate bold ideas into practical solutions that strengthen human, social, and planetary wellbeing.
Panel 1: Engineering Tomorrow: Strategies for Nurturing, Upskilling, and Retaining Top Female STEM Talent in the Age of AI
Tue 20 Jan 2026 11:00 am – 12:05 pm
Click to view session details
What if the future of artificial intelligence depends on the leadership of women who have yet to be fully invited into the room?
In collaboration with: Limak Group
Women remain significantly underrepresented in the STEM workforce, creating both an innovation gap and a competitive risk as AI becomes a central driver of economic transformation. Without diverse teams, AI systems risk embedding bias and overlooking the needs of half the world’s population, making gender inclusion an ethical and strategic imperative for the private sector
This session examines end-to-end strategies for nurturing, upskilling, and retaining female talent in AI, from early pipeline development to executive leadership. Through corporate-led models in AI literacy, workforce mobility, and data-driven retention, the discussion highlights scalable approaches for building resilient, ethically responsible AI workforces across markets.
If you believe innovation demands both technical excellence and diverse talent, join this session to explore scalable pathways for building a gender-inclusive AI workforce. Engage with leaders advancing AI literacy, upskilling, and retention strategies, and contribute to shaping a future where the technologies transforming society are engineered by and for everyone.
Panel 2: When Markets Meet Public Health: Community-Led Innovation for Children
Tue 20 Jan 2026 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
Click to view session details
What if the marketplace became one of the most powerful platforms for protecting children’s health?
In collaboration with: Plan International (India)
Improving children’s health outcomes requires more than isolated interventions. It calls for systemic approaches that integrate wellbeing into markets, consumer behavior, and digital ecosystems, allowing social impact to scale alongside economic activity rather than compete with it.
This session explores how market mechanisms and digital innovation can advance child health and hygiene in practical, measurable ways. Drawing on global case studies, the discussion highlights commercially viable models that embed health protection into everyday transactions, demonstrating how aligning business incentives with child wellbeing can drive durable, long-term system change.
If you believe public health and economic activity can reinforce one another, join this session to explore how scalable market solutions can protect children’s wellbeing. Engage with cross-sector leaders shaping systems that deliver lasting health outcomes for the next generation.
Panel 3: Future Lands: Leadership for a True Bioregional Transition
Tue 20 Jan 2026 1:10 pm – 1:50 pm
Click to view session details
What if the future of prosperity depended not on growth without limits, but on leadership that listens to land, culture, and community?
In collaboration with: Future Food Institute
As the limits of extractive growth models become increasingly clear, the transition to a wellbeing economy calls for leadership grounded in place, ecology, and long-term stewardship. Bioregional approaches treat land, food systems, and communities as interconnected living systems, where environmental regeneration, social cohesion, and economic resilience advance together.
This session explores “Future Lands” as bioregional hubs where regenerative land stewardship, sustainable agrifood systems, and human development converge. Drawing on insights from the FAO Global Roadmap and Bioregional Weaving Labs, the discussion highlights practical, place-based pathways for regenerating ecosystems, strengthening communities, enhancing food security, and creating prosperity that serves both people and planet.
If you believe a wellbeing economy must be rooted in place and planetary boundaries, join this session to explore how bioregional leadership can drive systemic change. Connect with practitioners shaping regenerative territories and collaborative pathways toward shared prosperity.
Panel 4: The Future of Organising and Governing Social Innovation for a Fragmented World
Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Click to view session details
How can organisational design and novel cross-sectoral organisational forms help bridge fragmentation and create sustainable value?
How can blending non-profit and for-profit elements support scale and financial resilience?
In collaboration with: INSEAD
As geopolitical fragmentation intensifies and institutional trust erodes, traditional models of coordination and governance are under growing strain. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 highlights how conflict, geoeconomic rivalry, and weakened multilateralism are reshaping the global landscape, challenging organizations’ ability to deliver inclusive and sustainable progress.
Hosted by INSEAD as part of Social Innovation House Day at WEF 2026, this session explores how organizational design, cross-sector collaboration, and adaptive governance can bridge fragmentation, enable scale, and build financial resilience. The discussion also examines the role of informal, trust-based mechanisms, such as networks and relationships, in sustaining impact where formal institutions fall short, positioning social innovation as a core driver of a wellbeing economy.
If you are working to scale social innovation amid geopolitical uncertainty, join this session to explore new models of organizing and governing for impact. Engage with practitioners rethinking collaboration, trust, and resilience in a disrupted global context.
Panel 5: Unleashing the Power of Humans in the Age of AI
Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:55 pm – 4:00 pm
Click to view session details
In collaboration with: Crisis Text Line
The world stands at a pivotal intersection. On one side lies a growing mental health emergency; on the other, a rapidly changing technological era quietly reshaping what it means to be human. What the world needs now are paradigms that shape a digital world that builds community level resilience and is safe and empowering for everyone, everywhere. This requires unlocking the potential and power of both everyday humans and the private sector for sustainable social and economic wellbeing.
Join this panel to discuss the human-centered and technology-enabled mental health and safety solutions led by these inspiring social innovators. The session will kick off with the launch of a new report that shows how the volunteer community has been delivering staggering economic and social value while filling critical service gaps as healthcare systems face acute workforce shortages around the world.
Welcoming Remarks:
Panel 1 Speakers:
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Ebru Özdemir
Chairperson, Limak Holding
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Manar AlMoneef
Chief Investment Officer, NEOM
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Walid Sheta
President, Schneider Electric’s Middle East and Africa (MEA) Zone
Panel 2 Moderator:
Panel 2 Speakers:
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Olga Diakova
Co-Founder, Impact Force
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Sangita Reddy
Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group
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Mohammed Asif
Executive Director, PLAN International India Chapter
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Komal Goswami
Chief Of Party, PLAN International India Chapter
Panel 3 Speakers:
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David Laborde
Director of the Agrifood Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
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Merijn Dols
European Portfolio Weaver, Bioregional Weaving Labs
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Breaking the Plastic Deadlock
Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)
What if the real barrier to replacing plastics is not innovation, but our inability to collectively price risk, align demand, and finance scale—and the deadlock persists until industry chooses coordination over caution?
Session Partner: Velamar
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Breaking the Plastic Deadlock
Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)
What if the real barrier to replacing plastics is not innovation, but our inability to collectively price risk, align demand, and finance scale—and the deadlock persists until industry chooses coordination over caution?
A private (by invitation only) dialogue session hosted by Velamar.
The global effort to move beyond plastics is at an impasse. Despite clear environmental urgency, widespread corporate commitments, and growing public pressure, progress toward scalable alternatives remains uneven and slow. The problem is not a lack of intent, technology, or pilot activity. It is that the underlying system economics, supply chains, risk allocation, and capital markets has not yet been rewired to support change at scale.
Breaking the Plastic Deadlock focuses squarely on this structural challenge. The session examines why viable alternatives to plastics continue to struggle to move from proof-of-concept to mainstream adoption, even among companies with the strongest incentives and resources to act. Participants will interrogate where value chains break down: cost curves that fail to converge, fragmented supply and offtake, regulatory uncertainty, and risks that are difficult to price, insure, or absorb on individual balance sheets.
Convened by Velamar, the session aims to surface the hard truths behind stalled progress and identify credible pathways through which industry, capital, and finance can jointly unlock scale, turning plastic reduction from ambition into execution.
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Impact through Entrepreneurship – Scaling Models that Align Purpose, People, Planet, and Capital
Tue 20 Jan 2026 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Inspiration Room)
What if the most scalable solutions to inequality and climate risk are not grants, but entrepreneurs—backed by patient capital that values people, planet, and profit as one system?
Session Partner: elea
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Impact through Entrepreneurship – Scaling Models that Align Purpose, People, Planet, and Capital
Tue 20 Jan 2026 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Inspiration Room)
What if the most scalable solutions to inequality and climate risk are not grants, but entrepreneurs—backed by patient capital that values people, planet, and profit as one system?
Philanthropic impact investing is entering a decisive era—one where entrepreneurship, not charity alone, is proving capable of reshaping systems at scale. Hosted by elea, this session explores how entrepreneurially led ventures are aligning purpose, people, planet, and capital to deliver durable impact across the Global South.
Drawing on two decades of experience, elea brings forward portfolio entrepreneurs who demonstrate how integrating people into global value chains—as producers, distributors, and customers—creates both inclusive economic participation and resilient business models. These ventures show that social and environmental outcomes are not trade-offs, but multipliers of long-term value and financial sustainability.
The conversation moves beyond inspiration into practice, examining how patient, catalytic capital can unlock follow-on investment, strengthen local investment climates, and enable impact ventures to scale responsibly. By grounding insights in real-world journeys—from early risk-taking to market traction—the session offers a clear view into what it truly takes to practice philanthropic impact investing that lasts.
Please note: As space is limited, registrations are subject to confirmation. We warmly encourage early registration, and we’ll do our best to accommodate everyone.
Register to Join
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Transforming Africa’s Investment Infrastructure in a Rewired Global Financial System
Tue 20 Jan 2026 7:30 am - 8:30 am (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 2)
Join us for the launch of New Wind Ventures, the first infrastructure that turns fragmented African data into precision and decision-ready insights. Asset owners gain privileged access to Africa’s most selective investment opportunities.
Session Partners: Africa House, New Wind Ventures
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Transforming Africa’s Investment Infrastructure in a Rewired Global Financial System
Tue 20 Jan 2026 7:30 am - 8:30 am (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 2)
Join us for the launch of New Wind Ventures, the first infrastructure that turns fragmented African data into precision and decision-ready insights. Asset owners gain privileged access to Africa’s most selective investment opportunities.
This private breakfast convenes individuals, family offices, sovereign investors and high-level African decision-makers.
The session will focus on the transformation of Africa’s investment infrastructure in a digital first reality, defined by clarity, speed and performance. It will also present the practical tools New Wind Ventures has built to make this operational for you.
Session Partners
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Fixing the SDG Financing Gap – Addressing Market Failure
Tue 20 Jan 2026 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
Session Partners: UBS Optimus, Global Citizen, TPC (Tsao Pao Chee)
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Fixing the SDG Financing Gap – Addressing Market Failure
Tue 20 Jan 2026 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
A private (by invitation only) dialogue session hosted by UBS Optimus Foundation, Global Citizen and TPC (Tsao Pao Chee).
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Catalyst Now: Social Innovation House
Tue 20 Jan 2026 11:00 am - 4:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
This session comprises panels and discussions that articulate an integrated narrative: in a fragmented and volatile world, lasting impact emerges when economic systems are redesigned to serve human well-being,and trust is rebuilt from the ground up.
Session Partner: Catalyst Now
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Catalyst Now: Social Innovation House
Tue 20 Jan 2026 11:00 am - 4:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)
The Social Innovation House Day brings together leaders and innovators to explore how collaboration and social innovation can drive a wellbeing economy. The day focuses on moving from intention to implementation, restoring the partnership membrane that allows social innovation and systems change to reach communities and lives. Aligned with Catalyst Now’s mission, the day highlights how cross-sector collaboration can translate bold ideas into practical solutions that strengthen human, social, and planetary wellbeing.
Panel 1: Engineering Tomorrow: Strategies for Nurturing, Upskilling, and Retaining Top Female STEM Talent in the Age of AI
Tue 20 Jan 2026 11:00 am – 12:05 pm
Click to view session details
What if the future of artificial intelligence depends on the leadership of women who have yet to be fully invited into the room?
In collaboration with: Limak Group
Women remain significantly underrepresented in the STEM workforce, creating both an innovation gap and a competitive risk as AI becomes a central driver of economic transformation. Without diverse teams, AI systems risk embedding bias and overlooking the needs of half the world’s population, making gender inclusion an ethical and strategic imperative for the private sector
This session examines end-to-end strategies for nurturing, upskilling, and retaining female talent in AI, from early pipeline development to executive leadership. Through corporate-led models in AI literacy, workforce mobility, and data-driven retention, the discussion highlights scalable approaches for building resilient, ethically responsible AI workforces across markets.
If you believe innovation demands both technical excellence and diverse talent, join this session to explore scalable pathways for building a gender-inclusive AI workforce. Engage with leaders advancing AI literacy, upskilling, and retention strategies, and contribute to shaping a future where the technologies transforming society are engineered by and for everyone.
Panel 2: When Markets Meet Public Health: Community-Led Innovation for Children
Tue 20 Jan 2026 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
Click to view session details
What if the marketplace became one of the most powerful platforms for protecting children’s health?
In collaboration with: Plan International (India)
Improving children’s health outcomes requires more than isolated interventions. It calls for systemic approaches that integrate wellbeing into markets, consumer behavior, and digital ecosystems, allowing social impact to scale alongside economic activity rather than compete with it.
This session explores how market mechanisms and digital innovation can advance child health and hygiene in practical, measurable ways. Drawing on global case studies, the discussion highlights commercially viable models that embed health protection into everyday transactions, demonstrating how aligning business incentives with child wellbeing can drive durable, long-term system change.
If you believe public health and economic activity can reinforce one another, join this session to explore how scalable market solutions can protect children’s wellbeing. Engage with cross-sector leaders shaping systems that deliver lasting health outcomes for the next generation.
Panel 3: Future Lands: Leadership for a True Bioregional Transition
Tue 20 Jan 2026 1:10 pm – 1:50 pm
Click to view session details
What if the future of prosperity depended not on growth without limits, but on leadership that listens to land, culture, and community?
In collaboration with: Future Food Institute
As the limits of extractive growth models become increasingly clear, the transition to a wellbeing economy calls for leadership grounded in place, ecology, and long-term stewardship. Bioregional approaches treat land, food systems, and communities as interconnected living systems, where environmental regeneration, social cohesion, and economic resilience advance together.
This session explores “Future Lands” as bioregional hubs where regenerative land stewardship, sustainable agrifood systems, and human development converge. Drawing on insights from the FAO Global Roadmap and Bioregional Weaving Labs, the discussion highlights practical, place-based pathways for regenerating ecosystems, strengthening communities, enhancing food security, and creating prosperity that serves both people and planet.
If you believe a wellbeing economy must be rooted in place and planetary boundaries, join this session to explore how bioregional leadership can drive systemic change. Connect with practitioners shaping regenerative territories and collaborative pathways toward shared prosperity.
Panel 4: The Future of Organising and Governing Social Innovation for a Fragmented World
Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Click to view session details
How can organisational design and novel cross-sectoral organisational forms help bridge fragmentation and create sustainable value?
How can blending non-profit and for-profit elements support scale and financial resilience?
In collaboration with: INSEAD
As geopolitical fragmentation intensifies and institutional trust erodes, traditional models of coordination and governance are under growing strain. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 highlights how conflict, geoeconomic rivalry, and weakened multilateralism are reshaping the global landscape, challenging organizations’ ability to deliver inclusive and sustainable progress.
Hosted by INSEAD as part of Social Innovation House Day at WEF 2026, this session explores how organizational design, cross-sector collaboration, and adaptive governance can bridge fragmentation, enable scale, and build financial resilience. The discussion also examines the role of informal, trust-based mechanisms, such as networks and relationships, in sustaining impact where formal institutions fall short, positioning social innovation as a core driver of a wellbeing economy.
If you are working to scale social innovation amid geopolitical uncertainty, join this session to explore new models of organizing and governing for impact. Engage with practitioners rethinking collaboration, trust, and resilience in a disrupted global context.
Panel 5: Unleashing the Power of Humans in the Age of AI
Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:55 pm – 4:00 pm
Click to view session details
In collaboration with: Crisis Text Line
The world stands at a pivotal intersection. On one side lies a growing mental health emergency; on the other, a rapidly changing technological era quietly reshaping what it means to be human. What the world needs now are paradigms that shape a digital world that builds community level resilience and is safe and empowering for everyone, everywhere. This requires unlocking the potential and power of both everyday humans and the private sector for sustainable social and economic wellbeing.
Join this panel to discuss the human-centered and technology-enabled mental health and safety solutions led by these inspiring social innovators. The session will kick off with the launch of a new report that shows how the volunteer community has been delivering staggering economic and social value while filling critical service gaps as healthcare systems face acute workforce shortages around the world.
Welcoming Remarks:
Panel 1 Speakers:
-
Ebru Özdemir
Chairperson, Limak Holding
-
Manar AlMoneef
Chief Investment Officer, NEOM
-
Walid Sheta
President, Schneider Electric’s Middle East and Africa (MEA) Zone
Panel 2 Moderator:
Panel 2 Speakers:
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Olga Diakova
Co-Founder, Impact Force
-
Sangita Reddy
Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group
-
Mohammed Asif
Executive Director, PLAN International India Chapter
-
Komal Goswami
Chief Of Party, PLAN International India Chapter
Panel 3 Speakers:
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David Laborde
Director of the Agrifood Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
-
Merijn Dols
European Portfolio Weaver, Bioregional Weaving Labs
Please note: As space is limited, registrations are subject to confirmation. We warmly encourage early registration, and we’ll do our best to accommodate everyone.
Register to Join
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Mapping, Matching and Money: How Philanthropy Can Advance People-Centered Supply Chains
Tue 20 Jan 2026 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)
What if the biggest risk to net-zero supply chains is not ambition—but underinvestment in the people and SMEs expected to deliver it?
Session Partner: Ares Charitable Foundation
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Mapping, Matching and Money: How Philanthropy Can Advance People-Centered Supply Chains
Tue 20 Jan 2026 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)
What if the biggest risk to net-zero supply chains is not ambition—but underinvestment in the people and SMEs expected to deliver it?
Climate change risk has prompted companies of all sizes to set sustainability targets. Large corporates increasingly look to their small- and medium-sized enterprise (“SME”) suppliers to help them reduce Scope 3 emissions and achieve net zero goals. Concurrently, SMEs recognize that demonstrating best-in-class sustainability practices can help open doors to new contracts and grow their business. However, gaps in SME workers’ skills and access to the funding needed to fill those voids often preclude their ability to meet the sustainability requirements imposed on them. If left ignored, this blind spot can lead to canceled supplier contracts that disrupt global supply chains and put people out of jobs, both of which counter economic well-being. When this happens, companies, workers and consumers find themselves between a proverbial rock and a hard place, having to choose between progress, people and planet. “Mapping, Matching and Money” – a soon-to-be launched initiative of the Ares Charitable Foundation in partnership with World Resources Institute, Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work and Pagitsas Advisors– seeks to solve for these challenges by uniting corporates and SMEs to future-proof workers with in-demand skills. Doing so will help these companies reduce margin pressure and invest in the people who comprise their supply chains to ward against potential disruptions, boost bottom lines and achieve sustainability targets. Join us for a luncheon and panel discussions that will bring senior leaders from the private, public and philanthropic sectors together for an action-oriented conversation on evidence-based research and practical, investable solutions to address these concerns.
Speakers:
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Chike Aguh
Former Chief Innovation Officer, U.S. Dept. of Labor
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Chrissa Pagitsas
Chief Executive Officer, Pagitsas Advisors
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Eliot Metzger
Director, Sustainable Business and Innovation, World Resources Institute
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Michelle N. Armstrong
Managing Director, Ares Management President, Ares Charitable Foundation
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María Mendiluce
Chief Executive Officer, We Mean Business Coalition
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Francois-Ghislain Morillion
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Sourcing Director, Veja
Please note: As space is limited, registrations are subject to confirmation. We warmly encourage early registration, and we’ll do our best to accommodate everyone.
Register to Join
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Debate: Well-being is elitist
Tue 20 Jan 2026 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Inspiration Room)
Has well-being been wrongly dismissed as elitist—or does it threaten systems built on extraction, inequality, and GDP as a proxy for human progress?
Curated by DEBATABLE.
Session Partner: Kite Insights
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Debate: Well-being is elitist
Tue 20 Jan 2026 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Inspiration Room)
Has well-being been wrongly dismissed as elitist—or does it threaten systems built on extraction, inequality, and GDP as a proxy for human progress?
Curated by DEBATABLE.
The term “well-being” describes a journey inward toward coherence between self, society, and nature. Yet well-being is often criticised as elitist, associated with luxury and superfluous trends rather than a systemic necessity and a return to our most essential human nature. Framed through a materialist lens, well-being can seem out of touch with working lives as income disparity, war, and climate change heighten the challenge of meeting basic needs. But is well-being inherently elitist, or has consumer culture—and a deeper crisis of coherence—simply made it so? Is an economy that is driven by a true measure of enhanced well-being over the brute proxy for life satisfaction that is GDP an elitist concept or a symbol of true progress for all? Evidence from the Blue Zones—regions where people live longer, healthier lives—suggests that social cohesion, low stress, and a sense of purpose matter more for well-being than income or access to healthcare alone. As the world gets hotter, and resources become scarcer, can placing well-being at the centre of economic and societal design expand access to human flourishing across all social strata? Or, are established reactive systems too focused on material gain to nurture the social cohesion and foundations that well-being requires?
Debaters:
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Leah Seligmann
Chief Change Catalyst and CEO, The B Team
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Sandrine Dixson-Declève
Commissioner, World Health Organization (WHO)
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Hareesh Nair
Chief Investment Officer, TPC (Tsao Pao Chee)
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Sam Warach
Founder, NextStep Health and Angel Investor
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Andrew Mitchell
Founder and CEO, Equilibrium Futures and Founder and Senior Advisor, Global Canopy Programme
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Ralph Chami
Co-Founder and CEO, Blue Green Future, Planetary Guardian and Co-Founder, Rebalance Earth
Jury members:
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Jemilah Mahmood
Professor and Executive Director, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health
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Carlos A. Nobre
Earth System Scientist and Planetary Guardian
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Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Editor, World Happiness Report and Professor of Economics and Director, Wellbeing Research Centre, University of Oxford
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Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim
President, Association for Fulani Women and Indigenous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT)
Please note: As space is limited, registrations are subject to confirmation. We warmly encourage early registration, and we’ll do our best to accommodate everyone.
Register to Join
Session Partner
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Quantum Morning: The Quantum Investment Imperative
Tue 20 Jan 2026 9:00 am - 10:00 am (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)
A private (by invitation only) dialogue session hosted by QAI Ventures.
Session Partner: QAI Ventures
This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme
Quantum Morning: The Quantum Investment Imperative
Tue 20 Jan 2026 9:00 am - 10:00 am (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)
A private (by invitation only) dialogue session hosted by QAI Ventures.
