Backgrounder: World Economic Forum and WEF annual meeting

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting kicked off on Wednesday in Davos under the theme of "the Power of Collaborative Innovation."

A variety of trends and assumptions will drive the development of the program of this year's annual event. An interdisciplinary and systemic view of the major economic, political, societal and technological forces currently at work form the conceptual pillars of the 2008 program and the framework for the global agenda in Davos.

The program will be based on the following five conceptual pillars in business, economics and finance, geopolitics, science and technology, and values and society:

-- Competing While Collaborating;

-- Addressing Economic Insecurity;

-- Aligning Interests across Divides;

-- Exploring Nature's New Frontiers;

-- Understanding Future Shifts.

Organizers said the focus on collaboration and innovation underscores the opportunity to leverage the Forum's multistakeholder model for like-minded communities to initiate necessary changes together.

For over three decades, the annual gathering has provided an unrivalled platform for leaders from all walks of life to shape the global agenda at the start of each year.

Its multistakeholder model leverages the collective wisdom of the leaders by building a global platform for collaboration and action to address priorities on the global agenda.

With a motto of "entrepreneurship in the global public interest," the WEF is an impartial and not-for-profit organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Participants of the forum include political and business leaders, entrepreneurs and experts in various fields. Members of the forum represent the world's 1,000 leading companies, and partners are select member companies who are actively involved in the organization's activities and contribute their expertise and resources.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the WEF has been recognized as the top international non-governmental economic forum around the world. China first attended the forum in 1979.