Davos 2025: Keywords for Your Business Playbook

By Zdenka Cumano - Tech Entrepreneur, University Instructor, & AI Explorer (1,000+ AI Tools Tested & Counting)

Every Leader Needs to Know Before Everyone Else Does. Davos 2025 is in full swing, and this year’s theme, “Collaboration in the Intelligent Age,” has sparked some seriously interesting discussions and revealed a whole new lexicon. Here’s a sneak peek at the keywords you need to know:

AI Agents or Agentic AI: Forget simple algorithms. We’re talking about autonomous systems that can learn and act. OpenAI is even launching an AI agent called ‘Operator’ this month! Get ready for AI to transform industries, enhance efficiency, and tackle complex challenges.

Cyber Resilience: Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly common. It's about minimizing the impact of cyber incidents on organizational goals.

Digital Trust and Digital Sovereignty: These concepts are two sides of the same coin. Digital trust is about protecting stakeholder interests with technology, while digital sovereignty is about a country controlling its digital destiny through regulation and fostering innovation.

Frontier Technologies: This umbrella term covers everything from AI and 5G to robotics and green hydrogen. By 2030, this market could be worth over $9.5 trillion.

The Intelligent Age: Rapid advancements in AI, quantum computing, and blockchain have shaped a new era. This age requires us to develop both technological intelligence and environmental, social, and geopolitical intelligence.

Quantum Technology: Quantum computing is changing how data is processed and is on track to be worth ￡2 trillion by 2035.

'Bi-globalization': The world is moving away from post-Cold War economic globalization to a new geo-economic bipolarity led by the US and China.

BRICS: This bloc of developing economies now includes Indonesia. The bloc accounts for around half of the world’s population, and prior to Indonesia's inclusion, it represented 35% of global GDP (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, UAE, and Indonesia).

Global Debt: Public debt threatens macroeconomic stability in advanced and developing economies. Many countries spend more on debt interest than on education or health.

AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance): Microbes are evolving, making drugs like antibiotics less effective.

Gender Parity: At the current rate, it will take 134 years to reach full gender parity. (that’s a future research just in its self!)

Gig Economy: The gig economy is rapidly growing but raises questions about worker protection.

Super-Ageing Societies: Some countries are experiencing rapidly aging populations, creating economic and labor market challenges.

Talent Scarcity: There is a shortage of skilled workers, particularly in the tech industry.

Women's Health Gap: Closing the women's health gap could boost the global economy by $1 trillion by 2040.

Advanced Nuclear Technologies: These technologies, from fusion to small modular reactors, are seen as key to the energy transition.

Critical Minerals: Minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel are essential for green technologies.

'Hard-to-Abate' Sectors: Industries where it's difficult to reduce emissions, like shipping and aviation.

Nature-Positive: There is a global push to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, which is crucial for economies dependent on nature.

NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions): Countries are updating their pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Net Zero: Countries are committed to reaching net zero by 2050.

Positive Tipping Points: Shifts in societies and economies that can propel decarbonization.

As we stand at the precipice of the Intelligent Age, the most powerful strategy is to stay current with technological advances and transform them into actionable intelligence. Klaus Schwab, the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum's Board of Trustees, captured this perfectly: This transformation must "go well beyond technological advances to enhance human potential."

Your competitive edge will not come from consuming technology but from producing intelligence that reshapes industries. The leaders who will thrive aren't those who simply adopt AI but those who architect new possibilities through collaborative innovation.

Consider this your invitation: Don't just watch the Intelligent Age unfold. Build it. In the words of Sam Altman, we're not just witnessing change; we're creating it. This year, the first AI agents will join the workforce. Will you be a spectator or a pioneer? The choice is yours. AI leadership is your competitive advantage. Are you ready to rewrite the rules?

Behind the Curtain

In true AI-EI synergy, I used generative AI to help research and structure this article. But every insight, every challenge to conventional wisdom, and every strategic implication comes from years of brainstorming with these concepts in the real world. EI-driven AI leadership is all about using the best tools available while always keeping sight of the human element that makes leadership an art as much as a science.

References:

1. 'Buzzwords and phrases you might hear at Davos 2025” - World Economic Forum (January 15, 2025)