About — unDavos Summit

Dates: January 19–23, 2026
Location: Davos, Switzerland
Venue: Mountain Plaza Hotel

Our commitments

Democratizing, Humanizing & Activating Davos

To transform Davos into an open and accessible space where diverse voices connect, meaningful relationships flourish, and bold actions drive real-world impact on global challenges. We foster connections, amplify diverse perspectives, and drive actionable solutions—inside Davos and beyond. By collaborating with partners across sectors, unDavos curates inclusive conversations and facilitates impactful exchanges. Built on the belief that addressing challenges requires broad participation from leaders, innovators, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and change-makers—not one defined solely by connections, money, and privilege.

Democratizing Davos

unDavos makes the Davos experience accessible by sharing valuable knowledge and providing practical support to help attendees navigate the event and engage meaningfully. Through open resources, shared accommodations, and helpful insights on where to go and what to do, unDavos breaks down barriers that often limit participation to those with exclusive access. This pillar represents the unDavos commitment to expanding the conversation beyond a select few, empowering a broader audience to engage with critical global issues in ways that are typically exclusive to traditional Davos gatherings. This growing accessibility lays the foundation for an inclusive space where impactful change can begin.

Humanizing Davos

unDavos seeks to humanize the Davos experience by encouraging honest, relationship-driven interactions over transactional networking. This approach creates a community atmosphere where participants are encouraged to openly share ideas, challenges, and opportunities, prioritizing relationships that extend beyond Davos Week. By supporting connections that span industries and regions, unDavos provides a platform where attendees can support each other’s growth while addressing global and sector-specific challenges. Whether through small business partnerships or large-scale social initiatives, unDavos embraces a balanced approach to change, blending world-changing ambitions with actionable, sector-specific support.

Bring Action to Davos

unDavos is committed to turning conversations into actions. This means that discussions aren’t left as theoretical but are instead focused on creating tangible outcomes and collaborative initiatives that continue well beyond the event itself. The goal is to ensure that every session, connection, and exchange leads to real-world impact, whether through industry advancements, new partnerships, or long-term projects. With unDavos, participants aren’t just attendees—they are agents of change who leave equipped with strategies and networks to drive meaningful, lasting results. By focusing on follow-through and ongoing collaboration, unDavos supports a unique, action-oriented Davos experience that empowers attendees to shape the future long after Davos Week has ended.

Why attend

Connect, inspire, and drive forward-thinking initiatives

World Economic Forum Attendees

Beyond the badge

Break from WEF’s formality to engage in open, action-focused discussions on emerging tech and innovation.

Investors & Venture Capitalists

See it first

Access early-stage technologies in sustainability, digital transformation, and health, connecting with the next market disruptors.

Corporate Leaders & Executives

Put it to work

Learn how emerging tech like AI and biotech can boost sustainability, efficiency, and competitiveness in your organization.

Entrepreneurs & Startups

Find your backers

Discover innovations, funding opportunities, and strategies for scaling your venture amid global challenges.

Sustainability Advocates

From pledge to project

Explore practical solutions in climate tech and renewable energy for sustainability and carbon reduction.

Policymakers & Regulators

Write the rules

Join discussions on policies and ethical frameworks for AI, digital assets, and climate tech to drive responsible innovation.

Scientists & Researchers

Cross the disciplines

Collaborate on biotech, AI, and space tech advancements, gaining interdisciplinary insights for future breakthroughs.

Tech Innovators & Developers

Build what’s next

Dive into advancements in AI, quantum computing, and materials science shaping the future of industries.

Social Impact & Nonprofit Leaders

Scale your mission

Discover tech and ideas to advance your mission, from climate solutions to AI for social good.

Health & Wellness Professionals

Medicine, personalized

Stay current with innovations in personalized medicine and wellness to enhance healthcare outcomes globally.

How we got here

From a secret to a summit

2011
Secret Davos
It is hard to imagine, but in 2011 there were only around 20 side events, excluding the classic private chalet dinners. The WEF strictly controlled access to the Congress Center, but the town itself was completely open to the public. With only a couple of Promenade pop-up venues, the real action took place in the security zone hotels. The trick was working out how to get an invitation… to get in. Moreover the second hard part was finding a place to stay. The town of Davos was totally empty in these days, with locals leaving as the town was gifted to the WEF. The hotels were blocked booked too. Secret number 2? How to find and then share an apartment. A place to stay, and something to do…. Even if this knowledge was secret to just a few people, it was nice to share with friends who really should come, next year…
2013
Becoming unDavos
The first communities who ‘hacked Davos’, outside of the bankers and consulting firms (who were first), were WEF members, specifically people in the Young Global Leader and Technology Pioneer programs. The YGLs at the time were told to be ‘big, bold, and brave’ and this extended to joining WEF on the fringes. First a Facebook was created to coordinate activity, then a WhatsApp group. “WEF YGL, Tech Pionneers & Friends” quickly broke WhatsApp, and a network contact got the Chief Engineer, just before the Facebook takeover, to increase our group size. The group then gained an identity, as Yobie Benjamin, a WEF Tech Pioneer, suggested “unDavos”. What did it mean? The debate was unconferencing Davos (with openness and freedom to put on all kinds of events) or underground Davos (the rebel alliance!). In the end, it did not matter. The name unDavos stuck, and, despite various urgings to change the name, it stays!
2018
Unconferencing Davos
The first unDavos Summit was held in Hotel Europe, with 15 panels and workshops on diverse topics such as the future of cybersecurity, warfare, cities, and next-generation wealth. It was setup in just one week, thanks to the work of enthusiastic volunteers. The summit was designed as an unconference, in keeping with the unDavos spirit. The space itself was gifted to the community by a corporate who had rented the hotel for night time parties, leaving the day completely empty! The event also hosted a parallel event with the WEF Global Shapers called ‘Shape the World’, giving an opportunity for Shapers to share their projects and make global connections.
2019
Innovating Davos
Summit #2 was held in the Rätia Center on the Promenade in a huge vacant space in a shopping center. unDavos community members proposed sessions, and we experimented with all kinds of interactive formats. Some sessions were classic panels, with film crews recording events for posterity. Others were roundtable dialogues, or group sharing (including a fascinating session on ‘the future of relationships;). Highlights included the creator of Amazon Alexa talking about (the absence of) AI ethics, as well as a teen doing a talk on the future of work, from a teen’s perspective.
2023
AI-powered Davos
It started with a tiny idea two months before WEF, a new way of connecting investors, startups and scale-ups for WEF-style “shuttle bus networking”. This rapidly grew into a 25-panel conference, with events taking place across multiple venues and days. The goal was to provide a platform for more voices to be heard, and for micro-communities to form around a wide variety of topics. Passionate about oceans? Or you prefer climate tech? Diversity is one of the benefits of democratizing Davos! We also worked in partnership to put together events, using decentralization of ownership to select, then coordinate over 100 speakers, whilst bringing together an audience of over 500 participants. Big claim to fame? This was the first conference in Davos designed and run with Generative AI, as we used ChatGPT to develop all the content for our event. Groundbreaking in Jan 2023!
2024
New Davos
With over 40 sessions, the unDavos Summit became one of the top 4 conferences in Davos - the WEF being the biggest (of course!). We introduced mini-conferences, half-day programs with more space and time to build action-oriented communities on health, climate, space, and other topics. We perfected ‘Davos Time’ - 1.5 hour sessions that connect two related issues, fostering an audience eager for serendipitous connections. Livestreaming was on offer too, with an audience of over 2,000 people worldwide, beyond Davos. And, thankfully, we did not neglect the social element either, given our mission to ‘humanize Davos’. To this end we celebrated the Thursday night end of the week with “Davos Burn”, a party that will become, hopefully, more legendary than the McKinsey parties of yesteryear (in a good right way!).