The 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions is taking place in Dalian, China from June 23-25, 2026, under the theme 'Innovating at Scale'. The meeting will convene over 1,700 leaders from 90+ countries to address the most pressing challenges shaping the rapidly transforming global economy. As per the World Economic Forum, this year marks the ninth collaboration between Dalian and the World Economic Forum, coinciding with the launch of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). The event will be accessible to the public through livestreaming of over 50 sessions, including discussions on The Next Billion Jobs, US and China: From Here to Where?; What Next for the Middle East and What's the Limit for AI-First Enterprises.
According to recent analysis, five fundamental forces are converging to reshape business strategy in the next era. The third force is the fracturing of social and political consensus, with the UN describing rising nationalism, unilateralism, and geopolitical tension as direct challenges to the multilateral system. This is visible everywhere: trade, investment, technology, and industrial policy are increasingly being shaped by bloc logic rather than pure efficiency. The fourth force is the erosion of natural capital, with nearly half of global GDP depending on biodiversity and ecosystem services that are in decline. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries have been breached, meaning humanity is exceeding the limits that keep Earth stable. The fifth force is the failure of today's economic and capital models, which still reward extraction, short time horizons, and narrow definitions of value, while GDP counts activity but not depletion.
The asset management industry is experiencing a fundamental shift as traditional approaches become increasingly inadequate for the current economic landscape. According to the Thinking Ahead Institute Global Top 300 Pensions Funds report, traditional approaches centred solely on benchmark-relative returns are becoming less relevant in an environment defined by interconnected risks, structural change and rising client demands. The research, conducted in conjunction with Pensions & Investments, highlights a growing divide between firms adapting to this new reality and those still operating within legacy frameworks. The study, which evaluates more than 170 global asset managers across 16 countries representing $39 trillion in assets, calls this new approach 'systems-level investing', recognising that long-term investment outcomes depend on the health and resilience of wider economic, social and environmental systems.
The global economy is undergoing a fundamental transformation from a bipolar to multi-polar structure, with trade dynamics increasingly shaped by the Indo-Pacific region. According to analysis from Investing.com India, the center of gravity of global trade is shifting toward the Indo-Pacific, which has become the epicenter of economic dynamism and geopolitical competition. The International Monetary Fund has downgraded its global growth forecast to 3.1% in 2026 from 3.4% in 2025, driven by escalating geopolitical risks, with a modest recovery to 3.2% projected for 2027. The growing rivalry between the United States and China is not only a security issue but also a trade and technological struggle shaping supply chains, investment flows, and regulatory standards. As reported by Investing.com India, none of the regions is replacing another, but rather the emergence of a multi-polar world involves the growing importance of multiple centres of economic activity operating simultaneously.
India is becoming increasingly impossible to ignore in the global economic landscape. According to Investing.com India, having already overtaken the UK as the world's fifth-largest economy, it is widely expected to become the third-largest before the end of this decade. The IMF forecasts growth of more than 6% this year, making it one of the fastest-growing major economies globally. Its expanding middle class, accelerating digital transformation, and growing role in global supply chains are attracting significant attention from investors seeking exposure to long-term structural growth. The World Economic Forum's 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 will feature Giovanni Caforio (Chair of the Board of Directors, Novartis) and Zhang Wenfeng (President, State Grid Corporation of China), highlighting India's growing prominence in global economic discussions. Meanwhile, the European Union faces the challenge of maintaining its global trade power amid populism and the future of transatlantic relations, as highlighted in the ECPS report, while navigating the complex transpacific arena for diversification and strategic autonomy.
The Gulf region is undergoing a profound transformation beyond energy markets, as reported by Investing.com India. Sovereign wealth funds across the Gulf control more than $4 trillion in assets, while cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have established themselves as important global financial centres. The UAE's position as one of the world's leading destinations for millionaire migration reflects this scale of transformation, with the region attracting entrepreneurs, businesses, investment firms, and internationally mobile wealthy families. The World Economic Forum's 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 will feature Mazen S. Darwazeh (Executive Vice-Chairman, President, Middle East and North Africa, Hikma Pharmaceuticals), demonstrating the region's growing influence in global economic discussions. For the European Union, the challenge and opportunity lie in managing both transatlantic and transpacific arenas simultaneously, with the EU increasingly viewed as an actor that must define its own role within a triangular system shaped by US–China competition.
