The theme of this year's Davos meeting is "resilient dynamism"
Davos, of course, is the humble Swiss ski town where every year at this time, 2,000 of the world's smartest, most important — and self-important — people descend for a week of intellectual jousting about the world's most pressing problems, all mixed with a little skiing and too much fondue. Now in its 43rd year, the World Economic Forum annual meeting attracts CEOs, heads of state, philanthropists, policymakers and journalists who all want to listen to one another — and also be heard. Time's association with the forum goes back to 2001, but I'm proud to say we are playing a bigger role than ever in the proceedings, not just in our coverage in print, online and on tablets but also in the conference itself. Our international cover this week goes to the heart of one of the central issues being discussed at Davos: the state of the world economy in general and the euro in particular. Our story is an intimate portrait of European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, the man who is widely hailed as having held the euro — and thus the global economy — together in 2012. TIME's Europe editor, Catherine Mayer, and TIME correspondent Michael Schuman demonstrate that Draghi, who's Italian by birth but proudly declares himself a European first, believes that the euro zone is much more than a monetary union: it is one of mankind's greatest experiments to build a more peaceful and harmonious future.
I will be joined in Davos by Jim Frederick, TIME's international editor, who will be moderating two panels, including one of the Jan. 23 kickoff sessions, a debate on whether businesses are too risk-averse. His guests will include some of the business world's biggest names: Walmart CEO Mike Duke, Cisco CEO John Chambers, Zurich Insurance CEO Martin Senn, Mahindra & Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra, Bain & Co. chairman Orit Gadiesh and Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. On Jan. 25, Jim will moderate a panel focused on innovation that will include Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman. Assistant managing editor Rana Foroohar, our Curious Capitalist columnist, who has been going to Davos for 10 years, will conduct a one-on-one public interview with Joichi Ito, an entrepreneur and the director of the MIT Media Lab, one of the world's premier emerging-technology research institutions.
In addition to coverage of the meeting's major events in next week's print and tablet editions of the magazine, we will feature a special Davos section on TIME.com filled with a wide array of daily coverage of the conference until it concludes on Jan. 27. Jim, Rana and TIME senior editor Roya Wolverson will be contributing daily dispatches, analyses and interviews to provide our readers with the most up-to-date views from the world's most influential economic summit.