WEF spawns a growing collection of fringe events

One remarkable aspect of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos is the growing number of sideshows springing up on the fringes of the event. This has added to the content and variety of debate, whilst providing access to the general public.

Danish company Tradeshift has been running a parallel series of debates and interviews for the last three years in a church a stone’s throw away from the Congress Centre. The three-day programme is is staged this year with television company CNBC and technology website Techcrunch.

Tradeshift co-founder and CEO Christian Lanng explained to swissinfo.ch that the daily schedule for the public does not intend to compete with WEF or its Open Forum event, which set up at a Davos school in 2003 to allow local residents to participate in discussions.

Tradeshift is not the only organization to move to colonise space around the congress centre. Other groups, mostly in the technology or blockchain space, are now also running similar events with an edgier, dynamic feel designed to appeal to a younger, more diversified audience than at WEF.