100 scientific leaders convene in Davos to shape global decision-making

Frontiers

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Frontiers Science House announced it will convene over 100 leaders from 16 countries to help shape the global agenda alongside the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026.

As scientific breakthroughs accelerate, too many remain disconnected from policy, capital, and the institutions that govern their impact. Frontiers Science House is designed to close that gap, creating a dedicated space where evidence informs decisions and science carries weight in the boardroom.

The program will feature more than 50 sessions across open science, health, climate, technology, and governance. CEOs, government ministers, Nobel laureates, heads of international organizations, university presidents, leading researchers, and innovators will convene at an unprecedented scale, placing science on equal footing with economics during a week that defines global priorities.

Cutting-edge science and world-leading innovation will take center stage, including contributions from Nobel Prize laureates. Victor Ambros (Physiology or Medicine, 2024) will be on hand to explore how foundational breakthroughs in biology are moving from the laboratory into real-world decision-making; and John Martinis (Physics, 2025) will discuss how quantum technologies could profoundly reshape science and industry. The race to harness AI and accelerate drug discovery will feature perspectives from Novartis, GenBio, and Eli Lilly.

Leadership from the partners of the Frontiers Science House are also part of the program, with participation of Vasant Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, Lisa Monaco, President of Microsoft Global Affairs, and Daniel M. Skovronsky, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of Eli Lilly.

The program will introduce new initiatives spanning global genomic data exchange, omic mapping, and the Frontiers Planet Prize, presented by Johan Rockström alongside this year’s International Champions. Jimmy Wales will mark Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary with a forward-looking discussion on the future of knowledge in the age of AI.

The role of policy will be deeply integrated into the program, with confirmed participants including Swiss State Secretary Alexandre Fasel; European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher; and senior European policy leaders including MEP Christian Ehler, Robert-Jan Smits, and Ann Mettler.

Dr Kamila Markram, CEO of Frontiers, said: 

“Science House is built for moments like this. When leaders are making decisions that shape markets, policy, and society, science must be in the room. By bringing researchers and decision-makers together, we can move faster from discovery to impact.” 

Explore the full program and the below list of organizations participating: 

• African Academy of Science 

• AE4RIA 

• Anicka Yi Studio 

• Arctic Base Camp 

• Arup 

• Australian National University 

• AXA Group 

• Better Planet Laboratory 

• Business World 

• Bühler 

• Carnegie Mellon University 

• CERN; Open Quantum Institute 

• Chalmers University of Technology 

• Charité 

• Columbia University 

• Cyprus Institute 

• Duke University 

• Eindhoven University of Technology 

• Eli Lilly and Company 

• European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) 

• ETH Zurich Board 

• European Innovation Council 

• European Commission 

• European Space Agency (ESA) 

• European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) 

• Fairfield Bio 

• Falling Walls Foundation 

• Fidocure 

• Flybits 

• Fusion for Energy 

• GESDA 

• Ginkgo Bioworks 

• Global Fund 

• GoodTech Advisory 

• Human Immunome Project 

• INAIT 

• Innovator 

• Institut Merieux 

• Imperial College London 

• Inclusive Brains 

• International Science Council 

• Johns Hopkins University 

• KTH Royal Institute of Technology 

• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories 

• Leibniz Supercomputing Centre 

• Lifespan Academy 

• Major Inc 

• Marvel Fusion 

• Mavatar Merieux Institute 

• Microsoft 

• MIT Media Lab sAIpien program 

• Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) 

• National University of Singapore (NUS) 

• Necker Hospital; Paris Descartes University 

• New Enterprise Associates (NEA) 

• Novartis 

• Novo Nordisk Foundation 

• Novotron Fusion 

• NVIDIA 

• One Sustainable Health for All Foundation (OSHF) 

• Open Brain Institute (OBI) 

• Open Planet 

• Pasteur Network 

• Phagos 

• Planet Labs 

• Planqc 

• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) 

• Precision Neuroscience 

• Prolific Machines 

• Quantum City, University of Calgary 

• Regeneron 

• Rhonda Barnet Advisory 

• San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET); San Raffaele Scientific Institute 

• Shanghai University of Medicine 

• SPARK Microgravity GmbH 

• Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs 

• Swiss Re 

• Swiss School of Public Health 

• The Global Fund 

• UMass Chan Medical School 

• UNESCO 

• UNFCCC 

• UNSDSN 

• United Nations World Food Programme 

• University of Exeter 

• University of Johannesburg 

• University of New South Wales (UNSW) 

• University of Sydney 

• Villars Institute 

• Volvo Group 

• Voya Machine Intelligence (VMI) 

• Voyager Space Holdings 

• Wellcome Trust 

• Wikimedia Foundation 

• World Economic Forum 

• 7 Things