Penn in Davos: The 2015 World Economic Forum

Six representatives of the University of Pennsylvania joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel, singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams and over 2,500 world leaders in the Davos, Switzerland for the 2015 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, a global meeting of political and business elites.

President Amy Gutmann, along with Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel, Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett, Perelman School of Medicine professor Carl June and Wharton professors Adam Grant and Mauro Guillen joined foreign heads of state, corporate leaders and representatives from international non-governmental organizations and universities. This year's theme was "The New Global Context" and addressed all kinds of issues affecting the world on the local, regional and global scales.

Gutmann was invited to attend as a member of the event's Global University Leaders Forum — a group of approximately 30 university presidents from leading institutions around the world. She had a busy few days that included a joint alumni reception with Columbia University, media appearances and dozens of meetings.

"It was very productive for Penn and for Wharton," she explained. "We got a lot packed into a few days."

During the Forum, Gutmann appeared on Fox Business Network with Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust and Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber. The trio discussed the issue of college affordability with Fox's Maria Bartiromo. Gutmann also appeared on HuffPost Live last week, where she stressed the importance of free speech.

"The challenge of free speech is when there's speech you really don't like," she told HuffPost. "We have to live up to the challenge and stand by free speech when it's offensive speech, as well as when it's speech we like."

Gutmann said that she and her colleagues were invited to take part in the discussions at Davos as “thought leaders.” She believes that Penn’s new initiatives such as the Penn Wharton China Center, the Center for the Advanced Study of India and the Penn Compact 2020 fall into line with the ideas brought forth with the theme for this year's Annual Meeting.

“If you look at what the drivers of economic and social progress are, domestically and around the world… there is no greater source of it than higher education,” Gutmann said.

Emanuel, who participated in a panel discussion on healthcare innovation, said he enjoyed being able to discuss the future of health with elected officials and CEOs. He particularly enjoyed discussing the issue of drug pricing, keeping in mind both his work and the work of his colleagues back at Penn.

“[The Meeting]'s primary value is that it's a way of getting together with a lot of high-powered people in a short amount of time,” Emanuel said. “It gives you a lot of opportunities to hear what others are thinking about and also potential moments of overlap and collaboration.”

Penn also contributed to the Forum through the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, which advises the organization’s annual Global Risks report. This year, it ranked international conflict as the number one risk the world will face in 2015.

Grant moderated discussions on modern families and preserving corporate culture. He appeared on HuffPost Live during the Forum to talk about finding a meaningful job.

June took part in panel discussions on cancer. He said that the immunotherapy work that his group at Penn does falls in line with this year’s theme because they are committed to finding a more efficient way to combat disease.

“[Our treatments are] more complex, but if it works better and spares people unnecessary treatment, then it will be worthwhile,” June said.

Although June’s research interests include human T cell biology and genetic engineering in particular, he enjoyed the off-topic discussions as well.

“I am a science geek, not a policy wonk,” June joked. “But I found the talks by John Kerry, Bill and Melinda Gates and Li Keqiang" — the Chinese Premier — "to be fascinating.”

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