Hyderabad: Telangana moved a step closer to hosting a global economic dialogue outside Davos after World Economic Forum (WEF) managing director Jeremy Jurgens responded positively to chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s proposal to hold an annual WEF follow-up meet in Hyderabad.The proposal was discussed during the CM’s meeting with Jurgens and Manju George, head of strategic impact and integration, C4IR network, on the sidelines of WEF-2026 in Davos.
The chief minister had proposed hosting the follow-up forum in July or Aug each year, positioning it as a platform to review, track and advance discussions and decisions taken at the annual Davos meet in Jan. With modern business cycles moving rapidly, the CM pointed out that a one-year gap between WEF meetings was too long for sustained engagement. Telangana offered to partner WEF strategically in hosting the annual follow-up event in Hyderabad. CM’s assertion“Seeing is believing. We would like to showcase the wonderful opportunities and resources our state can offer to the world. So, we are ready to host a WEF follow-up meet annually in Hyderabad,” Revanth said. According to the chief minister’s office, the WEF leadership responded positively to the proposal, even as similar requests had come from several countries. “We shall take this forward in the near future,” Jurgens said, while noting that ‘Summer Davos’ is already held annually in China and that Saudi Arabia has shown strong interest in hosting WEF-linked engagements. During the meeting, Revanth presented the Telangana Rising-2047 vision, outlining the roadmap and strategy aimed at transforming the state into a $3 trillion economy. Discussions also reviewed the journey of C4IR Telangana (Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution), launched at BioAsia-2024 in Hyderabad as WEF’s first thematic centre in India focused on healthcare and life sciences. The centre aims to drive health-tech innovation, policy development and workforce skilling through collaboration with industry and academia. Jurgens said the launch of C4IR Telangana at BioAsia had emerged as a positive role model for WEF’s engagement in India. Referring to the chief minister’s long-term vision, he said the multiple facets of the Telangana Rising plan opened up wide opportunities for mutual cooperation. “We would like to partner in the Telangana Rising vision and be a part of the journey. Hyderabad has a great talent base,” he said. Industrial clustersThe WEF MD also spoke about C4IR’s ongoing research on best practices in planning industrial clusters and offered to share insights and data with C4IR Telangana.Telangana minister D Sridhar Babu outlined the state’s new economic development framework — ‘CURE, PURE, RARE’ — and briefed the WEF delegation on Bharat Future City, a net zero greenfield smart city envisioned as a national model for sustainable urban development. Other members of the delegation, including minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, highlighted Hyderabad’s strengths in aerospace, defence, bio-design, software and pharmaceuticals. They also spoke about the govt’s focus on electric mobility, renewable energy and large-scale skilling initiatives through the newly-launched advanced technology centres, Young India Skills University and Young India Sports University.
