World Economic Forum and edX announced the launch of online learning platform Forum Academy

• The World Economic Forum today launches Forum Academy, an online learning platform to deliver professional leadership courses
• Non-profit initiative for certified professional development on a continuous and sustained basis
• Brings a Davos-level curriculum on global, regional and industry topics to a global audience
• Enables top business, academic, political and other leaders of society to interact with future leaders
• For further information and to sign up for the first online course on global technology leadership, visit http://forumacademy.weforum.org

Davos, Switzerland, 22-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — The World Economic Forum today launched Forum Academy, an online learning platform, in partnership with edX, a non-profit initiative created by founding partners Harvard University and MIT for online education. Forum Academy will provide continuous leadership development and updating, offering courses for professionals and organizations to enhance their strategic knowledge in a fast-changing world.

Forum Academy will:

• catalyse an online global learning environment for continuous and certified professional development
• create a world-class curriculum, providing cutting-edge global, regional and sectorial knowledge
• establish a network of academic and other members to develop standards, best practices and joint certification models

As rapid technological, economic and social changes affect the context of professional work, there is a pressing need for insights into the latest developments and best practices on relevant topics. Forum Academy will help to address this need for yearly certified updates on the latest professional developments, leveraging the Forum’s worldwide multistakeholder network of the best and most relevant knowledge providers. The professional leadership courses will focus on specific global issues and industries. It will also focus on regional developments and provide updates related to professional and technological issues.

Professor Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said: “The reshaping of our world requires professionals to develop a transformational mindset and constantly update their knowledge. However, this knowledge is becoming increasingly difficult to attain through traditional means, precisely due to the growing complexity, velocity and uncertainty in the world. Forum Academy will contribute to the mission of the Forum by providing a global audience with strategic insights on global, industry and regional developments”

Anant Agarwal, President of edX said: “Like the World Economic Forum, edX is committed to improving the lives of people around the globe. We are happy to provide the Forum Academy with the cutting-edge educational tools needed to create courses that will enable leaders – of today and tomorrow – to transform their communities, countries and regions.”

Sign up is now open for the first course, Global Technology Leadership, which will start in May 2014. Aimed at current and future leaders, the course will give an overview of the key emerging technologies that are driving technological shifts and reshaping the social, political and economic context. For further information, and to sign up for Forum Academy courses, please visit http://forumacademy.weforum.org.

Notes to Editors

More information about the Annual Meeting 2014 is available at http://wef.ch/davos2014
View the best pictures from the Annual Meeting on Flickr at http://wef.ch/davos14pix
Free media access to the Forum press photo archive Swiss-Image at http://wef.ch/pics
Watch live webcasts of sessions at http://wef.ch/live and on demand at http://wef.ch/davos14video
Watch the sessions on demand on YouTube at http://wef.ch/youtube or http://wef.ch/youku
Become a fan of the Forum on Facebook at http://wef.ch/facebook
Read the summaries of sessions at http://wef.ch/davos14sessions
Follow the Forum on Twitter at http://wef.ch/twitter and http://wef.ch/livetweet (hashtag #WEF)
Read the Forum:Blog at http://wef.ch/blog
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Contact:

Yann Zopf, Associate Director, Communications Department Tel.: +41 (0)79 204 16 10, E-mail: yzo@weforum.org