Donald Trump will loom large at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week, as the self-styled anti-globalist joins the annual gathering of billionaires, business executives and politicians.

The meeting at the luxury ski resort in the Swiss Alps at the start of each year is set to be dominated by the US president, who is due to give a special address to the conference on Friday.

The official theme of this year’s forum is “creating a shared future in a fractured world”, which could have taken its cue from Trump alone. However, it does leave enough wiggle room to take in Brexit and the growing risks from technological advances, climate change and rising inequality.

Political upheaval and rising populism will also be hot topics for the more than 2,500 delegates from the realms of business, politics, academia, the charity sector and the arts, plus the usual smattering of celebrities. These will be the themes to watch out for.

Quick Guide What is Davos 2020? Show Davos is a Swiss ski resort now more famous for hosting the annual four-day conference for the World Economic Forum. For participants it is a festival of networking. Getting an invitation is a sign you have made it – and the elaborate system of badges reveals your place in the Davos hierarchy. The meeting is sponsored by a huge number of international banks and corporations.

For critics, “Davos man” is shorthand for the globe-trotting elite, disconnected from their home countries after spending too much time in the club-class lounge. Others just wonder if it is all a big waste of time. The 2020 meeting is being advertised as focusing on seven themes: Fairer economies, better business, healthy futures, future of work, tech for good, beyond geopolitics and how to save the planet. Young climate activists and school strikers from around the world will be present at the event to put pressure on world leaders over that last theme.

Trump brings ‘America first’ to a global gathering



The US president might enjoy the trappings of power and a billionaire’s lifestyle, like the most ardent of globalists at Davos, yet politically he has set himself up as the very opposite of the WEF and all that it stands for.

The organisers set great store in “multi-stakeholder” solutions and the idea that global problems are best solved by countries working together – which makes the event an unlikely stomping ground for a president bent on isolationism and putting “America first”. Protectionism and the potential for the disruption of world trade and cooperation will be a hot topic all week.

Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the WEF, gave a thinly veiled warning to Trump at his pre-meeting press conference, arguing “no individual alone can solve the issues on the global agenda”. He said the world was at an inflection point where there was a “real danger of a collapse of our global systems”.

That may be no bad thing for Trump, who has shown little love for global institutions. His keynote address just before the close of the meeting on Friday will be unmissable.

Donald Trump has set himself up as the very opposite of the WEF and all it stands for. Photograph: UPI/Barcroft Images

The booming world economy



Almost 10 years on from the financial crisis, and the global economy has got its mojo back. The International Monetary Fund will deliver its latest world economic outlook update on Monday from Davos, where there are sure to be questions about the sustainability of the current upswing.

The IMF’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, will deliver the update and speak on several other panels throughout the week. The prospect of rising inflation and the removal of economic stimulus by central banks will be sure to feature prominently, while the theme of the conference – creating a shared future – will raise the issues of wealth and growing income inequality.

The rise of the robots



The increasing use of artificial intelligence, robotics and the automation of jobs has been a repeating theme at Davos, and this year is no different. The impact of AI will be one of the forum’s major events, with a one-to-one interview to be held between Schwab and the chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai.

The “fourth industrial revolution” will be a key theme once more, with a focus on how the loss of millions of jobs could undermine social cohesion. The way states respond to governing and taxing technologies and borderless business will be high on the agenda.

Brexit sideshow



Although unlikely to be a major theme at Davos this year, the annual summit will present UK ministers with an opportunity to rub shoulders with European leaders just before they pile into more substantive talks on trade later this year.

Theresa May and Philip Hammond will be in attendance, while representatives from all 28 EU member states will also be heading to Davos, including the head of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the French president Emmanuel Macron.

Labour’s shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, will be making his first visit to Davos, planning to use the event as an opportunity to explain why the rules of the global economy need rewriting. May, on the other hand, will be expected to explain how Britain still matters on the global stage as it quits the EU.

Climate-change risks to the fore



Trump moved quickly to pull the US out of the Paris climate accords in one of his first acts as president last year. At Davos, where the environment is always among the most important issues up for debate, this won’t have gone down well.

The former US vice-president Al Gore is attending and will speak on several panels, including one about how extreme weather events are proving more devastating and expensive.

The WEF’s global risks perception survey, released last week, cited climate change-related issues as the top problems facing the world, while it also issued a thinly veiled warning to the US president that “nation-state unilateralism” will make it harder to combat change and ecological damage.

Cate Blanchett will speak to raise awareness of the refugee crisis. Photograph: Laurent Gillieron/EPA

Harvey Weinstein fallout comes into focus



In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sex abuse scandal, gender equality and issues such as bullying and harassment in the workplace will be in sharp focus at Davos this year.

Business leaders have often talked about encouraging diversity in the past, although are also accused of having made very little headway. Women will only account for 21% of all of the participants this year.

At least three sessions will directly tackle the problems facing women at work, including one with the Microsoft executive Peggy Johnson and Canadian minister for the status of women, Maryam Monsef, titled “Gender, power and stemming sexual harassment”.

Helping the developing world



More than a third of participants come from developing or emerging economies, while the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, will address the opening plenary.

Humanitarian crises are on the agenda, with the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees out of Myanmar likely to feature prominently, as the forum considers the outlook for 2018.

The actor Cate Blanchett, who alongside Elton John has won a prize designated for artists who best represent the “spirit of Davos”, will speak to raise awareness about the refugee crisis. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani student who fights for education and women’s rights, will also speak about the importance of education and equal opportunities.