View from the ground: Key takeaways from Davos 2025 | Brunswick Group

View from the ground: Key takeaways from Davos 2025

At Davos 2025, the serene mountain setting gave way to the dynamic events in Washington, D.C., which dominated discussions around the Congress Hall and along the Promenade, as well as being the major topic across media coverage.

President Trump’s inauguration and flurry of Executive Orders pulled attention from the other key themes emerging from the week, notably AI, crypto, the competitiveness of Europe and climate change – but underlying all conversations at Davos, was a keen sense of the need for global economic growth.

For those without White Badges, the Promenade is the center of activity, and the quality of events held there continued to increase this year. CEOs and senior attendees were notably less spontaneous, with many (but not all) focusing on closed bilateral meetings, rather than public facing events and media engagement.

Government and corporate pavilions on the Promenade reflected who was feeling confident. The Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar, were more prominent than in previous years. India’s presence in Davos was notably elevated, reflecting ongoing enthusiasm for its growth story. Whereas China appeared to have a much more limited presence this year.

The media continues to see Davos as a news and business opportunity, with a flurry of live interviews, as well as marketing events. What used to be the domain of a handful of big business news brands such as The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg and FT, is now accompanied by significant investments from other outlets, including Axios, Semafor and Politico.

 

Key Themes

The U.S. & Trump

  • Trump 2.0 is different from Trump 1.0 in that the president and his team are more organized and know how to move quickly and forcefully. However, in many ways his thinking and actions are an extension of where he left office in 2020.
  • The U.S. president continues to use unpredictability to his strategic advantage, capitalizing on generalized anxiety around his policy posture and an uncertainty about what official actions (and rhetoric) to factor into business planning. The advice to organizations was not to get distracted, and not to assume that business having more of a seat at the table will translate to business-friendly outcomes.
  • Amid all the euphoria about growth, especially in the U.S., there is quiet chatter about how interest rates are creeping up. Should inflation remain stubbornly high, the bond market could punish politicians and equity markets for ignoring widening deficits with rising rates.

 

AI

  • Davos epitomized the polarized and multilayered debate about AI technology. Signs on the Promenade were dominated by buoyant views on AI – one U.S. banking CEO said that he hadn’t seen this much hype for a technology at Davos since the dawn of crypto.
  • You can tell what companies really want to talk about at Davos by the focus of panels they sponsor. AI’s role in the climate equation meant a heavy presence from tech industry Chief Sustainability Officers, who need to drum up significant investment and policy support to get the energy needed to turn their ambitions into reality.
  • There was also a growing realization amongst European delegates that while China may be the main initial target for pressure from President Trump, they themselves have intractable issues. Trump is thought likely to press Europe against regulation and fines on U.S. technology companies in a way President Biden never did. Any constraint on AI is likely to be challenged and the “AI innovation gap” between Europe and the U.S. is only likely to widen, as the midweekannouncement of the $500bn “Stargate” AI investment plan in America underlined.
  • The discussion on AI has also now progressed, from FOMO to FOBO – ‘Fear of Being Obsolete,’ with discussions on the digital workforce and the future corporation that will be entirely employed by AI agents.

 

Capital Markets

  • “The Americans are having a party; the Europeans are having a funeral,” was how one leading investor summed up the week.
  • European bank leaders communicated some hope that President Trump might provide the necessary impetus for European initiatives that would drive growth, including a capital markets union. “Trump has increased the urgency,” one bank CEO said. Another global bank CEO observed that deregulation, whatever form it takes, will drive economic growth in the U.S., and in Europe, “no change equals no growth.” Another leading European investor was less optimistic arguing it takes a crisis to drive change – while growth is slow in places, there isn’t a crisis.
  • There was widespread excitement at the prospects for U.S. growth and dealmaking with top bankers anticipating “an explosion in deals” as the Trump administration settles in. This was only mildly tempered by the risk that his policies will be inflationary, which may limit the scope for the interest rate cuts that the market is expecting.

 

The UK

  • “Rachel, you need a chain saw” – the words of WSJ editor Emma Tucker to the UK Chancellor, urging her to do something to show she does have the ideas to grow the economy. Ms Reeves did some hard yards with policymakers and captains of industry in Davos, but was met with minimal optimism.
  • Despite her best efforts to shift the narrative away from the gloomy messaging around the UK and Europe, most agreed “it’s all about North America.”
  • There was considerable disappointment that Reeves said very little concrete that was pro-growth or pro-business, not that she was short of advice. Plenty of senior executives and media leaders were very direct. Asked for his assessment, the CEO of a U.S. bank said the UK government actions against non-doms had been very damaging and they had “a lot to do”.
  • British attendees contrasted the faltering start of the new U.K. government with the economic and business fireworks being set off in DC this week.  Perhaps the surprising leak of Reeves’ support of a new third runway at Heathrow and a partial reversal of non-dom policy is a sign that she’s about to heed Tucker’s advice. 

 

Europe

  • There was a sense of despondency from business leaders about the future of European economic growth with many European business leaders acknowledging the likely significant (and superior) economic growth in the U.S.
  • They voiced great concern about Europe's economic competitiveness and future potential given the highly protective regulatory regime which they believe is stifling growth and innovation and prompting capital to flow elsewhere.
  • Now with the addition of President Trump, Europe may be further divided if he pursues trade deals and other measures with other countries.
  • Amid the despondency, however, there was also a real determination to remain united and double down on some of the promise Europe has to offer. Spurred by the Draghi report, leaders seem far keener to engage in the political process by pushing elected leaders and bureaucrats to be more responsive to their needs.

 

Crypto

  • Decentralization, meme coins and Strategic Bitcoin Reserves are not traditional Davos topics, but were a serious focus in 2025.
  • The anti-establishment decentralized industry was very much part of the mainstream. There was a buzz around it and more crypto companies than we have ever seen were walking the Promenade. 
  • Alongside Al, crypto was arguably the most discussed topic, as solidified by President Trump's comments about making the U.S. the global capital for both of these emerging technologies.
  • Wall Street's biggest players are no longer laughing at bitcoin — instead, they are making bold predictions.
  • While U.S. CEOs signaled regulatory clarity only as a roadblock before they entered or expanded in the space, European and British CEOs were far more cautious.

 

Sustainable Business

  • Davos has long been a forum where businesses, governments and civil society come together to discuss aspects of the long-term sustainable business agenda. This year, it coincided with the U.S. inauguration and Executive Orders which reset the Administration’s position on climate and DEI initiatives. It was therefore easy to see in the headlines how the light has changed on the way these issues will be debated and at first pass, the conclusion would be that businesses will drop these issues from their agenda.
  • Beneath the headlines, however, there was a different Davos. These big complex societal issues have increasingly become business issues. Among business leaders, the emphasis was very much on moving from commitment to implementation. This was the common theme no matter what issue was on the table: the economic impacts of extreme weather conditions, sustainable food systems, plastic waste or the skills of the future workforce. The trending topic, of course, was governance of AI and its potentially valuable applications, for example, to optimize our energy systems.
  • This is a new era for how leading businesses are tackling these issues. It’s led by business priorities, it’s action and impact oriented and, perhaps most striking of all, it’s drawing on experience to focus on realistic delivery in the near term. In other words, sustainable business at Davos was all about balancing ambition and realist delivery.