About Wisdom House Davos 2025
Applications to host sessions at Wisdom House during the WEF’25 week (20-24 Jan ’25) are open, please reach our via marcelo (at) wisdomaccelerator (dot) com if you’d like to learn more.
Operating hours Monday 20/01/25 to Friday 24/01/25 (08:00 – 17:30). During those times everybody is welcome to join us to give serendipity a chance and meet other like minded people.
No “VIP lists” or “Invitation Only” events (other than internal briefing meetings) – we are open to the public and have healthy drinks and snacks available the whole week. We don’t ask for your email or phone number as a precondition to enter the premises either.
The full programme will be published in the next few days and this year will feature the “Wisdom Portal” allowing us to have the presence of remarkable speakers who cannot be in Davos during the WEF Week.
Our main Whatsapp chat group can be joined via tiny.cc/WHDchat.
2025 Programme
Due to our open approach to content curation doing our best to host sessions of legitimate nonprofit who are present in Davos during the WEF week, we decided that the most efficient manner to promote the events at Wisdom House was by sharing the respective flyers through selected Whatsapp and Telegram group announcements (unDavos, etc).
If you would like to receive this information we would recommend joining the Wisdom House Davos Whatsapp group via this short link: tiny.cc/WHDchat
Wisdom House Davos 2025
St. Johann’s Church, Berglistutz 3, 7270 Davos (next to the town hall). Five minutes walk from Davos Platz (main) train station and ten minutes walk from Arkadenplatz (Hotel Europe).
Wisdom House Davos 2025 Sponsors
Wisdom House 2025 is kindly supported by the Bayer Foundation and a consortium of stakeholders from top US universities including MIT Connection Science, Stanford Digital Economy Lab and Harvard Center on the Legal Profession.
We are also very pleased to continue collaborating with VCI Global Limited, Altru Institute, Qurator and Visionary Future – who have helped us with our mission since 2024 as corporate sponsors.
Harvard Center on the Legal Profession
References:
- Wisdom Foundation Concept Note: tiny.cc/WisdomFoundation
- The Exploration Train (Fundraising Venue): ExplorationTrain.org
- Wisdom Accelerator for Youth (WAY): WisdomAccelerator.org
PREVIOUS EDITIONS (2020 – 2024)
Wisdom House Davos 2024
Wisdom House 2024 was located in the oldest building in Davos with elements from the 13th century: St. Johann’s Church right next to the Rathaus (Town Hall). It is a stunning historical venue with stained glass panels authored by Alberto Giacometti and very centrally located just one minute walk from the Promenade and five minutes from Hotel Europe.
We hosted 20+ sessions focused on promoting the work of qualified nonprofits (e.g. UN accredited or assimilated) or curated Social Enterprises (e.g. Schwab Foundation community or equivalent).
All donations made go towards covering operational costs and any surplus funds the launch of the Wisdom Foundation, which focuses on accelerating the philanthropic engagement of earlier stage companies such as well funded startups and scale-ups by providing them with well proven Swiss governance mechanisms including supervision from the Swiss federal authorities.
We always ask our guests not residing in the greater Davos region to bring enough healthy drinks and snacks for two people, so that we can invite a Davos area resident to join us for free. If you don’t want to carry these items, a donation of CHF20+ is sufficient for us to do it for you – more details about how it works are shared below.
Wisdom House Davos 2024 (WEF Week 15-19 Jan) was hosted by Wisdom Accelerator for Youth (WAY: UID CHE-293.908.661) and by the Davos Association of Venue Organizers (DAVO: UID CHE-207.170.503) – both are registered Swiss nonprofits present during the WEF Week since 2018.
Davoser Zeitung, Tue 16/01/24
The first “Wisdom House” found a place in the primary school during WEF week in 2020 (tiny. сс/WisdomHouseDZ). In 2023 it was held in the SAMD auditorium. Both dates hosted dozens of events supporting non-profit and social enterprises from around the world. All of them could not and cannot afford the prices charged by commercial providers. In the “Wisdom House” you will find a place that is open to everyone all week long and where healthy food and drink is available for everyone. So also for the local population and everyone who doesn’t have a place on the “invitation only” lists.
This time, “Wisdom House” is located in the tower room of St. Johann Church and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from January 15th to 18th. “Wisdom House” emerged from the “WAY” event, which was held on the Jakobshorn in 2019 with teenagers from refugee families. This time too, “Wisdom House” will be run entirely by 13 to 17-year-old teenagers with a refugee background. For information about how to get involved in future events, founder Marcelo Garcia can be found at marcelo (at) wisdomaccelerator (dot) org. Information about the program is available at tiny.cc/WisdomHouse (NB: this page).
Photo caption: The young crew of “Wisdom House” with founder Marcelo Garcia in the middle
2024 Programme
Tuesday 16/01/24
08:30 – 09:30: HomelessEntrepreneur.org ” The Great Walk” Initiative
“The Great Walk” Debrief session. Six people and a dog hiking 150kms from Zurich to Davos to represent the 150 million homeless people in the world.
11:00 – 12:00: Carbon Markets (curated by Altru Institute)
Carbon Credits and Carbon Markets are a primary tool to address global warming using market mechanisms. Insights from innovators developing means of creating and trading carbon credits.
14:00 – 15:00: Book signing by David Shrier, Imperial College Professor
Launch of “Basic AI: A Human Guide to Artificial Intelligence” with the author covering humanitarian angles.
16:00 – 17:30: CSO Accelerator Toolkit
Launch of the CSO Accelerator initiative (postponed).
17:30 End of sessions
Wednesday 17/01/24
12:00 – 13:00: Global Education (curated by Altru Institute)
A discussion of the role of technology in education to form a a network dedicated to planet-positive economy leveraging bond funding to accelerate family office capital.
15:00 – 16:00: Regenerative Futures
Interactive panel with top Regenerative experts Dina Baenninger, Marc Buckley and Tammy Scarlett.
16:30 – 17:30: Blind Filmmaker Interview
Producer Ali Aksu interviewing blind Filmmaker Adam Morse, award winning creator of mini-documentary “Blind Ambition”.
17:30 End of sessions
Thursday 18/01/24
09:30 – 10:30: AI for Good
Interactive panel with Julien Weissenberg, Judith Wiesinger, Andreas Halner and Patricia Neamtu (15 years old Wisdom House Intern). How does AI enable impact? Explore practical AI applications for positive change and learn to recognize opportunities where AI can make a meaningful impact.
11:00 – 15:00: The Explorers Club (Switzerland Chapter) – Reception with Expedition Lectures
Come to meet members of the legendary “Famous Firsts” New York club (Explorers.org) as our distinguished predecessors were the first to reach the North Pole, South Pole, Everest summit, bottom of the Oceans and to walk on the Moon. Lectures will take place in our Vault Room (max 35 seated), with a reception area for 100+ standing guests at our adjacent Matroneum.
Individual lecture topics are still being elaborated. The “Explorers Weekend” concept hosted at the EPFL Rolex Centre in Sep’23 (tiny.cc/EW23) will be presented by Marcelo Garcia, chairman of the local club chapter and creator of the initiative.
Other TEC Members present in Davos this week who may be in attendance include Mikkel Vestergaard, Christina Korp, Max Holmes, Karl Karlsson, Rob Maroney, Alice Bromage, Daniel Cervenka, Carl Ganter and Royston Flude.
Three presentations were given:
- Andy Fitze (candidate member) shared his recent sailing expedition to near 81° North retracing a historical route, featuring stunning drone footage
- Rob Maroney retold his long association with The Explorers Club from canoeing to the upper streams of the Orinoco River in Venezuela to becoming the club’s Treasurer many years later
- Christina Korp delighted us with her unusual journey from a singer career in South Dakota to becoming the manager of Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, as well as her current work with 501c3 nonprofit spaceforabetterworld.com.
15:00 – 16:00: Sandra Navidi sharing insights on her three books
- “SuperHubs: How the Financial Elite and Their Networks Rule Our World” (in which the WEF is prominently covered)
- “Future IQ: Your Success Strategies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”
- “Die DNA der USA: Wie tickt Amerika?”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Navidi
16:00 – 17:30: 100 Women of Davos
SME development strategies roundtable session.
16:00 – 17:00: Book discussion: “The Spirit of Human Business”
Featuring author Thomas Juli.
17:30 End of sessions
Friday 19/01/24
10:00 – 11:00: Sustainable ballooning technologies
With Ballooning experts Eliav Cohen and Amanda Brodbeck
11:00 – 12:00: Carbon Markets roundtable (curated by Altru Institute)
World class experts gathering to share best practices.
12:00 – 13:00: Hydrogen Technologies roundtable (curated by Altru Institute)
World class experts gathering to share best practices.
13:00 End of Wisdom House WEF’24
Wisdom House Davos 2023
The second edition of Wisdom House was hosted at one of the largest private venues during the WEF (SAMD Aula) because the Open Forum was at a nearby location that edition due to pandemic related constraints. We had three main areas for activities with a total surface of almost 500m2.
Selected events hosted at Wisdom House during WEF’23:
- Opening session hosted by the BMW and Katapult Foundations with 100+ guests
- Nature Forum
- Social Venture Day
- Ignite Talks
- W4U World For Ukraine
- Education Panel
- Longevity Panel
- MIT Sustainability Initiative workshop
- Several expert workshops for nonprofits on AI, Great Wealth Transfer, Resilience, etc
- Nik Gowing (Chatham House) in conversation with the audience (hosted at city cinema)
- Several nonprofit coaching sessions by industry experts
- …and many more
Andrew Funk the founder of HomelessEntrepreneur.org supported by will.i.am after a popup dinner at Wisdom House ’23
Regenerative Healing and Science of Longevity coaching session
The Wisdom House layout is setup to optimize conversations of all sizes, from 2-100+ participants
Main entrance with day program and Wisdom House rules
Wisdom House Founder Marcelo Garcia (linkedin.com/in/marcelogarcia) with two guests
Coaching session program example
Joint BMW and Katapult Foundations opening session
Wisdom House ’23 entrance by night
Location of Wisdom Film Festival, a sister event to Wisdom House ’23
Nik Gowing (Chatham House) speaking at Wisdom Film Festival stage
Wisdom Film Festival lounge area during Ignite event
The
original Wisdom House Davos in 2020
The inaugural edition of Wisdom House was hosted in Davos during the 2020 WEF Week (21-24 Jan). The concept is intended as a space for qualified non profit NGOs, selected Social Enterprises and assimilated organizations which have a valuable message to share with the world but can’t afford the steep prices charged by other Davos venues during the WEF Week.
Admission for the general public is based on the old Italian « caffè sospeso » tradition, in which a person who had good news gets into a bar and buys two coffees, drinking one and leaving the other « suspended » for someone coming later who had bad news to have it as a random gift from a stranger.
Inspired by the tradition above, we invite Davos residents for free to all sessions and non residents are asked to bring healthy food and drink for two people (themselves and a Davos resident); any non consumed items are donated to local charities; cash equivalent contributions (CHF20+) are also welcome for those who do not wish to carry food and drinks to the venue.
Wisdom House Davos Rules
The general behavior expected from our guests is aligned with that of visiting any public property. In case of doubt, please refer to the WEF Code of Conduct (weforum.org/open-forum; weforum.org/about/code-of-conduct).
We plan to open the whole week from 10:00 – 22:00 or earlier if needed and all those respecting the house rules and belonging to the Homo Sapiens species are welcome (guide dogs are welcome too).
We deal ourselves with the booking procedures to attend specific sessions, any event hosts using our space proposing “application forms” and “waitlists” are in a clear breach of house rules. They shouldn’t be collecting your personal data either and we strongly discourage this “data mining plus artificial scarcity” mindset.
The contribution requested to enter the premises is enough healthy drinks and snacks for each member of your group, then double the amount of both so that we can also invite residents of the Davos region to benefit for free of the facilities – this acting as a thank you gift for hosting the WEF community for more than half a century. If you don’t want to carry food/beverages we ask for a contribution of CHF20 per person per day so that we can do it for you.
Anyone selling entrance tickets to Wisdom House is committing fraud and will be denounced accordingly. We exist also as a counterbalance to the extreme commercialization of Davos during the WEF, supporting nonprofits and benefitting the local population and the charging of fees on top of the aforementioned contribution is strongly contrary to this ethos.
We do ask those hosting events to make a donation to help us cover our many costs and this year also to fundraise to launch the Wisdom Foundation (http://wisdom.swiss) which focuses on accelerating the philanthropic engagement of early stage companies (concept note: tiny.cc/WisdomFoundation).
Until the Wisdom Foundation is setup please keep in mind that donations should only be made to WisdomAccelerator.org, the registered Swiss nonprofit hosting the event. Anyone else collecting payments on behalf of Wisdom House is doing to illicitly and therefore committing fraud, so please let us know if you are solicited.
Only qualified nonprofits (please refer as a benchmark to canva.com/canva-for-nonprofits/eligibility-guidelines) and selected Social Enterprises with particularly impressive results should request time slots sessions, but it is not an issue to have a for profit representative in a panel they host if they’re helping to cover the overall participation costs (food/drinks/donations). This is similar to the approach taken for events hosted at the United Nations.
Pitches are most certainly out of place even when done by nonprofits, TED talk guidelines are a good baseline for the boundaries to be respected (storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedxcontentguidelines.pdf).
We are designed as a safe haven for the sharing of valuable ideas of what we call “qualified stakeholders” including of course legitimate nonprofits and residents of the Davos, but also foundations and their backers, institutions, academia, corporate sustainability/impact officers and of course ethical startups and scaleups with a focus on making meaning rather than just money.
There are no “VIP Areas” at Wisdom House other than speaker seats on stage. It’s first come, first served but we will do our best to cater for capacity constraints if a group discussing a specific topic requires additional seats for their session. Please leave room to others in the unlikely case that space is scarce. We will dismantle any “squatter” structures benefiting single interest groups other than the welcome desks at the foyer allocated to donors and partners.
Any flyers for events hosted at Wisdom House Davos should clearly indicate our website and show our logo – it’s the polite thing to do and the ethical one too. Building your brand without acknowledging our significant efforts to provide you with a great venue and heavily subsidized conditions is probably not something your grandparents would be proud of.
Any damage done to the premises will be fully charged to the users causing it, the reference value being the invoice we receive from the authorities plus a management fee at Swiss rates based on time spent to solve the issue.
Those with an existing track record of disrespecting any of the points above also during previous events we have hosted will be asked to leave the premises at our discretion and without appeal – Wisdom House Davos was conceived and developed over many years as a result of significant time and effort, so please honor our rules to benefit from it.
Those making promises and then suddenly having apparently amnesia and failing to honour their commitments will be formally denounced to the broader stakeholder community via the Davos Association of Venue Organisers (DAVO) statutory protocols.
If you have any doubts about the conditions described above, it is much wiser to ask us first rather than hope to mitigate infractions with excuses after the fact as those will most likely fail.
For further information please contact marcelo (at) wisdomaccelerator.org
Wisdom House Davos 2020 Media Coverage
I hope that when the next forum is organized it will be remembered what the idea was in 2003 and why the forum was created. Fortunately, I visited the “Wisdom House Davos 2020” in the middle school building … I felt something of the original, unadulterated “Spirit of Davos”.
Marianne Christen, Davos resident
Cover Story, Davoser Zeitung, Friday 17/01/2020
“A small thank you to the local population”
Davos is bursting at the seams. Everywhere there are new exhibition areas created by different providers and they all have something in common: only WEF participants are invited.
The “Wisdom House Davos” that is just being built is refreshing for the resident crowd. Its focus is strictly non-commercial and it is aimed directly at the local population.
Marcelo Garcia has been a regular and super well-connected visitor to the WEF Annual Meeting and Davos for a long time. “I come here several times a year to reflect and seek inspiration”.
The Brazilian, who has been living in Switzerland for 14 years (he has just sent in his application for naturalization) is the founder of various non-profit organizations that deal with questions about future developments and more specifically how Digital Transformation with broad and far reaching benefits can be deployed.
He has been working for and with the United Nations pro bono for several years. This year Garcia is organizing the Youth Camp “WisdomAccelerator.org” for the second time at Jschalp during the WEF week. The idea is to bring young people from all over the world into direct contact with the many outstanding personalities who are in Davos during this time.
In addition to fun and games in the snow, the teenagers get engaged in topics related to advanced know-how and challenging ideas. It is important to him that the event is “WEF neutral” – this means that the infrastructure, which is already strained to the point of tearing apart, should not be put under additional strain.
“An opportunity for non-profits”
He is now driving his latest project with the same approach. His two entities “WisdomAccelerator.org” and DAVO (Davos Association of Venue Organizers) together created “Wisdom House Davos” in the lower ground foyer of the Davos Primary School building.
Qualified non-profit organizations can present their projects and ideas strictly in line with the goals of the WEF. While usually in the fight for presentation space flooded with money during the WEF Annual Meeting, they usually have to stay silent in the background.
“Wisdom House Davos is a private initiative”, says Garcia. “At the same time, it is an opportunity for the wider WEF Community to thank the local population on the 50th Annual Meeting anniversary for their hospitality.”
“Resistant houses”
All of this is still very new., but Garcia hopes to officially open on Tuesday morning with the support of local volunteers. At the center of this year’s “Wisdom House Davos” is an exhibition on Resilient Homes. This was recently shown at the United Nations in New York and is now on its way to Davos.
The exhibition consists of a hundred paper cubes (see front picture) showing the winning projects of the “Resilient Homes Design Challenge” carried out by various international organizations last November. The background of the task was that around 23 million people lost their homes due to natural disasters in the past ten years.
They were looking for constructions that could be built for less than $10,000 and were particularly suitable for areas that are often afflicted or vulnerable to such disasters.
“Payable in good deeds”
Because the project is so new, the program is currently being developed and updated. It is however certain that all speakers and topics should be drawn from the pool of participants already present during the WEF.
Access for the local population will be free, everyone else will be asked to contribute to the food and drinks buffet set up inside the “Wisdom House Davos” or to make a symbolic contribution.
“Wisdom House Davos” is only accessible when school events are not taking place, which is the case on Tuesday from 1.30pm to 3.30pm and on Wednesday from 11.00am to 12.30pm.
What is still needed now are volunteers who provide their support on an hourly basis – knowledge of English is not necessary.
Because the project is so new, the program is currently being developed and updated. It is however certain that all speakers and topics should be drawn from the pool of participants already present during the WEF.
Access for the local population will be free, everyone else will be asked to contribute to the food and drinks buffet set up inside the “Wisdom House Davos” or to make a symbolic contribution.
“Wisdom House Davos” is only accessible when school events are not taking place, so it is closed on Tuesday from 1.30pm to 3.30pm and on Wednesday from 11.00am to 12.30pm.
What is still needed now are volunteers who provide their support on an hourly basis – knowledge of English is not necessary.
(Google Translation)
Wisdom House Davos is brought to you by Wisdom Accelerator for Youth (WAY), a Swiss non profit NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Events at Wisdom House may be the subject of photographical or video recording and your attendance assumes consent.
Wisdom Accelerator for Youth
℅ BroadLights.org
rue Fendt 1, 1201
Geneva, Switzerland
Registered Swiss UID: CHE-293.908.661
© 2017-25 Marcelo Garcia – All Rights Reserved
Wisdom Foundation Initiatives: ExplorersWeekend.org, WisdomAccelerator.org, BroadLights.org 
