The last pre-conflict shipments have now reached their destinations, yet the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. As the supply crunch hits the global economy, what's going to happen next? Which regions and industries are the most severely affected? And what does this mean for the global economic outlook in May 2026?

This is the full audio from a studio discussion recorded on 27 May 2026.

Speakers:

Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum

Svenja Gudell, Chief Economist, Indeed

Rita Babihuga-Nsanze, Chief Economist, Africa Finance Corporation

Thomas-Olivier Léautier, Chief Economist, TotalEnergies

Links:

Chief Economists Outlook May 2026: https://www.weforum.org/publications/chief-economists-outlook-may-2026

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AI Infrastructure in the Age of Sovereignty: Requirements, Strategies and a Trusted Framework for Digital Embassies is a report co-drafted with Bain & Company and published on 11 May, 2026.

This webinar explores how economies can pursue AI sovereignty along a spectrum of strategies, from trusted international partnerships to extensive domestic ownership, depending on their local capabilities. The discussion examines why choices around compute, connectivity and data storage are increasingly central to long-term resilience and AI competitiveness.

A core focus is what these choices look like in practice: how different approaches along the spectrum can be translated into credible strategies, what shared infrastructure arrangements require, and how digital embassies can serve as an option for extending sovereign AI infrastructure beyond national borders.

This is the full audio from a webinar recorded on 12 May, 2026.

Speakers:

Samira Gazzane, Policy Lead, Future-Ready Economies, World Economic Forum (In Person)

Cathy Li, Head, Centre for AI Excellence; Member, Executive Committee, World Economic Forum (In Person)

Florian Mueller, Senior Partner and Head, AI, Insights & Solutions for EMEA, Bain & Company (In Person)

Ann Marie Lavigne, Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives, Snowflake

Sean Kask, Chief AI Strategy Officer, SAP (Online)

Ali Al Amine, Chief Commercial Officer, G42 International (Online)

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Technological revolutions, a reset in supply chains and soaring stock markets, these are not just characteristics of today's economy. In the 1920s, electrification, the automobile and assembly lines changed the economic landscape.  

What parallels exist between this decade and the 1920s and what could we learn from them for the future of the global economy?

Speakers:

Andrew R. Sorkin, Editor-at-Large; Columnist, New York Times

Laurence D. Fink, Chair and CEO, BlackRock; Co-Chair, World Economic Forum, BlackRock

Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank

Adam Tooze, Director, European Institute, Columbia University

Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO, Citadel LLC

This is the full audio from a session at the Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos. Watch it here: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/sessions/decade-deja-vu-are-the-2020s-the-new-1920s/

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Radio Davos - subscribe: https://pod.link/1504682164

Meet the Leader - subscribe: https://pod.link/1534915560

Agenda Dialogues - subscribe: https://pod.link/1574956552