An international foundation that aims to improve the state of the world by encouraging and facilitating partnership between significant organizations. Founded in 1971 and based in Geneva, its members are, in principle, the world’s 1000 leading companies. It is noted for its annual meetings, usually held at Davos in Switzerland, where leading figures from world business and politics confer in an informal atmosphere. Its supporters maintain that only good can come of such meetings. However, critics view the World Economic Forum as an elite club of the rich, dominated by the developed world. Its meetings have been targets for anti‐capitalist and anti‐globalization protests.