At the 2025 annual meeting in Davos, the World Economic Forum introduced its new platform – GCV Next-Gen. This is one of the world’s only AR platforms that enables real-time collaboration across different device brands and global regions, including China.
In an era where global challenges require collaborative solutions, Chieh Huang, president of the Global Collaboration Village at the World Economic Forum, shares insights on this innovative platform that transcends physical barriers.
Conducted during Davos 2025, this interview explores the transformative potential of the Global Collaboration Village (GCV) and its Next-Gen platform.
Tell us more about the Global Collaboration Village. What is its purpose?
The Global Collaboration Village is designed to bring people together in a way that feels real, even if they’re physically apart. It is a digital space for tackling global challenges. By using immersive technology, the Village allows decision-makers to work side by side, visualizing problems and solutions in ways that go far beyond what you can do on a standard video call or 2D platform. It’s all about creating deeper understanding and moving from ideas in VR to impactful actions in the real world. The Village is a World Economic Forum initiative, in partnership with Accenture and powered by Microsoft Mesh.
Given the rise of AI and the metaverse, how does the GCV Next-Gen uniquely position itself as a leading collaboration platform?
GCV Next-Gen is different because it’s one of the only Augmented Reality collaboration platforms designed for real-time interaction across a wide range of devices and locations—even in places like China. What makes it stand out is how it blends hyperrealistic visuals, AR, and AI into one seamless experience. It’s about creating environments where people can genuinely connect, explore ideas, and solve problems together. Plus, we’ve listened closely to partners’ feedback to ensure the platform is intuitive, inclusive, and designed to work seamlessly across device brands. In the future, it will also support mobile, PCs, and Macs, making it even more accessible to diverse users in this rapidly evolving digital era.
How does GCV Next-Gen leverage the power of augmented reality to enhance understanding and drive impactful solutions for the industry?
Augmented reality in GCV Next-Gen allows people to step into a problem and experience it in a whole new way. Instead of just talking about a concept, participants can see it, interact with it, and understand it on a deeper level. For topic likes sustainable aviation, this further means exploring complex systems or visualizing sustainable solutions in real-time, which helps drive better decisions and collaboration. It’s about making the abstract tangible and moving faster from understanding to action.
How will you measure the impact of the platform on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and ultimately, the development of sustainable aviation solutions?
We’ll be looking at a few key areas: how diverse and engaged the participants are, the quality of the discussions, and whether those discussions lead to real-world outcomes like policies, partnerships, or new technologies. For example, in sustainable aviation, success might mean developing clearer roadmaps or actionable commitments. The platform itself will keep evolving based on feedback from users, ensuring it stays effective and relevant to the people using it.
How do you envision GCV Next-Gen evolving beyond its initial focus on aviation? What other critical global challenges could this platform effectively address?
Sustainable aviation is just the beginning. The Village is designed to tackle big, complex challenges across a range of areas. Whether it’s climate change, energy transition, AI governance, or healthcare innovation, the platform’s immersive environment is perfect for bringing together the right people to collaborate and act. As we continue to grow and adapt, the Village will help drive meaningful change on many of the world’s toughest issues.
