Academics following the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 the week before last, might have been curious about the choice of words in the theme Collaborating for the Intelligent Age, as the overarching theme. At the same time, the programme was oriented around five interconnected thematic priorities, namely Rebuilding Trust, Reimagining Growth, Investing in People, Safeguarding the Planet and Industries for the Intelligent Age. How do these themes and concepts fit together? Are there take-aways for universities?
The designation ‘Intelligent Age’ has been used occasionally in various contexts over the past three decades. In September 2024, in scoping the theme of the 2025 Annual WEF Meeting, Charles Schwab has given new meaning to the designation, inspired by current thinking on business transformation in the digital era and the implications of rapidly developing digital technologies.
In the words of Schwab:
“… now, as we witness the exponential acceleration of technological change, it’s clear we are no longer just in the throes of an industrial shift. We are entering the Intelligent Age, an era far beyond technology alone. This is a societal revolution, one that has the power to elevate humanity – or indeed to fracture it.
The Intelligent Age – driven by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and blockchain – is transforming everything and changing it right now, in real time.”
(https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/09/the-intelligent-age-a-time-of-cooperation/)
In the view of Schwab, alongside technological intelligence, it is imperative that we should develop environmental, social and geopolitical intelligence. “Social intelligence means understanding the broader societal impacts of technology and ensuring that the Intelligent Age fosters greater inclusion and equity, not further division and polarization.”
This objective of enhancing human potential can only be achieved by extensive collaboration of all role-players and across all sectors of society. Such collaboration should align with the dynamism of the Intelligent Age: an urgency to rethink business models and implications, as well as being innovative and agile.
The designation ‘Intelligent Age’ – in this new meaning – has since found its way into numerous publications and reports, many of which prepared for, or in conjunction with, the WEF Annual Meeting. During the past few years, we have increasingly seen the use of the term ‘Industry 5.0’ (or ‘5IR’), in order to accommodate the human and social elements. Acatech, the German academy of science and engineering, where the designation ‘Industry 4.0’ was coined and cultivated, recently indicated that the designation ‘Industry 5.0’ is neither necessary nor helpful. Possibly, the designation ‘Intelligent Age’ will find much broader acceptance soon.
Universities are key role players across many sectors of society and business. Through their training (also reskilling), engagement and research programmes, they are able to bridge the divides of understanding of the rapid changes due to technology change. Over the largest part of their history, universities have operated in the tension between competition and collaboration, During the past few years, we have seen an increasing focus on collaboration between universities, as well as between universities and other role players in their local and regional context. Some objectives can only be achieved through such collaboration.
One very recent report clearly indicated that, in developing university responses to the challenges of digital progress (especially AI) today, individual institutional responses are insufficient, since we are moving towards a rethinking of many subject areas and educational approaches; in fact, towards a reimagination of higher education. The rapid pace of development of technology and new possibilities, and the scale of change needed in this new era, requires a new level of collaboration from universities.
Walter Claassen (SARUA Associate)
