German economist to receive honorary doctorate

Klaus Schwab

By Yoon Sung-won

World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab will receive an honorary doctorate from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the nation’s top science and technology institute said Thursday.

Schwab, 77, will be granted the degree at the KAIST campus in Daejeon, south of Seoul, Sept. 7, for his contribution to global economic development and world peace over the past four decades, the institute said.

“Korea is a country which has achieved modernization in only 30 years, which the Western world had taken about 100 years to accomplish. KAIST has contributed to such an achievement,” the German economist said. “It is an honor to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the institute.”

Born in 1938, Schwab studied economics at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and public administration at the Kennedy School of Harvard University in the United States. He also taught business management policy at the University of Geneva for more than 30 years.

Schwab has been considered one of the most influential figures in the global economy.

In 1971, he founded the European Management Forum to lead discussions and research on global economic development. The forum later included Asian and American economists to become the foundation of the WEF.

The WEF regularly gathers global leaders, ministers, heads of international institutions and chief executives of financial industries worldwide to share information and opinions on economic development.

As the chairman of the WEF, Schwab has contributed to the publication of the Global Competitiveness Report every year. That has been considered as one of the most authoritative reports on national competitiveness of each country.

He also worked to foster social entrepreneurs. He founded the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 1998 and the Forum of Young Global Leaders in 2004 to nurture young talents for the global economy.

After receiving the degree, he will deliver a speech on the “Influence of disruptive innovations on human society,” and talk about how technological developments and geopolitical elements fundamentally change human lives, KAIST said.