'Meeting the innovation imperative'

Also known as the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, the gathering "creates a unique opportunity for exchanges between leaders from top-ranking multinationals and chief executive officers of fast-growth companies", according to the organizing committee.

"It also helps to promote dialog between key decision-makers from government, media, academia and civil society."

This year, about 1,600 participants from 90 countries are expected to participate. More than 600 are from overseas.

A select group of executives from the world's most influential companies are also invited as Mentors of the Meeting to share their experience and ideas on crucial issues.

"The Annual Meeting of the New Champions will bring together great minds with a similar interest in science and innovation who can foster great change. We look forward to what we can learn and apply together," said Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, noted "the most important quality of an entrepreneur is the capacity to innovate".

"Only those who are enterprising, adventurous, pioneering and trailblazing can drive business growth and promote social progress."

The world is facing an unprecedented set of intertwined global challenges - economic, political, societal and environmental, said organizers.

China's growth trajectory and the prolonged malaise in many economies are predicted to change the global economic order. Population trends, resource shortages and widening competitiveness gaps put pressure on governments to create growth and employment while ensuring fiscal prudence, social equity and environmental sustainability, experts said.

Businesses disrupt and are disrupted by new business models, emerging technologies and shifting behaviors by citizens and consumers.

"All of these factors point to a future when innovation - the effort to create purposeful, focused change in an organization's or institution's economic or social potential - becomes an increasingly important driver of economic development, competitiveness and risk resilience," said organizers.

The forum is also holding private, peer-to-peer meetings designed to provide participants with cross-industry and multi-stakeholder perspectives on key emerging issues.