WDA Portrait – Vision & Mission

Population growth as well as ageing and generational topics are amongst the most critical challenges in this century. The necessity to address the cohabiting of different generations and human longevity has become recognized worldwide. It leads us to discuss and make prompt necessary adjustments regarding these issues - however prior initiatives and pro-grams often lack a common thread, a comprehensive approach or an open, constructive ex-change across the disciplines, borders and languages.

The World Demographic & Ageing Forum (WDA Forum) was founded in 2002 in St. Gall / Switzerland, recognizes that the major global trend of "demographic change" contains not only unprecedented challenges, but also unique opportunities.

The aim must be to preserve and increase both welfare and prosperity well into the 21st cen-tury. This ambitious vision can only be achieved with an integrated and interdisciplinary ap-proach. However, this prerequisite requires the understanding of economical, regulatory and cultural diversity, as well as health and educational consequences of demographic change. For this reason, the WDA Forum 2002 has established an international, intergenerational and permanent platform for the population ageing and generational issues. This allows us to per-form a global and diversified exchange and dialogue.

For this reason, the WDA Forum 2002 has established an international, intergenerational and permanent platform for the population ageing and generational issues. This allows us to perform a global and diversified exchange.

The WDA Forum interacts across the globe with diverse groups in business, government, non-governmental organizations as well as academia and the general public by addressing specifically selected concerns.

In addition to our own research and teaching activities, as well as participation in research projects, our most prominent projects are:

• World Demographic & Ageing Forum Congress (WDA Forum)
Since 2004, we have hosted an international congress at the University of St. Gall for 2-3 days duration. The 10th WDA Forum will take place August 29th – 31st, 2016. The theme will be: "Our next World”. The WDA Forum is a unique event where business, science and society are brought together for dialogue and exchange with 40 speakers and 400 – 450 participants. The five areas of development needs proposed by the WDA Forum are: employment, retirement, financial markets, health and competitiveness.

• WDA Forum Expert Events - regional, national, international
In addition, the WDA Forum works in collaboration and with renowned partners who regularly organize special events (further information at: www.wdaforum.org). Our current partners are:

• Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
• Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• Fudan University, Shanghai, China
• Swissnex Network of Science and Technology
• Institute of Insurance Economics at the University of St. Gallen
• Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

In 2009, the structure of the WDA Forum has been adjusted and updated to fit our objective. The former form of the association was transferred to a foundation named "WDA Forum Switzerland". The responsibility of the WDA Forum AG includes operational activities. Inter-national advisory committees with members from industrial, governmental, academic and public organizations advise the WDA Forum in implementing its goals.