According to organisers, more than 2,300 delegates will take part in the exclusive meeting at the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, and about half of the participants will be corporate executives.
Rising oil prices and tight energy supplies are likely to dominate the agenda, with executives also keen to acknowledge the growing economic weight of China and India.
China's Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan will follow the newly-elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel in opening the summit.
Other political figures on the guest list include Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Angelina Jolie, a UN goodwill ambassador for refugees, as well as rock stars and anti-poverty campaigners Bono and Peter Gabriel have also been invited to attend.
Protest Forum
A counterpoint to the World Economic Forum in Davos is the annual World Social Forum (WSF), this year held in Caracas.
The WSF will feature over 1,800 panels on issues as diverse as the struggle against imperialism, foreign debt and world trade.
More than 10,000 people from across the Americas have taken to the streets of the Venezuelan capital in an anti-war protest that launched the six-day forum.
Among them was US anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan, mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq.
Ms Sheehan hailed Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, whom she is scheduled to meet later this week.
"I admire him for his resolve against my government and its meddling," said Ms Sheehan, who became famous after she camped outside US President George W Bush's ranch last year to protest the Iraq war.
Protestors marched to the outside the armed forces headquarters, on an avenue usually reserved for military parades.
"It's a peace route now," Ms Sheehan said.