Protesters made clear their message to top global political and business leaders that the forum does not really address any of the pressing global issues - from poverty to climate change and environmental protection.
Some of their banners were directed at US President Donald Trump, who will be attending the forum he criticised during his 2016 campaign, to make an address on Friday.
His "America First" agenda is seen by some as incongruous to the forum's globalisation agenda, including a former US ambassador to the European Union.
Related reading
Cate Blanchett calls for leadership on refugees at Davos
Stuart Eizenstat said Trump's message to the meeting would have to be different to his domestic one to appeal to other global leaders and gain their support.
"I think the president has a major choice to make," Mr Eizenstat said.
"He can come and show that he can go into the lion's den and deliver a nationalist, populist speech or, not become a pure globalist, but he can try to demonstrate that what he is doing will strengthen America and allow it to be a better partner to the world."
"I hope he takes the latter."
The former US Ambassador to the EU added that the message Trump takes into the summit could impact future trade relationships.
"It will be a signal for world leaders - and I heard this from a number of world leaders - that they really can't do business with him anymore."
World Economic Forum
The fur-day forum touches on wide-ranging social, economic and political issues - including the Palestinian peace process, which former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said could only be resolved with a "win-win" formula.
It officially kicked off in the Alpine town of Davos in Switzerland under the theme of "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World".
Usually home to just 4500 people, every year, the small town is swamped with thousands of participants, media and security from across the world who have come for one week to address today's critical global challenges from the 23rd to 26th January.
This year, there are over 3,000 participants, including more than 70 heads of state and government and 45 heads of international organisations.
Joining them are participants from academia, media and the arts.
Singer and Aids activist Elton John, Hollywood actor and UN Human Rights Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett and the Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan are among the movers and shakers.
For the first time ever, not a single man is on the panel of co-chairs.
Addressing past criticisms of gender imbalance, this year's summit is making history with seven women at the helm: Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund managing director; Ginni Rometty, IBM's Chief Executive Officer; Chetna Sinha, founder and chair of the Mann Deshi Foundation in India; the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg; Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the International the International Trade Union Confederation; Fabiola Gianotti, director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva and Isabelle Kocher, CEO of French energy company, ENGIE.
All seven co-chairs shared their views at a press conference this morning on the theme of the forum, as well as, their expectations for the meeting.
At last night's Crystal Awards, singer songwriter Elton John, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and Hollywood star and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett all received Crystal Awards for their contribution raising awareness of human rights issues.
Share
