Cork man Killian Daly the only Irish nominee for global leaders initiative

Cork man Killian Daly has been announced as the only Irish nomination for the 2026 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Young Global Leaders Class programme.

The Rochestown native, who now lives in Brussels, was selected as part of a 118-strong cohort from 50 countries around the world to take part in the three-year long initiative.

The programme brings together individuals under the age of 40 from a range of backgrounds, to engage in executive learning, peer exchange, and cross-sector collaboration, while contributing perspectives and solutions to the WEF’s broader work.

Mr Daly, who is the CEO of non-profit organisation EnergyTag, told The Echo he was “shocked” to receive the nomination, describing it as a “big honour”.

“I am the only Irish person nominated this year, which is definitely cool,” said Mr Daly.

“Simon Harris was nominated last year, and Leo Varadkar was nominated a couple of years ago as well, so I don’t know what I’m doing in that company, but it’s pretty prestigious.

“It’s not all CEOs and heads of state, there are artists, politicians, and sports people too. It’s a big honour, especially when you see some of the other names on the list,” he added.

Clean energy provision

Mr Daly said he works in the area of clean energy provision.

“What we aim to do is enable clean electricity all the time, not just when it’s windy or sunny.

“We’d do this through batteries and things like that, which is something with not a lot of attention on it,” Mr Daly said. “A lot of the advocacy and advisory work that I do is trying to advise governments on how to change things and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

“What we want to do is push governments to invest in long duration batteries, which would enable us to use wind energy, even when it’s not windy.

Mr Daly will join Olympic champions Thea LaFond and Kirani James, technologist and AI entrepreneur Nick Frosst and business leader Isha Ambani, among many others in this year’s programme.

Some of their upcoming events including the launch of the 2026 programme in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2027.

Detailing his family’s response to his nomination, Mr Daly said his parents are “very proud”.

“My dad has been doing an in-depth analysis of everyone else selected — he runs a business, so he loves all that stuff — and my mom is absolutely delighted,” said Mr Daly.