President and Founder of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Davos, Switzerland, Monday.

As leaders from the world of politics and business arrive Tuesday in droves for the start of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the event’s founder is in somber mood.

Klaus Schwab, the 77-year-old chief of the world’s most recognized annual economic meeting, said he’s worried about Europe’s future, the fallout from plunging oil prices and gaping inequalities worldwide.

With the world facing a myriad of problems such as climate change and war, Schwab said he wanted a “forward-looking” theme to dominate discussions this year, which officially runs from Wednesday through to Saturday: And has built this edition around the idea of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

He said vast, speedy technological advances in the digital age in areas like nanotechnology and automation threaten to leave many unskilled workers without jobs or at an economic disadvantage.

In Davos, about two-thirds of the 2,500-plus attendees are decision-makers from the business world: The boardroom, not the shop room floor, has an outsize representation in this snow-capped, ultra-chic Alpine resort. World leaders, including US Vice President Joe Biden, Prime Ministers David Cameron of Britain and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, and German President Joachim Gauck are set to attend.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is likely to be a headline-act after international sanctions against his country were lifted over the weekend under a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program. Some business leaders will be contemplating a resumption of economic ties with the long-isolated Iran.

Iran’s Oil Ministry announced plans Monday to boost oil production by 500,000 barrels per day after the sanctions were lifted, and Schwab noted the possible harmful impact of even more supply on developing countries that depend on oil revenues at a time when crude prices have already slumped to their lowest level in more than 12 years.

“Of course, we will have to absorb now a larger supply dimension. What concerns me is the impact — the social impact — it has on certain countries,” said Schwab. “Just think of Nigeria, which so much depends on oil, and other African countries … not to speak about what’s the impact on Russia and so on.”

As for Europe’s struggle to manage an influx of more than 1 million refugees and migrants last year, he said the continent was at a “crossing point.” Europe needs to find the right balance between its values and its capabilities of taking them in, and assuage tensions that have put the Schengen zone — which eases cross-border travel — to the test, he said.

“My concern is that Europe, at the moment, is in a phase of disintegration,” Schwab said. “Europe would be completely marginalized if we break up into different nation-states again.”

He said solidarity with refugees was a core European value.

“It’s not a question whether we should have solidarity or not, it’s how much can we afford? And here I think we haven’t found the right answer yet,” he said.

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