"Dubai Future Forum" Announces the agenda of its fourth session

Dubai, November 14 / WAM / The Dubai Future Foundation announced the agenda of the “Dubai Future Forum 2025”, the largest gathering of future design experts and institutions in the world, which includes more than 70 main and dialogue sessions that review the most prominent global trends that shape the future of humanity, and many technological experiments, future innovations, new events, and honorary awards for future pioneers and innovators from around the world.

The agenda of the forum, which is organized by the Dubai Future Foundation at the Museum of the Future on November 18 and 19, witnesses great diversity, especially with the participation of more than 200 speakers from the UAE and various parts of the world, and the attendance of more than 2,500 participants and more than 100 international institutions and organizations in various fields of the future.

The specialized dialogue sessions discuss five main topics, including: an in-depth look at the future, exploring the unknown, the future of societies, the future of health, and the future of systems.

The forum’s agenda this year is also keen to achieve the broadest participation of forum participants in anticipating the future in a practical way through technological experiments that use applications of artificial intelligence and virtual and augmented reality.

The first day of the Dubai Future Forum 2025 begins with an opening speech delivered by His Excellency Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, followed by a key session entitled “Societies of the Future: How do we reformulate the foundations of building balanced and sustainable societies?”

The first day also includes a session entitled “Are we letting the future down with today’s decisions?” With the participation of Her Excellency Isala Nyasse, Acting Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dr. Cécile Aptel, Acting Director of Innocenti – United Nations Global Research and Foresight Office, and Her Excellency Lucille Berger, Ambassador of the European Union to the United Arab Emirates, the dialogue will be moderated by Dr. Florence Gouape, from NATO Defense University.

The most prominent sessions of the first day of the Dubai Future Forum also include the session “A Journey into the Depths of the Mind: Can We Engineer Human Consciousness?” Featuring Dr. Giulio Tononi, Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness Studies, and Dr. Anil Seth, neuroscientist and author, and moderated by Dawn Nakagawa, President of the Berggruen Institute; The session “The Role of Education in Building the World’s Readiness for the Future,” with the participation of Sobhi Tawil from UNESCO, Dr. Doris Viljoen from Stellenbosch Business School, and Dr. Kuo Hua Chin from Tamkang University. The dialogue is moderated by Dr. Suhail Enayatullah, Head of the UNESCO Chair for Future Studies; A keynote speech entitled “What is the role of industrial sectors in driving the future of the economy?” Presented by Abdel Nasser Bin Kalban, CEO of Emirates Global Aluminium.

The first day will witness important sessions within the forum’s themes, such as the session “Do scientific alliances create a new future for research and development?” With the participation of Khalifa Al Qama, Director of Dubai Future Labs, Max Mergoli from the AIMEC Institute, and Carlos Nizam from Emirates Global Aluminium, interviewed by Tuya Altangerl, from the United Nations Development Programme; And the session “Proactive Medicine: Are We on the Verge of a New Leap”? With the participation of Dr. Yassin Hajayat, Director of Innovation and Digital Health at Dubai Health, and Dr. Jeffrey Glenn from Stanford University.

Sessions also address issues of cultural and societal transformation, such as the session “The Global Consumer 2035: What Do Global Markets Tell Us About the Future?” With the participation of Linda Arvidsson, from the H&M Group, and Anuradha Jag, from The BioLeadership Project, Mick Costigan, from Salesforce, moderated by Maeve Quirin, from Foresight Factory; And the session “Deep-ocean innovations: Do they shape the features of the future?” With the participation of Dr. Ulrike Pfreundt from the Reeves Foundation, Dr. Juan Antonio Romero from the Department of Economy and Tourism in Dubai, and Karim Elia from Cogia, interviewed by Emily Scharben from The Pacific Community Foundation.

The second day begins with a series of key sessions that shed light on cities, nature and human creativity, with His Excellency Engineer Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalita, Director General of Dubai Municipality, speaking in a session entitled “The Future of Cities: What is the Dubai Model?” Followed by a session entitled “From Atoms to Stars… New Frontiers for Exploring the Universe,” with the participation of Dr. Niku Madhusudhan from the University of Cambridge, and an interview with Dr. Lori Karnath from the Molecular Frontiers Foundation. Anand Varma of Wonder Lab – National Geographic Society will also give a keynote address entitled “How Curiosity is Reshaping Man’s Relationship with the Earth.”

The second day includes sessions focusing on the role of foresight in empowering societies, such as “How can young people turn foresight into a platform for innovation?” and “How does collaborative foresight create stronger partnerships between communities?” What is the future of water and food in a world with limited resources? “How do we create a future that can withstand and anticipate crises?” and “How do museums and art galleries contribute to designing the future?” Featuring Marina Pique from the Museum of Tomorrow, Megan Tamati-Quinnell, Curator of Modern Maori and Indigenous Art, and Hassan Rajab from Hsnrgb Studio.

The activities of the first and second days of the Dubai Future Forum 2025 include innovative experiences and innovative performances with augmented reality, such as “Plants of the Future” and “Forest Dialogue,” which are two interactive displays that combine digital nature and real spaces, in addition to virtual reality displays such as “The Art of Change,” a hand-drawn virtual experience that explores the concepts of identity and memory, and “Guardians of the Forest,” an immersive reality film that addresses the complementary relationship between human cognitive heritage and the sustainability of biodiversity.

The activities of the Dubai Future Forum this year also include various workshops over two days that discuss vital topics such as individuals’ perceptions of the future, future scenario laboratories, practical foresight, alternative methods of foresight, scenario planning, the possible future, and future narratives, in addition to a specialized workshop for the global network of international future forecasting institutions.

On the sidelines of the forum, the “Dubai Solutions for the Future – Innovations for Humanity” initiative for the year 2025, the largest and most diverse global gathering of innovators and academic talents, will be organized during the period from November 17 to 20 in “Area 2071” in the Emirates Towers in Dubai, and the best 100 innovative projects will be presented out of more than 3,000 contributions from students, recent graduates, and professors enrolled in more than 1,200 universities in 120 countries around the world.

At the conclusion of the initiative, 5 exceptional innovators will be selected, honored and supported to develop their innovative ideas and implement them on the ground.

This global event will also witness the announcement of the winners of the first session of the “Dubai Future Foresight Awards”, which were announced last year under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, to celebrate the innovators, the distinguished, the pioneers of foresight, the designers of the future, those with future visions and creative ideas from around the world, and to highlight their qualitative achievements in three main areas: the foundations of future foresight and its theories, and anticipating the future. Communities, and anticipating the future of the environment.

The Future Novels Awards ceremony will also be organized, which celebrates writers and authors whose writings and works inspire new generations of future experts and forecasters.

The agenda of the Dubai Future Forum this year is distinguished by allocating an integrated section to the events of launching and signing future books in the history of the forum with international writers, authors and publishers.

The launch of the forum will be preceded by a day of specialized forums on November 17, which will discuss five vital topics: foresight and international security, foresight and strategic charitable work, foresight and smart collectibles, foresight and climate response, and informing the future.

The forum will also be followed by an additional day of specialized forums on November 20, 2025, which highlight important topics for the future of humanity focusing on building a shared tomorrow, lessons from nature, a new vision for the era of artificial intelligence, future-ready urban strategies, how do we build a future that anticipates changes?, the future begins from within, a global alliance for future studies, reimagining methods of communication, from vision to leadership, the power of communities, the voice of youth, from the number of years to the quality of life, long-term thinking and the present, implementing the future, smart foresight with resources. Limited.

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