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Over 500 experts last week gathered at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2024 in Dubai to address the world’s most pressing issues related to security, economic inequality, climate emergency and geopolitical tensions.
The Global Future Council experts – made up of thought leaders from academia, government, international organisations, business, and civil society led discussions that served as a crucial platform to set the tone for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos and shape the global agenda for the critical months ahead.
“Four forces – geopolitical fragmentation; technological transformation; ecological reconceptualization; and societal polarisation – are creating a world that is more complex and uncertain than ever before,” says Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the Board of Trustees, World Economic Forum. “We will master those transformations only by creating positive visions which will encourage people to contribute to be part of a better future.”
Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, adds: “The only constant conviction we recognise every day is that nothing remains stable. The primary measure of success for nations, communities, and individuals is agility and adaptability.”
“We are meeting at a time when the world is entering a more contentious, contested era. We also face a fragile global economy and heat records are being broken almost every month, while innovation is unfolding at unprecedented speed,” says Mirek Dušek, MD of the World Economic Forum. “These developments are not bound by borders and can only be addressed through international, cross-sector cooperation and bold ideas. That is what the Global Future Councils are truly about.”
Lauren Woodman, CEO of Datakind, says: “As much as we worry about the risks of AI … There are also tremendous opportunities. If we do not commit ourselves to building something equitable from the beginning, we miss those opportunities out of fear and unwillingness to cooperate – and that would be a real tragedy.”
Participants engaged in high-level discussion on themes related to innovation for inclusive growth; climate action, nature protection and the energy transition; and building trust for global collaboration.
For the first time, the meeting also included over 50 global business executives from C-suite functions to explore new ways to implement measures to improve workers’ well-being and learning opportunities, and improve risk preparedness and economic forecasting. In addition, the World Economic Forum and the Global Future Councils launched or advanced over 10 initiatives and reports during the meeting.
Sessions explored how to revive economic growth given the current global context and highlighted the need for public-private partnerships to support inclusive and sustainable growth. The theme was discussed across various council working sessions including on gender, human capital, and the impact of artificial intelligence on growth.
“We need to talk about AI as a technology that is either going to be an existential threat or an existential opportunity for humanity,” says Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Office of the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
“Today the world is very different,” says Mona Haddad, global director for Trade, Investment and Competitiveness, World Bank Group. “We are no longer seeing open markets; we are no longer seeing globalisation in the same way.”
“The good news is that the technology for green growth is now more affordable than ever,” says Masood Ahmed, president, Center for Global Development. “But financing costs are very high.”
“When you think about creating health, we think about healthcare. The reality is that over 80% of factors that influence our health lie outside of healthcare,” says Tolu Oni, clinical professor of Global Public Health and Sustainable Urban Development, University of Cambridge. “They lie in the social, environmental and the economic determinants of health, so they lie in the environments that shape where we live, how we live, how we move, what we eat, the air we breathe.”
The Forum unveiled a custom-built Strategic Intelligence platform, which will provide AI-enabled briefings on public policy to support the implementation of the “We the UAE Vision 2031”
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