Learnings Day Test — Dubai Future Foundation

21 November 2024

LEARNINGs DAY

As an add-on to an exciting two days, the Dubai Future Forum is hosting a third day, Learnings Day, that is dedicated to enhancing our collective capacity to navigate the future through strategic foresight practices. Learnings Day will take place on 21 November at Emirates Towers, which is adjacent to the Museum of the Future, and which aims to empower individuals and organizations by providing the tools, knowledge, and skills needed to anticipate and prepare for emerging trends and potential challenges. Through a series of collaborative workshops, participants will gain insights into methodologies for future planning, scenario development, and innovative problem-solving.

Please note that this day is an optional opportunity for Dubai Future Forum participants and sign up is mandatory. We would like to recommend that you sign up for no more than 2 sessions on the day to provide an opportunity for as many people as possible to take advantage of this additional experience. When a session becomes full, a waiting list will become operational. In either case, you will be notified should your spot be confirmed for your selected session(s).

SCHEDULED SESSIONS

Framing Tomorrow: Who Decides What is Ethical in Foresight?

Anticipating techno-social trends is a crucial task for policymakers aiming to promote innovation in a responsible, sustainable, inclusive, and fair way. However, very few of the currently available methodologies for horizon scanning and foresight enable a systematic anticipation of ethical issues linked to emerging technologies. The UK’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Ada Lovelace Institute and University of Oxford’s Ethox Centre are working in partnership to develop practical ways of embedding ethical foresight into the policy development process. The ambition is to place ethics at the centre of decisions regarding biomedicine, health and AI governance, so we all benefit. This workshop invites participants to join an experiment to assess one of the methods the co-hosts have developed. Participants will be randomly allocated to groups, taken through the exercises, and be provided with project context. The results of the workshop will subsequently be shared with workshop participants after the Forum, and the hope is for future opportunities to collaborate further.

Global Energy Scenarios: How can Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches Reinforce Each Other?

Navigating the future of global energy requires a balance between qualitative insights and quantitative precision. Many organizations lean heavily on numerical projections, often leading to a misplaced confidence in their strategies. However, foresight experts understand that numbers alone can’t capture the full picture. Instead, quantitative models should validate whether future scenarios are grounded in reality or based on unrealistic expectations. This approach is vital as the world undertakes essential transitions in energy and natural resources to meet the Paris Agreement goals. Often, the scenarios we see are either normative—outlining what must happen—or technocratic—focused on specific changes, but these can result in contradictory or overly optimistic projections. This session uses contextual trends to create scenarios that reflect internally consistent, realistic pathways. By focusing on the next 10-15 years of policy and investment cycles, the co-hosts will offer a practical guide for addressing the “wicked problems” of global energy transitions, ensuring decisions are both informed and actionable.

Co-Creating the Future: How Can We Harness Generative AI for Foresight?

In an era where technology and foresight intersect, understanding the impact of Generative AI (Gen AI) on strategic foresight is crucial for shaping the future. This workshop explores the transformative power of AI technologies, with a focus on Gen AI’s disruptive potential and the ethical considerations that arise as we move toward Artificial General Intelligence. Participants will explore how to integrate Gen AI into their foresight practices, enhancing everything from content generation to strategic decision-making. This session will highlight examples of using Gen AI tools in the different phases of foresight research and examine real-world applications, such as Egypt’s Horizon Scanner, an innovative platform designed to advance progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Designed for foresight professionals, this session provides essential insights into leveraging Generative AI for more effective and insightful futures analysis.

Indigenous & Inclusive Futures: How Can Identity, Culture, and Stories from Oceania Weave Connections for Collective Futures?

Global Futures Research: How Can Concepts, Methods, and Management Unlock Tomorrow’s Possibilities?

This interactive session will explore key insights and practical tools to navigate the future. It will begin by presenting highlights from State of the Future 20.0, a comprehensive analysis of global critical issues and opportunities—the most detailed work by The Millennium Project to date. Participants will then explore how to engage in the transition from today’s artificial narrow intelligence to the future of artificial general intelligence. The session will also cover global management strategies, focusing on Nodes, Networks, and Fields of Play, the international movement toward creating national parliamentary committees for the future, and 26 innovative methods to connect foresight with decision-making. The session will conclude with roundtable discussions and a plenary, allowing for deeper exploration of these key topics and collective insights to drive future action.

Editing the Future: Who is In and What is Out?

Editing Futures Journals is more than curating content; it’s about shaping the narratives that influence tomorrow’s world. This session brings together editors who have not only navigated the path to leading Futures Journals but have also witnessed and driven change within this dynamic field. Unlike traditional disciplines, editing in Futures Studies requires a unique approach, one that balances emerging trends such as AI in writing and peer review, with a commitment to inclusivity and the integration of diverse perspectives. As the field evolves, so too does the role of the editor—adapting to new challenges, embracing technological advancements, and facilitating the rise of peer-to-peer journals like Medium. Our panelists will reflect on standout papers that have marked their editorial journey, providing insight into the themes that resonate most strongly in shaping our collective future. This session offers a rare opportunity to hear from those who are at the forefront of editorial innovation, sharing practical advice and tips for those eager to contribute to the ongoing dialogue within Futures Studies.

Leaders for Humanity: How Can We Cultivate Foresightful Leaders?

In an era where leaders are increasingly strained by unprecedented change and uncertainty, foresight is more critical than ever. Yet not every leader needs to become a foresight expert. Instead, they need practical tools to integrate foresight into their roles and everyday decision-making. This interactive session, Leaders for Humanity, is designed for foresight professionals eager to help leaders navigate this era of complex, constant change and reimagine the future of leadership. Through an engaging card game, the co-hosts will explore how to equip leaders with the ability to anticipate and respond to future challenges. Participants will also have the opportunity to shape the Dubai Future Forum 2024 expansion pack of Leaders for Humanity, using their foresight expertise to craft plausible scenarios and leadership strategies that will better equip leaders to navigate an increasingly complex future.

Without Words: In Which Languages are The Futures Talking to You?

In a world dominated by language, we often overlook the power of our senses in shaping how we perceive the future. This workshop invites participants to step beyond words and engage with the future through a multisensory experience. Through hands-on exercises focused on sight, sound, touch, and more, participants will explore new ways of sensing and interpreting emerging signals. It is targeted at futurists, especially those working as facilitators and seeking to enhance their fluency in engaging with non-expert audiences and truly democratizing futures. Drawing from the Learning Pyramid, which states that we learn the most when we embody the content we are aiming to learn and then, teach others, this workshop will be very experiential and give significant autonomy and co-creative power to the participants.

Changemakers: How can they deliver future-proofed public policy?

Futures and foresight thinking is critical in allowing policy makers to anticipate future challenges and opportunities, and develop effective public policy over different time horizons. However, too often the link between futures thinking and real-world policy implementation has not been made, with both fields working separately and to different ends. Futures reports sit on shelves gathering dust. Public policy lurches from short-term crisis to crisis. How can we break this self-defeating cycle? Our Changemakers session will begin with an expert panel discussion on the value of making the link between futures thinking and policy, its importance in fields such as trade, geopolitics and healthcare, and the lessons learnt in policy implementation by panellists. Building on these insights, the session will continue with an interactive workshop. Drawing from the industry leading future.ctrl methodology, the workshop will focus on best-practice and innovative tools and methods to combine futures and foresight thinking with effective policy implementation, leaving participants with actionable insights to create policy legacies within their organisations.

Embedding foresight into reluctant organisations: What drives this resistance and how can we overcome it?

Integrating foresight techniques into our organizations can be a real challenge. While we often enjoy learning about these methods, bringing them into our workplaces can feel daunting, especially when faced with resistance from colleagues or cautious bosses. In this workshop, we’ll tackle the challenges of embedding foresight into our organizations. Discover why resistance often arises and learn practical strategies to navigate it. We’ll explore how to transform reluctance into an opportunity for improvement, helping to build a more proactive and innovative team culture. Designed for leaders and foresight professionals, this session offers valuable insights to make foresight techniques a natural part of your team’s routine.

Evolving Foresight Skills: How Will We Shape the Future of Strategic Foresight?

Futures and foresight skills are essential for navigating the complexities of an unpredictable world. Join OCAD University’s Super Ordinary Laboratory for an engaging exploration of the evolving landscape of foresight skills; exploring past and obscured histories, as well as possible futures and trajectories. This session will feature an interactive installation and World Café workshop, where participants will collaboratively map critical foresight skillsets, educational pathways, and the organizational needs of future futurists. Through this engagement, participants will foster a rich international dialogue focused on advancing emerging foresight methodologies and skills, enhancing academic and professional development in futures studies, and integrating foresight practices within organizations. Together, this session will challenge conventional thinking and co-create pathways for impactful foresight in our rapidly changing environment.