The fourth edition of the Dubai Future Forum offered a wide range of immersive experiences and future-focused activations from 18–19 November, giving participants direct insight into next-generation technologies and emerging creative practices.

At the Museum of the Future, visitors explored “The Art of Change”, a hand-painted VR experience examining memory and identity, and “Future Botanica”, which blended digital nature with physical space to reimagine the natural world. “Keepers of the Forest” showcased an immersive film on the Batwa people, highlighting how traditional knowledge preserves biodiversity. “AuraForest”, a multisensory digital installation, introduced audiences to plant communication through scent, sound, and visual storytelling.

Workshopping the Future

The Forum also hosted a series of interactive workshops. Day 1 featured: “Anticipating the Future Together: How Can We Assess the Futures Pulse of Citizens?”, a workshop hosted by Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, exploring how we might be positive shapers of the future by activating curiosity and dialogue at a citizen and country level. 

Other workshops included “Scenario Lab: What Happens When Imagination Becomes the World’s Most Valuable Resource?” by strategy&, where participants reimagined new systems of value, inspired new economic models, and cultivated a more regenerative,  equitable futures powered by human imagination; “Foresight to Action: What Will the Future of Migration Look Like?” by IOM (UN Migration Agency); and “Alternative Futures Methods: What Can We Learn from Around the World?” by School of International Futures and Next Generation Foresight Practitioners.

Book launches and signings

The Forum also brought together authors and thinkers advancing global foresight discourse.
Adam Kahane, author and Co-Founder of Reos Partners, launched the second edition of Collaborating with the Enemy, offering new perspectives on transforming conflict into collaboration.

Book signings were held by Phil Balagatas, author of Making Futures Work; Cecilia Tham, Founder and CEO of Futurity Systems and author of How to Synthesize the Future; and Ramona Emerson, author of Exposure.

Minke Meijnders, Strategic Foresight Specialist at UN Global Pulse, and Tim Šooš, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Slovenia to the Nordics, hosted a showcase of the futures game “Buzzing Futures”.

For more information about Dubai Future Forum 2025, please visit: www.dubaifuture.ae/dubai-future-forum-2025