Dubai Future Forum begins with focus on society and space

Futurists, policymakers, scientists and industry leaders are gathering at the Dubai Future Forum this week to discuss how society, governments and technology could look in the next 20, 30 or 40 years.

The conference is taking place at the Museum of the Future on Tuesday and Wednesday and will welcome 70 futurists from all over the world, who will share their visions.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, will give the opening speech.

“Dubai Future Forum is an annual platform for discussing future opportunities and challenges, identifying priorities, and enhancing collaboration between governments, the private sector and societies to keep pace with the rapidly evolving world around us,” he said.

Amy Webb from the Future Today Institute will be a keynote speaker.

“Chief executives, government leaders, policymakers and central banks are grappling with immense volatility and critical uncertainties,” she said.

“Their decisions today will determine the long-term fate of human civilisation.

“Strategic foresight has never been more urgent and more necessary. The world's most eminent forecasters are gathering at the Dubai Future Forum to challenge leaders — and each other — to be more ambitious in meeting our emerging global challenges.”

Well-known futurist and theoretical physicist Dr Michio Kaku will also be speaking.

Future of governments

The conference will focus heavily on how governments are adapting to changes happening around the world.

The first panel session will be on how governments can mitigate challenges through foresight.

Speakers will include Abdulla Nasser Lootah, Director General of the UAE's Prime Minister's Office, and Sophie Howe, future generations commissioner for Wales.

There will also be a panel on whether international borders would still exist in the future, as society continues to produce more “global citizens”.

Speakers will discuss whether traditional citizenship would still play an important part in individual and social identity.

Future of technology

Technology will also be a focus at the forum.

There will be discussions on alternate forms of digital currencies, if personal data could be monetised by businesses, and if personal data could be used as a medium of exchange to pay for digital services.

Another panel session will share ideas on whether digital poverty is the new global crisis.

Panellists will discuss the impact of digital transformation on social and economic equity.

Future of the space industry

Experts will discuss whether space agencies and companies should focus on “space research” or “space colonisation”.

Billionaire Elon Musk hopes to send a million people to Mars by 2050.

But his plans are often criticised by scientists, who say that the Red Planet has hostile conditions in which it would be impossible to survive.

There have been calls by scientists for space agencies and companies to focus instead on improving the health of Earth, including fighting against climate change.

Terraforming Mars will also be discussed. That is a process of modifying the atmosphere of a planet to make it habitable.

Dubai Metaverse Assembly at the Museum of the Future — in pictures

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”