Programme

Search programme by keyword:

Click on the links below to view sessions by date or to generate the complete programme; alternatively, you may use the "Search Programme" function above to access all sessions related to a specific topic.

Registered participants, please log in using your user name and password to view speakers, session times and session locations.

18.05.2008

19.05.2008

20.05.2008

All sessions

Download the Programme at a Glance (PDF) - working document only

Learning from the Future

In an age of rapid and constant change, uncertainty is not a temporary deviation from a reasonable predictability; it is a structural feature of the business, political, technological and social environment. Leaders today accept uncertainty, try to understand it and make it part of their reasoning.

The theme of the 2008 World Economic Forum on the Middle East, Learning from the Future, is an attempt to address uncertainty. This year’s programme invites participants to explore long-term trends and challenges by adding a stimulating and provocative new perspective to their thinking.

The World Economic Forum on the Middle East, therefore, features three main characteristics:

1. Plenaries, panel discussions, debates and WorkSpaces address the region’s most pressing, uncertain and challenging topics, such as the global food crisis, climate change and sustainability, inflation and the global financial order, and political instability.

2. Highly collaborative and interactive new session formats allow you to meet your peers and share ideas on certain topics (Focused Networking), obtain specific insights on the region (Eye On) and have face-to-face meetings with the global leaders that matter to you (Global Leader in the Spotlight).

3. Lastly, the theme Learning from the Future will be brought to life in a special series of sessions based on three Global Scenarios to 2025. These Scenarios Series sessions propose three distinct global driving forces and examine their potential impact on the Middle East, relating them back to today's priorities.

The three scenarios are outlined below; the embedded links will lead you to scenario stories that give you a more vivid picture of the three worlds you might encounter in 2025.

Scenario 1: The Hyperlinked World
The Hyperlinked World is a world of possibilities. Advancements in physical, technological and cyber-infrastructure cause communication costs to drop sharply, while people, businesses and governments experience a great leap forward in the degree of interconnectedness. The global order in 2025 is governed by networks, communities and interest groups.

Scenario 2: The Sustainable World
The Sustainable World is marked by soaring demographics, industrialization and ongoing climate change. Water and food scarcities lead to new pockets of instability and a different geostrategic relevance of the Middle East. The emergence of a planet-wide consciousness of the environment forces businesses and governments to adopt new policies of corporate global citizenship and sustainability.

Scenario 3: The Multipolar World
In the Multipolar World, the epicentre of the global economy is in the East. New centres of power, fuelled by strong growth, emerge, while global energy demand puts oil exporters under pressure. The trade and investment environment focuses on the new Asian powers that play an ever more assertive role in international politics. The Middle East is engulfed in a geopolitical competition for influence, power and ideas.

Download the printer-friendly Global Scenarios to 2025 (PDF) for The World Economic Forum on the Middle East 2008 - working document only.