DUBAI, UAE, 13 March 2022 – Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the 7th edition of the Knowledge Summit is set to begin tomorrow (Monday March 14, 2022) at the EXPO 2020 Dubai. The Summit has been organized by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The five-day summit, running under the theme ‘Knowledge: Protecting Humanity and the Planet in the Pandemic’ will include live sessions on 14 and 15 March, and virtual conferences from 16 to 18 March.
The summit will focus on facilitating broad and detailed discussions on several issues of common global interest and impact. It will bring together speakers from an internationally renowned pool of elite experts, academics, and decision makers to examine the challenges to building a knowledge society, and review the various opportunities and options offered by knowledge. Another crucial aim is to formulate effective solutions and tools that would enable countries to achieve their development plans within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The launch of the Knowledge Summit is in line with the UAE’s ambition to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge. It will also highlight the opportunities and challenges involved in the building of knowledge societies in light of the changes brought about the COVID-19 pandemic. The EXPO 2020 has been chosen due to its international audience and global reach that would allow for an intersectional perspective on various topics. It will serve as the ideal platform to engage in constructive debates and discussions on the knowledge industry and its role in addressing current and future challenges, while also exploring human intelligence and achievement.
The main sessions address broad themes, most notably ‘Knowledge Drives the Future’, ‘Web Education 3.0 – The Metaversity’, ‘The Role & Impact of Media During Crisis: COVID-19 (as an example)’, ‘Pandemics and Their Impact on Climate: A Double-Edged Sword’, ‘Food Security: Between Sustainable Supply Chains & Self-Sufficiency’, ‘Creative thinking: Working Towards poverty free societies’, ‘Mental Health and Pandemics’, ‘Young Entrepreneurship’, ‘Epidemiology & Public Health: A Profound Impact on How We Live Our Lives’, and ‘How COVID-19 Is Reshaping the Legal Landscape?’
Parallel sessions under the ‘Knowledge Space’ banner will also discuss several topics such as ‘Scaling up resilience in times of uncertainty’, ‘A New Model for Education’, ‘Disseminating knowledge in non-traditional ways: The Researcher’s experience’, ‘Fostering collaboration and innovation mechanisms to manage risks’, ‘Promoting science and policy dialogues: Science–policy interfaces’, ‘Growing the knowledge economy in an age of intangibles’, and ‘Data availability and access: The key to resilience.’
The sessions will also display the results of the Arab States in the Global Knowledge Index 2021, and the results of the Social Progress Index, which measures the level of social progress in the countries. The report is based on several criteria aimed at measuring well-being, opportunities, and basic human needs. It is considered the most comprehensive measure of social and environmental performance.
In addition, the Summit will also witness the launch of the third edition of the Future of Knowledge Foresight Report. This report will review the future knowledge landscape and analyze differences in the transformative capacities of various countries in the face of major global risks. Created utilizing large data over two years, this report will also provide new insights into countries’ readiness to face future risks.
For the first time, the Knowledge Summit events will also continue virtually, through conferences on the website platform from 16 to 18 March. These sessions will examine various topics such as ‘Effective Leadership During Crisis: Transforming Cultures & Driving Innovation’, ‘Reinventing Jobs and Employment’, ‘Resilient Infrastructure: A Long-Term Profitable Investment’, ‘Water Security: A Cornerstone for Economic, Social and Environmental Development’, ‘SDG-Based Learning: Qualifying Young Changemakers’, ‘Knowledge Management and Big Data in Business: An Industry 4.0 Perspective”, and ‘Co-Existence and Synergies in the Marine Space.’
The MBRF’s key priority is to promote knowledge among societies of the region and the world that will aid empowerment. The foundation strives to implement a plan of action that will create faster and more accurate solutions to health, environmental, economic, and social challenges, and aims to provide a better future with a clear path to sustainable development.
