Dubai Future Foundation has released the fifth edition of its annual knowledge report, “Future Opportunities: 50 Global Opportunities”, with this year’s edition examining how far progress has advanced across 50 opportunities identified in earlier versions of the report. The aim is to help governments, institutions and individuals understand their roles and capabilities in turning these future opportunities into reality.
From future ideas to practical action
Each opportunity in the report is framed around two core questions for institutional decision-makers: How can your organisation benefit from this opportunity, and what role should it play? It also poses a practical question for individuals: Where should you direct your efforts and investments, and what skills do you need to keep pace with this change?
The report explores possible pathways that could lead towards the future we aspire to for growth, prosperity and quality of life. It places particular emphasis on moving from ideas to implementation, and on clarifying how the investment and financing needed to realise promising innovations can be secured and channelled effectively.
Expert collaboration and long-term assumptions
Dubai Future Foundation prepared the report with the participation of more than 180 experts and specialists from the UAE and around the world, whose insights helped assess the opportunities and how they may be applied and implemented. The analysis is set against five long-term assumptions: continued climate change, widening social gaps, improvements in human health and longevity, growing global interconnectedness, and the accelerating pace of technological progress.
His Excellency Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Dubai Future Foundation and Chairman of the Museum of the Future, said that the future is shaped by minds that see challenges as the beginning of new paths for progress and growth, and that every future opportunity is an invitation to think differently, act more boldly and believe that tomorrow can be better than we imagine.
He said: “Since its establishment, the UAE, thanks to the vision of its leadership, has developed an inspiring global model that adopts an ambitious mindset which sees challenges as promising opportunities for growth, progress and achieving what many may consider impossible. The most successful future-planning decisions have always been made under the toughest conditions and against all expectations.”
He added: “The UAE’s experience has confirmed that bold decisions do not only change the present, but reshape the entire future… This is how major transformations are made: through bold decisions, and through minds that believe the future is not an event we wait for, but a project we design. This is the mindset our institutions, cities and communities need today.”
Key opportunities highlighted in the report
The report includes 50 opportunities across major sectors. Among the most prominent is the next generation of robots, where affordable, globally distributed robotic platforms could provide scalable solutions and help advance Sustainable Development Goals that were previously difficult to achieve.
It also points to the potential of making all scientific and academic publications available to everyone through a central open platform. Such a model could accelerate innovation, strengthen cross-disciplinary collaboration, deepen the global spread of knowledge and integrate wider segments of society into the process of producing and benefiting from science.
Another opportunity is the creation of floating solar panel arrays in space, operated by advanced machine intelligence to determine the optimal location and orbit. This could enable round-the-clock renewable power generation and reliable transmission to Earth, further supporting the transition to renewable energy. The report notes that estimates suggest 55% of global electricity production will depend on clean energy sources by 2035.
Space could also become a strategic site for large-scale energy storage through networks of orbital supercapacitors capable of storing energy and transferring it back to Earth to meet humanity’s growing needs on the planet and in space alike. In addition, electricity may soon be transmitted to individuals and industries through superconducting materials with no loss, creating more efficient, flexible networks better able to meet rising demand.
The report says that nanobiomaterials and synthetic materials will soon make it possible to produce smart fabrics and clothing capable of supplying the human body with its basic daily vitamin requirements, helping improve health and address nutrient deficiency.
It also stresses that the oceans contain vast biodiversity that has been only partially explored, opening significant possibilities for marine biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and for innovation in the pharmaceutical and food industries. This would also support ecosystem conservation, especially as 75% of new infectious diseases have emerged in areas that have experienced severe biodiversity disruption.
The report further highlights the promise of carbon nanomaterials in removing pollutants with high efficiency, including ultra-fine particles, which could transform global access to clean water at a time when 2.1 billion people lack safe drinking water. Bacteriophages, including genetically modified viruses, may also become an effective alternative to antibiotics by precisely targeting disease-causing bacteria.
It says the near future may bring a wave of revolutionary innovation in the production of car wheels and tyres, reshaping the automotive industry through technologies ranging from magnetic levitation and drone-inspired solutions to advanced alternatives to rubber tyres that reduce energy use and emissions.
The report also points to rapid advances in quantum physics that could revolutionise communications, cryptography and computing, making the digital world more present and influential.
Progress in satellites and advanced machine intelligence, it adds, will enable all people around the world to access the internet efficiently, while supporting the Internet of Things and reducing network outages through intelligent switching between cellular and satellite networks. It may also become possible to build advanced homes inspired by space research that are self-sufficient, provide life essentials and ease pressure on Earth, with the space economy projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035.
Another expected shift is large-scale local data storage and processing closer to where data is generated, rather than sending it across networks to central data centres. This would speed up processing, improve performance, reduce latency and enhance the efficiency of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality and connected systems. The report notes that the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices could reach 50 billion by 2035, while the global semiconductor manufacturing market is expected to reach around $1 trillion by 2030.
It also says machines may soon be able to repair their own faults without human intervention through the integration of preventive maintenance, smart materials and advanced sensors. This would allow continuous manufacturing without interruption, improve the sustainability of consumer products and robots, and extend their operational life.
In healthcare, personalised bioprinting could bring a major shift in organ transplantation by printing organs from a patient’s own cells, increasing the likelihood of acceptance by the body and improving survival chances. Contactless touch technologies are also expected to take digital experiences to a new level by enabling the sensation of touch without wearable devices, enhancing interaction in gaming, extended reality, healthcare and everyday life.
A response to global demographic change
The report places these opportunities in the context of major global demographic shifts, noting that the world’s population is expected to reach 10.3 billion within 60 years. That increase, it says, will intensify the need to accelerate the development of scalable solutions across energy, health, food, water, infrastructure and technology.
“Future Opportunities: 50 Global Opportunities” is available in both Arabic and English via the following link: https://www.dubaifuture.ae/ar/the-global-50/