Knowledge Summit To Discuss Policies And Practices In The Global Knowledge Landscape

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 7^th edition of Knowledge Summit being organized by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), will hold its in-person sessions on March 14 and 15 at Expo 2020 Dubai, and on March 16 – 18 through virtual platforms. In addition, parallel sessions themed ‘Knowledge Space’ will take place at the summit’s second hall within the Expo site.

The ’Knowledge Space’ sessions will focus on policies and practices being adopted in the knowledge sector on a global level and will explore the role of data and statistics in strategic foresight and future thinking.  It will feature 10 sessions to be held during the first two days of the event with five sessions in each day.

The first session themed ‘Scaling up resilience in times of uncertainty’ will discuss ways to build adaptability and resilience to face future changes and challenges, from national to regional to global resilience, nurturing adaptive resilience, and rethinking rigid and inflexible strategies. For the second session, the topic will focus on ‘A new model for education’ which will highlight the value of data and measurement in education, as well as explore the readiness of institutions and learners on new ways of schooling beyond the walls of a classroom. It will also discuss ways that can make e-learning more interactive.

During the third session, the talk will be about ‘Disseminating knowledge in non-traditional ways: The Researcher’s experience’ and discuss the power and influence of the media based on the researcher’s experience. The fourth session will follow to explore the topic, ‘Fostering collaboration and innovation mechanisms to manage risks. It will address the obstacles in achieving collaboration, how to enable strategic and radical innovation, building networks in a multi-stakeholder setting, and managing innovation risks.

The fifth session for the day will engage the audience in the topic, ‘Promoting science and policy dialogues: Science–policy interfaces’ where speakers will elaborate on the institutionalization of alliances between science, politics, and society. It will further discuss the role of science and policy as partners in achieving inclusive transformation. Finally, the session will dwell on integrated policies that incorporate science and sustainability.

The next five sessions on the second day of ‘Knowledge Space’will kick off with ‘The Future of Knowledge Foresight Report 2022’: A transformative capacity model for future-ready societies. This will be a review of the Future of Knowledge Foresight 2022 Report, and the future directions in building knowledge societies capable of adapting to accelerated changes in the future. It will be followed by a session titled ‘Growing the knowledge economy in an age of intangibles’ aim to examine the relationship between digital transformation and economic growth, and will delve into prospects of innovation, the importance of intellectual capital, and investing in research, development, and innovation.

The eighth and nineth sessions will be dedicated to ‘The Global Knowledge Index: Sectoral perspectives’ where participants will discuss the findings of the Arab States in the Global Knowledge Index 2022, and a comprehensive review of the knowledge situation.

The last session on the second day will put the spotlight on the topic ‘Data availability and access: The key to resilience’ where the participants will gain a better understanding of methodologies to develop data-driven policies, data quality assurance, and differences between traditional data and big data and advanced analytics.

At the end of each day, the ‘Knowledge Space’will hold a workshop titled ‘Development Data’. This is going to be led by the Faculty of Humanities of the United Arab Emirates University to help learners make sense of existing data and enable them to develop insightful and actionable decisions.

Knowledge Summit 2022 is being held with the overall theme ‘Knowledge: Protecting Humanity and the Planet in the Pandemic’ which aims to highlight the role of knowledge in meeting global challenges and present alternatives and opportunities to protect humanity. It is part of MBRF’s objectives aimed at promoting knowledge and empowering societies across the region and the world. It is part of its key objective and plan of action to find faster and more accurate solutions to health, environmental, economic, and social challenges and help provide a better future and a clear path to sustainable development.