Free space

The future starts in the Emirates

Badr scholars

March 23, 2021

For the first time in contemporary history, man finds safety in separation, not in convergence and gathering.

For the first time, the hand of necessity extends to our faces to cover our smiles. We wear masks carefully, afraid of an enemy that is stalking us and we do not see it.

Also, for the first time, we discover that we must have a virtual world that protects us from the cruelty of the physical world.

The crisis that we have crossed was clear evidence that the hope of mankind may simply be represented in computers that transmit our thoughts over high-speed connectors, computers that manage the enormous void left by the workforce that has parked in the safety of their homes, computers that our children's teachers look to in order to ensure that they are protected from an unknown virus and ignorance. They are deprived of the most important things of childhood - learning, surprise and innovation.

What we have learned most during the last period is a very simple and very important fact, that the only guarantee for the sustainability of our world and for human survival is our ability to communicate, communicate with each other, communicate with our machines and tools, and our tools communicate with each other in our absence.

There is no doubt that we stand today at the threshold of a historical stage that constitutes an opportunity for humanity to move to the future, where the great development in industry and technology has contributed to opening new horizons that enabled humanity to make tremendous progress during an unprecedented period of time, indicating the beginning of an industrial revolution that will reshape the global economy.

If we study the three previous industrial revolutions, we will find that their impact was direct on enhancing production.

Today, with the beginnings of the fourth industrial revolution that relies mainly on digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, cloud computing, blockchains, and fifth generation networks, we are witnessing the beginning of a fundamental change that will affect all sectors, economies and societies.

It is clear that devoting the ability to communicate through digitization will contribute not only to enhancing production, but also to liberate organizations, economies and individuals from the restrictions imposed by the old economic systems, and pave the way towards a new future whose features differ from the present in which we live today, where the increasing adoption of industrial revolution technologies leads to The fourth is to reformulate our lifestyles.

Those concerned with global affairs today ask: Where does humanity's journey to the world of the future begin?

The question that tries to read the global scene in the epidemic crisis, trying to devise the most important features of the coming years.

There is no doubt that the answer is limited to the countries that were able to successfully manage the crisis, but which were able to overcome challenges and turn them into opportunities for growth and achievement, not only for their own people, but for the peoples of the whole world.

The answer is very simple: the future starts from countries like the UAE.

The UAE was able to establish its position at the global level as a leading destination for crisis management.

And it was able to continue its economic activities and ensure the health of human cadres at the same time, so that the state would emerge from the dust of our battle with the epidemic, a rising regional and global power.

Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the World Summit on Industry and Manufacturing