On 17 February 2020, at the headquarters of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), “Future Forum” will kick off with the participation of 27 renowned experts in strategic foresight and artificial intelligence (AI) from all over the world.

The Forum will be held by ICESCO in cooperation with the office of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation in the Kingdom of Morocco, as part of the Organization’s new vision of foreseeing the future and handling the changes and challenges facing the Islamic world. The aim is to turn the Forum into a platform for debate and exchange of views with the interested stakeholders and foresight experts to explore regional and international foresight capacities and define possible futuristic visions.

Through a forward-looking approach, this session will be a journey into the future, and an opportunity for foresight experts to give presentations in their fields of expertise on the main trends and the challenges facing the world by 2040.

The latest AI applications and their uses will form one of the most important themes to be discussed by the Forum as the world is witnessing many ecological, political, social and digital changes affecting all the sectors of development of human societies. This calls for the study and understanding of all these developments, revision of their trends, and foresight of the repercussions and their challenges, in such a way as to ensure a safer transition to sustainable development. The Islamic world, whose 54 states are members of ICESCO, is not spared from these changes since it occupies a strategic position at the crosroads of civilizations, cultures and economies.

The choice of AI and its applications to be a theme of discussion at the Forum is motivated by the fact that it is the tangible aspect of the digital evolution that reshapes and influences international relations, namely the changes affecting the approach to sustainable development. In this reagard, AI experts will gave presentations in order to put into perspective artificial intelligence and its ability to advance societies and discuss its possibilities and potentials.

Thematic workshops will be included in the Forum and will serve as a tool of strategic foresight aiming at creating a common and participatory platform for key players in development to analyze and ultimately predict the future of the discussed themes (education, culture, sciences, AI, robotics) by 2040. Moreover, the Forum’s programme features a gallery of virtual pictures and digital drawings and an exhibition of physical models reflecting the sector-related challenges of the future.

ICESCO welcomes specialists, university and higher institute students and the interested public to attend the Forum and benefit from its various activities on 17-18 February 2020.