Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dubai Future Foundation His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said that Dubai continues to strive to become one of the leading nations shaping the future of the world, guided by the vision of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to develop local talent to create future-oriented initiatives and programmes.

Sheikh Hamdan’s remarks came during the launch of Dubai Future Academy’s ‘Dubai Future Experts Programme’, which seeks to train local talent and equip them with the skills and expertise to design future-related initiatives.

“The Programme aims to develop people with specialised skills in strategic sectors. We aim to empower future generations to enhance their role in developing projects and initiatives that can shape the future of Dubai,” Sheikh Hamdan said. “I invite all Dubai Government entities to nominate talented staff for the Programme, which will teach them new skills and expertise that enable them to enhance their contributions to enhancing the government sector and developing future-oriented projects that support the progress of Dubai and the UAE.”

Sheikh Hamdan said that launching the Programme is another step towards preparing the next generation of future experts in strategic sectors and equipping them with the skills to identify and analyse key local, regional and global changes.

Participants in the Programme will be selected from a pool of candidates nominated by government entities based on their design thinking skills. Employees of government entities with foresighting skills can nominate themselves individually through the Dubai Future Academy’s website.

The Dubai Future Experts Programme, jointly developed by The Executive Council and the Dubai Future Foundation, seeks to enhance participants’ skills in strategic thinking, social intelligence, project management of future foresight and design in the educational, cultural and technology sectors, decision making, policy and legislative development and strategy development for unlocking new opportunities in economic zones in the UAE.

The year-and-a-half-long programme is divided into three levels of six months each. The three progressive levels include future analyst, future executive and futuristic strategist. A unique methodology will be used to involve participants in the development and implementation of the Programme from level 1 to 3, reaching a 90% contribution by the end of the Programme. The Academy also offers participants the ability to collaborate with various initiatives, entrepreneurs, accelerator programmes and business incubators at Area 2071, in addition to a wide network of decision makers and knowledge and research centres provided by the Dubai Future Foundation.

The programme targets medium and senior level management employees of Dubai Government, who possess expertise and experience in designing and executing strategies in various key sectors like health, urban development, mobility, education, talent, security, energy, culture, society, technology, media, and communication, among others. The projects to be developed within the Programme will focus on strategic sectors of Dubai and the UAE in 2021. Each participant will present a research paper about the future of the sector he or she covers. Upon completion of all three levels, participants will combine the findings of their research to develop a prototype or research model. The best project of the Programme will be displayed at Area 2071.