Businessman Khalaf bin Ahmed Al Habtoor, founder and chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, stated that Dubai is a city of the future, surpassing global financial capitals. He highlighted the UAE’s successful approach, which integrates leadership, the economy, and the private sector. He emphasized that stability and development are not solely products of financial investment, but rather stem from thoughtful planning and partnerships. He also expressed his belief that the economy in the UAE, particularly Dubai, is more resilient than that of many foreign countries due to various factors, including regulatory frameworks and collaboration between entrepreneurs and the government. He noted that while Europe faces economic challenges, the UAE is in a much better position.
During a panel discussion celebrating the three-year anniversary of the Al Habtoor Research Center, he explained that the center aims to empower Emirati and Arab youth by engaging them in proactive intellectual initiatives that analyze global shifts in politics, economics, technology, and security, transforming these insights into productive Arab knowledge.
He added that the Arab region faces external pressures and ambitions due to its strategic importance and resources, making proactive thinking essential rather than optional. Thus, the center collaborates with leading scholars and experts to monitor global conflicts and political, economic, and technological shifts, intending to convert knowledge into actionable insights that safeguard Arab interests and contribute to a more stable future. In a world filled with crises, he believes this period should be seen as an “Era of Opportunities” rather than an “Era of Threats,” as crises can drive transformation for those who possess vision and determination.
He stated that thought and scientific research are tools for establishing peace and stability, not merely reactions to crises, insisting that think tanks today should lead the future rather than remain passive spectators. He acknowledged that despite Dubai’s relatively recent emergence compared to cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, it has outperformed them in several metrics, establishing itself as a global hub that attracts businesses, talent, and investment. This progress is attributed to wise and balanced responses to global changes, underpinned by the foundational leaders who shaped the UAE’s development through a clear vision, long-term planning, and the establishment of work and commitment values, believing that unity and teamwork form the basis for nation-building and that cooperation is the optimal way to address challenges and create a promising future.
Dr. Azza Hashim, director of the Al Habtoor Research Center, remarked that Dubai stands out as one of the world’s most capable cities in shaping the future, producing models that the world aspires to replicate. She stated that the center is entering a new phase in its mission to anticipate crises and formulate strategic visions, aligned with the founder Khalaf Al Habtoor’s long-held belief in the significance of early warning systems and the necessity of alerting decision-makers to risks before they materialize. The center has been established as an independent Arab scholarly entity, not limited to describing reality, but actively interpreting and predicting its trajectory, thereby assisting decision-making processes on local, Arab, and international levels, with a goal to cultivate an independent research mindset in the Arab world that objectively assesses reality and prepares for future developments.
The event was attended by a distinguished assembly of diplomats, business leaders, researchers, academics, and policymakers, where key achievements of the center during its first thousand days were presented. The center reaffirmed its status as a leading think tank on both regional and international levels, specializing in strategic foresight, policy analysis, early warning systems, and risk management.
During the presentation, Dr. Azza Hashim outlined the center’s institutional development plan for the period 2022-2025, starting with its official launch in 2022, followed by a pilot operational phase, then a full institutional launch, including the launch of the official website in June 2023, culminating in regional expansion and the opening of a branch in Dubai in 2025.
She emphasized that the launch of the Dubai branch marks a strategic transformation in the center’s operations, integrating technology-driven research with political and economic analysis, which facilitates the conversion of academic knowledge into practical policy solutions that support decision-makers and enhance societal resilience against future challenges.
She also highlighted that this new phase from Dubai signifies a step towards broader engagement and globalization, focusing on innovation and scientific and medical research, aligned with the center’s role in Cairo as a regional research base, thus enhancing the center’s scientific and practical impact at both regional and global levels.
The center showcased its research output, including over 600 analyses and strategic reports and more than 110 research publications in both Arabic and English, in addition to launching specialized analytical programs, such as the “What If” program, which is the first dedicated publication predicting risks and discussing unconventional future scenarios, including the integration of technology into the human body. The presentation also highlighted the center’s advanced capabilities in early warning and risk sensitivity, as well as its adoption of innovative research and analytical tools that allow it to address various global issues, covering topics such as artificial intelligence, the future of warfare, data warfare, legislative gaps in AI and robotics laws, space studies, economic transformations, and the digitization of the economy, with a particular focus on Latin America.
The event concluded with the recognition of winners from Khalaf Al Habtoor’s initiative for preserving the Arabic language, acknowledging their contributions to promoting Arabic as a language of knowledge, research, and scientific production, in alignment with the center’s mission to fortify the Arab intellectual identity and protect the language amidst rapid digital transformations.