Dubai Culture holds ‘Towards 2033’ Foresight Lab
DUBAI: Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) held its first Foresight Lab under the theme ‘Towards 2033 | co-designing the future of culture’ in collaboration with the Dubai Design & Creativity Lab, a subsidiary under Dubai Future Foundation.
The lab meets the objectives of the Dubai Future Readiness Index that aim to assess Dubai government entities’ readiness to seize new opportunities and overcome future challenges via 66 sub-indicators across five key areas that makes the index a global benchmark for designing strategies, setting priorities, highlighting areas for improvement, and developing future knowledge exchange programmes, which contributes to cementing Dubai’s position as a city that prioritises well-being, safeguarding livelihoods, and increasing preparedness to overcome future challenges and leverage opportunities.
Hala Badri, Director-General of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in Dubai, along with CEOs, directors and select representatives of the Authority’s departments, participated in the activities of the lab that was held in the Office of the Future.
They discussed global trends in the fields of culture and creativity, the possibilities of linking them to the pillars of Dubai’s cultural vision, and benefiting from them in highlighting the identity of the cultural city. This was aimed at contributing to the creation of a vibrant and inclusive cultural and creative scene capable of enhancing the city’s attractiveness to residents, visitors and investors alike.
The Foresight Lab technique relied on the use of innovative methods to develop a comprehensive road map covering challenges and opportunities, harnessing the elements of culture and creativity to enhance Dubai’s identity and its ability to attract and retain creative talent, and stimulate international investment and local community engagement. This ensures the emirate’s continued growth and sustainable development in its creative environment, relying on the strength of the enabling factors to support the creative economy and its health in terms of its urban and digital infrastructure and quality of life.
It also discussed the unique benefits the emirate offers, in addition to developing methods and tools that increase access to the full value of some sectors of the cultural and creative industries and develop their efficiency.
As part of input analysis, the lab participants shed light on a group of factors that supported the prosperity of the cultural and creative industries in Dubai, such as the strength and diversity of creative talent – the Creative Economy’s key foundation and main asset, enablers such as the urban infrastructure and liveability, the city’s uniqueness that allows it to generate value and attract and cultivate creative talent, social networks, the mature digital environment that contributes to the development of methods and tools that can increase the access to and efficiency of the entire value chain of the cultural and creative sector and innovative financing facilities. This is in addition to Dubai’s efforts towards stimulating innovation, in addition to promoting dialogue with the creative community as well as key stakeholders within the ecosystem of the preservation and celebration of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
It also focused on governance policies, supporting and improving the flow of cultural content and enhancing its discoverability on digital platforms.