FII 2023 – The New Compass

Heading to Saudi Arabia for the 7th FII (The Future Investment Initiative). I’ll be MCing the plenary stage and looking forward to hosting some great conversations over the three days. The event’s theme, ‘The New Compass’, gathers heads of states, government ministers and global CEOs, bringing together immense brainpower and capital to guide the world in the right direction.

I’m looking forward to discussing how we upgrade human intelligence with Muna AbuSulayman, Seema Hingorani and Dino Varkey. Digital technologies, data and AI have showcased their potential by improving access to education, connecting learners and generating ways to enhance learning, and also raises ethical concerns and the need for ethical access and support for effective learning. We’ll ask how to enhance education to foster human intelligence.

I’ll be investigating the Hidden Blue Economy with Ray Dalio and OceanX’s Vincent Pieribone. We know more about the moon than we do the deep ocean. According to National Geographic over 80% of the ocean remains unseen by humanity and oceans exert considerable global impact on weather, food supply and temperature. How can we responsibly explore ocean resources while ensuring the protection of fragile deep-sea ecosystems?

Back on land with Janus Rostock, Gautam Sashittal and Laurent Germain we’ll explore how cities can inspire human vitality. Urban planning has suffered in the industrial age as communities sprawled to meet resource demands. How can we transform our existing cities into interconnected, sustainable, mobile and smart places to live?

I’m excited to meet two of the new faces of global capital – Gabrielle Rubenstein and Heather Henyon. According to Goldman Sachs, family offices increased allocation to private equity from 24% to 26% between 2021-2023, while decreasing public equity allocations from 31% to 28%. What does the shift towards flexible, opportunistic private capital predict for global markets and how are young investors balancing risk and stability during periods of heightened turbulence?

And in The Big Short with TikTok’s Shant Oknayan I’ll look at the rise and rise of short form video. TikTok’s 780 million daily active viewers are shaping a new era of content creation, business prospects and global news dissemination. Do our business, government and cultural leaders embrace this transformative norm and recognise its impact on shaping future trends and industries?

And I’ll be interviewing one of Hanson’s robots Grace. She’s a nursing assistant robot, created to provide support and care for the elderly during Covid. I’ll be speaking to her about the future of healthcare and health technology.