Masdar City to launch Future Forward Conference, tech innovation showcase at World Future Energy Summit

Three-day conference will feature a lineup of 30+ speakers on sustainable urban design,
mobility, bio-tech, AI, clean energy, and more

April 8, 2024 Abu Dhabi – Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s leading sustainable urban community and innovation hub, will launch its Future Forward Conference and host a 300-square-meter innovation showcase at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) from April 16-18.

Masdar City’s inaugural Future Forward Conference, designed to facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building in sustainable urban transformation, will feature a lineup of more than 30 speakers over three days to engage with World Future Energy Summit attendees at ADNEC. Session topics include electric vehicles, green building design and development, the economics of sustainability, and using AI, bio-tech, agri-tech, and other clean technologies to drive climate change solutions.

“The World Future Energy Summit is our most important industry event of the year. It’s a great opportunity to advance our sustainability agenda and connect with a global audience about fighting climate change—so we’re going big by launching the Future Forward Conference,” said Steve Severance, Masdar City’s director of growth. “It’s a culmination of 15+ years of experience and lessons learned in building a more sustainable future. We hope our entire community visits us at WFES to take in a session, connect with some of our experts, and check out our incredible tech showcase, which will feature, among many other things, our meta-human, Amal, speaking about Masdar City and climate tech.”

As part of the Future Forward Conference, Severance will be speaking about sustainability as a business driver and the future of mobility. Chris Wan, Masdar City’s associate director of sustainability and CSR, will be speaking about green building design and Masdar City’s roadmap to net-zero. Suleiman Amin, the managing director of The Catalyst, will be moderating a session on building ecosystems that power tech innovation.

Other session highlights include panels on transforming the built environment, lightning talks on how clean technologies are fueling the climate-change revolution, and a debate on the future of electric vehicles. They’ll feature speakers from partner organizations including M42, the Emirates Green Building Council, JLL, Insilico Medicine, Secondcell Bio, CellSave Arabia, FortyGuard, Emerge, Alesca Life, and DANA Venture Builder.

In addition to interacting with Masdar City’s meta-human, visitors to the stand can look forward to interactive tech experiences, an immersive timeline, a digital model of the city, and demonstrations of innovative projects developed in the city.

Masdar City will also be co-hosting another program at the World Future Energy Summit’s Innovation Zone in partnership with Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company). Sessions include panels called “From desert to dinner plate: Soonicorns building food security in arid regions” and “Bio-inspired solutions for climate resilience.” It will also feature an inspiring series of talks from climate-tech start-ups called “Climate tech founders unplugged: Stories of resilience.”

Find Masdar City’s stand near Hall 5 at ADNEC during the World Future Energy Summit. For the full Future Forward Conference program, visit the new masdarcity.ae.