The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) held two panel discussions within the ‘Knowtalks’ series.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF,) in collaboration with its knowledge partner, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), held two panel discussions within the ‘Knowtalks’ series, on the second day of the London Book Fair, organised at Olympia London from April 5 to 7, 2022.

The first session, entitled ‘Innovating into the Future – Making Ideas Work,’ saw the participation of Al Anoud Al Hashmi, CEO and founder of The Futurist Company, who discussed the role of innovation in developing solutions to challenges, and driving a positive transformation in society and businesses.

During the session, Al Hashmi discussed the UAE’s journey, emphasising the region’s wide range of achievements that can be attributed to the wise leadership’s vision in turning ideas into action through the adoption of innovative and creative strategies. She said: “We are fortunate to be in the UAE, as the country has achieved numerous milestones throughout its history and has always strived to be the best in the world.

Despite all the challenges, the UAE was successful in turning obstacles to opportunities, thanks to the vision and directives of our wise leadership.” Al Hashmi also highlighted the importance of innovation in addressing the challenges of the future, and for enabling progress in various areas, given its role as an essential tool for driving change.

She further emphasised the need to develop strategies based on innovation in numerous fields, especially because machines could never completely replace human actions. Furthermore, Al Hashmi shed light on achieving sustainability in innovation and how it requires honesty and transparency, in addition to accurate performance indicators to measure facts, data, and impact, and collaboration with action teams and other institutions to achieve a sustainable business environment.

The second session, entitled ‘Tricks of Managing Knowledge within Growing International Teams,’ saw the participation of Mike Bandar, co-founder of Waybook.com, who gave an extensive presentation on the challenges faced by global action teams. Bandar highlighted several studies, which showed that 52 per cent of new remote employees feel less connected to their co-workers and institution, 39 per cent of employees have reported worse mental health at present in comparison to January 2020, while two out of five employees express a negative fear of the culture of telecommuting, and more.