DUBAI (Thursday Emirates) — In a year filled with geopolitical upheavals and economic aftershocks, a quieter force may be emerging from the desert. The Global 50 (2025) report, released by the Dubai Future Foundation, is not merely a forecast of what might happen. It is an unapologetically ambitious statement of what must be anticipated. Charting ten interconnected megatrends, the document is less a list of buzzwords than a tightly argued treatise on the structural reprogramming of society, industry, and identity.
The report begins with the Materials Revolution, a foundational trend that touches every other sector. Here, innovation is tangible: transparent wood, five times more insulating than glass, is being developed as a sustainable building material. Magnetic cooling ceramics and enzyme-coated biofilters signal a rethink of how we interact with heat, water and waste. Underneath it all lies a high-stakes scramble for permanent magnets, vital to wind turbines, electric vehicles and MRI machines—85% of which are still mined in China. As demand doubles again by 2050, the report notes a surge of research into rare-earth-free alternatives like iron nitride, aided by AI-led breakthroughs from labs like King’s College London.
From materials to data, the second megatrend—Boundless Multidimensional Data—examines how quantum computing, blockchain, and edge devices are creating data not just at scale but in motion. The report reveals that 97 million people joined the internet in 2023 alone, pushing global connectivity to 66%. This flood of digital participation, supercharged by 5G and the promise of 6G, will redefine what is measurable and predictable. Sports AI, for instance, was used by NBC at the 2024 Paris Olympics to generate 7 million personalised highlight reels. Multimodal explainable AI (MXAI), using images, audio, and even haptics, is expected to jump from 1% of AI applications in 2023 to 40% by 2027. This trend represents a seismic shift not just in how we process data but in how we trust it.
Yet this same digital abundance fuels the third megatrend—Technological Vulnerabilities. Here, the report’s tone is sharper. It cites the 85 million fraud attempts intercepted daily by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and reminds us that cybercrime now carries significant mental health repercussions. Sixty percent of victims of online fraud reported sleep loss or anxiety. It warns of the largely unregulated field of cyberbiosecurity: not just data theft, but the synthetic reconstruction of pathogens from digitised genetic sequences. The presence of AI in cybercriminal toolkits and the lack of psychological expertise in cybersecurity strategies are flagged as critical vulnerabilities. The report calls for greater interdisciplinary cooperation and better public awareness, particularly in Southeast Asia, which lags in preparedness.
The fourth megatrend, Energy Boundaries, frames the net-zero future as not just a climate necessity but a political chessboard. Game theory is presented as a key tool for modelling how nations will interact on emissions reductions, hydrogen adoption, and energy independence. The World Bank’s $30 billion partnership with the African Development Bank to electrify 300 million Africans by 2030 is cited alongside China’s launch of the first commercial small modular reactor (SMR) onshore. Platinum, used in hydrogen electrolysers, is becoming a pinch point—with 70% of global supply from South Africa now seen as precarious. The clean energy sector is projected to triple in market value to $650 billion annually by 2030, with eight million manufacturing jobs up for grabs.
Beyond economics, the fifth megatrend—Evolving Ecosystems—puts forward a bold new ethic: regeneration over sustainability. Where sustainability tries to minimise harm, regeneration aims to restore. The report cites AI-powered acoustic sensors used to monitor whale communication and urban noise. It explores how farmers in East Africa are reviving soil using biochar, a carbon-rich substance derived from pyrolysed biomass. The rise of the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is also highlighted as a tool for marine conservation and disaster prediction. Yet this trend is not all optimism. The report warns that as climate disasters escalate, digital solutions may be used as palliative measures rather than structural change—masking deeper political inaction.
The sixth megatrend, Borderless World – Fluid Economies, reflects a world in which jurisdiction is becoming porous. Digital assets such as stablecoins and tokenised bonds are gaining momentum, with a predicted market value of $2 trillion by 2030. Yet regulatory gaps remain, especially across emerging and developing economies. The UAE stands out for its proactive stance, with four digital asset frameworks already in place. Meanwhile, legal theorists are grappling with a more radical idea: granting AI legal personhood. While controversial, the report argues that it could provide a legal framework for responsibility and redress, especially as AI systems gain operational autonomy in decision-making across borders.
This thread continues in the seventh megatrend, Digital Realities, where identity, regulation and entertainment collide. Despite widespread hype, the metaverse suffered a major credibility crisis after Meta’s $13.7 billion loss in 2022. But augmented reality tools have surged ahead, with L’Oréal’s ModiFace and IKEA’s virtual furniture apps now standard in consumer journeys. Immersive learning is also growing, with VR-powered training showing 275% higher confidence in skill retention. Still, the report questions the psychological impacts of maintaining multiple digital selves and the emotional dissonance that may arise from idealised virtual identities. Apple’s production cuts on its Vision Pro headset are noted as a signal of market recalibration rather than retreat.
The eighth megatrend, Life with Autonomous Robots and Automation, explores the acceleration of robot–human interaction. Over 8 million robots are already active in factories and services globally, but the real disruption lies in humanoids. The market for these lifelike machines is forecast to hit $66 billion by 2032. RoboFab, the world’s first humanoid robot factory in Oregon, is building machines capable of shoelace-tying and minor repair tasks. The report details how collaborative robots—”cobots”—and AI-integrated additive manufacturing are pushing past conventional limits. Yet it also stresses that trust, not efficiency, will determine adoption. As robots take on more human-like functions, emotional comfort and legal frameworks will need to catch up.
In Future Humanity, the report moves away from hardware and into soul-searching. It argues that selfhood is evolving in parallel with technology. Gen Z will make up 27% of the global workforce in 2025 and is already demanding value-aligned employment and digital authenticity. The creative economy, currently worth $2.3 trillion, is projected to triple in share of global GDP by 2030. Yet arts education is in decline, and funding mechanisms remain fragile. Meanwhile, AI is reshaping legal aid. From the Civil Resolution Tribunal in British Columbia to Suffolk University’s AI-led family mediation pilot, artificial mediators are proving more efficient and scalable than many human systems. A global lab for cross-jurisdictional dispute resolution using large language models is proposed.
The final megatrend, Advanced Health and Nutrition, is a direct confrontation with inequality. The report highlights that only 0.6% of genomic data currently comes from African populations. This data gap risks excluding billions from the benefits of precision medicine. Epigenetics is another frontier: the study of how environmental stressors alter gene expression across generations. The report calls for investment in tracking how particulate pollution affects DNA and proposes interventions to mitigate generational health risks. Biochar, used to boost soil fertility and sequester carbon, is shown to increase crop yields by 10% while supporting SDG targets for clean water, climate resilience and food security.
Taken together, the Global 50 report does not pretend to offer a unified theory of the future. Rather, it accepts uncertainty as its organising principle. It presents the future as a constellation of stress points—technological, ecological, economic and personal—each moving in ways that can no longer be predicted by legacy frameworks.
What it offers, instead, is a call to readiness. Not in the militaristic sense, but in the civic sense. Governments are urged to create adaptive policies, businesses to build future-resilient supply chains, and citizens to embrace continuous education. In this world, stability will not come from controlling change but from engaging with it—openly, critically, and collectively.
