Business Extra

Understanding algorithms, rolling out 5G, developing quantum computing, building cyber defences and establishing sovereignty online are among the challenges and opportunities facing decision makers navigating the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on countries and their citizens.

Krzysztof Szubert, Poland’s High Representative of the Prime Minister for European Digital Policy talks to Kelsey Warner and Mustafa Alrawi about crafting and executing a successful strategy for today’s fast-changing world.

Hosted by Kelsey Warner and Mustafa Alrawi

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson

• Explainer: What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

• IBM's AI chief on the singularity, data privacy and the new space race: Business Extra

• How Poland is helping to shape the economy of tomorrow - Business Extra

• Gitex 2021: Four tech trends which will define our future

• Artificial intelligence to accelerate economical energy transition, WEF says

• EU's plan to control artificial intelligence 'will have positive global impact'

How did the energy crisis happen? (0m 40s)

• Brent nears $85 amid continued energy shortage

• Explainer: What the path to net-zero and carbon neutral means

• Oil prices could hit '$100 per barrel by the end of 2021', Roubini says

What does a Commissioner for Future Generations do? (1m 47s)

• The future of the daily commute: how going to work is set to improve city life

• Leading futurists to meet in the UAE

• A glimpse inside Expo's Mobility Pavilion

Aviation meets in Boston in-person (0m 44s)

• Emirates to restore more A380 routes as travel demand continues to recover

UpLink was launched at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos in January 2020, with an ambition to accelerate the Decade of Delivery – to source and scale the innovative solutions that would make achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 a reality.

Through co-operation between the WEF, Salesforce, Deloitte and Microsoft/LinkedIn, a crowdsourcing platform was built to connect grassroots solutions with investors, experts and potential markets to help them scale their businesses.

One year later, through a series of challenges, UpLink has unveiled more than 2,500 innovations from 38 different countries to tackle issues ranging from waste to carbon capture and healthy oceans. Entrepreneurs who have pitched investors on UpLink have secured more than $100 million in funding since joining the platform.

To dig into the impact the funding has had and what social entrepreneurs can expect from participating, co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner are joined this week by the WEF's John Dutton.

Hosted by Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner

Produced by Arthur Eddyson and Ayesha Khan

In this episode:

What is Uplink and how is it helping? (0m 39s)

• UNGA 2021: Guterres launches assembly with gloomy 'cascade of crises' forecast

• Facebook mistakenly labels black men as 'primates' in video recommendation feature

• UAE and Facebook to train 50 top university students in coding

• Facebook launches Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses

• Google, Microsoft and Facebook spent millions influencing the EU’s digital policies
  

• United Global Emirates: leaders launch campaign to bring world to UAE

• Editorial: The UAE's future priorities in fifty projects

• Government and business elites to be trained at Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI

• Adnoc to float 7.5% of drilling subsidiary in IPO on Abu Dhabi stock market

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The Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia region is at a turning point. There are opportunities for sustainable economic development through reforms and technological shifts but there are challenges in the form of political obstacles and conflict.

Recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic will also be uneven. After the success of a summit in Baghdad this week that brought together regional leaders, Iraq's President Barham Salih said the country has become a “point of convergence”.

With the fallout from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan likely to require a response from all its neighbours, a regional solution to its problems is needed now more than ever. Co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner break down the current scenario.

Hosted by Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner

Produced by Arthur Eddyson and Ayesha Khan

In this episode:

• Iraq becomes ‘point of convergence’ after hosting regional summit

Students at Zayed University began a new bachelor's degree programme on Tuesday. It is the first stage in a plan to transform the way the Abu Dhabi university teaches students over the next five years. The course is designed to build skills in critical thinking and project management, alongside studies in entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and social change. The programme is a tie-up with US education provider Minerva Project, called Zayed University X Minerva.

"For the last 30 years universities have done an abysmal job at training their graduates for the present," Ben Nelson, the founder and chief executive of the Minerva Project, told host Kelsey Warner on this week's Business Extra.

Hosted by Kelsey Warner

Produced by Arthur Eddyson and Ayesha Khan

In this episode:

• UAE jobs and salaries: who is applying and how much should they earn?

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