CANNES, France — Misk Global Forum Monday presented the Future Lions 2018 School of the Year Award to the Berghs School of Communications from Stockholm, Sweden.

Future Lions 2018 is a competition run by the AKQA, the renowned global design and innovation agency at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It encourages thousands of undergraduate students from around the world to ‘Create Tomorrow’, by proposing how to connect an audience to a product or service from a global brand in a way that wasn’t possible three years ago.

The School of the Year award is given to the higher education institution with the largest number of shortlisted submissions made by its students.

Misk Global Forum’s sponsorship, in conjunction with Snap Inc., comes as the world faces rapidly accelerating change, in which the need for creative ideas and solutions has never been greater. With half of the world’s population under 30, and the World Economic Forum predicting that 65% of today’s children will work in careers that do not yet exist, the innate creativity of global youth can be turned to their advantage.

Misk Global Forum is the flagship international platform of the Misk Foundation, the non-profit philanthropic foundation established by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to discover, develop and empower Saudi youth.

The School of the Year award was presented by Shaima Hamidaddin, executive manager of Misk Global Forum.

She said: “At Misk Global Forum we know that creative thinking is the foundation for a range of essential skills — entrepreneurship, technology and languages — and will soon become one of the most defining and empowering skills of the future economy. In our work empowering Saudi and global youth, we see every day how it’s in young people’s DNA to be creative, to question accepted wisdom, to have an entrepreneurial attitude and to understand how technology can provide disruptive new solutions to existing problems, revolutionizing how we live, learn and work.

“We co-sponsored Future Lions because it discovers the next generation of creative talent, something that’s fully in tune with our mission to help as many young people around the world to develop 21st century skills, gain employment and become innovative entrepreneurs. We’re particularly glad to be handing out the Future Lions School of the Year award, because Misk believes in the fundamental importance of innovation in education so that young people can develop the skills to flourish in the future economy.”

AKQA Managing Director Sam Kelly said: “This year’s Future Lions theme, Create Tomorrow, explores how recent advances in technology are creating the possibilities yet to manifest. Our partnership with the Misk Foundation identifies the creative minds of today’s younger generation that inspire a sustainable difference on a global scale.”

Misk Global Forum works to empower global youth through research to equip young people with the toolkit to navigate change, with skills programs that embrace life-long learning, and by hosting events that bring young creators and leaders together with established global innovators. The third edition of its annual gathering is being held in Riyadh, Nov. 14-15. — SG