SAUDI ARABIA

1st day of Misk Forum focuses on entrepreneurship, future skills, employment and global citizenship

November 14, 2018

Saudi Gazette report

Riyadh
— The third edition of the Misk Global Forum opened here on Wednesday to a packed house with representations from more than 80 countries and with the participation of more than 3,500 delegates.

The two-day forum will have more than 60 sessions where audience will have the opportunity to listen to more than 100 world-renowned speakers.

The four main topics and areas of focus discussed on the first day of the forum were entrepreneurship, future skills, employment and global citizenship.

Addressing a plenary session on “What Skills will be needed in 20 years’ time?”, Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi said he believes adaptability and innovation is the key.

“Always try to be innovative, embrace the spirit of creativity and be adaptive to it,” he urged the youth.

Al-Rajhi said there is a ministerial committee, comprising five ministries of commerce, education, economy, civil service and labor, which discusses every two weeks the challenges and employment opportunities for the young people.

“Young people want to be part of an organization that will help them grow and create impact,” said Abdulaziz Al-Oudan, EVP of Corporate Human Resources at SABIC, discussing how workplaces need to change to appeal to young people.

“While IQ is important, EQ and PQ are even more crucial.” Fahad K. Al-Dhubaib, General Manager of Public Affairs at Saudi Aramco, leading a debate on the different types of skills needed for the future.

The top three skills one needs for networking, according to Laurent Bernard, VP of Talent Management at Steelcase, are: 1) you need to be patient; 2) you need to be authentic; 3) you need to listen.

The audience were pleasantly surprised to see British professional boxer Amir Khan talking to first Saudi female Olympic fencer Lobna Al-Omair attired in the tradition Saudi thobe and headgear.

In the panel “What defines me”, Amir said, “Boxing teaches you to be disciplined.”

One of the sessions explored what the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) means for jobs and the skills needed for the future.

“AI is an attempt to model aspects of human cognition,” said Stephen Lew, director of S. Lew & Co., opening the session on “AI – Your Frenemy?”

“AI is bringing fundamental changes to our society, and may even lead us to ask questions about our own identity in the future,” said Lew.

As a global policy-maker, AI is the best worst nightmare!” Lee Jaeyoung, President of KGMLab, Republic of Korea, on the huge challenges that AI brings at a government level.

Discussing the Future of Sports, Princess Reema Bint Bandar, deputy of planning and development at General Sports Authority, said, “The future of sports is bigger than the athlete; it’s about the community.”


November 14, 2018
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