10.11.21
Summits
The summit sessions brought together thought leaders and industry icons to explore the role of creativity in addressing global issues.
Agenda
09:00 - 10:00 (UK - GMT) / 13:00 - 14:00 (UAE - GST)
HOW CAN CREATIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY BE HARNESSED FOR GOOD?
Speakers includes:
Keynote: Nigel Huddleston MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society)
Chair: Rupert Daniels, Director Export & Investment Services, Department for International Trade
Panellists:
- Nick Hartshorn, Regional Sales Manager Middle East & India, Disguise
- Kirsty Dias, Managing Director, PriestmanGoode
- Ben Roberts, British Film Institute
- Malath Abbas, Director and Creative Producer, Biome Collective
- Dr Tristam Hunt, Director, Victoria & Albert Museum
Nigel Huddleston MP delivered a keynote discussing how the UK’s creative industries are problem solvers able to adapt to a changing landscape, work in multidisciplinary teams, identify inventive means to solve some of the world’s greatest conundrums, and in the process deliver sustainable change and cultural advancement to the world.
Chair Rupert Daniels and other key figures from the creative sector discussed what ‘the society of the future’ will look like, and how their leadership supports the Government’s vision of a thriving economy and confident society.
10:00 - 11:00 (UK - GMT) / 14:00 – 15:00 (UAE - GST)
"I HAVE A DREAM" A VISION MOVES PEOPLE... BREAKING THE PROBLEM-CENTRIC CONSCIOUSNESS
Speakers include:
Chair: Matthew Utley, Principal, Grimshaw Architects
Panellists:
- Shaikha Azzam B.Arch Msc RIBA, Dubai Director, Studio DS
- Jonnie Allen, Global Marketing and Business Development Partner, Cundall
- Virginia Gardiner, Founder and CEO, Loowatt
- Jason Bruges, Director, Jason Bruges Studio
This session featured futurists and inspiring speakers from arts and science to discuss environmental design and how imagination needs to do astounding cerebral feats—from making intricate mental models of the future, to unravelling complex problems such as carbon emissions’ effects on the economy, to producing new ideas and reverse engineering these into reality. Architects are reimagining how we will live in the future and are using an array of new building techniques to build ever taller buildings.
12:00 - 13:00 (UK - GMT) / 16:00 - 17:00 (UAE - GST)
CREATING THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
Speakers include:
Chair: Azlina Bulmer, Director of International, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Panellists:
- Neil Serridge, Senior Associate Director, Benoy Architects
- Professor Chris Johnson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor – Engineering and Physical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast
- Professor Greg Clark CBE, Group Advisor, Future Cities & New Industries, HSBC
- Martin Hall, Business Development Manager, ES Global
- Harry Dobbs, Founder, Harry Dobbs Design
- Martin Reeves, Chief Executive, Coventry City Council
The panel discussed the ‘cities of the future’ alongside the use of space, and whether these will be designed in an ethical way that will solve long-term sustainability challenges and open the ‘next stage’ of humankind. Speakers compared urban planners’ consideration for socioeconomic context and rationality vs architects’ emphasis on aesthetics and artistry. This panel also explored how we can share ideas in a progressive way, beyond designing what we will live in, to help all of humankind.
13:00 - 14:00 (UK - GMT) / 17:00 - 18:00 (UAE - GMT)
WHAT IF CREATIVITY HAS BECOME TOO LEFT-BRAINED?
Chair: Austin Tanney, Head of Digital and Data Strategy, Strategic Investment Board Northern Ireland
Panellists:
- Gary Clough, Head of Programme of the Graduate Diploma in Art and Design portfolio, Royal College of Art
- Meredith O’Shaughnessy, Founder, Meredith Collective
- Orlando Wood, Chief Innovation Officer, System1 Group
- Lorna Hawtin, Disruption Director, TBWA Manchester
This session explored the risks of too great a preponderance of left-brained thinking for culture, society, humanity and global sustainability, and what to do about it. Panellists will delve into neuroscience and the complex phenomenon of creativity as a multi-layered, ever-changing process that cannot be captured in an isolated part of the brain. They also discussed how new research demonstrate that most creative people have a wealth of connections between their brain's hemispheres.