This year the Youth Global Forum will celebrate its fifth year anniversary in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Under the theme of ‘’Industry 5.0 vs Inclusive Development: Where is the future?’’, Dr Oualid Ali will give a keynote presentation on ‘’Industry 5.0: Where we’ve come from and where are we headed’’. He is the Founder and President of the Future Cities Council & Director of Training and the Smart Solutions Centre (TSSC) at the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech). We sat down briefly with Dr Oualid to get his thoughts on the upcoming Youth Global Forum and to also some advice for the participants ahead of their arrival.
Dr. Oualid Ali, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Can you give us a brief introduction as to your background and what you have been doing recently?
Hi my name is Dr. Oualid Ali, I’m a Futurist, technologies and trend watcher, Industrial Revolution 4.0 and future smart cities expert. I’m the founder of www.FutureCitiesCouncil.org and www.future-is-here.co. Recently, I have been traveling the world to deliver speeches, consultancy and training related to the emerging technologies (such as IoT, Big Data, AI, BlockChain, 3D printing, Drones, etc.) and how they impact our life. For more detail about myself, check my website www.dr-oualid-ali.com.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Youth Global Forum? How do you think this year’s event is important for the global youth community?
I had a look at the program and I see that the topics are very interesting globally and locally. All the topics are hot around the globe. I’m pretty sure that the Forum will be a great platform to share insight about the latest topics related to emerging technologies and their impact. Since the topic are futurist, I think that the global community will take huge benefit out of them, especially because the most well-known experts in the field will deliver them
What lessons can participants expect to learn from your presentation on Industry 5.0?
In my talk, I will use a story telling approach. I will talk about the history of the Industrial Revolutions, then I will talk about the 4th Industrial revolution, its technologies, its impact, etc. Then I will present where we are heading with the world which will be a battlefield between the human and smart intelligent machines.
What is your advice to the young professionals and entrepreneurs that will be joining us in Amsterdam, how can they get the most out of this opportunity by attending the fifth annual Youth Global Forum?
My advice for them is the future is changing so fast with the exponential technologies invading our life every minute. If you want to have a place in the future, you have to watch the trends of technologies, what is coming in terms of jobs, prepare yourself by acquiring the right skills and competencies of the future, they will be your weapon. Don’t wait for the future, act now and create it today.
