On March 28 and 29, another edition of the World Government Summit was held in Dubai, an initiative of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Since 2013, this neutral, non-profit global Summit has sought to generate dialogue around the most innovative trends that are shaping the governments of the future. It also aims to shape the future of governments.
The Summit, in its various activities, explores the agenda of the next generation of governments, focusing on harnessing innovation and technology to solve the universal challenges facing humanity. The last 7 editions of the Summit have successfully established a new model for collaborating on an international playing field to inspire and enable the next generation of governments.
One of the greatest contributions of the World Government Summit is the commitment to guide thought leaders (policymakers, business and civil society) into the future by showcasing cutting-edge government innovation and service excellence. That is where the greatest possibility of co-creation is to experiment with new ways of making public policies and (RE)imagine governments to be more agile, more citizen-centric and capable of innovating in the way of governing thanks to the incorporation of new technologies.
In 2017, I had the opportunity to meet Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of the Future and president of the World Government Summit Organization, in Dubai. He had never met an official who had this position. His position and influence in the government of the United Arab Emirates reflects the vision of its leaders and his determination to make the future his top priority.
“Imagination and ideas are the raw materials of the future” Minister Al Gergawi told us. “Whoever has these ideas and this imagination, he will be the owner of the future”, and he added that “the wars of the future will be about ideas”. How open are we in Mexico to generate new ideas and (RE)know all these new trends that lead us to build a new narrative, to visualize a better future and to co-create new realities? When we see where we have put our attention and where the public debate is currently focused, it is clear that we are not understanding where the world is going.
Mexico is not only not participating in this global conversation that should be one of our priorities, but today the magnitude of the regression to the past is being debated. While many leaders and governments identify new trends and define new strategies to (RE)invent and innovate towards the future, Mexico is moving backwards with its eyes on the rearview mirror.
Knowing that the government will do nothing about it, it is time for citizens to open space for new conversations so that, as organized civil society, we can define and shape the country in which we want to live. Let’s take as a reference the great ideas proposed at the World Government Summit, let’s see far beyond our reality and let’s co-create together the narrative and the proposals that lead us in the right direction.
We cannot settle for patching up and patching up a government and a system that, as they are, have no future. We need to (RE)imagine government in all its dimensions to bring about systemic change. Just as global leaders have met in Dubai to discuss the future of humanity, we Mexicans have to continue building the spaces and platforms that allow us to dialogue and define together the future we want for Mexico. There are projects headed in that direction and in this space I will be talking about them soon. It’s time to dream big and use new technologies to achieve it.
Bachelor of International Business
Agora 2.0
Bachelor of International Business graduated with honors from Tec de Monterrey. He studied Economics and Public Policy at Georgetown University. He has several graduates from institutes such as: the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.