Dubai Future Academy has officially launched FEEL: A Disruptive Futures Programme, marking the first program of its kind in the region. The initiative, announced by Dubai Future Foundation, is designed to build the next generation of strategic foresight leaders — equipping participants from diverse fields with advanced thinking skills, practical experience, and exposure to emerging technologies.
What Is the FEEL Disruptive Futures Programme?
FEEL: A Disruptive Futures Programme is an international, four-week training program delivered by Dubai Future Academy. Its core objective is to develop future foresight leaders across disciplines, elevating both their intellectual capacity and hands-on skills. The program blends expert lectures, live demonstrations of frontier technologies, and impact-driven advanced projects focused on sustainability and longevity.
The initiative directly supports Dubai's strategic vision: to attract the best minds globally and maintain its standing as a world-leading city for innovation and future readiness.
World-Class Faculty from MIT, Yale, and Stanford
Over the course of four weeks, the FEEL programme is led by a group of top global experts in foresight and futures thinking. Faculty are drawn from some of the world's most prestigious academic institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Yale University, and Stanford University.
This international caliber of instruction ensures participants gain access to the latest tools in future studies, leadership development, and disruptive innovation — learning directly from those shaping the field globally.
Immersive Field Visits Across Dubai's Innovation Hubs
A defining feature of the programme is its emphasis on experiential, real-world learning. Participants are taken on field visits to leading innovation precincts across Dubai, including:
- Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre - Dubai Police Innovation Center - Dubai Future Labs - Roads and Transport Authority
These visits allow participants to witness innovation in practice — observing robots being assembled, experiencing self-driving vehicles and autonomous boats, and engaging directly with breakthrough technologies.
Frontier Technologies at the Core of the Curriculum
The curriculum covers a range of groundbreaking technologies that represent the frontier of human progress. Participants explore innovations such as glass capable of storing data for 10,000 years, the "liquid tree" system that absorbs CO2 and produces oxygen, the WakeCap workforce safety platform, advanced rocket propulsion systems, and cultured meat and lab-grown food production.
This hands-on exposure gives participants an informed, first-hand understanding of the technologies that will define the next decade — and trains them to think critically about their implications.
Dubai's Blueprint for Future-Ready Leadership
HE Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation, underlined the program's significance: "FEEL: A Disruptive Futures Programme recruits participants from different disciplines, so that after going through this program, they are armed with the newest knowledge related to future studies, leadership, and disruption."
He added that the program aligns with Dubai's proactive approach to building future preparedness — through the pursuit of opportunity, experimentation, innovation, sustainable development, and international cooperation.
The program culminates at the third Dubai Future Forum, where participants receive their certificates upon completion.
How to Apply
Registrations for the inaugural FEEL programme were open until September 5, 2024. The program is designed for mid-to-senior-level executives, entrepreneurs, policymakers, government officials, and specialists in fields related to future design — all based in Dubai, widely regarded as the global capital of foresight.
