Publications

INSIGHT REPORT

Pioneering the Future: Space

Technologies Poised to Revolutionize

Exploration and Economy by 2035

September 2026

FACTSHEETS

Pioneering the Future: Space

Technologies Poised to Revolutionize Exploration and Economy by 2035

June 2026

WHITE PAPER

Future of Space Law:

Operationalizing Space Governance

March 2026

REPORT

Clear Orbit, Secure Future:

 A Call to Action on Space Debris

Jan 2026

WHITE PAPER

The Future of Space Law

Insights from the ATS, UNCLOS, and ITU Frameworks

December 2025

WHITE PAPER

The Future of Space Law: 

The Evolving Dynamics of Air and Space Regulation

 September  2025

The Future Of Space Law

News

Centre for Space Futures, Novaspace and SpaceTech Gulf  Sign Agreement to Develop Global Space Capability Mapping Dashboard

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia , 23 Jun 2026|  Press Release

Clear Orbit, Secure Future: A Call to Action on Space Debris

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 Jan 2026 | Press Release

Centre for Space Futures Holds Workshop with Participation of 40 Global Experts

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 05 Dec 2025 | Press Release

Centre for Space Futures Releases White Paper on 'The Future of Space Law'

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 12 Sep 2025 | Press Release

The Board of Directors of the Centre for Space Futures Endorses Its Strategic Direction

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 May 2025 | Press Release

Saudi Space Agency to Launch the Centre for Space Futures with the World Economic Forum

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 29 April | Press Release

5 ways we can tackle growing risks from rocket bodies in orbit

Dec 09, 2025 | Economic Growth, Stories

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Forum Agenda

Forum Videos

VIDEO

Press Conference: Centre for Space Futures in Riyadh

The World Economic Forum's Special Meeting, April 29, 2024

VIDEO

The Purpose of Astronauts at Davos 2024

World Economic Forum , March 9, 2024

VIDEO

PortWatch: Monitoring Trade Disruptions from Space

World Economic Forum , Dec 18, 2023

VIDEO

India's Moon Mission Triumph: Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj's Insights

World Economic Forum , Aug 23, 2023

VIDEO

Space Exploration is Back at Davos 2023

World Economic Forum , Feb 16, 2023

Forum Publications

REPORT

Space: The $1.8 Trillion Opportunity for Global Economic Growth

World Economic Forum , April 8, 2024

REPORT

Navigating the Industrial Metaverse: A Blueprint for Future Innovations

World Economic Forum , March 12, 2024

REPORT

Digital Trust: Supporting Individual Agency

World Economic Forum , Jan 18, 2024

REPORT

The Future of Global Fintech: Towards Resilient and Inclusive Growth

World Economic Forum , Jan 18, 2024

Strategic Intelligence Insights

The UN warns millions will face hunger if the Middle East conflict persists, as energy and fertilizer prices surge due to disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz. To build a more resilient food system, four strategies are key: transitioning to green ammonia fertilizer produced from renewables; enhancing national stockpiles of food and farm inputs; promoting diets with more plant proteins that require less fertilizer and reduce emissions; and accelerating transport electrification to free agricultural land currently used for biofuel crops. Though challenging, these shifts are essential to reduce vulnerability to supply shocks from geopolitical tensions and climate change.
How the world can avoid millions going hungry when supply chains collapse
NASA is advancing nuclear propulsion technologies to significantly cut Mars travel times from over six months to three or four months. Two main approaches are pursued: nuclear thermal propulsion, which heats liquid hydrogen with a nuclear reactor to produce high-velocity thrust, reducing trip duration and radiation exposure; and nuclear electric propulsion, which uses reactor-generated electricity to power ion thrusters for efficient, long-duration thrust ideal for moving heavy cargo. NASA's planned SR-1 Freedom mission, launching in 2028, will demonstrate nuclear electric propulsion on an uncrewed Mars journey, deploying drones to explore the surface and laying groundwork for future nuclear-powered deep space exploration.
Nasa bets big on nuclear engines to cut journey times to Mars
The rapid expansion of data centers worldwide, essential for powering AI infrastructure and cloud services, is raising community concerns over high water usage, energy demands, and environmental impact. While technology companies emphasize economic benefits, local residents often experience limited gains alongside significant resource strain. This situation exemplifies the challenge of securing a "social license to operate," a concept from extractive industries where legal approval is insufficient without community trust and acceptance. Obtaining and maintaining this informal but vital social approval depends on transparency, fairness, and balancing costs with local benefits.
Financial services, Education, ICT
Data Centers Need a Social License to Operate
Dollar-pegged stablecoins are rapidly expanding the global influence of the US dollar by creating a new form of “digital dollarisation” that links traditional finance with cryptocurrency. Stablecoin transaction volumes have surged from $565 billion in 2020 to $11 trillion in 2025, accounting for 65% of Visa’s network transaction volume. Dominated by two issuers, Tether and Circle, stablecoins mainly circulate in emerging markets, especially Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East, where local currencies are weak or unstable. This digital dollar expansion challenges capital controls and monetary policy sovereignty in vulnerable economies by shifting demand away from domestic currencies and increasing reliance on dollar-backed digital assets.
Latin America | Financial services
How stablecoins are extending the monetary power of the United States
Artificial intelligence is driving one of the largest modern infrastructure expansions, deeply interconnected with energy, water, minerals, and land resources. The growth of AI depends heavily on significant energy consumption, water for cooling data centers, critical mineral extraction for chips and batteries, and land use changes for facilities and transmission infrastructure. The sustainability and resilience of AI's future rely on coordinated efforts by governments and industries to develop infrastructure that supports long-term prosperity and environmental balance, avoiding systemic risks from uncoordinated expansion.
Education, ICT
Building Resilient and Scalable AI Value Chains: A Nexus Strategy
AI infrastructure has become a strategic priority due to geopolitical tensions, complex financing, and public service digitization, alongside growing demands for computing and data storage. To build resilient AI systems, economies must prioritize flexibility and future readiness. The World Economic Forum and Bain & Company propose sovereign AI infrastructure strategies that balance domestic control with trusted international partnerships. The framework details core AI infrastructure components, essential prerequisites, and introduces an AI sovereignty spectrum to tailor strategies to local capabilities. It also highlights digital embassies as a new option, establishing trust dimensions critical for their success.
ICT, Education
AI Infrastructure in the Age of Sovereignty: Requirements, Strategies and a Trusted Framework for Digital Embassies
Russian attacks and threats are increasingly targeting space, posing significant risks to Europe's satellite-dependent infrastructure, affecting both civilian services like navigation and military capabilities. Germany and its European partners face an asymmetry: their forces rely heavily on space systems, while Russia incorporates them less in its military. Consequently, resilience of satellite systems should be prioritized over deploying space-based weapons, especially since Germany opposes kinetic anti-satellite weapons due to debris concerns. Instead, non-kinetic defensive and deterrence measures, combined with international diplomacy and alliances, form Germany’s strategy to counter Russian threats in space without escalating conflict.
Resilience as a Response to Russian Threats in Space
Widespread public support for climate action contrasts sharply with rising carbon emissions and fossil fuel extraction. This paradox is explained by the concept of "hegemony," where economic inequalities shape perceptions, causing dominant elites' interests to be accepted as common sense. Climate impacts like heat stress disproportionately affect workers in developing countries engaged in intense labor, while consumers in wealthy nations benefit from protections like air conditioning, reducing their immediate risks and dampening urgency for change. Fossil fuel industry influence sustains this status quo by shaping political and public discourse, hindering effective climate policies despite affordable renewable energy solutions.
Health
Why climate action stalls, despite widespread popular support
Defense issues have risen significantly in French public opinion, moving from a marginal concern in the mid-2000s to a top priority by 2025, with 18% citing it among the EU’s main challenges. This shift aligns with broader European trends, where security and defense have become leading priorities in response to heightened geopolitical tensions, particularly following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Historically seen as a sovereign and technical matter handled through NATO, defense now competes with traditionally prominent issues like immigration and surpasses others such as environment and healthcare. Despite increased sensitivity, French public opinion still shows reluctance to fully embrace defense implications, reflecting a complex balance between growing awareness and persistent caution.
France, Ukraine
Public Opinion and the EU: The French and Defense Issues
The OECD working paper explores how horizon scanning aids governments in anticipating and responding to emerging and converging technologies. Analyzing 129 international exercises from 2020 to 2025, it reveals diverse practices ranging from governmental to international initiatives. The paper highlights methodological advances, including AI-enabled analytics, and identifies key technologies such as advanced materials, quantum technologies, and bioengineering, emphasizing their implications for security, resilience, and sustainability. It stresses challenges in interpreting early signals and calls for robust standards and international collaboration to effectively support science, technology, and innovation policy and decision-making.
ICT, Health, Education
Building capacity in technology horizon scanning
Human space missions rely on life-support systems essential for survival, never tampered with by astronauts. In contrast, Earth’s vital life-support systems—its atmosphere, oceans, soils, and biodiversity—are being damaged through carbon emissions, pollution, and resource depletion, often seen as acceptable or profitable behaviors. Psychological barriers and comforting but false myths hinder urgent climate action. To shift this, society must adopt narratives that frame Earth as a fragile, closed system—akin to a spaceship—where damaging its environment is unacceptable. Powerful stories likening Earth to a life-support cabin or humanity’s extended body can help foster protective attitudes, but they require social, economic, and cultural enforcement to become effective guides for sustainable behavior.
Why we need to treat Earth like a spaceship
Investing in nature is crucial for Asia and the Pacific, where rich ecosystems support key industries like agriculture, fisheries, and eco-tourism and provide essential services such as disaster protection and carbon storage. Healthy ecosystems underpin sustainable economic growth, with nature-positive investments yielding significant financial returns, job creation, and environmental benefits. Examples from India, Viet Nam, and China show sustainable practices boosting incomes and ecosystem health. Overcoming market failures and improving government policies to value natural capital are essential to scaling investments. Multilateral development banks and other stakeholders play vital roles in promoting nature-based solutions for lasting economic and social benefits.
Financial services
Your Questions Answered: Why Investing in Nature Matters for Asia and the Pacific
Financial markets now factor climate transition risk into sovereign bond yields, rewarding credible governance and green infrastructure rather than climate ambition alone. A study of 31 OECD countries from 2001 to 2020 shows that deteriorating climate resilience leads to higher borrowing costs, with strong governance and economic readiness reducing yields. Social readiness does not lower costs and can increase them. Additionally, green infrastructure investment signals credible transition progress, further lowering yields, but only where energy systems are strong. This creates a feedback loop where climate vulnerability elevates borrowing costs, potentially limiting funds for adaptation and increasing future risks.
Financial services
Climate governance now shapes governments’ borrowing costs
Maintaining healthy communities requires real-time, accessible information on hazardous chemical exposures and pollution, especially during industrial accidents or facility transitions. Communities near energy infrastructure need a shared, long-term knowledge base to track pollution data before, during, and after changes, facilitating comparisons of risks and outcomes. Current data systems and funding models are inadequate for sustaining such collective environmental knowledge. Developing an environmental knowledge commons—shared and maintained by diverse users—would enhance evidence-based public policy and community resilience, providing a sustainable model for scientific collaboration despite uncertain federal support.
Constructing a New Knowledge Infrastructure
In March 2025, the EU introduced the European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulation, enabling secondary use of electronic health records from about 450 million residents by 2029 for commercial, pharmaceutical, and AI purposes. The system defaults to opt-out, without distinguishing between academic and commercial uses, raising concerns about corporations profiting from public health data without fair benefit-sharing. This regulatory framework transforms private health data into a commodified resource, highlighting global challenges in governing sensitive open data and prioritizing corporate economic interests in data extraction.
Health
The Commodification of Sensitive Open Data
Humanity has experienced unprecedented progress in health and prosperity over the past two centuries, but this advancement came at the significant expense of the natural world. Since 1950, rapid economic growth and consumption have caused major environmental damage, including dramatic declines in wildlife populations, deforestation, climate change, and ecosystem destabilization. Despite this, nature remains fundamental to human survival. The concept of "becoming nature positive" envisions reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 through a systemic shift toward sustainable, equitable interaction with the environment. This shift requires collective action, especially from businesses and investors, to transition toward a future where humans and nature coexist prosperously.
Health
“Becoming Nature Positive” is a documentary about the great choice of our time
Yukio Kani, CEO of JERA Global, led a transformative energy shift in Japan following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Facing the loss of nuclear power and financial crisis at TEPCO, Kani envisioned creating a new joint venture with Chubu Electric Power to expand gas-fired power and secure LNG supplies. Despite initial resistance, the plan gained government-backed leadership support, culminating in JERA's 2015 formation. Kani emphasizes that transformational change requires a clear, socially beneficial vision, trusted partnerships, and dedicated people. JERA also deliberately established a new organizational culture, rejecting traditional seniority and male-dominant practices to foster innovation and inclusivity within the global energy sector.
Financial services, Education
Purpose, partnerships and people: the keys to transformational change
The circular economy emphasizes product longevity, repair, reuse, and systemic innovation over fast consumption. Patagonia exemplifies this with its strategy focused on durable products, repair services, and resale, creating sustained competitive advantage despite fewer new sales. The 9 R’s framework—Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Remanufacture, Repurpose, and Recycle—guides businesses to embed circularity beyond recycling, which is a last resort. Achieving circularity demands rethinking design, production, transportation, usage, and disposal, often requiring new business models like product-as-a-service. Companies must prioritize long-term sustainability and loyalty over short-term gains to align with emerging regulations such as the EU Circular Economy Act by 2026.
Spain
The circular economy: Are you ready?
Geopolitical fragmentation, economic volatility, and accelerating AI adoption are transforming global labor markets and workforce strategies. While 50% of leaders foresee improved talent availability, 30% expect declines, with skills mismatches emerging as a key challenge. Insights from over 140 global people leaders identify three priorities: redesigning organizational structures and roles, expanding upskilling and reskilling, and scaling responsible AI and automation. The shift from AI experimentation to implementation, combined with geopolitical pressures, calls for agile talent models, internal mobility, and cross-sector collaboration to build resilient, future-ready workforces.
Africa | Health, Education
Chief People Officers’ Outlook – May 2026
Energy insecurity is worsening due to the combined impact of geopolitical tensions, such as the Iran crisis, and increasing extreme weather events affecting energy supply and demand. Household energy costs remain elevated, disproportionately affecting lower-income groups and businesses, while global electricity demand continues to grow. Current energy systems struggle with aging infrastructure, limited grid capacity, and insufficient storage to integrate expanding renewable energy sources, leading to mismatches in supply and demand. Climate-related disruptions—heatwaves, droughts, and storms—exacerbate these vulnerabilities. A more integrated approach is needed to treat energy security and decarbonization jointly, emphasizing reduced fossil fuel dependence, improved efficiency, and enhanced grid flexibility to ensure reliable, affordable energy.
Africa | Financial services, Health
How freak weather and an old‑fashioned grid exacerbate energy insecurity

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