World laureates summit in Dubai focuses on global challenges

The World Laureates Summit kicked off Sunday in Dubai, bringing together more than 150 scientists and invited participants, including Nobel Prize laureates, to exchange insights on addressing challenges facing humanity and shaping the future of civilization.



The three-day summit, themed "Basic Sciences: Scientific Consensus for Addressing the Challenges of Humanity" and held alongside the World Governments Summit 2026, highlighted the pivotal role of fundamental scientific research in shaping global policies, economic systems and technological innovation.



Discussions at the summit focus on key fields including artificial intelligence and machine learning, and quantum sciences and nanotechnology, as well as energy and advanced materials.



"By uniting scientific wisdom and decision-making under one roof, we seek to establish a global reference that helps protect humanity's civilizational achievements and guides future policies toward sustainable, evidence-based progress," said Omar Sultan Al Olama, minister of state for artificial intelligence, digital economy and remote work applications of the United Arab Emirates, and vice chairman of the World Governments Summit Foundation.



Roger Kornberg, chairman of the World Laureates Association, who is also a Nobel Laureate, said that, at a time of urgent global challenges, this summit offers scientists a rare opportunity to contribute directly to long-term thinking about civilization, prosperity and human progress.



Almost all major challenges in human history have ultimately been addressed through advances in fundamental science, which provides the essential foundation for sustained human progress, conveyed by Wang Yifang, chief scientist of Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a gigantic and complex scientific facility.