World Laureates Summit opens in Dubai with focus on global challenges

DUBAI: The World Laureates Summit kicked off on Sunday in Dubai. The summit brought 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 civilisation.

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, 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 civilisational 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 and a Nobel Laureate, said that, at a time of urgent global challenges, the summit offers scientists a rare opportunity to contribute directly to long-term thinking about civilisation, 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, said Wang Yifang, chief scientist of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a large and complex scientific facility.

"Fundamental science thrives on global collaboration. By remaining open and collaborative, the international scientific community can pool talent and resources, improve the quality and efficiency of research, and ensure that scientific achievements are more widely shared for the benefit of global progress and common development," Wang told Xinhua.

(With inputs from RSS/Xinhua)