5 May, 08.30-16.00
Venue: Carvalho Guerra Auditorium, Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Porto
Join leaders, researchers and innovators at the Católica Centre for Thriving Futures to explore whether today’s advances in AI and innovation signal incremental change or a system-level transformation. Through a keynote on technological convergence, panels on purpose-led innovation and AI for good, and a futures-focused leadership dialogue, the symposium examines how emerging technologies can reshape economies, organisations and society—and what it takes to steer this disruption toward a thriving future.
Register here | Bios of the Speakers | Projects & Courses
Agenda:
08.30-09.00: Registration
09.00-09.15: Welcome and Introduction
09.15-10.00: Keynote: A World Beyond Limits and How To Get There
James Arbib, co-founder of RethinkX and author of Stellar, will show how the convergence of ultra-cheap solar energy, batteries, autonomous electric transport, AI and emerging humanoid robotics signals not a gradual transition but a system-level rupture - where collapsing costs in energy, intelligence and physical labour trigger a rapid, self-reinforcing reinvention of the economy and society.
10.00-10.45: Briefing: AI Regulation and Application for Innovation
Pedro Freitas and Pedro Rodrigues, faculty members at Porto Faculty of Law and Faculty of Biotechnology of Universidade Católica, will present findings from ongoing research on AI regulation in the EU and AI application in biotechnology in health sciences.
10.45-11.00: Break
11.00-11.45: Panel 1: How AI is changing business
This panel will explore: 1) Which AI-led innovations or technologies are market ready and having a disruptive impact? 2) Which AI-led innovations or technologies have disruptive potential but need more support (e.g. investment, policy)?Facilitator: Prof. Lyal White, Gordon Institute of Business Science
Panellists: Sara Mendes, Innovation Manager at Sogrape; Tokyo Tarek, Director of Applied AI at Mindera; Felipe Ferreira, Head of Strategy, Data & AI at Worten Portugal
11.45-12.30: Panel 2: How AI is changing society
This panel will explore: 1) How well are AI’s social, ethical and environmental risks being addressed? 2) What are the best opportunities for AI to make a positive environmental, social or governance impact on creating a thriving future?
Facilitator: Prof. Wayne Visser, Católica Porto Business School
Panellists: Pedro Santa Clara, Founder of Shaken Not Stirred; Paulo Dimas, CEO of the Center for Responsible AI; João Costa Ribeiro, Open Innovation Intelligence Lead at Galp.
12.30-13.00: CCTF Projects and Courses + Closing
13.00-14.00: Lunch
14.00-16.00: Strategic Dialogue: What Does Leading from the Future Mean?
What if leadership is less about responding to the latest crisis and more about cultivating the capacity to sense what is emerging? This dialogue explores how leaders can rethink value creation through foresight, anticipation, and deeper inquiry into the futures their organizations are implicitly shaping.
Facilitators: Martin Calnan, UNESCO Chair for Futures Literacy (FAST) at École des Ponts Business School; Cam Danielson & Pamela Fuhrmann, PhD, Co-Founders at Conscious Leadership Institute and One Earth Leadership; Prof. Lyal White, Director of the Porter Institute Africa Hub, Gordon Institute for Business Science
This event is organized by the Católica Centre for Thriving Futures (CCTF) of Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Porto, which brings together the expertise of Católica Porto Business School, the Porto Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Biotechnology to undertake sustainability-oriented policy, technology and business analysis in data science & AI, bio economy innovation, and ESG finance & reporting.