Trends & Experts for 2025
With 2024 now a distant memory of important world elections, geopolitical uncertainty, and tech innovation, we look ahead to what the key trends of 2025 might be and which speakers can offer their thoughtful expertise.
AI Gets Practical
Perhaps the most hyped trend of the last few years has now reached an inflection point. The trillions being spent on data centres, chips and other R&D now has to go beyond the theoretical and into the actual. Businesses want to see practical applications of AI and how this can help them day-to-day.
Zack Kass
Head of Go -To-Market at Open AI (2021-23)
Walter Pasquarelli
AI Advisor to Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola & Meta
Brian Evergreen
AI Strategy Lead for Microsoft US (2019-21)
Kay Firth Butterfield
Head of AI at the World Economic Forum (2017-23)
Marietje Schaake
Fellow at Institute for Human-Centered AI
Magnus Ekbom
Technology entrepreneur and AI strategy expert
Adam Cheyer
Creator of Apple’s Siri
Sebastian Thrun
Founder of Google X
Inma Martinez
Advisor to governments on digital transformation
Daniel Hulme
Chief AI Officer at WPP
Dror Poleg
Advisor on the innovation of real estate
Ayesha Khanna
AI thought leader and futurist
Trade Wars
Trump’s re-election has brought protectionist trade policies back to the fore with large punitive tariffs being floated against countries such as China and Mexico, and even the EU. Only time will tell whether these will come to fruition and how other states will react.
Callum Williams
Senior Economics Writer at The Economist
Lionel Barber
Editor of the Financial Times (2005-20)
Curtis S. Chin
US Ambassador to Asian Development Bank (2007-10)
Ruchir Sharma
Chairman of Rockefeller International
Lucrezia Reichlin
Professor of Economics at the London Business School
Margrethe Vestager
European Commissioner for Competition (2014–24)
Andy Haldane
Chief Economist at The Bank of England (1989-21)
Anthony Scaramucci
White House Director of Communications in 2017
Cheng Li
Expert in Chinese Leadership politics
Minouche Shafik
Deputy Governor of the Bank of England (2014-17)
Bruno Le Maire
French Minister of Economy and Finance (2017–24)
Nouriel Roubini
Economic consultant, economist, and writer
Geopolitical Conflicts Raging On
With the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestine conflict still unresolved, powers such as the US and NATO may force leaders to the negotiation table. As Western states focus on more isolationist policies, will this galvanise countries like China and Iran to expand their imperial ambitions?
Robin Niblett
Chief Executive of Chatham House (2007–22)
Jeremy Fleming
Director of GCHQ (2017–23)
Tina Fordham
Founder, geopolitical strategist, and advisor
Kurt Volker
George W. Bush’s last US Ambassador to NATO
Patrick Sanders
Head of the British Army (2022-24)
Eliot Higgins
Founder of investigative journalism platform, Bellingcat
Matthew Kaminski
Co-founder of POLITICO Europe
Leslie Vinjamuri
Director at Chatham House
Jeremy Hunt
Chancellor of the Exchequer (2022-24)
Kishore Mahbubani
President of the UN Security Council (2001-02)
Climate Change Hotting Up
2024 was the first calendar year to pass the symbolic threshold of the 1.5 degree global warming limit, as well as the world’s hottest on record. Extreme weather patterns look to becoming norm – how will we respond?
Stuart Kirk
Columnist at the Financial Times
Dasho Tshering Tobgay
Former Prime Minister of Bhutan (2013–18)
Mike Berners-Lee
Author of upcoming book “A Climate of Truth” (2025)
Vijay Vatheeswaran
Energy & Climate Innovation Editor, The Economist
Christina Figueres
UNFCCC Executive Secretary (2010–16)
Alok Sharma
President of COP26