2026-09-02
Dubai Future Week will be held on 18-21 November 2026 at Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future, with more than 10,000 participants expected, after Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, directed the Dubai Future Foundation on 2026-09-01 to organise the event as an annual gathering. The four-day programme runs under the theme “For the Human of the Future” and is built around five tracks: how we will live, think, innovate, feel and do business. Formats range from keynote addresses and international competitions to idea pitches, exhibitions and closed-door discussions, and registration for attendees, speakers and partners is already open on the event website. For companies in the UAE, the week becomes the November anchor of the Dubai Future Foundation calendar. It grows out of the Dubai Future Forum, whose fourth edition in November 2025 drew more than 2,500 participants and over 200 speakers to the Museum of the Future.
Dubai Future Week 2026 at a glance
The key parameters announced on 2026-09-01 by Dubai Media Office and reported by Gulf News are summarised in the table below.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18-21 November 2026, Wednesday to Saturday |
| Venues | Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai |
| Organiser | Dubai Future Foundation, on the directive of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed |
| Expected participants | More than 10,000: inventors, innovators, experts, investors, policymakers, entrepreneurs, technologists and specialists |
| Theme | For the Human of the Future |
| Tracks | Five: living, intelligence, discovery, wellbeing and markets |
| Formats | Keynotes, debates, fireside conversations, workshops, international challenges and competitions, idea pitches, exhibitions, immersive experiences, closed-door discussions, specialist sessions and public activations |
| Registration | Open at dubaifutureweek.com for attendees, speakers and partners |
Five tracks: how we will live, think, innovate, feel and do business
The event website groups the programme into five tracks, each framed as a question about people rather than about technology. The organisers’ own line is that “the future isn’t about technology, it’s about you”.
- The Future of Living: how we will live.
- The Future of Intelligence: how we will think. This is the track where artificial intelligence sits.
- The Future of Discovery: how we will innovate.
- The Future of Wellbeing: how we will feel.
- The Future of Markets: how we will do business. This is the track for new markets and business models, the one most directly relevant to investors and company owners.
Detailed session agendas and speaker lists for 2026 have not been published yet. The announcement names the formats and the flagship initiatives that will run inside the week, and the Foundation’s practice is to release the full agenda shortly before the event: the 2025 Forum agenda with more than 70 sessions came out on 14 November 2025, four days before the opening.
What is on the programme
According to the announcement, Dubai Future Week will combine keynote addresses, debates, fireside conversations and workshops with international challenges and competitions, idea pitches, exhibitions, immersive future experiences, closed-door discussions, specialist sessions and public activations. Several established Dubai Future Foundation initiatives are named as part of the week: AI Grandmaster, the Dubai Foresight Awards, the Dubai Future Solutions exhibition Prototypes for Humanity, and TED Talks.
Two of them have a track record that shows the scale to expect. Prototypes for Humanity, run by the Dubai Future Foundation with Dubai International Financial Centre, Art Dubai and the Hussain Sajwani DAMAC Foundation, showed 100 projects in November 2025 selected from more than 3,000 submissions by over 1,200 universities in 120 countries, exhibited at AREA 2071 in Emirates Towers. The Dubai Foresight Awards were presented in 2025 in three categories: Foresight Change Makers, Foresight for People and Foresight for the Planet.
From Dubai Future Forum to Dubai Future Week
Since 2022 the Museum of the Future has hosted the Dubai Future Forum, which the Foundation describes as the world’s largest gathering of futurists. The fourth edition on 18-19 November 2025 gathered more than 2,500 participants from 100 organisations, over 200 speakers and more than 70 sessions, with Learning Days on 17 and 20 November. Dubai Future Week keeps the same two venues, stretches the format to four days and sets a target of more than 10,000 participants, roughly four times the Forum’s 2025 attendance. The Dubai Future Foundation’s page for Dubai Future Forum 2026 now redirects to the Dubai Future Week website.
Sheikh Hamdan framed the new format in two sentences. “We want this annual event to become a defining milestone in shaping the future of humanity,” he said, adding that Dubai “continues to strengthen its position as a global hub for the world’s most ambitious ideas and future-focused visions”. The organisers describe the week as a meeting point where visions of the future are brought together with the people able to turn them into reality.
Where the week sits in Dubai’s 2026 events calendar
Dubai Future Week is the third themed week the Foundation runs in 2026. The second edition of Dubai AI Week took place on 6-9 April 2026, and Dubai Future Finance Week ran on 11-15 May 2026. November then opens the busiest stretch of the year for business travel: Dubai Future Week on 18-21 November is followed by GITEX Global, which moves to Expo City Dubai in December 2026, as set out in our Dubai events calendar for the rest of 2026. At federal level the week lands less than three months after the UAE President established the National Programme for Advanced Sciences and Technologies with six tracks and a Higher Committee under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, so the November agenda will be read against a fresh national science and technology framework.
What Dubai Future Week means for businesses
For companies, the practical content of the announcement comes down to three points.
- Registration is open now. The website offers three routes: attend, speak or partner. Companies that want a speaking slot or a partner presence apply through the same site. Ticket prices, if any, have not been published at the time of writing.
- Pitch and competition formats give startups a route in. Idea pitches, international challenges and Prototypes for Humanity are open formats with selection, not invitation-only sessions. In 2025 the exhibition alone received more than 3,000 submissions from 120 countries, so a Dubai-based project competes with a global field and needs a working prototype rather than a concept.
- Attending needs a visa; doing business needs a company. Visitors from countries without visa-free entry come on a UAE visit visa. Companies that plan to sign agreements, hire staff or receive payments during or after the week need a licensed UAE entity with a corporate bank account, and that setup takes weeks rather than days, which is why teams targeting November typically start the paperwork in September or October.
Checklist: how to prepare for Dubai Future Week 2026
- Register on dubaifutureweek.com in the role you need: attendee, speaker or partner.
- Block 18-21 November 2026 in the calendar. Both venues stand next to each other on Sheikh Zayed Road, next to the Emirates Towers metro station.
- Check visa requirements for visiting staff and guests well ahead of the dates.
- If you plan to exhibit, pitch or sign agreements, make sure the company that will do so is licensed in the UAE and has an active bank account.
- Follow the Dubai Future Foundation channels for the agenda; in 2025 it was released four days before the Forum.
- Combine the trip with GITEX Global at Expo City Dubai in December if the team travels for technology events; both are Dubai dates in the fourth quarter of 2026.
How Atlant Capital can help
Atlant Capital sets up companies in the UAE for founders and investors who want to be present in Dubai as a registered business rather than as visitors. We select the licence and free zone for your activity through our company setup service, assist with corporate bank account opening so the company can invoice and receive payments, and arrange residency visas for shareholders and key staff. For a team planning to attend or exhibit at Dubai Future Week, we can map out the timeline from licence to bank account so the company is operational before 18 November 2026.
Conclusion
Dubai Future Week on 18-21 November 2026 turns the Dubai Future Forum, a two-day gathering of 2,500 futurists at the Museum of the Future, into a four-day event with more than 10,000 expected participants across Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future. The theme “For the Human of the Future”, five tracks, eleven formats and flagship initiatives such as Prototypes for Humanity and the Dubai Foresight Awards are already fixed; the detailed agenda will follow. Registration is open, and for companies that want to use the week for more than networking, the entity, bank account and visas have to be in place before November.
FAQ
When and where is Dubai Future Week 2026?
Dubai Future Week 2026 takes place on 18-21 November 2026, from Wednesday to Saturday, at Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. It is organised by the Dubai Future Foundation on the directive of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and is planned as an annual event.
Who can attend Dubai Future Week and how do I register?
The organisers expect more than 10,000 participants: inventors, innovators, experts, investors, policymakers, entrepreneurs, technologists and specialists. Registration is open on the official website dubaifutureweek.com, with separate forms for attendees, speakers and partners. Ticket prices have not been published at the time of writing.
How is Dubai Future Week different from the Dubai Future Forum?
The Dubai Future Forum, held at the Museum of the Future since 2022, is a two-day foresight conference; its fourth edition on 18-19 November 2025 gathered more than 2,500 participants, over 200 speakers and 70+ sessions. Dubai Future Week runs for four days across two venues, targets more than 10,000 participants and combines keynotes and closed-door discussions with competitions, idea pitches, exhibitions and public activations. The Foundation’s Dubai Future Forum 2026 page now redirects to the Dubai Future Week website.
Do I need a UAE company to take part in Dubai Future Week?
No. Attending, speaking or pitching only requires registration and, for many nationalities, a UAE visit visa. A licensed UAE company becomes necessary when you want to sign agreements, hire staff, exhibit as a UAE business or receive payments in the country. Setting up a company with a corporate bank account takes weeks, so teams that plan to do business during the week should start in September or October 2026.
