ASTANA ECONOMIC FORUM
The transformation of the Astana Economic Forum, Eurasia’s leading conference on economic matters, into the The Global Challenges Summit well demonstrates Kazakhstan's new status in the international discourse on the opportunities and risks presented by planetary development. Astana’s successful organization of the "Energy of the Future" World EXPO 2017 served as the backdrop against which Kazakhstan announced its large-scale “Third Modernization”, geared towards pushing the country into the top 30 of the world's strongest economies by means of breakthroughs in innovative development, the implementation of bold institutional reforms, and extensive international integration.

A new unprecedented spiral of technological revolution at the beginning of the 21st century has created dozens of megatrends that are changing the world in ways that dramatically impact every country, business and individual human being on the planet. Economic growth and resource resilience, digitalization and urbanization, longevity and the financial revolution, global security and cultural change – these are the global trends that form the basis for the programme focus of the The Global Challenges Summit to bring together in mid-May in Astana hundreds of speakers drawn from the ranks of the most prominent politicians, businessmen and scholars, along with the thousands of experts taking part in the forum.
EXPO Congress Center & Hilton Astana
For participants
Full list of summit speakers
Unified economy
Global strategy
Urbanization
Sustainability
Unified economy
Can states improve market mechanisms and heighten the efficiency of the world economic system?
Slowdown in the world economy. A trend or abnormality?
Galloping growth in inequality. Combating financial segregation
China. 'Enfant terrible' or a how-to guide for the world?
Global strategy
The ever-accelerating pace of global change requires new solutions, but will traditional strategies be appropriate for these?
Optimal limits to the state sector. How can the state’s share in the economy be reduced?
The third modernisation of Kazakhstan. How to Integrate into new markets?
General clean-up. Space, oceans, atmosphere and incentives for a global clean-up
Urbanization
The future of man lies in the city, but the cities are not yet ready to take in all and sundry. How will technology help cities evolve?
The new engineering revolution. Technologies in urban planning projects
The return of the impossible. A vision of cities in 2050
Are the ”smart" born or made? UrbanTech in established cities and new cties
A city from scratch. Creating a successful megalopolis in the 21st century
Presentation of Human capital development ratings for Kazakhstan’s cities
Sustainability
How to ensure sustainable development of the global economy against the backdrop of a growing population and shortage of resources?
Presentation by the International Water Assessment Centre
The global water economy. Obstacles and to stimuli for new cooperation
Clean energy
Singularity
Digital world
Future of Money
Clean energy
Unsustainable energy will soon become a thing of the past, but are the new solutions ready?
The transition to energy efficiency housing and communal services. Looking for new economic incentives
"Green Economics". Obstacles to and stimuli for implementation
New energy accumulating technologies
Singularity
Artificial intelligence will soon outstrip human capabilities and begin to development all by itself. How can we predict its behaviour, and what will we have to do if this proves impossible?
The laws of artificial intelligence. ethical and political aspects of new regulatory policies
Digital world
Digitalisation is transforming institutions, business processes and daily life. How can we adapt to the new digital reality?
Eurasian digital platforms
Digitization of countries. Advanced Practices
Future of Money
A new financial system. How disruptive will the changes be, and when will the new financial era dawn?
Are cryptocurrency billionaires the elite of the future?
Alternative money. How should regulators react?
No place for old timers. How financial platforms are transforming
Global security
A new mankind
Longevity
Global security
Each step of the technological revolution has a downside and brings with it a loss of anonymity. How can governments guarantee our peace of mind and protect our data from those with malicious intent?
World without privacy. The limits of transparency
Stones in a time of bombs. Dispersed terrorism
A new mankind
The search for a new identity and new ethics in the digital age, cyborgs, and new kinds of education. What awaits humanity in the future?
Continuous education or fusion with computers? The educational process in the 21st century
Civilisation of super heroes. Markets for affordable ”post-human" abilities
Longevity
People are living longer and longer, but epidemics and diseases remain a problem. What are the tendencies for the development of medicines in this context?
Old age as a curable disease
Longevity as a new branch of the economy. The legal framework
Unified economy
Can states improve market mechanisms and heighten the efficiency of the world economic system?
Slowdown in the world economy. A trend or abnormality?
Galloping growth in inequality. Combating financial segregation
China. 'Enfant terrible' or a how-to guide for the world?
Global strategy
The ever-accelerating pace of global change requires new solutions, but will traditional strategies be appropriate for these?
Optimal limits to the state sector. How can the state’s share in the economy be reduced?
The third modernisation of Kazakhstan. How to Integrate into new markets?
General clean-up. Space, oceans, atmosphere and incentives for a global clean-up
Urbanization
The future of man lies in the city, but the cities are not yet ready to take in all and sundry. How will technology help cities evolve?
The new engineering revolution. Technologies in urban planning projects
The return of the impossible. A vision of cities in 2050
Are the ”smart" born or made? UrbanTech in established cities and new cties
A city from scratch. Creating a successful megalopolis in the 21st century
Presentation of Human capital development ratings for Kazakhstan’s cities
Sustainability
How to ensure sustainable development of the global economy against the backdrop of a growing population and shortage of resources?
Presentation by the International Water Assessment Centre
The global water economy. Obstacles and to stimuli for new cooperation
Clean energy
Unsustainable energy will soon become a thing of the past, but are the new solutions ready?
The transition to energy efficiency housing and communal services. Looking for new economic incentives
"Green Economics". Obstacles to and stimuli for implementation
New energy accumulating technologies
Singularity
Artificial intelligence will soon outstrip human capabilities and begin to development all by itself. How can we predict its behaviour, and what will we have to do if this proves impossible?
The laws of artificial intelligence. ethical and political aspects of new regulatory policies
Digital world
Digitalisation is transforming institutions, business processes and daily life. How can we adapt to the new digital reality?
Eurasian digital platforms
Digitization of countries. Advanced Practices
Future of Money
A new financial system. How disruptive will the changes be, and when will the new financial era dawn?
Are cryptocurrency billionaires the elite of the future?
Alternative money. How should regulators react?
No place for old timers. How financial platforms are transforming
Global security
Each step of the technological revolution has a downside and brings with it a loss of anonymity. How can governments guarantee our peace of mind and protect our data from those with malicious intent?
World without privacy. The limits of transparency
Stones in a time of bombs. Dispersed terrorism
A new mankind
The search for a new identity and new ethics in the digital age, cyborgs, and new kinds of education. What awaits humanity in the future?
Continuous education or fusion with computers? The educational process in the 21st century
Civilisation of super heroes. Markets for affordable ”post-human" abilities
Longevity
People are living longer and longer, but epidemics and diseases remain a problem. What are the tendencies for the development of medicines in this context?
Old age as a curable disease
Longevity as a new branch of the economy. The legal framework
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24.05.2018
Summary of the AEF 2018 Global Challenges Summit
On 19 May 2018, the Astana Economic Forum, in its new form as the Global Challenges Summit, came to a close. New agendas and a revised format of events allowed the worldwide expert community to join together in search of solutions to the global challenges standing before all of humanity.
17.05.2018
Samruk-Kazyna is the primary sponsor for AEF 2018: Global Challenges Summit.
Samruk-Kazyna is an investment fund and its mission is increasing national wellbeing in Karakhstan and supporting national economy modernization.
16.05.2018
AEF 2018 Global Challenges Summit Fest
After they speak at the AEF 2018 Global Challenges Summit, global intellectual stars will travel to Astana’s universities to give lectures, seminars, and master classes for students and young scholars of Kazakhstan.
Global Challenges state of mind. The research of the summit. How has the discussion on global challenges evolved over the past 30 years? What challenges are most hotly debated at present? How are national and semantic differences influencing these discussions? Semantic analysis of text-based big data enables us to determine the moods in which people around the world talk about global challenges, indicating whether they feel a sense of fear of the inevitable, or conversely see opportunities for positive scenarios. Research sources include media, academic publications and social media. Big data research shows the time and place each block of challenges appears in discussions, along with the main sources and nature of discussion, the popularity and relevance of the topic, and its dynamics.
Parallel Programme
Festival
Cultural programme for participants
On 17 and 18 May, in locations at Nazarbayev University and the Gumilyov Eurasian National University, a unique series of conversations between speakers from the AEF 2018 Global Challenges Summit and Kazakhstan’s talented intellectual youth about key global challenges and their influence on the life strategies of those who are just entering the professional world. After the Forum, lecture recordings will be turned into the Digital University of the AEF 2018 Global Challenges Summit, whose materials will remain available on the Forum’s site until the end of the project in 3 languages.
As part of the cultural programme, Forum participants can take tours of the Nur Alem museum, the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Astana Opera Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
Astana Ballet Gala
Guided tour of the Kazakhstan National Museum
Guided tour of the Astana Opera
Guided tour of the Nur Alem museum

Admission is free using personal badges without advance registration.

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