Torben Menke and Simon Hague (MBA students at the business school) attended the three day Festival of Thinkers in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
Hosted by the Abu Dhabi Higher College of Technology, and involving 15 Nobel Laureates together with inspirational business and academic leaders from numerous countries the purpose of the conference was to debate pertinent global issues such as poverty, sustainability and economic issues and propose ideas for all the delegates to take back with them.
The program consisted of intellectual panel discussions led by the distinguished guests and were followed by a high level of table interaction with significant opportunity to mix with some of these fantastic thinkers. By debating and extending the thoughts in these discussion areas the concluding thoughts focused on agreement that the provision of a conducive learning environment for the next generation and promotion of tolerance and celebration of diversity were key.
To compliment the discussions there were evening events including a unique gala dinner at the emirates palace (with Joquain Cortes, MF Hussain, Diana Yukawa, Kyougaku Taiko, McCall Clark, Bickram Ghosh and the Shiamak Davar Dance Company) and an evening cruise where laureates were in abundance.
A fantastic experience and one that can be remembered for years to come.
Words by Simon Hague
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