Future Skills Forum 2025
11 November 2025 | Marina Bay Sands
Nations and organisations empowering the workforce of the future
By invitation only
Open to the CFTE global community. Contact us to request invitation
Our partners from Future Skills Forum 2024
Sneak Peak from Future Skills Forum Asia 2025
An invite-only forum to learn, connect, and exchange
After a successful Future Skills Forum in the Museum of the Future in Dubai, where we released the Future Skills Forum Impact Report to highlight the impact we created with the industry together in the Middle East.
We are now launching the Future Skills Forum Asia in Singapore in 2025. We will bring together a respected assembly of 800 industry leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and technologists to create connections, discuss and debate on the strategies to build future-proof workforces at country and organisation level.
The Future Skills Forum Asia, will be held in partnership with the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) as an official side event of the Singapore FinTech Festival’s 10th anniversary.
Why do we need the Forum?
In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, Silicon Valley startups are redefining organisational scaling – some reaching $100 million in revenue with just 28 employees. As technology advances at unprecedented speeds, it simultaneously empowers individuals while displacing traditional jobs.
Organisations worldwide are grappling with a critical question: What skills should their people develop to be truly future-proof? Despite the urgency, there’s widespread uncertainty about the requirements for AI readiness and the competencies that will remain relevant as automation reshapes our professional landscape.
The Challenge: Old Frameworks in a New World
For decades, we’ve structured organisations around fixed career paths, rigid job roles, and predictable skill progressions. This framework is quickly becoming obsolete in our new tech and AI-driven reality.
There is a need for bringing together thought leaders to address these challenges, asking the right questions, and creating a high-level intellectual space for meaningful discussion about skills transformation.
The last forum in numbers
A unique event for those who care about transforming countries and organisations by focusing on people
Speakers
To be announced
Objectives
Assembly of Global Experts
Intersection of Technology, Finance, Policy, and Human Capability
Actionable Roadmaps for Public-Private Collaboration
Why Singapore?
Thought Leadership and Ecosystem Builder for Talent and Skills
Singapore’s Position as a Global Leader in Human Capital
With its strong emphasis on workforce development, world-class regulatory environment, and strategic regional influence, Singapore stands as the ideal host to convene global expertise. The timing aligns with the 10th anniversary of the Singapore FinTech Festival, further amplifying the Forum’s visibility, impact, and relevance on the global stage.
The Future Skills Forum become a platform to
- Cement Singapore’s leadership as the global hub for worldwide talent discussions
- Turn policy dialogue into concrete frameworks and regional initiatives
- Convene top international voices in finance, technology, future skills, and workforce development to foster outcome-oriented conversations
Forum Streams
Targeted Discussions for Maximum Impact
Plenary Stage: Disruptive and Innovative Models in the Industry
Presentations and discussions of disruptive innovations from lean startups achieving rapid growth and large organisations successfully navigating digital transformation.
Talent Readiness Workforce for FutureTech
Bridging technical skills gaps of forefront skills required in FutureTech such as AI, blockchain, and sustainability. Discussions will cover future competencies, accessing hidden job opportunities, and evaluating technology’s impact on careers and the internal workforce.
Navigating the Market – High Performance Organisations and Individuals
Helping individuals and organisations understand tomorrow’s skills and prepare for market evolution. Discussions will cover what it takes to identify, create, and become high performers in the organisation to bring people along the digital transformation journey and create highly efficient and enabled organisations.
Actionable Roadmaps for Public-Private Collaboration
Building inclusive, agile workforce strategies for talent attraction, retention, and diversification. Exploring the roles of banks, regulators and society as a whole to create and prepare the young and existing workforce to be future-proof.
Roundtable Discussions
Future Skills Forum will transition into insightful roundtable discussions featuring senior leaders from finance and technology industries as well as the public sectors.
These discussions centre around the profound impact of technology on future skills. 100+ Senior leaders with observants to provide a platform for sharing key insights and experiences on highly impactful topics affecting the changing landscape of skills.
The goal is to collect the best practices from both the public and private sectors in navigating the swiftly evolving finance landscape, especially as new technologies are reshaping every facet of the traditional financial system. Roundtables serve as an important catalyst to bring together leading individuals with their own unique experience, to identify the important trends of the industry and develop initiatives and programmes to support the growth of a future-proof workforce.
Previous Future Skills Forum MENA Roundtable Discussions
Thought Leadership Reports
From the roundtable discussions, CFTE will create invaluable reports, serving as a bridge that extends the reach and impact of these forums beyond their immediate audience. They encapsulate and disseminate the wealth of insights, fostering broader industry engagement and providing actionable intelligence for stakeholders.
We would like these reports to underscore the thought leadership of participants and organisers, documenting the progressive ideas and collaborative efforts that drive the sector forward.
The Fintech Ideathon
Building the next generation of Emirati leaders
In pursuit of the aspiration to foster skills development in emerging technologies and prepare the next generation of Emirati leaders, the Fintech Ideathon was conceptualised. The aspiration was realised by designing a platform to enable structured learning of the innovation and ideation processes, knowledge of emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, and collaboration skills. These learnings were delivered by mentors representing successful entrepreneurs and innovators.
The ideathon brought together over 400 young Emirati graduates from EIF’s ETHRAA Programme to explore 4 innovative themes: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Sustainability, and Fintech. Participants were supported by over 15 mentors, including high-profile personas such as the COO of Magnati. Their backgrounds included fintech, entrepreneurship, ventures, and blockchain to name a few.
The teams were evaluated by a panel of 4 judges, each a seasoned industry veteran from around the globe. The various stakeholders were brought together and engaged throughout the ideathon by Saqr Ereiqat, a renowned serial entrepreneur in the MENA region.
Invitation to partner
11 November 2025 – Singapore
