Dubai Future Foundation to Hold First STARS Science and Technology Forum in Dubai

Dubai Future Week runs from November 18 to 21, 2026 at Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future under the theme "For the Future Human". STARS will run across all four days and is meant to bring scientists, researchers, artists and policymakers together, linking laboratories and universities with museums and galleries, according to WAM.

The programme includes more than 20 panel discussions, 10 technology-based art works and 30 interactive research demonstrations. The art exhibition will combine creative work with robotics, artificial intelligence and other scientific fields, and some of the experiences and innovations on show will be revealed to the public for the first time during the week, the foundation said.

MIT Lab Forum

STARS will also host the annual open forum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Senseable City Lab, its first time in Dubai. Researchers, academics, government officials and urban technology specialists are expected to discuss AI-enabled cities, data systems, smart infrastructure and intelligent mobility, and to present recent research in urban technology.

The Senseable City Lab already works in Dubai. When the Dubai Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Ecosystem was set up under the Dubai Future Foundation in December 2025, the lab was named as one of the research institutions the ecosystem would steer, alongside Dubai Future Labs.

Khalifa Al Qama, who heads the Dubai RDI Ecosystem, said the forum is the first initiative of a STARS programme that will continue throughout the year. He said it supports the ecosystem's targets and Dubai's ambition to become a global centre for research and innovation, by encouraging partnerships across disciplines, supporting research and highlighting discoveries with practical impact.

The event adds a research and science strand to Dubai's calendar of technology events, at a time when the emirate is trying to move from adopting AI to producing research and intellectual property of its own.