How can emerging technologies transform economies, organisations, and society itself? What is needed to steer this disruption towards a prosperous future? These questions were at the heart of an event organised by the Católica Centre for Thriving Futures (CCTF), which brought together researchers, business leaders, and specialists for a day focused on knowledge-sharing and dialogue.
Isabel Braga da Cruz, Pro-Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, opened the event with remarks highlighting the importance of “purpose, responsibility, and interdisciplinarity” in discussions around AI and technology. She also emphasised the central role of the three schools that make up the CCTF: Católica Porto Business School, the Porto Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of Biotechnology. As Pro-Rector for Sustainability, she reaffirmed that this is a “cross-cutting commitment throughout the institution, shaping the way it teaches, conducts research, and engages with society.”
Wayne Visser, Director of the CCTF, introduced five stimulating thoughts that guided the conversations throughout the day, proposing paradigm shifts across five dimensions: future, innovation, technology, artificial intelligence, and impact.
- Our approach to the future must change - from something far away and distant to something much closer and more immediate.
- Our approach to innovation must change - from predicting and planning the future to rehearsing and adapting to it.
- Our approach to technology must change - from technologies of division and despair to technologies of inclusion and hope.
- Our approach to artificial intelligence must change - from AI that goes further and faster to AI that goes broader and wiser.
- Our approach to impact must change - from sustainability that does less harm to regeneration that actively promotes good.
The keynote session featured James Arbib, co-founder of RethinkX and author of Stellar. His presentation focused on the convergence of low-cost solar energy, batteries, autonomous electric transport, artificial intelligence, and emerging humanoid robotics. He argued that this convergence represents not a gradual transition, but a systemic disruption, where collapsing costs in energy, intelligence, and physical labour are driving a rapid and self-reinforcing reinvention of the economy and society.
European AI regulation and biotechnology applications
Pedro Freitas and Pedro Rodrigues, lecturers at the Porto Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Biotechnology, respectively, and members of the CCTF research team, presented ongoing research on two themes: artificial intelligence regulation in the European Union and AI applications in biotechnology and health sciences. The session explored both the emerging legal framework in Europe and concrete biomedical use cases.
Two panel discussions followed: “How AI is changing business” and “How AI is changing society”.
The first panel, moderated by Lyal White, from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, included Sara Mendes (Innovation Manager at Sogrape), Tokyo Tarek (Director of Applied AI at Mindera) and Felipe Ferreira (Head of Strategy, Data & AI at Worten Portugal). The discussion focused on which AI-based innovations are already having disruptive market impact, and which hold transformative potential but still require stronger investment or public policy support.
The second panel, moderated by Wayne Visser, brought together Pedro Santa Clara (founder of Shaken Not Stirred), Paulo Dimas (CEO of the Center for Responsible AI) and João Costa Ribeiro (Open Innovation Intelligence Lead at Galp). The debate explored whether the social, ethical, and environmental risks of AI are being adequately addressed, and what opportunities exist for AI to generate positive environmental, social, and governance impact.
What if leadership were less about reacting to the latest crisis and more about sensing what is emerging?
The afternoon was dedicated to a Strategic Dialogue on “What Does Leading from the Future Mean?”, led by Martin Calnan, UNESCO Chair for Futures Literacy (FAST) at École des Ponts Business School; Cam Danielson and Pamela Fuhrmann, co-founders at Conscious Leadership Institute and One Earth Leadership; and Professor Lyal White, Director of the Porter Institute Africa Hub, at Gordon Institute for Business Science. The session explored what it means to lead from the future - an approach focused not on responding to immediate crises, but on anticipating emerging developments and questioning the futures organisations are implicitly creating.
About the Católica Centre for Thriving Futures
The Católica Centre for Thriving Futures of Universidade Católica Portuguesa aims to improve the health of nature, society, and the economy through applied, interdisciplinary evidence-based research on trends and best practices in policy, technology, and finance that can contribute to a better future for Portugal and beyond. To fulfil this mission, the CCTF brings together the expertise of Católica Porto Business School, the Porto Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of Biotechnology, developing sustainability-oriented analysis in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence, bioeconomy innovation, and ESG finance and reporting.
