How can emerging technologies transform economies, organisations and society itself? What is needed to steer this disruption towards a thriving 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 experts 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, while also underlining the central role of the three faculties that make up the CCTF: Católica Porto Business School, the Faculty of Law – Porto School, and the Faculty of Biotechnology. As UCP 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 and Professor of Practice in Regenerative Business, Innovation and Technology at Católica Porto Business School, introduced five provocations that framed the conversations throughout the day, proposing a paradigm shift across five dimensions: the future, innovation, technology, artificial intelligence and impact.
- Our approach to the future must change — from something far away and distant to something much sooner and closer to home.
- Our approach to innovation must change — from predicting and planning the future to rehearsing and adapting to the future.
- 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.
This was followed by the keynote session delivered by James Arbib, co-founder of RethinkX and author of Stellar. His talk focused on the convergence of low-cost solar energy, batteries, autonomous electric transport, artificial intelligence and emerging humanoid robotics, arguing that this combination does not represent a gradual transition, but rather a systemic rupture, with collapsing costs in energy, intelligence and physical labour triggering a rapid and self-reinforcing reinvention of the economy and society.
European AI regulation and applications in Biotechnology
Pedro Freitas and Pedro Rodrigues, faculty members from the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Biotechnology respectively, and members of the CCTF team, presented ongoing research on two topics: artificial intelligence regulation in the European Union and the application of AI in Biotechnology and health sciences. The session explored the legal framework currently taking shape in Europe, as well as practical biomedical use cases.
Two panel discussions followed: the first on “How AI is changing business” and the second on “How AI is changing society”.
The first panel, moderated by Lyal White from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, featured 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 two questions: which AI-based innovations and technologies are already having a disruptive impact on the market, and which have transformative potential but still require greater support, whether through investment or public policy frameworks.
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 to what extent the social, ethical and environmental risks associated with AI are being adequately addressed, and what the best opportunities are for AI to generate positive environmental, social and governance impact.
What if leadership were less about responding to the latest crisis and more about sensing what is emerging?
The afternoon was dedicated to a Strategic Dialogue on “What does it mean to lead from the future?”, facilitated by Martin Calnan, holder of the UNESCO Chair for Futures Literacy at École des Ponts Business School; Cam Danielson and Pamela Fuhrmann, co-founders of the Conscious Leadership Institute and One Earth Leadership; and Professor Lyal White, Director of the Porter Institute Africa Hub at the Gordon Institute for Business Science. The session explored what it means to lead from the future — an approach centred not on reacting to immediate crises, but on anticipating emerging realities and questioning the futures organisations are implicitly creating.
About the Católica Centre for Thriving Futures
The Católica Centre for Thriving Futures at Universidade Católica Portuguesa aims to improve the health of nature, society and the economy through applied, interdisciplinary and 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 Faculty of Law – Porto School and the Faculty of Biotechnology, developing sustainability-driven analysis in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence, bioeconomy innovation, and ESG finance and reporting.
