Bloomberg New Economy
2026 Program

• John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg

• Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder, Bloomberg L.P. & Bloomberg Philanthropies

• Erik Schatzker, Editorial Director, New Economy

How will central banks manage the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on economies and societies? Do their mandates need to evolve? What tools beyond interest rates can policy makers employ?

As emerging economies increasingly drive global growth, industrial expansion and technological transformation, a bottleneck is forming in capital flows. Foreign direct investment in developing countries has stagnated in recent years, even as demand surges for essential physical and digital infrastructure. Yet some investors deploy capital consistently, despite volatility, political uncertainty and currency risk. What conditions, policies and partnerships are enabling those decisions — and could they offer a framework for scaling investment across the emerging world?

For almost two whole generations, investors built strategies on a foundation of globalization, declining rates, political stability and disinflation. Today, every pillar of that structure is being tested if not failing. The nature of risk has changed and with it the rules of the game. Where are investors still relying on assumptions that no longer fit the world ahead? 

Technology, geopolitics, climate and demographics are reshaping the global economy faster than most organizations can respond. Yet failing to adapt has never come at a higher cost. What choices must leaders make to move decisively amid uncertainty, rewrite strategy in real time and build institutions capable of continuous reinvention? 

As AI becomes embedded in everything from logistics and finance to healthcare and national security, the world is entering a new era of dependence on cloud-based intelligence and digital infrastructure — along with profound new vulnerabilities. Can the systems underpinning the AI economy remain fast, efficient and globally connected while also becoming more resilient, secure and reliable? 

Presentation on the global race for technological supremacy.

The next phase of the AI economy will depend not only on advances in technology, but on the ability to build at unprecedented scale. Power generation, transmission systems, data centers, engineering talent and industrial infrastructure are all emerging as critical constraints on AI growth. As governments and companies race to expand AI capabilities, will physics be the binding constraint on a digital future? 

With the US turning inward and forsaking the global order it once maintained, the world’s “middle powers” face a choice. They can cooperate on security guarantees, open markets, reserve-currency regimes and rules-based institutions, or they can accept a new paradigm of competing blocs and transactional relationships. And if they can agree in principle, how would everything from trade to capital flows to common defense operate in practice? 

For decades, the Gulf has transformed itself into one of the world’s most dynamic economic regions. Today’s geopolitical tensions are testing that model. As leaders confront heightened security risks and shifting global alliances, what will it take to preserve economic momentum and continue the transition beyond hydrocarbons?

Critical minerals, semiconductors, energy, food—they’ve all become levers of power in a post-Pax world, and the scramble to secure them is redefining the global economy. Governments that once preached open markets now subsidize domestic industries, restrict exports and court resource-rich states. Yet self-sufficiency has a price: duplicated capacity, higher costs, strained alliances. Where’s the dividing line between strategic autonomy and economic self-harm? What does the right balance look like?

A fundamental rethink of global supply chains has been underway since the pandemic — but the map keeps changing. “China-Plus-1” isn’t enough. With every war, geopolitical shock or industrial transformation, new trade routes and sourcing strategies risk becoming inadequate or even obsolete. How much resilience and optionality are possible when the disruptions themselves are constant?

Every country wants sovereign AI. Few have the resources to achieve it. That’s why the gap between ambition and reality is becoming a new axis of geopolitical dependency. From India’s bet on public compute to Europe’s focus on regulation, the strategies diverge sharply — but the underlying questions are the same: In a world defined by two AI superpowers, will every government have to pick a side? And what will it take to preserve at least some agency and digital self-determination?

Examining the future of global energy demand and supplies.

The demand curve is clear. Now comes the harder question: Who builds the supply, how fast and at what cost? From grid modernization and LNG to next-generation nuclear, SMRs and the distant but tantalizing promise of fusion, the technology exists in various states of readiness. Who provides the financing, creates the regulatory framework and demonstrates the political will to satisfy a world whose appetite for power is growing faster than the ability to generate it cleanly, reliably and at scale?

AI is compressing the cycle of scientific discovery in ways that were implausible just a few years ago. Already, from drug discovery to materials science to climate modeling, AI has identified patterns and generated hypotheses that human scientists may never have reached on their own. In the process, the very nature of scientific inquiry — how we ask questions, test ideas and define the boundaries of the knowable — may itself be changing. Perhaps the only question is where to concentrate resources so that the promising possibilities become real breakthroughs.

Digitization has become a leveling force for developing economies. India, for example, democratized access to finance and slashed transaction costs, establishing a public infrastructure that spans payments, identity and health records, and laying a data-rich foundation for AI adoption. With sovereign control over such systems, governments can curb the influence of foreign intermediaries and legacy frameworks such as dollarization. Is there a blueprint for transformation on this scale? Does it demand too much state capacity, public trust and political will? How involved should the private sector be? What happens to security and privacy when a nation’s economic life runs on one architecture?

The extraterrestrial economy is already booming. Satellites play a critical role in financial markets, disaster response and precision agriculture; orbital data centers may be just years away; so far, 55 countries have signed the Artemis Accords on space exploitation. But commercialization is still in its infancy. The decisions being made now — about debris management, resource rights and the boundary between civilian and military use — will determine who defines the new space economy and on whose terms.

Soft power is an increasingly important tool of global influence, shaping how countries are seen through culture, values and storytelling. India offers a striking example, with its global reach in film, music, fashion, wellness and diaspora networks. But can cultural influence meaningfully shift power in a world still shaped by economics, technology and military strength?

The world is splitting along a line as consequential as any geopolitical divide: demographics. Economies in the Global North face labor shortages and strained pension systems — yet the obvious solve, immigration, is political kryptonite. Meanwhile, birth rates are falling in countries that haven’t built the social infrastructure to support aging populations, including China, India and Brazil. Desperate people, like water, find their own level. What happens when the pressures become too great to contain — and no government or multilateral framework is prepared to manage the consequences?