KE2045, the Knowledge Economy Transition 2045, is a Majlis-led platform for rethinking the future of the global economy beyond the exhausted assumptions of the last era. It brings together law, economics, climate transition, artificial intelligence, governance, and institutional imagination under one horizon: 2045.

The project grows out of the conviction that the world is no longer facing isolated crises, but a deeper transition in which climate, finance, digital infrastructure, and public legitimacy must be understood together. KE2045 therefore treats sustainability not as a slogan or a sector, but as an institutional question: what kind of economic theory of change, and what kind of governing architecture, are now needed for a more legitimate and productive world.

Developed through the Scotia process, shaped by the Majlis methodology, and advanced through collaboration with partners including RAND Europe, KE2045 is both a framework for thought and a platform for action. Its purpose is to help build the language, tools, and alliances needed for the transition to a knowledge economy that rewards productive value, widens human capability, and restores seriousness to long term public reasoning.

The Knowledge Economy 2045 (KE2045) initiative explores how global governance, economic systems and technological infrastructures must evolve to support a sustainable and inclusive global economy by 2045. Moving beyond a narrow focus on net-zero emissions, KE2045 frames decarbonisation as part of a broader transformation toward a knowledge-driven global economy in which innovation, collaboration and stewardship of planetary resources underpin prosperity.

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Professor Dahlan wrote the opening lecture which was given remotely to the doctoral students in Strategic Communications, in Riva, Lativa on 9th February 2026: The erosion of international rule of law: credibility, attribution, and the knowledge crisis.  This opened the Sympodium Institute Advanced Programme for Strategic Communications.

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Professor Dahlan gave the keynote address at UNIDROIT, Rome on 3rd February 2026: “Rebuilding the Rule of Law in the Middle East: Transnational Law in an Age of Transition”. This opened the UNIDROIT Middle East and North Africa Transnational Law Academic Symposium.

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Professor Dahlan gave the keynote address at COP30, UNFCC, Belem, Brazil on 20th November 2025: “Legitimacy in the Knowledge Age: An Invitation to a 20-Year Framework”. This opened a discussion session at the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub on “KE2045: Imagining Governance, Technology, and Justice in a Changing World”.

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Professor Dahlan gave a special address to the Pre-COP30 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 8th November 2025: “2045: The New Horizon — From Law to Hope, from Knowledge to Justice”. This explored using knowledge as a clean resource to transition to a just future.

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Professor Dahlan gave the keynote address at the 4th BRICS Arbitration Forum in Beijing on 18th September 2025: “BRICS Arbitration: Strength and Contribution to Global Governance and Development.” This highlighted the dual role of arbitration. It is both a mechanism for resolving disputes and a foundation for building trust, predictability, and cooperation in a multipolar world.

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From the Aegean to the Louvre, the Winged Victory of Samothrace stands — a triumph frozen in time, poised on the prow, without head or arms, waiting for the mind and the hands to complete her.

She is not 2045 itself, but the image of what victory for humanity must look like when we reach it…

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In Jeddah today, climate does not only announce itself with floods or headlines; it patinas the ordinary. Street signs bleach faster, railings bloom with rust after a night that never cooled, and a shower through dust leaves a thin crust like dried tears on glass. If heatwaves are the body’s crisis, this is the city’s—a slow, public fraying…

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What can a knowledge economy offer us?
What can we hope for?

In this wide-ranging discussion Prof Roberto Unger and Prof Malik Dahlan take us on a deep dive into the knowledge economy.