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Some 3,000 of the world's brightest minds, including technology trailblazers, Nobel Laureates, industry leaders, CEOs, ministers, scientists, artists, musicians and internationally renowned thinkers gathered on November 20-22 in Abu Dhabi for XPANSE, a new conference that seeks to set the horizons of exponential technologies, such as quantum, neuromorphic computing, next-gen materials, genomics, synthetic biology and more.

There were talks on flying cars, organoid intelligence, purifying water by discovering new materials with Quantum + AI, non-invasive mind reading with AI and computing with conscious fungi. One panel, moderated by The Innovator’s Editor-in-Chief (pictured here), focused on how advancements in biosensing, multimodal AI and experiments in space will help usher in personalized medicine and preventative healthcare.

The conference ended on Friday evening November 22. The key takeaways will be available on The Innovator's website on Monday November 25.

As 2024 comes to a close it’s time to look at 2025 and the road ahead. In his 37th exclusive column for The Innovator former Cisco Executive Chairman John Chambers discusses his bets in the market, tech and business landscapes. This content is only available to paying subscribers.

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Xenobots combine AI and biology to create synthetic lifeforms, collections of living cells that can be designed and optimized to do useful work sensing, processing, and acting upon their physical environment. Think of them as biological robots. New York-based startup Fauna Systems wants to harness them for industry, offering Xenobots-as-a-Service as a way of solving pressing problems in human health, environmental remediation and bio-engineering. It was among the startups pitching at XPANSE, a conference in Abu Dhabi Nov. 20-22 that focuses on impactful cutting-edge science.

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Amount enterprises spent on AI this year, more than 6X the $2.3 billion spent in 2023—according to a new report from Menlo Ventures, a clear signal that enterprises are shifting from experimentation to execution, embedding AI at the core of their business strategies.

This spike in spending reflects a wave of organizational optimism; 72% of decision-makers surveyed by the venture firm anticipate broader adoption of generative AI tools in the near future, says the report. GenAI tools are already deeply embedded in the daily work of professionals. That said. many decision-makers are still figuring out what will and won’t work for their businesses. More than a third of respondents to Menlo Ventures' survey of 600 U.S. enterprise leaders do not have a clear vision for how generative AI will be implemented across their organizations. This doesn’t mean they’re investing without direction, says the report. "It simply underscores that we’re still in the early stages of a large-scale transformation and enterprise leaders are just beginning to grasp the profound impact generative AI will have on their organizations."