Organisers expect the ninth edition of the Sharjah Investment Forum to feature more than 140 activities including 80 business meetings and draw over 80 international speakers as the event focuses on how economies can respond to shifts in trade technology and supply chains. The Sharjah FDI Office which organises the gathering in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Investment selected the theme Building Adaptive Economies to frame discussions around practical policy responses and investment opportunities. Four strategic pillars will guide the programme with dedicated sessions addressing regulatory competitiveness AI-driven industrial change smart capital allocation and the future of communities and growth.
Sessions under the AI technology and industrial transformation pillar will explore agentic artificial intelligence and its capacity to streamline government services while a keynote from Indian entrepreneur and AI developer Varun Mayya will assess how these tools are reshaping business construction product development and scaling strategies. British entrepreneur Simon Squibb will join other speakers in examining entrepreneurship and innovation pathways that align with rapid technological adoption. A McKinsey Global Institute assessment found that generative AI could add up to $4.4 trillion in annual value to the global economy while the World Economic Forum projects that 59 percent of the global workforce will require reskilling by 2030.
The smart capital flows and supply-chain resilience pillar will analyse changing investor priorities cross-border expansion and emerging asset classes according to the forum agenda released by Invest in Sharjah. One panel titled Capital Without Borders: Where Smart Money Is Moving Next will review high-growth financing and regulatory influences on investment decisions. UNCTAD figures show global foreign direct investment reached $1.6 trillion in 2025 with the top 20 host economies capturing more than 80 percent of the total and strategic sectors accounting for 44 percent of greenfield project value up from 16 percent in 2020.
Invest in Sharjah data places the emirate’s foreign direct investment at AED7.74 billion across 142 projects in 2025 reflecting a 45 percent increase in project numbers from the previous year and the creation of 5,673 new jobs. The broader investment tally for domestic and foreign projects reached AED12.8 billion and supported nearly 12,000 positions demonstrating sustained momentum in both new market entries and business expansions. Sharjah Economic Development Department records indicate that business licences issued and renewed grew steadily in the first half of 2026 with industrial and e-commerce segments posting notable gains.
UAE businesses have accelerated artificial intelligence uptake with adoption climbing to 72 percent in 2026 from 53 percent a year earlier according to a joint study by Amazon Web Services and the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office. The research highlighted that 31 percent of adopters now deploy transformative AI systems including agentic technologies while skills gaps and talent recruitment remain key challenges. Microsoft separately ranks the UAE first globally for generative AI usage among working-age adults at 73.3 percent.
Marwan Saleh Alichla coordinator general of the SIF committee said rapid shifts in the global economy require investors and business leaders to anticipate change reassess their business models and move towards new opportunities with agility and speed. The forum will also include a fireside chat on future consumers of 2035 and how brands can anticipate evolving demand patterns over the next decade. Additional panels will address public-private partnerships infrastructure needs and talent development as economies seek to maintain competitiveness amid geopolitical and technological pressures.
