The Ideation Center
We create exponential shifts
The mission lab for the Middle East
We combine vision with action to drive exponential shifts across society, the economy, and the environment.
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In a world where challenges grow more complex by the day, bold missions are key to unlocking sustainable transformation.

With origins as one of the region’s most prominent think tanks, we partner with governments, businesses, and leading academic institutions to anticipate future trends, generate groundbreaking insights, build advanced capabilities, and pilot new solutions that shape the future.
Capabilities
Actionable foresight
Explore possible futures with systems thinking, trends analysis, and scenario planning to strengthen strategies and decisions.
Innovation as a service
Harness collective intelligence to galvanize visionary ideas and test scalable, life-centered solutions.
Behavioral economics
Create better policies, programs, and services by understanding, predicting, and influencing human behavior.
Economic analytics and impact evaluation
Leverage advanced models to understand economic data and measure the impact, effectiveness, and efficiency of policies and programs.
Advanced data analytics and AI
Deploy cutting-edge algorithms and data-driven insights to optimize decision-making, drive innovation, and solve complex challenges.
Explore
Actionable foresight
Explore possible futures with systems thinking, trends analysis, and scenario planning to strengthen strategies and decisions.
Explore
Innovation as a service
Harness collective intelligence to galvanize visionary ideas and test scalable, life-centered solutions.
Explore
Behavioral economics
Create better policies, programs, and services by understanding, predicting, and influencing human behavior.
Explore
Economic analytics and impact evaluation
Leverage advanced models to understand economic data and measure the impact, effectiveness, and efficiency of policies and programs.
Explore
Advanced data analytics and AI
Deploy cutting-edge algorithms and data-driven insights to optimize decision-making, drive innovation, and solve complex challenges.
Explore
An interdisciplinary approach
SHIFT X is our blueprint for driving change, designed to unlock exponential progress.
SHIFT stands for Sense, Harness, Incubate, Fuel, and Transform—an integrated framework that brings together diverse teams to tackle complex challenges and deliver results at an accelerated pace.
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Sense future trends
Explore possible futures using systems thinking, predictive analytics and scenario planning to future-proof strategies and decision-making.
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Harness collective intelligence
Mobilize capabilities to generate groundbreaking evidence and interdisciplinary insight.
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Incubate high-potential ideas
Galvanize visionary ideas through active co-creation and experimentation.
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Fuel testing at scale
Pilot and scale life-centered solutions in the real world.
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Transform policies and industries
Enable transformative decisions to drive positive impact.
S
Sense future trends
Explore possible futures using systems thinking, predictive analytics and scenario planning to future-proof strategies and decision-making.
H
Harness collective intelligence
Mobilize capabilities to generate groundbreaking evidence and interdisciplinary insight.
I
Incubate high-potential ideas
Galvanize visionary ideas through active co-creation and experimentation.
F
Fuel testing at scale
Pilot and scale life-centered solutions in the real world.
T
Transform policies and industries
Enable transformative decisions to drive positive impact.
Exponential SHIFT
The “X” stands for exponential. We take on projects that can disrupt the status quo and influence the direction of change.
Our team
We are an interdisciplinary team of futurists, innovation strategists, behavior change experts, economists, data scientists, experience designers, and storytellers
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Talal Alfakhri
Lead Associate, Ideation Center, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Talal
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Dr. Fatima Koaik
Director, Behavioral economics and economic analytics and impact evaluation, Ideation Center, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Fatima
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Bianca Pigorini
Associate, Ideation Center, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Bianca
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Dima Sayess
Partner and Ideation Center Lead, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Dima
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Melissa Rizk
Director, Actionable foresight and innovation, Ideation Center, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Melissa
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Robin Schneider
Senior Behavioral Economist, Ideation Center, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Robin
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Farahan Raza Sheikh
Manager, Data science and AI, Ideation Center, Strategy& Middle East
Meet Farahan
 

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