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Value. Unbound.
Welcome to the Imagination Economy.

By Dima Sayess, Melissa Rizk, Ilona Sediha, Vittoria Taliento and Serena El Hage.
Nov 2025
5 minute read
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Topics
Future of the global economy
Creativity
Human potential
Policy innovation
Ideas to change the world
Mission-led governance
Capability
Actionable foresight
Innovation as a service
Contact the authors
Dima Sayess
Dima Sayess
Partner and Ideation Center Lead, Strategy& Middle East
View info
Melissa Rizk
Melissa Rizk
Director, Actionable foresight and innovation
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Ilona Sediha
Ilona Sediha
Narratives and storytelling manager
View info
Vittoria Taliento
Vittoria Taliento
Innovation manager, Foresight and innovation
View info
Serena ElHage
Serena El Hage
Manager
View info
Before every great leap in human history, there was imagination.
It’s what turned sparks into fire, sounds into language, and ideas into empires.
The next economy won’t run on carbon, data, or efficiency. It will run on the ability to imagine things that don’t yet exist and the ingenuity to make them real.
From complexity to possibility
The world has never been more connected, or more combustible. A shock in one system now ripples through them all—economy, climate, technology, society. Each disruption amplifies the next. But within this turbulence lies something extraordinary: potential.
Imagination is more than creativity. It’s a generative force that shapes how we think about, design, and build our future. In an age of interdependence and acceleration, this capacity to envision, narrate, and generate alternative possibilities may be the most essential skill we possess.
The five frontiers of the Imagination Economy
The Imagination Economy is already emerging, creating tomorrow’s value in an ecosystem with five frontiers:
The space frontier
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Space is no longer solely the realm of astronauts and engineers; it has become an extension of human imagination. From orbital farms harvesting solar energy to microgravity labs cultivating new materials and medicines, space has given humanity access to fresh resources, new perspectives, and redefined stability.
The planetary frontier
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Decades of crisis forced humanity to abandon the illusion of endless growth and embrace a new paradigm: regeneration as prosperity. The planetary economy no longer measures success in GDP, but rather in restored soils, recovered species, and revitalized communities. Every industry has been reimagined as a symbiotic system that is carbon-negative, circular, and adaptive.
The human frontier
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Advances in neuroscience, bioengineering, and cognitive design have made imagination a measurable skill and a trainable resource. People no longer just work with machines; they think with them. Wearable neural meshes amplify focus and creativity, cognitive implants enhance memory and perception, and emotional analytics help individuals align work with purpose.
The social frontier
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The old institutions—heavy, centralized, and slow—have given way to networks of cooperation. Communities design their own economies, governance systems, and digital commons. Imagination has replaced ideology as the force that binds people together, and trust no longer flows from authority; it’s earned through contribution, transparency, and shared narratives.
The cultural frontier
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Culture has become a global dialogue, unfolding in real time. It’s both an anchor and an amplifier. Identities flow across languages, mediums, and realities. Heritage is no longer preserved in archives; it’s lived, reinterpreted, and reimagined. In this constant exchange, imagination becomes our collective language, the way we make sense of change itself.
Building the new economic paradigm
Every economic era begins with a redefinition of value.

When imagination becomes the world’s prime resource, new types of currencies will dominate the markets. Will nations compete on GIP, Gross Imagination Product? And if so, will this new economic order facilitate trust, openness, and shared accountability?

New systems of meaning and collaboration will emerge, brought to life by a radically new set of enablers. What activities will distinguish dreaming from visionary world-building? And what, ultimately, will it mean to be productive in an economy powered by imagination?
Perhaps the real question is not what comes next, but who imagines it first.
Our upcoming report will explore these questions and chart pathways for research, policy, and design across the frontiers of the Imagination Economy.

Stay tuned for the full release, and connect with our teams to take part in upcoming workshops, dialogues, and research fellowships.
 

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