2026 agenda
FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION
Schedule and plan your participation. Discover key sessions, speakers, and topics most relevant to you
Agenda sessions, and new speakers will be announced throughout May 2026. Agenda is subject to change
When
JUNE 16-17 2026
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Where
Stockholm, Sweden
Grand Hôtel
Grand Hôtel
Day 1 — June 16
08:00
Registration
08:00 – 08:45
registration &
Coffee Connect
An opportunity to connect in a trusted environment prior to the opening session, fostering relationships that carry throughout the event.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
ALL
09:00
WELCOME ADDRESS
09:00 – 09:30
From Insight to Action: Welcome to FTS26
A strategic welcome that clarifies the ambition of Future Talent Summit 2026: turning evidence, dialogue, and partnership into meaningful action.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
09:30
Keynote
09:30 – 10:00
Robot-Proof:
When machines have all the answers, build better people
Let’s answer the question, “How do we robot-proof our kids, ourselves, and our society? Explore the ugly and the amazing of how individuals, companies, and societies will respond to the changes AI is already making to our world.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
10:00
FIRESIDE CHAT
10:00 – 10:30
Leaders, Learners, Labor: Building Tomorrow’s Economic Engine
In an era defined by AI, geopolitical disruption, and relentless market movement, the demands on leaders are changing as quickly as the organizations they are expected to transform.
This conversation explores how the world’s leading executives and boards think about talent, skills, and workforce strategy – and what employers, educators, and policymakers must understand to build tomorrow’s economic engine.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
10:30
COFFEE BREAK
10:30 – 10:45
CoFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING SESSION
Future Talent Summit is designed to enable substantive dialogue through curated introductions, strategic matchmaking, and coordinated one-on-one meetings.
Speaker
Duration
15 min
Industry
ALL
10:45
keynote
10:45 – 11:05
Whose Future of Work?
Why the Loudest Voices Are Describing the Smallest Slice of the Economy (And Derailing the Global Response)
The global future-of-work conversation is being driven by a handful of extraordinary companies whose economics do not generalize.
Their headlines are reshaping curriculum, workforce policy, and enterprise strategy worldwide — yet they describe only the smallest slice of the global economy.
Drawing on her work scaling Tesla's workforce, one of the most successful hyper-scalers in modern history, from 50,000 to 100,000 and the author of Quantum Progression: The Art & Science of Career Advancement in the Age of AI, Valerie Capers Workman delivers a clear-eyed reframe: a constructive call to recalibrate the global response to AI worldwide.
Speaker
Duration
20 min
Industry
ALL
11:05
PANEL
11:05 – 11:45
The Human Strategy:
Building Cultures That Lead Through Change
Everyone is talking about AI but AI is just the tool. Leadership is the strategy. In this session, four senior leaders draw on their careers spanning some of the world's most complex organisations to share what it really takes to guide teams through transformation.
From the strategies that work to the lessons learned the hard way, they explore what it means to bring people with you – building cultures where change isn't a disruption, but a capability. If the coming years will indeed be a productivity reckoning, the question is no longer whether organisations will change, but how.
In this panel, organisational leaders reflect on what redesigning work actually looks like inside their companies today.
Speaker
Duration
40 min
Industry
ALL
11:45
Panel
11:45 – 12:25
what the data won't tell you: Voices Shaping the Future
Representatives from the FTC Emerging Leader Initiatives, spanning more than 30 countries, share the priorities, expectations, and perspectives of their generation. Shaped by conversations with senior leaders from industry, policy, and academia, the panel explores how emerging talent views the future of work, and the role they are ready to play in shaping it.
Speaker
Duration
40 min
Industry
ALL
12:30
LUNCH
12:30 – 13:30
LUNCH & NETWORKING
We now transition to lunch, a moment to pause, recharge, and continue the dialogue with colleagues across sectors and disciplines. Some of the most valuable conversations of the day often begin around the table.
Speaker
Duration
60 min
Industry
ALL
13:30
KEYNOTE
13:30 – 13:50
The Productivity Reckoning:
Enter the Most Consequential Redesign of Work Since The Industrialisation
Despite unprecedented AI investment, most organisations have not yet realised enterprise-level productivity gains. This mirrors early electricity adoption: benefits only materialise after processes and work are redesigned; not when technology is layered onto old models.
Boards will demand returns. Leaders will be forced from paralysis into informed action. Many will discover they have been paving the cow paths rather than reimagining work. Soon, AI agents will be mainstream and scaled, making this unavoidable.
Speaker
Duration
20 min
Industry
ALL
13:50
Panel
13:50 – 14:20
When Work Changes, Pathways Must Change:
Building Partnerships Between Education, Industry, and Government for the Next Labour Market
If AI requires organizations to redesign work, it also requires societies to redesign the pathways into work. Following Sam Schlimper’s keynote on the productivity reckoning, this panel explores how academia, industry, and government can work together to close the gap between student expectations, employment realities, and the capabilities a redesigned economy will require.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
14:20
Keynote
14:20 – 14:40
THE FUTURE HABIT:
How to Gain an Edge with AI-Driven Foresight
The future is not something we predict; it’s something we practise. We are living through an era of extraordinary technological progress, political turmoil and social upheaval. In the face of such change, how can we chart a course to a brighter future?
How can citizens, business leaders and politicians get ahead at a time of seemingly perpetual uncertainty?
Drawing on cognitive science, applied foresight and decades of strategic experience, this talk introduces an actionable framework for cultivating a ‘future edge’ – a repeatable process of anticipating, adapting to and shaping emerging realities.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
14:40
COFFEE BREAK
14:40 – 15:00
CoFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING SESSION
Future Talent Summit is designed to enable substantive dialogue through curated introductions, strategic matchmaking, and coordinated one-on-one meetings.
Speaker
Duration
20 min
Industry
ALL
15:00
BREAKOUT
15:00 – 15:45
The Embodiment Gap: Why AI Transformation Keeps Failing the People It Was Supposed to Serve
In this session, Jess Von Bank explores why organizations that invest heavily in AI tools still fail to transform, what it actually takes to cross from adoption into embodiment, and who bears the hidden cost when they don't.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
CORPORATE
WORKSHOP
15:00 – 15:45
Workforce Resilience & Becoming Robot-Proof
As economies are reshaped by AI, volatility, and shifting labour-market demands, workforce resilience is becoming a central priority across the Future Talent Council ecosystem. This session explores promising frameworks already emerging across the network, asks what economic value human labour holds in the age of AI, and aims to co-develop a practical workforce resilience framework that can be tested, adapted, and implemented globally.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
ALL
BREAKOUT
15:00 – 15:45
Transforming Assessment in the Age of AI
Part 1
What are the emerging best practices in assessment in higher education in the reality of generative and agentic AI?
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
ACADEMIA
BREAKOUT
15:00 – 15:45
Getting Hired is Not the Goal
The career advice you've all been given - follow your passion, get the degree, build the skills - was written for a world that was more predictable, more stable. However, the working world is being redesigned in real time now. Some of it is still solid, but some of it is a house built on sand. This session helps you understand the difference and what is happening in not the "future of work" but the current state.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
emerging leaders
15:45
COFFEE BREAK
15:45 – 16:00
CoFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING SESSION
Future Talent Summit is designed to enable substantive dialogue through curated introductions, strategic matchmaking, and coordinated one-on-one meetings.
Speaker
Duration
15 min
Industry
ALL
16:00
BREAKOUT
16:00 – 16:45
GEO: Optimizing Your GenAI Talent Attraction Strategy
In this session we will explore how GenAi platforms are becoming increasingly influential in shaping employer perceptions and talent choices.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
corporate
workshop
16:00 – 16:45
The Human Reality of Relentless Transformation
In line with the Future Talent Summit’s “From Insight to Action” theme, this session responds to what many confidential dialogues across the Future Talent Council member ecosystem are already revealing: the pressures of relentless transformation are no longer abstract. Reorganizations are underway or being planned, AI tools are often adding to workloads before they reduce them, and leaders are being asked to deliver more with less.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
ALL
BREAKOUT
16:00 – 16:45
Transforming Assessment in the Age of AI
Part 2
This is the second half of the session held during the prior breakout block.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
ALL
WORKSHOP
16:00 – 16:45
emerging leaders: Intelligence lab
Organizations frequently struggle to accurately gauge their cultural impact, brand perception, and programs among diverse audiences. Traditional approaches often fall short, relying on consultants who lack alignment with target demographics, internal teams missing external viewpoints, or surveys that fail to provide real-time insights. The Intelligence Lab is specifically structured to bridge these gaps.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
emerging leaders
17:00
fireside chat
17:00 – 17:30
Relentless Transformation, Real Human Stakes?
Building the Future Before It Builds Us
How should we be thinking about transformation today? What’s fundamentally changed? Are we underestimating what transformation is actually doing to people? What are we missing? AI is dominating the agenda, what are organisations getting wrong? What does leadership need to become in this environment? What will differentiate organisations that succeed?
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
19:00 - 22:oo
ANNUAL FUTURE OF TALENT DINNER
DETAILS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SEPARATELY
Day 2 — June 17
08:00
Registration
08:00 – 09:00
registration &
Coffee Connect
An opportunity to connect in a trusted environment prior to the opening session, fostering relationships that carry throughout the event.
Speaker
Duration
60 min
Industry
ALL
09:00
WELCOME ADDRESS
09:00 – 09:30
Welcome back & conference reality check: Are we moving from action to insight?
The second day of the Future Talent Summit opens with a reflection on the key actions from day one, and sets the ambition for turning discussions into tangible outcomes.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
09:30
keynote
09:30 – 10:00
Europe and the New World Order: A Case for Optimism
In this keynote, Bach argues that the scarcest commodity right now is optimism, not critical minerals or capital. Grounded in values-based realism, he argues that Europe has the talent, companies, and resources to lead - provided it starts believing in itself.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
10:00
panel
10:00 – 10:40
Follow the Money to the Future of Work
What ultimately determines whether a factory is run by workers or robots? What shapes an organisation’s future headcount? And what influences which fields the next generation chooses to study? Behind these questions lies a simple force: capital. Investment decisions shape which technologies scale, which industries expand, and where opportunity emerges across the labour market and education systems.
Speaker
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Duration
40 min
Industry
ALL
10:40
KEYNOTE
10:40 – 11:00
OECD: 2030 Skills Strategy Session
The OECD Skills Strategy Session examines how countries, and organizations can build the 21st-century skills needed to sustain growth and social progress.
As skill demands evolve faster than policy cycles, investing in lifelong learning and using timely labour-market intelligence are crucial to help people adapt, strengthen productivity and ensure that no one is left behind in a changing world.
Speaker
Duration
20 min
Industry
ALL
11:00
COFFEE BREAK
11:00 – 11:30
CoFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING SESSION
Future Talent Summit is designed to enable substantive dialogue through curated introductions, strategic matchmaking, and coordinated one-on-one meetings.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
11:30
BREAKOUT
11:30 – 12:15
Stop Diagnosing. Start Building.
Industry, Academia, Government, and Emerging Leaders Design the Early Careers System from the Ground Up
PART 1 - The gap between education and employment is not new. But the urgency is. As AI reshapes work and organisations redesign what they need from people, the pathways we built for the last economy are no longer fit for the next one. Graduates arrive underprepared. Employers can't define what ready means. Students navigate a system that wasn't built with them in mind. This session stops diagnosing and starts designing.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
Corporate & emerging leaders
breakout
11:30 – 12:15
Follow the Money to the Future of Work:
From Capital Signals to Strategic Action
Following the main stage session Follow the Money to the Future of Work, this small-group roundtable gives delegates an opportunity to question, challenge, and go deeper with investors, asset managers, and institutional owners – exploring what capital flows signal for jobs, skills, education, and organisational strategy.
Speaker
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Duration
45 min
Industry
ALL
BREAKOUT
11:30 – 12:15
Center for Higher Education Transformation Members' Showcase
In this session, members of the FTC Center for Higher Education Transformation will showcase one transformative innovation they are implementing. The format will be 5 minutes per member to share the innovation with a single slide of detail. After the rapid-fire mini-presentations, the audience will ask questions of each colleague. This networking opportunity will foster intra-Center collaboration and highlight the exemplary work underway in the FTC ecosystem.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
academia
12:15
lunch
12:15 – 13:15
lunch & Networking
Future Talent Summit is designed to enable substantive dialogue through curated introductions, strategic matchmaking, and coordinated one-on-one meetings.
Speaker
Duration
10 min
Industry
ALL
13:15
workshop
13:15-14:00
Stop Diagnosing. Start Building.
Industry, Academia, Government, and Emerging Leaders Design the Early Careers System from the Ground Up
PART 2 - During the working group session, participants will tackle one specific element of the pipeline, skills, communications, curriculum, or partnerships, alongside an industry leader, an academic, a HR or L&D professional, a government or policy voice, and a few current student or early career professionals. Each table will make real decisions and produce a short proposal.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
Corporate & emerging leaders
WORKSHOP
13:15-14:00
Tough Questions & Real Talk:
Talent Transformation BS Bingo
The uncomfortable assumptions we keep repeating – and how we move beyond them
After two days of conferencing, the gloves come off. In this highly interactive workshop, participants will examine the talent narratives that often sound right in strategy decks but become much harder in practice: reskilling at scale, the future of jobs, potential as a measure of talent, and the gap between wanting change and actually changing.
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
ALL
BREAKOUT
13:15-14:00
The Future of Schooling in a GenAI World
The future talent of our young people is of upmost concern to all FTC members. Does the current design of K-12 schooling best serve the needs of our children. Are we prpearing young people for their future or our past?
Speaker
Duration
45 min
Industry
academia
14:00
LUNCH
14:00 – 14:15
move to main stage
Transition back to the main space to for the closing keynote and parting messages from various perspectives.
Speaker
Duration
15 min
Industry
ALL
14:15
KEYNOTE
14:15 – 14:45
The Frontier Firm:
How Microsoft Is Transforming in the Era of AI
As AI changes how we work, organizations need to develop for the future, not the past.
This session offers an exclusive insight into how Microsoft is driving transformation toward an AI-first future and empowering employees to rethink, redesign, and reconsider how work gets done.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
14:45
official closing
14:45 – 15:15
Parting messages:
from insight to action
Voices and summaries from the breakout sessions from multiple perspectives and various topics.
Speaker
Duration
30 min
Industry
ALL
16:30 - 18:00
Cocktails & Conversations
DETAILS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SEPARATELY
FAQ
Questions Answered
Structured guidance to help you engage deeply, interact meaningfully, and translate participation into impact
What is the Future Talent Summit?
Future Talent Summit is considered one of the world’s most influential events shaping the future of work and learning. It is an annual gathering of hundreds of world leaders from government, academia, and business, representing more than 50 countries.
The event offers a personalized design featuring keynote speakers, panels, roundtables, workshops, and facilitated one-on-one meetings – all tailored to the strategic priorities of participating delegates.
Each element is designed to tangibly support delegates in creating meaningful outcomes from the experience.
Post-event, the event team follows up with each delegate, helps arrange continued conversations, makes further introductions, and facilitates next-step discussions and virtual engagements.
Could you assist me in arranging the appropriate visa?
Of course. Please contact our event team at summit@futuretalentcouncil.com, and we will gladly assist you.
We typically support delegates by issuing a formal letterhead “Request for Participation” or official invitation letter.
HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE EVENT?
You can register for the Future Talent Summit 2026 right here on the website, via this link.
If you are a member of the Future Talent Council, summit participation is included in your membership, and you can RSVP here.
If you have any questions about registering for the event, we are looking forward to supporting you via summit@futuretalentcouncil.com.
Who attends the Summit?
The Future Talent Summit brings together approximately 400 senior leaders from three sectors: corporate, higher education, and government/public policy. They attend alongside emerging leaders representing universities worldwide.
Delegates hold positions including Board members, CEO, senior strategic executives, CHRO, Chief People Officer, VP of Talent Acquisition, University President, Provost, Dean, and Minister or Director of Labour/Education.
Attendees represent more than 50 countries across every continent. Past delegates have included leaders from Fortune 500 companies, leading global universities such as Harvard, MIT, Oxford, and Yale, and senior government officials responsible for workforce and education policy.
The Summit is intentionally selective. Every delegate is vetted to ensure a peer-level environment where every conversation carries strategic weight.
WHAT IS THE THEME OF THE 2026 EVENT?
In close collaboration with registered delegates and our Global Advisory Board for Agenda Impact, the 2026 event theme has been confirmed as:
From Insights to Action
By moving from insights to action – and from insights to impact – delegates of the Future Talent Summit 2026 distinguish themselves from a market and world shell-shocked by AI developments, market turmoil, and geopolitical uncertainty.
Rather than reacting, they intentionally and actively begin designing the world of work and education we want: a human-centric world.
Technological advancements are not shaping the future — we are. And it is time we take that responsibility.
Amid conflicting market indicators, a flood of anecdotal insights, and trendcasting presented as truth, the Future Talent Summit 2026 is about filtering signal from noise.
For you and your unique situation, we curate real-leader dialogues and partnerships grounded in real-world labor market data and world-leading research. Together, we move from insights to action.
What return on investment (ROI) can I expect?
For more than a decade, the Future Talent Summit has been a pinnacle gathering on the global stage for understanding – and shaping – the future of work and education.
Thousands of leaders from government, academia, and business, representing every continent and hundreds of nationalities, have participated, many returning year after year, often describing the Summit as the most impactful convening in their annual calendar.
The Future Talent Summit is a non-commercial, peer-level environment with a unique ability to personalize and curate the experience around your specific strategic priorities.
Each delegate is supported through intentional matchmaking, curated dialogues, and facilitated introductions within a trusted global network. The Summit regularly convenes world-leading scientists and researchers in fields such as labor markets, artificial intelligence, education, and public policy.
Delegates engage directly with those generating the data, not secondhand interpretations, enabling informed, high-quality decision-making grounded in evidence rather than trends.
Over the past decade, participants have cited the Summit as the starting point for:
- New cross-border partnerships
- Market expansions
- Academic portfolio development
- Strategic client relationships
- Public-private collaborations
- Research initiatives
- Long-term friendships and trusted advisory networks
Each year, we receive letters acknowledging the tangible impact the Summit has had on delegates’ strategic understanding, planning processes, and executive decisions.
Connections, discussions, and insights that originated at the Future Talent Summit have gone on to shape partnerships, investment decisions, public policy frameworks, and institutional growth across regions.
What does it cost to attend?
The Summit delegate ticket is $2,200. Contact our team for group savings via summit@futuretalentcouncil.com
The ticket price includes two full days of conferencing, a gala dinner, all meals, and full access to the team's ability to facilitate, and curate valuable networking, and meeting opportunities. And a 6-month virtual membership for full access to recordings, summaries, analaysis, post-event activities, and networking.
For members of the Future Talent Council, summit participation is included in the membership.
Summit tickets are refundable 48 hours from purchase, then/or non-refundable from April 6. For details on our cancellation and refund policy, please contact summit@futuretalentcouncil.com.
We are happy to discuss flexible options, including transferring your registration to a colleague or to a future event.
Delegate substitutions are accepted. Because the Summit experience is personalised around each delegate’s strategic priorities, we ask that you notify us as early as possible so we can tailor the programme for your colleague.
Please contact summit@futuretalentcouncil.com to arrange a substitution.
Are there accommodations nearby?
Yes, there are several hotels and accommodations near the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm. The event has got Future Talent Summit pricing available at:
Lydmar Hotel (~110 m – 2 min walk)
5-star boutique hotel with 46 individually designed rooms on the waterfront, known for its art exhibitions and relaxed luxury.
Radisson Collection Strand Hotel (~150 m – 3 min walk)
Historic 5-star property originally opened for the 1912 Olympic Games, with 170 rooms offering waterfront views along Nybrokajen.
Bank Hotel (~200 m – 4 min walk)
A 115-room boutique luxury hotel in a beautifully restored 1910 former bank building.
Hobo Hotel (~750 m - 2 min walk)
Boutique hotel in Brunkebergstorg in central Stockholm, with unique design and a vibrant social scene.
Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel (20 min walk)
Overlooking Riddarfjärden Bay, this sleek modern hotel is a 3-minute walk from Stockholm Central Station.
Scandic Anglais Hotel (15 min walk)
Trendy hotel at the center of the Stureplan area, with a stylish cocktail lounge, a seasonal rooftop bar and a vibrant lobby bar.
If you have any questions about accomodation or your visit to Stockholm, we will gladly assist you via summit@futuretalentcouncil.com.
