Future Beat

Hello there. The Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia this week saw a gathering of some of the big names of the corporate world talking all things finance.

But attention wasn't totally devoted to what's happening here on Earth - the space industry was also up for discussion with some interesting points made about what's in store in years to come.

Amid the talk of investment and wealth was mention of how space could be used for the benefit of humans in the future.

This included moving industries into orbit for manufacturing purposes, harvesting sustainable energy from the sun and even putting data centres into space, where they could benefit from the cold temperatures.

These suggestions came from Anousheh Ansari , the first Muslim woman in space, who clearly knows a thing or two when it comes to what can and can't be done above ground level.

She added that in 14 years time we will have the beginnings of a permanent base on the Moon and businesses will be looking more closely at how to extract the resources of the Moon.

Exciting, but is it just sci-fi? Time will tell.

In current times, we've seen with Elon Musk's Starlink internet how space can be utilised with benefits to be had, such as improved communications for troops in Ukraine.

And Musk has, quite typically, been making headlines again - this time with his purchase of Twitter completed. He turned up at the social media company's headquarters with a sink.

Will the social media landscape be the same once his deal sinks in?

Have a good week.

Ian Oxborrow , Business Audience Growth Editor

The Big Story

Space to provide big profit and business-making opportunities

In brief | The space industry could be worth more than $1 trillion by 2040, according to Morgan Stanley. But who will make the most of these opportunities? It will be the private sector, as governments take a step back, the FII forum in Saudi heard.

Quoted | “The profit making and business making during this transition [to space] for those that understand will be wonderful. Within a decade it is going to be all commercial services and the government will be stepping out.”

— Dan Goldin , a former Nasa administrator and founder of US-based innovation advisory company Cold Canyon AI

Why it matters | Clearly, there is huge wealth potential in this area, and it won't just be money that is made, but jobs too. In the UAE, figures from 2019 show the country's investments in space exceeded Dh22bn ($5.99bn), with 57 space-related establishments operating in the country helping to create 1,500 jobs.

Robot artist | The National met with Ai-Da, dubbed “the world’s first ultra-realistic artist robot”, at the Culture Summit Abu Dhabi. She was created by a team of 30 in the UK known as the Oxfordians and says she is "inspired by the world around me".

Holed up | The hole in the ozone layer is continuing to shrink, particularly throughout this year, Nasa said. It has been tackled as a result of international co-operation known as the Montreal Protocol, an agreement struck in 1987. The damage was attributed by scientists to a number of man-made chemicals in the atmosphere, particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). This positive news makes a change from the climate change outlook.

Smart move | Dubai is expanding its smart traffic management system to cover more than 700km of roads. A day when there's no congestion in cities around the world will be welcomed by all.

Predicting the future | Signal or noise? A Dubai start-up is developing delivery drones capable of transporting vital medicines to remote areas thanks to in-built temperature regulators. Each drone has a range of around 20km and is capable of carrying a payload of 10kg.

This is a signal | While drone deliveries are nothing new, bringing it to the medical sector is. Medication of even human organs could be transported to regions previously inaccessible. We've seen the importance of temperature control during the coronavirus pandemic, with vaccines requiring a maintained cold temperature.

In case you missed it

The Tesla Cybertruck is in the "final lap", according to Elon Musk, with production finally close to beginning. We have all you need to know about this remarkable-looking vehicle here.

It's not so positive on the driverless car front, however. It was confirmed that Argo AI, the start-up Ford and Volkswagen had each seeded with multibillion-dollar investments, was shutting down. Meanwhile, Tesla’s self-driving claims are under criminal investigation.

Amid the hype around the metaverse, there's one major company not getting quite so hyped about it all, and that's Apple. The metaverse is “a word I will never use”, Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing, said this week.