Parag Khanna is Founder & CEO of AlphaGeo, the leading AI-powered geospatial analytics platform.
He is the internationally bestselling author of seven books including MOVE: Where People Are Going for a Better Future (2021), preceded by The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century (2019), as well as a trilogy of books on the future of world order beginning with The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008), followed by How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (2011), and concluding with Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization (2016). He is also the author of Technocracy in America: Rise of the Info-State (2017) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012).
Parag was named one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” and featured in WIRED magazine’s “Smart List.” He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Born in India and raised in the UAE, New York and Germany, he has traveled to more than 150 countries and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Talking Points
Winners and Losers in the New Global Macro
Today’s macro landscape features a volatile mix of geopolitical fragmentation, trade distortions, interest rate gyrations and currency manipulation – as well as significant new drivers such as demographic shifts, technological disruptions and climate risk. What new regime is likely to emerge and how can investors find alpha across geographies and asset classes? Dr. Khanna has spent a quarter century advising the largest and most prestigious institutional investors and asset managers from sovereign wealth funds and pensions to private equity and family offices. His deep and data-rich analysis paints an interdisciplinary picture of key megatrends, confidently forecasting which markets and sectors will outperform in the complex and turbulent years ahead.
Winners and Losers in the New Global Macro
Navigating the Geopolitical Marketplace
America no longer runs the world, nor will a “new Cold War” between the US and China determine global order. Instead, we find ourselves in a hyper-competitive “geopolitical marketplace,” the term Dr. Khanna coined two decades ago to capture how a half-dozen major powers are vying to be the trusted providers of vital services across the military, financial, energy, industrial, technological, infrastructure and other domains. Meanwhile, rather than choose sides, smart countries practice a deft “multi-alignment,” doing business in all directions to get the best deal for themselves. Based on his pioneering research and extensive experience advising heads of state and global corporations, Dr. Khanna guides you in navigating this complex new global system.
Navigating the Geopolitical Marketplace
The Global War for Young Talent
Our species is rapidly reaching “peak humanity.” The global population may cross nine billion people during the 2030s, but many aging societies from Europe to East Asia are already depopulating due to collapsing fertility and low immigration. But most of the world’s people are still young — and as they vote with their feet, they determine the winners and losers of the 21st century. Countries are now vigorously competing in a global war for young talent to attract the taxpayers and homeowners, labourers and caregivers, students and entrepreneurs of the future. Companies must do the same – even though in a remote working world, millennials and Gen-Z are moving targets as they abandon national loyalty in favour of the most affordable and liberal lifestyle. Dr. Khanna presents the world from the standpoint of the mobile young generation, guiding your talent strategies for the years ahead.
The Global War for Young Talent
How to Climate Proof Your Company
The climate will not adapt to us – we have to adapt to it. Climate disasters are intensifying, with hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, heatwaves and other catastrophes are causing ever greater costs to societies everywhere. Climate refugees now outnumber political and economic migrants, and conflicts over food and water are sparking uncontrolled mass migrations across the continents. Net zero goals are clearly not enough. That is why climate adaptation must be every country and company’s foremost priority. This includes fortifying and redesigning our cities and buildings, accelerating renewable energy, boosting food production, and relocating our businesses, citizens, and workers to more resilient habitats. Dr. Khanna leverages his access to AlphaGeo’s proprietary software to provide detailed analysis of the locations across the globe best suited to your business requirements, customising your resilient investment strategy to thrive in the volatile era ahead.
How to Climate Proof Your Company
The Future is Asian
With billions of people and trillions of dollars of economic growth generated each year, Asia is the world’s undisputed economic core and strategic cockpit. Most of the world’s population and more than a third of its GDP are contained within this increasingly dense zone of trade and investment agreements. Asia used to produce for the world, now the world produces for Asia. After Japan and China, the next chapter of Asia’s economic story is being written by the “fourth wave” regions of South and Southeast Asia as countries such as India and Vietnam become key destinations for high-tech manufacturing as they capture value chains and lead the world in minting unicorns. Yet navigating Asia’s dizzying diversity of cultures and regulations requires both macro and micro expertise, as well as a keen understanding of current geopolitical tensions. There is no better guide than Dr. Khanna to the region that is defining the 21st century.
The Future is Asian
Citizen of Everywhere
What does it mean to be a worldly person? How should you raise kids with skills necessary for tomorrow’s world? What are the best places to live and retire? Born in India, raised in the UAE, New York and Germany, and having lived in Switzerland, London and Singapore, Dr. Khanna has cultivated a lifestyle as a “citizen of everywhere.” This approach has yielded profound insights captured in his many books spanning geopolitics, technology, governance and travel – and elevated him to the status of a trusted advisor to many world leaders and corporate figures. Executives will savour this philosophical yet grounded conversation drawing on Parag’s unique life experiences as an adventurous scholar who’s visited more than 150 countries and been compared to Henry Kissinger and Alvin Toffler, and whose worldview presents the essential middle ground between the forces of nationalism and globalism.
Citizen of Everywhere
Why Dr Parag Khanna Could Be the Perfect Fit for Your Next Event in Singapore
Dr Parag Khanna is a globally respected keynote speaker and strategic advisor based in Singapore who delivers high-level insights at conferences, executive forums and leadership summits across Asia and beyond. Known for his expertise in geopolitics, global systems, economic transformation and climate-driven strategy, Parag helps organisations understand the forces reshaping markets, supply chains and competitive advantage in an increasingly complex world.
His keynotes resonate strongly with Singapore audiences operating at the centre of international business, investment and regional growth, where leaders must stay ahead of geopolitical shifts, emerging global risks and new opportunity corridors across Asia. Parag tailors his sessions for senior decision-makers, making him an ideal speaker for events in Singapore and across Southeast Asia where organisations want strategic clarity, future forecasting and globally relevant insight.
Video
The Global War for Youth | Dr Parag Khanna | Saxton Speakers
Athens Democracy Forum | 30 Sept 2021 As the world faces a demographic contraction, today's populism will give way to a global war for young talent, argues Dr. Parag Khanna in his opening provocation at the 2021 Athens Democracy Forum.Cutting Edge: Why the future of AI is in Asia | Dr Parag Khanna | Saxton Speakers
AI has expanded rapidly in Asia over the last decade. China now leads the world in annual R&D spending with nearly $275 billion. We speak with thought leader Parag Khanna, Managing Partner of FutureMap, about some of the most exciting AI developments emerging from this dynamic area of the world and why AI's future goes beyond China to other parts of Asia.Move: Mapping Humanity | Dr Parag Khanna- Talks at Google | Saxton Speakers
Parag Khanna discusses his book "Move: The Forces Uprooting Us", an illuminating and authoritative vision of the next phase of human civilizationone that is both mobile and sustainable. As the book explores, compelling global forces will cause billions of us to move geographically over the next decades, ushering in an era of radical change and returning us to our nomadic roots while building more secure habitats.Why Mobility is Destiny | Dr Parag Khanna | Saxton Speakers
In the 60,000 years since people began spreading across the continents, a recurring feature of human civilization has been mobilitythe ever-constant search for resources, stability and opportunity. Driven by global events from conflicts, famine, repression and changing climates - to opportunities for trade, social advancement and freedom of thought - humans have relocated around the globe for millennia. But what happens when billions of people are on the move? As climate change tips toward full-blown crisis, economies collapse, governments destabilize, and technology disrupts, we're entering a new age of mass migrations. Futurist Parag Khanna uncovers the deep trends that are shaping the most likely scenarios for our future and asks what map of human geography will emerge.
