129 nationalities without borders.

The biennial conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was all about diminishing borders and encouraging students to scale new heights.

The Burj Khalifa, which is the world’s tallest building, served as the perfect backdrop and symbolised the ideals of the conference. The coming together of students from 129 nationalities, with a passion to cross barriers and deal with global problems was touching and truly inspiring.

History was created at the premise for another reason. While we were enjoying the show, Alain Robert, internationally acclaimed climber dubbed as the “French Spiderman” was creating a world record by climbing the Burj Khalifa. He successfully completed his climb witnessed by all the delegates and VIPs.

The next day was packed with sessions with more accomplished and inspiring speakers. This included the President of the Amazon Conservation team, Mark J Plotkin, CNN Hero Evan Wadongo who started a program using solar lamps from completely recyclable material so that children in Kenya can complete their studies.

One of my favourite quotes from the sessions, “Education isn't about what you know, education is about what you do”, was by him. This was followed by Robert Swan, the only man to have ever walked to both the North and the South poles, spoke about his experiences and his 2041 initiative to conserve Antarctica.

Other notable keynote speakers included H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan (Minister of Higher Education of UAE), Rt Hon Raila A. Odinga (Prime Minister, Republic of Kenya), Rt Hon. Tony Blair (Former of U.K Prime Minister & Quartet Representative to the Middle East & Patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation) and H.E. Chandrika Kumaratunga(Former President, Sri Lanka), Anuradha Koirala (CNN Hero) and Albert Fert (Nobel Laureate).

Students at the Gala Dinner.

The student paper presentations were filled with innovative ideas in the fields of education, healthcare, economics, technology and new media. After the exhausting and informative day, we were treated to a Gala Dinner with cultural programmes from all over the world. This also served as a networking session to connect with different delegates and dignitaries.

On day three, we were given hands on training through workshops. I attended the corporate leadership and the Entrepreneurship and innovation workshops which were informative, interactive and well-organised. I thoroughly enjoyed the session by Mr. Anand Kumar who started the Super 30 program in India that was recognized Time Magazine and US President Barrack Obama’s envoy.

However, the one who truly stole the show was 13-year-old Adora Svitak. She was one of the mentors at the conference and incredibly accomplished and mature for her age. She is considered to be the world’s most clever child and started teaching when she was only six. With great insight she concluded that “A lot of negative words adults call the young, like naïve, impulsive and way too connected online, are all things we can turn into strengths to help us. If we all understood we can learn from both older and younger people then we'd have a better world." Not only her words, but her incredible stage presence, courage and charisma really moved and inspired the audience.

I consider myself privileged to not just attend and meet such wonderful people but was also proud to represent the Singapore International Foundation as a “friend of Singapore”.

I would like to leave you with a quote by Mr. Robert Swan that deeply resonated with me “The future is not to be awaited; it is a thing to be achieved”.

* Shankar Krishnamurthy is the Founder and Curator of TEDxNTU.