The first World Innovation Summit for Education and Culture is taking place from 16-18 November 2009 in Doha/Qatar. The Festival International de Baalbeck, the oldest and one of the most prestigious festivals in the Middle East, will be represented by Mrs May Arida, President of the Baalbeck Festival. WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) is a global, groundbreaking, collaborative initiative established by the Qatar Foundation under the high patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned that seeks to monitor and contribute to 21st century challenges and their impact on education. 1,000 major stakeholders, opinion leaders and decision-makers such as academics, representatives of international institutions, NGOs, associations, grassroots movements, private sector, top tier media influencers, multimedia, arts, culture and other creative communities from over 120 countries are participating. WISE endeavours to propose visionary thinking on education, offer new ways of addressing current global challenges and untapped opportunities and anticipate future education models. “WISE first edition will bring together 1,000 world leaders to explore experiment and establish new ways to anticipate and provide the educational evolutions, competences and patterns of tomorrow. It is critical that graduates from the next generation are equipped to think beyond their borders, and to meaningfully compete, connect, and cooperate with their peers on a global scale,” says Dr. Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani. The Baalbeck Festival is keen to raise the voice of the cultural and festival sector in this context and to underline the importance of culture in general and festivals in particular to build bridges across cultural and geographical divides and to act as innovative motors in our modern societies. More information and programme available at www.wise-qatar.org.