In a bid to deepen international dialogue on the future of education, representatives from Qatar participated in “Reimagining Education: New Paths for Educational Innovation,” a high-level forum hosted by Fundación Reimagina in Santiago, Chile. The event, held as part of the Qatar-Chile 2025 Year of Culture, brought together educators, policymakers, and innovators to explore new models for educational reform and cross-sector collaboration.

"Promoting collaboration between organisations, countries and sectors is a core value of Fundacion Reimagina. In order to fulfil our mission of ensuring education that responds to the challenges of 21st-century society, we require partnerships and exchanges that guarantee higher educational quality and the development of key skills, such as creativity, critical thinking and digital proficiency. This requires a profound and practical approach to innovation, which we aim to promote at this meeting with Years of Culture and WISE,” said Ana María Raad, Founder of Reimagina and AprendoLAB.

The forum featured contributions from Aurelio Amaral, Director of Programs at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation, and Hazem Idriss, Deputy Director of Community Development at Qatar Museums. Their presence underscored Qatar’s growing role in fostering education and cultural diplomacy as tools for building bridges across continents.

A recent example of this commitment is AprendoLab, a project by Fundación Reimagina that was named one of the six 2024–25 WISE Prize for Education Finalists. The finalists have been working over the past year to develop solutions for fundamental challenges in education systems, such as accelerating foundational literacies, improving the teaching and learning of Arabic, and addressing emerging challenges of artificial intelligence in education.

AprendoLab, headquartered in Chile, supports stronger teacher-student engagement through digital resources designed to close educational and technological gaps. Currently being piloted in Chile, Mexico and Ecuador, the project focuses on enhancing both teacher capacity and student learning outcomes.

“Innovation in education requires a systems-thinking approach—one that values grassroots ideas and connects them with global frameworks,” said Mr. Amaral on the sidelines of the forum. “Events like this are essential for bringing diverse voices together to co-create inclusive, resilient learning ecosystems.”

Amaral also highlighted WISE’s global role in advancing education through research, policy dialogue, and cross-sector partnerships. Since its founding in 2009 by, WISE has become a global platform for educational transformation.

Mr. Idriss’s participation in the forum coincided with a broader visit to Chile and Argentina, where he is conducting site assessments for Qatar Museums’ international volunteer program, an initiative that became an integral part of annual Years of Culture programming during the Qatar-Indonesia 2023. The program pairs Qatari and Qatar-based students, artists, and staff with local communities in host countries to promote experiential learning and skill exchange.

For Idriss, the value of education extended beyond the classroom. He shared lessons from Qatar’s international volunteer initiatives, which pair service-based learning with cultural exchange. “What we’ve seen is that mutual learning, whether between artists, students, or communities, is one of the most powerful tools for building trust and transferring knowledge,” he told attendees.

Organisers hope that by linking local innovation in Chile with international examples, the forum can spur new partnerships and create momentum for scaling high-impact educational strategies, a powerful legacy of the Qatar-Chile 2025 Year of Culture.