Bridgewater and Global Citizen Announce Winners of the Forecasting the Future Challenge

At Bridgewater, we believe the best ideas should win—no matter who has them or where they come from. That core belief, our idea meritocracy, has guided us for a half-century.

This year, we opened that process to the world through the Forecasting the Future Challenge, launched in partnership with Global Citizen. With interest from more than 120 countries, the challenge generated over 1,000 forecasts on what Bridgewater calls the rise of Modern Mercantilism—a paradigm shift in the global system that is redefining trade, policy, and power.

The challenge culminated this past Saturday on stage at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, where Bridgewater and Global Citizen announced the winners to a global audience. More than 250 Bridgewater employees and their families came together at the festival, celebrating both our partnership and the culture of collaboration that defines our partnership with Global Citizen.

CEO Nir Bar Dea reflected on the significance of the moment: "At Bridgewater, we believe that to get things right, we have to make sure that the best ideas win—no matter who has them or where they come from. This is what we call our idea meritocracy; it’s been the heart of how Bridgewater has operated for half a century. And this year—in the third year of our partnership with Global Citizen—we expanded our meritocracy to the citizens of the world. We launched Forecasting the Future, a global challenge that invited people from all walks of life to step into Bridgewater’s idea meritocracy and share their understanding of how the world is changing and offer predictions about how the future will unfold. The response was remarkable. With participation from over 120 countries, this challenge highlighted the beauty of the global community. It wasn’t just a competition—it was a validation of curiosity, courage, originality, and proof that great ideas can come from anywhere."