Project Portfolio Management · Dubai 2027
PPM Summit Dubai 2027
Project portfolio management decides which projects an organisation takes on. At Project Economy Forum Dubai, portfolio leaders work through those decisions with the CEOs and CFOs who fund them and the leaders who deliver them.
Project Economy Forum Dubai · 27–28 January 2027 · Dubai, UAE
Portfolio management, in the room where funding is decided.
Project portfolio management (PPM) is the discipline of choosing, sequencing and governing an organisation’s projects and programmes as a single investment portfolio. Strategic portfolio management takes the same idea to enterprise level: every initiative, whatever its type, competes for the same capital, people and management attention, and is judged by its contribution to strategy.
Project Economy Forum is not a PPM conference in the narrow sense, and does not try to be one. Methods, tools and certifications are well served elsewhere. The Forum places portfolio leadership where its hardest decisions are made: alongside capital projects, technology, R&D and transformation, with the executives who fund them.
For a portfolio or PMO leader, that means one room holding the other side of every prioritisation conversation.
What portfolio leaders are responsible for.
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01
Selection
Deciding which proposals enter the portfolio, against criteria the organisation has agreed in advance.
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02
Prioritisation
Ranking competing initiatives by value, risk, urgency and strategic fit, and revisiting the ranking as conditions change.
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03
Capacity
Matching the portfolio to the funding, people and delivery capacity that actually exist, not the capacity a plan assumes.
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04
Governance
Running the stage gates, reviews and decision rights that let leaders start, continue, change or stop work on evidence.
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05
Visibility
Giving executives one honest view of the portfolio: cost, progress, risk and the benefits still expected.
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06
Strategy to execution
Connecting strategic goals to the programmes meant to deliver them, and showing where the link has broken.
The questions portfolio leaders are asking.
- 01
Are we running too many projects at once?
Portfolios often carry more work than the organisation can deliver well. The real decision is which work to slow, merge or stop.
- 02
How do we stop a project that should not continue?
Stopping is a governance decision, not a failure. Few organisations have made it routine.
- 03
Can capital, technology and R&D sit in one portfolio?
Different types of investment are usually governed separately. Leaders want one view of where the money and people go.
- 04
What should the PMO own?
Portfolio offices range from reporting functions to strategic decision partners. Many leaders are redefining the role.
- 05
Where does AI belong in portfolio decisions?
Forecasting, scenario planning and reporting are changing quickly. The judgement about what to fund stays with leaders.
- 06
How do we prove the portfolio delivered?
Benefits are forecast at approval. Tracking them after delivery is where many portfolios go quiet.
Portfolio management across the life of a project.
Every Forum follows a project from first decision to final proof. Portfolio management is present at each stage. Decide, Fund, Deliver, Prove
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01Decide
Choosing the right work
Selection, prioritisation and the discipline to say no.
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02Fund
Allocating capital and capacity
Stage gates, business cases and clear decision rights.
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03Deliver
Keeping the portfolio honest
Early warning, re-planning and the dependencies between projects.
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04Prove
Closing the loop
Tracking benefits and feeding the lessons into the next round of decisions.
Portfolio leadership at Project Economy Forum Dubai.
27–28 January 2027 · Dubai, UAE. Day One is the Executive Dialogue, a private working session for CEOs, COOs, CFOs and strategy leaders. Day Two is the Forum: one stage following a project from first decision to final proof.
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Decide
Are we doing the right projects?
Ending the wrong projects early, and one view of capital, technology and R&D.
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Fund
Who decides, and on what evidence?
Holding the business case to account, and governance that speeds delivery up.
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Lunch
The Leaders’ Tables
A hosted table for Portfolio Leadership, one of eight.
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Prove
Did we get what we paid for?
Measuring value delivered, and what the board must be able to prove.
Portfolio and PMO leaders take part alongside CEOs, COOs, CFOs and investment committees, and the heads of capital projects, technology, R&D, transformation and project controls whose work fills the portfolio.
Head of function and above. Every place reviewed. Indicative programme.
Questions.
What is a PPM summit?
A gathering of the people who run project portfolios: portfolio and PMO leaders, and the strategy and finance executives who depend on them. Many PPM events focus on methods and tools. Project Economy Forum Dubai focuses on the decisions themselves, taken with the executives who fund the portfolio.
What is project portfolio management?
The discipline of selecting, prioritising, funding and governing an organisation’s projects and programmes as one portfolio, so that it does the work that best serves its strategy with the resources it has.
How is strategic portfolio management different from PPM?
PPM has traditionally managed a portfolio of projects. Strategic portfolio management extends the same discipline across every type of investment, from capital projects to products and technology, and ties it directly to strategy and funding.
Is Project Economy Forum Dubai a PPM conference?
Portfolio leadership is one of eight areas on its agenda, alongside capital projects, transformation, technology, R&D, funding and governance, delivery and risk, and results and value. It suits leaders who want those areas in one room rather than a specialist PPM event.
How does PPM connect to capital projects?
In asset-intensive organisations, capital projects are often the largest items in the portfolio. Portfolio decisions set which assets are built; capital project performance decides whether the portfolio delivers.
Who can attend?
Heads of function and above who own project, portfolio or investment decisions. Places are by invitation, and every request is reviewed.