The world stands on the brink of changes that could reshape attitudes to smoking for good. While some countries continue to combat cigarettes through traditional bans, others are putting their faith in innovation. One of the centres of discussion around this new reality was Dubai, which hosted the Technovation 2025: Smokefree by PMI forum — bringing together scientists, engineers, doctors and global public-health experts. The conversation went far beyond technology; it was about a smoke-free future and the role that science and progress can play as allies in protecting public health.

Philip Morris International (PMI) has invested more than $14 billion in developing and commercialising smoke-free products, transforming itself from a traditional tobacco manufacturer into a creator of innovative alternatives.

“We’re no longer the company we were ten years ago. Today, we’re entirely different. More than 1,400 of our scientists, engineers and technicians are working on new products and the scientific evidence that underpins them,” PMI’s Vice President for Communications and Engagement, Tommaso Di Giovanni, said during the event.

This year’s Technovation 2025 forum focused not only on technology but on changes that have the potential to transform millions of lives. A major theme was the evolution of the tobacco industry — the shift from conventional cigarettes to smoke-free alternatives and the broader vision of a world without smoke.

PMI’s Chief Executive Officer, Jacek Olczak, opened his remarks with a direct question: “The world has the technology. But is society ready to move towards a smoke-free future? Clearly not.” Nearly a billion people worldwide, he noted, still struggle to give up smoking. “We cannot simply repeat that smoking is harmful,” he stressed. “We have a duty to offer people a real alternative.”

According to PMI’s estimates, around 40 million adults have already made that choice and switched to the company’s smoke-free products. Yet, Olczak added, in some countries such technologies are banned or barely known. “If we fail to offer people an alternative, they will carry on paying the price with their health,” he warned.

Di Giovanni, for his part, compared the scepticism surrounding such innovations to the early reception of historic inventions. “When Alexander Bell invented the telephone, critics dismissed it as a useless toy. But humanity always opts for something better — it just takes time to accept it,” he said.

Since the launch of the IQOS heated-tobacco system in 2014, PMI has poured more than $14 billion into developing and commercialising smoke-free technologies. The forum highlighted that these products are now sold in 97 countries and already account for more than 40 per cent of the company’s total revenue.

PMI has allocated 99.5 per cent of its R&D investment exclusively to smoke-free solutions, and aims for two-thirds of its income to come from this segment by the end of the decade.

But the discussion in Dubai was by no means confined to business. Professor David Khayat, an oncology specialist at the University of Paris, reminded attendees that the main harm from smoking comes not from nicotine but from the process of combustion, which produces carcinogenic substances. “Harm reduction is not the enemy of quitting; it’s the bridge that helps people get there,” he emphasised.

Research presented at the forum shows that levels of harmful chemicals in smoke-free products are 95 per cent lower than in cigarette smoke. In Japan, smoking rates have almost halved since heated tobacco products entered the market, while in Sweden prevalence has dropped to 5 per cent of the population — one of the lowest levels in the world.

Notably, PMI has placed its bets on offering a variety of solutions. “We understand there is no one-size-fits-all product. That’s why our portfolio offers adult smokers different smoke-free options depending on their habits and lifestyles,” said Christos Kyratsis, the company’s Regional Vice President.

PMI is confident that its ambitious goal — to make smoke-free products its primary revenue source by 2030 — is entirely within reach. And if society, regulators and the scientific community pull in the same direction, a smoke-free future may arrive far sooner than we imagine.