Announcement: Launching the Global University and Research Leadership Forum Report and Task Forces

The GFCC is proud to announce the launch of its new report, “Convergence & Circulation,” an in-depth account of the inaugural meeting of the University Research and Leadership Forum in London, November 2016. Read the report here → http://www.thegfcc.org/university-report/

The London meeting of the GFCC University and Research Leadership Forum was an initial step on a journey to catalyze learning and inspire action. In addition to helping GFCC university members and the global university and research community identify and understand trends, we want the Forum to serve as a platform through which best practices can be scaled-up and new solutions designed. That is our mission.

What was crystallized during the London meeting was that boundaries between universities and the outside world are — and should be — coming down. Universities should converge in action with other sectors of society. Perspectives, languages, legal frameworks, policies, strategies, performance metrics, and initiatives should serve as a foundation and base of support.

A variety of solutions that materialized from the London meeting are included in this report. It is now time to go deep into the vortex of this convergence. We must develop a broad understanding of best practices and create mechanisms for them to be replicated and expanded at the international level. To do that, the GFCC is launching in June 2017 two pioneer task forces, each co-chaired by two founding members of the GFCC University and Research Leadership Forum: “Optimizing Innovation Alliances” and “Leveraging Extreme Innovation.”

The work of the task forces will be presented in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 30, 2017, when the Forum meets again. During the months to come, GFCC university members will actively engage with industry and policy leaders and collaboratively work to create a unique global body of knowledge. Building upon our current membership of more than 40 universities coming from 20 countries, we are confident in the reach and impact the GFCC University and Research Leadership Forum will have.

Pradeep Khosla writes in the introduction of this report that “…the role of universities in supporting global competitiveness will continue to grow as we are poised to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.” We deeply believe in this potential at the GFCC — that universities are the key for humanity in overcoming global grand challenges and building prosperity. Working together with industry, philanthropy, policy and civil society organizations, tech startups, government, and society at large, universities can fulfill that promise and turbocharge economic growth across the plane.

Read the report here → http://www.thegfcc.org/university-report/

A recognized expert in international development and innovation, Roberto dos Reis Alvarez is the Executive Director of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) as well as a research scholar at Arizona State University (ASU). Mr. Alvarez is the co-creator of the GFFC’s Competitiveness Decoder™ (decoder.thegfcc.org), a first-of-its-kind, data-based tool to visualize the key drivers of national competitiveness.

Prior to joining the GFCC and ASU, Mr. Alvarez was the Senior Manager of the Analysis and Strategic Projects Unit with the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI) — an organization that he joined in 2005 and where he held several other positions.