Today, July 1, 2021, the book “Remaking the World – The Age of Global Enlightenment” is officially delivered. This book is a collaboration between the Boston Global Forum (BGF) and the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) as a part of the United Nations Centennial Initiative. The official announcement of the book was organized on May 27, 2021.
The book proposes pathways toward a more humane, peaceful, and secure world, largely by harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, and other Digital Age technologies. A key proposal is the adoption of an AI International Accord that would bind nations to constructive uses of AI and prohibit destructive uses. The book proposes a Social Contract for the AI Age as the theoretical and ethical foundation of the Accord. The book also proposes the AI World Society (AIWS) as a vehicle through which individuals and civic organizations can help foster an Age of Global Enlightenment.
AIWS seeks to create an AIWS Ecosystem that empowers citizens to create value for themselves, for others, and for society through the application of artificial intelligence, digital, blockchain, and data science technologies. It is a sharing ecosystem that rewards both the creators and users of these technologies, as well as an ecosystem that encourages innovation. It breaks down the hierarchies that traditionally have created unequal power relationships, paving the way to a sharing society. It recognizes the value of every citizen, as well as every citizen’s creative potential.
Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chair of Boston Global Forum, states that “the book is significant contribution of BGF and UNAI to shape peace, security, and prosperous world in the AI and Digital Age. Thank Editor Nguyen Anh Tuan for his excellent work for this book and the United Nations Centennial Initiative as well as AI World Society (AIWS).”
Ramu Damodaran, Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact and Co-Chair of the United Nations Centennial Initiative, said on the May 27, 2021, book launching event, “The United Nations Academic Impact is proud to join the Boston Global Forum in an initiative that looks to the 2045 centennial as an opportunity to reframe the possibilities inherent in the United Nations while remaining true to the power of its promise a century earlier.”
Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Boston Global Forum and also a driving force in this initiative, expresses that “This path will require concerted action by governments, individuals, organizations, and firms. Each must be a source of innovation, and each must adhere to AIWS standards and values. Together, we can remake the world and usher in an Age of Global Enlightenment. I am grateful to the leaders and thinkers whose ideas inform the book. A special thank you is due to Ramu Damodaran for his support of the book project; Governor Michael Dukakis, who heads the Boston Global Forum and has inspired much of my work”.
Professor Alex Sandy Pentland, contributing two chapters of this book, said “Perhaps the main force driving the deployment of interledger technology is the need to repair the world’s tattered finances. This suggests that a new “Bretton Woods” multilateral effort is required, with the goal of establishing interfaces, methods, and exchange standards for digital transaction platforms.”
Distinguished contributors to the book include:
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan
Ash Carter, Former US Secretary of Defense
Vint Cerf, “Father of the Internet”, Google
Nazli Choucri, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ramu Damodaran, Chief of United Nations Academic Impact
Michael Dukakis, Former Governor of Massachusetts, Chair, Boston Global Forum
Eva Kaili, Member of the European Parliament
Robin Kelly, U.S. Representative (Illinois),
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General
Didzis Kļaviņš, University of Latvia
Taro Kono, Defense Minister, Japan
Zlatko Lagumdzija, Former Prime Minister, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Ambassador to the United States
Ursula von der Leyen, President of European Commission
Yasuhide Nakayama, Defense State Minister, Japan
Paul Nemitz, Principal Advisor, European Commission
Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO, Boston Global Forum
Andreas Norlén, Speaker, Swedish Parliament
Joseph Nye, Harvard University
Zaneta Ozolina, University of Latvia, Co-Chair of Riga Conference
Thomas Patterson, Harvard University
Judea Pearl, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, MP, UK Parliament
Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, Former President of Latvia
TheUnited Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) is an initiative of the United Nations that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in supporting and contributing to the realization of United Nations goals and mandates, including the promotion and protection of human rights, access to education, sustainability and conflict resolution.
Since 2010, UNAI has created a vibrant and diverse network of students, academics, scientists, researchers, think tanks, institutions of higher education, continuing education and educational associations. There are over 1400 member institutions in more than 147 countries that reach over 25 million people in the education and research sectors around the world representing a global diversity of regions and a thematic wealth of disciplines.
TheBoston Global Forum (BGF) Boston Global Forum (BGF), based in Boston, Massachusetts, was founded to bring together thought leaders and experts from around the globe to participate in open public forums to discuss and solve the most critical issues affecting the world. BGF counts on the important engagement of political leaders, innovators, and top academics from Harvard, MIT and AIWS.net in the development of its work. Some of its most significant Initiatives are the Social Contract for the AI Age, the AIWS City (AIWS.city), and the AI Social Contract Index.
The United Nations Centennial Initiative is an initiative of United Nations Academic Impact that belongs to the United Nations with collaboration by the Boston Global Forum.
The United Nations Centennial include roundtables, ideas, concepts, solutions, essays, and reflections looking ahead to the global landscape in 2045, when the United Nations completes its first centenary, in areas of these technologies, including artificial intelligence, cyber security and weapons systems, among others. Such a compilation which looks both to the horizon ahead and the role of the United Nations in making it beneficial and secure, would be timely.
CONTACTS
Editors and Reporters please contact Mr. Tuan Anh Nguyen, Editor of the book “Remaking the World – The Age of Global Enlightenment”, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Boston Global Forum: [email protected], Tel., Viber, Whatsapp: +1 617 286 6589
8:30 am: Opening Remarks by Mr. Ramu Damodaran, Chief, United Nations Academic Impact
Remarks by Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chair, Boston Global Forum
Speech by Professor Alex Sandy Pentland, MIT, “Our Digital Future: from the Internet to the Interledger” and “The Cycle of Prosperity: Ensuring Equal Opportunity”
Speech by Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT, “Framework for the AI International Accord”
Speech by Former Bosnia-Herzegovina Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija
“Artificial Intelligence World Society from an initiative to a doctrine and model remaking the world – the Age of Global Enlightenment”
Speech by Professor Thomas Patterson, Harvard University
On April 28, 2021, Boston Global Forum hosted the AIWS Award and AI International Accord Roundtable where Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis was awarded the 2021 World Leader in AI World Society (AIWS) and joined with fellow leaders in innovation to discuss the future of AI as we emerge into the Age of Digital and AI. This roundtable follows after Governor Michael Dukakis’ call in 2018 for an international accord on Artificial Intelligence in 2018.
Chaired by Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Boston Global Forum, and Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of the Boston Global Forum, this discussion addressed the relevance of AI in world society as it impacts our fundamental human rights today. With the increasing adoption of AI globally, our rights to privacy, dignity, and freedom are all at stake.
Our speakers brought notable dialogue to the discussions:
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis: “It is our aspiration to create machine that are able to do more and more of our own thinking, selections and decision making. And if that’s our aspiration, we must also take care to ensure that those machines do not make the same mistakes that we humans have been prone to make”.
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis raised that “Exploring a social contract for the AI Age, a Framework to ensure an AI ‘Bill of Rights’ in the digital age, is fundamental in international relations today. And in this work, our relationship with the United States is paramount.”
Nazli Choucri presented the Framework for AI International Accord: “As we move on, it’s our responsibility to leave some kind of regulatory framework before the younger generation that has not had the cold war experience, the World War I, the World War II, etc. experience. If we can just organize for them a framing of discourse, it would be a major contribution. That would be considered our generation’s contribution.”
P.S. Raghavan stated that Framework for AI International Accord was: “An excellent comprehensive paper which captures the intricacies of the issues and also the breath of the challenges”
Magnus Magnusson: “Diversity must be integrated in every single step of the AI lifecycle; from creation of algorithms to the collection of data, down to the numerous applications of AI in every aspect in today’s society: healthcare, education, transportation and so forth. This is the only way to ensure all voices will contribute to the development towards policies and frameworks for AI”
Paul Nemitz: “We should be ambitious in our work and see in terms of what we aim for.”
Conversations expressed the need for an AI International Accords to support this new reality of AI as well as facilitate international cooperation regarding this innovative development.
Speakers in the talks included:
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States
Stratos Efthymiou, Consul General of Greece in Boston
Ambassador P.S Raghavan, Former Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board, India
Nazli Choucri, Professor at MIT, AIWS City’s Board of Leaders
Magnus Magnusson, UNESCO Director for Partnerships and Outreach
Paul Nemitz, Principal Advisor of European Commission
The AIWS Award and AI International Accord Roundtable provided great insight into AI governance and discussions will be considered in further conversations on the AI International Accords, which is part of AI World Society (AIWS). AIWS is a doctrine and model for remaking the world towards the Age of Global Enlightenment.
Dear Governor Dukakis, Dear Tuan Nguyen and Mark Rotenberg, Distinguished Members of the AIWS Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for this distinction, which I accept with gratitude and humility. I am especially moved to receive it in the presence of Governor Dukakis, who not only epitomizes public service and leadership in this country, but has also been a source of great pride in his ancestral one. Σας ευχαριστώ για τη μεγάλη τιμή που μου κάνετε, thank you for this high honor!
Introduction
Ambassadors, as is well known, are asked to speak about many topics for which they are not experts themselves. But in fact, Artificial Intelligence and human rights in the digital age are two topics that I have followed closely for a long time. They are a large portion of my current work as European Union Ambassador to the United States, and long before that, I followed these issues closely as a Greek Member of the European Parliament. While Vice President of the Parliament’s civil liberties committee, I wrote the very first report on security and privacy in the digital age, exactly 11 years ago, when the topic was hardly as popular as it is today.
Perhaps my personal experience of growing up under a dictatorship in Greece endowed me with an acute awareness of the fragility of our open and free societies. As a child, I saw first-hand that even strong democracies can fall under authoritarian spells. I remember the dictatorship holding “files” on different citizens (including my parents), with personal information revealing their political activities and preferences, to be used against them, or to scare them into submission or complacency.
Perhaps this explains best why, when I look at the promise but also the challenges posed by digital technologies, I have always been guided by two fundamental principles, in politics and now diplomacy:
First – in real democracies, it is the people who should have the power to judge the thoughts and actions of their governments, and to hold governments and companies to account; not governments or companies who are supposed to observe and judge the daily actions or thoughts of their citizens. If the unrestrained use of technology leads to the latter instead of the former, we will have flipped Democracy on its head.
Second — In today’s democracies, a “Big Brother” will materialize slowly and by stealth, not suddenly in the form of an authoritarian figure who takes away our rights in one fell swoop. If it happens, it will be gradual, by a thousand cuts, with our own explicit or tacit “consent,” with our complacency.
In the mid 2000’s, an example that illustrated the conundrum was the unfolding mass use of cameras in the streets. What should be their proper use? For regulating traffic? Sounds reasonable. Protecting us from terrorist attacks? Sounds reasonable too. But given that by their very nature they could be used on a 24-hour basis for many more things – identifying all participants at a protest in case just a few of them turned violent? Catching a pickpocket, in addition to a terrorist? – the question quickly became, “Where do democracies draw the line for the use of technology to avoid dangerous slippery slopes? What is necessary, appropriate and proportionate usage? Who should have access to the data and who should not? Where should such personal data be stored in order to be kept safe, and when should it be permanently deleted?” And, soon thereafter, similar questions started to be raised on the collection and use of citizens’ personal data by major private companies and digital platforms as well.
The argument used by some governments and businesses at the time, the one that most troubled me, was: “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” It troubled me, because it in essence encouraged the “innocent” to offer their consent to their very own unfettered surveillance, in the name of catching the few “guilty.” If successful, it could indeed lead to the gradual and irreversible salami-slicing of our rights, “with our consent.”
So what I would answer to that posed pseudo-dilemma was, “If you have nothing to hide, you don’t have a life!” Because in fact, we all have thousands of elements of our private transactions, relationships, histories, or beliefs, all perfectly legal, that we do not wish others to have unrestricted access to.
That was then. The reality today is that we are all thinking about technology, innovation, and privacy quite differently than we did a few years ago.
We’ve seen — and are seeing more every day— that Americans want baseline privacy protections, that the status quo isn’t good enough, and that the time is ripe for new actions to improve citizens’ rights and trust in technology.
In Europe, we have always been forward leaning when it comes to the protection of privacy – perhaps for historic reasons – and withstood significant criticism for pioneering it in the beginning, not least of all with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Without a doubt, we are a better and stronger Union today for the privacy safeguards we have in place. And we are now committed to seeing that our privacy protection also safeguards innovation and competition. Our economies and societies need both.
Artificial Intelligence
Whether you call it AI or machine learning, both – in the broadest sense – represent change. Change makes many of us uncomfortable, because it creates a new reality, something different from what we have come to know. It is easy to fear the unknown.
I will not lecture you on the textile revolution, the industrial revolution, or the introduction of the automobile. They represented massive shifts in our technological progress, and the economic benefits as well as the social upheaval that accompanied them are well-documented.
Artificial Intelligence is different, more complex and far-reaching. In creating a tool that can make judgements – that can decide for us between multiple alternatives – we have introduced a new form of change into our daily lives. It is, if you like, change “to the nth power,” scaling exponentially in a way we have not yet experienced.
As policymakers, citizens and consumers – even as ordinary human beings – we must ask ourselves: Who do we want to make the rules for tools that are becoming increasingly embedded, invisibly, in the fabric of our society? How do we ensure that the AI embedded in the cars we drive, the buildings we use, the energy we consume, the health services we receive, the messages we send, the news we read, even in the refrigerators we use – is safe, controllable, unbiased, and trustworthy? That AI does not discriminate, is not used to “observe and judge,” or to impinge on our universal human rights?
In the final analysis, how do we ensure that AI technologies enhance and protect our freedoms, our well-being, and our democracies rather than diminish them?
Europe balance between Innovation and Fundamental Rights
In Europe, we believe that there is a clear interrelation between Innovation and Fundamental Rights – that one can promote the other.
We value, champion, and thrive from innovation. Last year, as the deadly COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the globe, AI demonstrated its potential to aid humanity by helping to predict the geographical spread of the disease, diagnose the infection through computed tomography scans, and develop the first vaccines and drugs against the virus.
European companies and innovators have been at the forefront in every aspect of that effort. The winner of last year’s Future Unicorn Award, presented annually by the European Union to start-ups with the greatest potential, was awarded to a Danish company, Corti, which uses AI and voice recognition to help doctors predict heart attacks.
Clearly, the possibilities and opportunities for AI are immense – from turning on wind turbines to produce the clean energy for our green transition, to detecting cyber-attacks faster than any human being, or cancer in mammograms earlier and more reliably than trained doctors. We hope that AI will even help us to detect the next infectious outbreak, before it becomes a deadly pandemic.
We want AI to do all of these great things.
At the same time, just as in every technological evolution that has come before it, we must prepare for the unexpected. With the increasing adoption of AI, our rights to privacy, dignity, freedom, equality, and justice are all at stake. These are fundamental to our lives as Europeans, and enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
If it is our aspiration to create machines that are able to do more and more of our thinking, selections and decision-making, we must also take care to ensure they do not make the same mistakes that we humans have been prone to make. Let me offer two examples to illustrate the point:
First – the use of facial, voice, and movement recognition systems in public places can help make our lives more secure. However, it can also allow governments to engage in mass surveillance, intimidation, and repression, as China has shown, in the most cynical and calculated way, in Xingiang.
Second – the use of AI in recruitment decisions can be helpful. However, if a computer compares resumes of senior managers and concludes that being male is a good predictor of success, the data simply reflects bias – a bias within our society, which historically has favored men for leadership positions. We do not want AI to reinforce existing biases by copying and infinitely replicating them.
These are just two examples that illustrate why we must not become bystanders to the development and deployment of AI. If we, the major world democracies, do not move to establish a regulatory framework, if we do not move fast, smart and strategically to build alliances and set standards for human-centric, trustworthy, and human rights-respecting AI with countries big and small from all over the world, I dread to think who might.
EU Proposal for AI
In Europe, we have been thinking about these questions for many years now. We see that technology is an inescapable, necessary and desirable part of our future. But without trust in it, our progress as a society will simply not be sustainable.
Wearing both my Ambassador and European citizen hats, I am immensely proud that the European Commission has just presented a ground-breaking proposal for a regulatory framework on AI. It is the first proposal of its kind in the world and it builds on years of work, analysis and consultation with citizens, academics, social partners, NGOs, businesses (including U.S. businesses), and EU Member states.
It is not a regulation for regulation’s sake. It responds to calls for a comprehensive approach across the European Union to protect basic rights, encourage innovation consistent with our values, provide legal certainty to innovative companies, spur technological leadership, and prevent the fragmentation of our single market.
In terms of the scope, the draft regulation is actually quite limited. It will introduce a simple classification system with four levels of risk – unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal.
“Unacceptable” and thus prohibited AI practices are those which deploy subliminal techniques beyond a human’s consciousness, such as toys or equipment using voice assistance that could lead to dangerous behavior, or the exploitation of the vulnerabilities of specific groups of persons due to their age, physical, or mental disability. Real-time remote biometric identification systems used in public spaces are also classified as an “unacceptable risk” – with extremely narrow exceptions when strictly necessary. As are “social scoring” practices, where governments “score” their citizens as opposed to the other way around.
When enacted, the regulation will also set binding requirements for a small fraction of so-called “high-risk” uses of AI, like credit scoring, sorting software for recruitment, verification of travel documents, robot assisted surgery, the management of critical infrastructure (e.g. electricity), or when an AI assists a judicial authority, to name a few practical examples.
The binding requirements ensure that in such cases, high-quality data sets are used, risks are adequately managed, documentation and logs are kept, and human oversight is provided for – in order to ensure the AI systems are robust, secure and accurate.
In the end of the day, the purpose of the regulation is two-fold: (a) to ensure that Europeans can trust what AI has to offer and embrace AI-based solutions with confidence they are safe, while (b) to encourage innovation to develop in an ecosystem of trust. As the European Commission’s Executive Vice President Vestager put it recently: “Trust is a must, not a ‘nice to have.’”
As was the case with the General Data Protection Regulation, the Commission’s AI proposal will be subject to legislative scrutiny before it can become law in all EU countries.
Transatlantic and Multilateral Context
Without a doubt, it will also be a topic of some debate here in the United States, as well. And the European Union looks forward to these discussions with our like-minded partners.
This is because, on the global stage, AI has become an area of strategic importance, at the crossroads of geopolitics and security. Having taken this pioneering step, the EU will work to deepen partnerships, coalitions and alliances with third countries and with likeminded partners to promote trustworthy, ethical AI. Exploring a Social Contract for the AI Age – a framework to ensure an AI “Bill of Rights” in the digital age – is fundamental in international relations today.
And in this work, our relationship with the United States is paramount. For Europe and the United States in particular, our shared values make us natural partners in the face of rival systems of digital governance. Together, we must rise to the occasion.
That is why President Ursula von der Leyen called for a Trans-Atlantic Agreement on AI that protects human dignity, individual rights and democratic principles, to also serve as a “blueprint” for broader global outreach.
My hope is that Europe and the United States will work more closely together, continuously and at all levels – with engineers, policymakers, thought leaders, civil society, scientists, and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic – to guide our technological progress and help us improve, evolve, and become more just, equitable, and free societies. To help us ensure that AI enhances the human condition and experience for all mankind.
And I rely on all AI students and researchers, innovators, policymakers, and business leaders listening in today, to help us turn this aspiration into our new reality.
We have a window of opportunity to act – and we should do so. During my time as EU Ambassador to the United States, I will do all in my power to bring it about.
Once again, please accept my warm gratitude and appreciation for this award.
I am pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of the Boston Global Forum’s World Leader in AI World Society is Stavros Lambrinidis, the European Union’s ambassador to the United States.
Born in Athens and educated in the United States at Amherst College and then at Yale law school, his entry into public life also took place here, when his law firm advised the White House during the Carter and Clinton administrations. And it was during this period that he served as president of the Committee for Human Rights for the D.C. Bar.
Ambassador Lambrinidis returned to Greece in 1994, serving as a special advisor to George Papandreou, who would later become Greek’s prime minister. He served in several posts before being elected to the European Parliament in 2004 – the first of two such elections. Five years later, he was chosen vice president of the European Parliament and then became the EU’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, which was followed in 2011 by his appointment as Greece’s Foreign Minister. He then served as the European Union’s first Special Representative for Human Rights before becoming the EU Ambassador to the United States.
Throughout his career, Ambassador Lambrinidis has been a tireless advocate of human rights, economic development and equality, and European and international cooperation.
For more than a decade, he has been a leading voice on data privacy issues, transatlantic collaboration on the digital economy, and enlightened application of Artificial Intelligence. In that context, Ambassador Lambrinidis has said: “As the development and deployment of artificial intelligence advances, my hope is that Europe and the United States will work more closely together, continuously and at all levels, to guide our technological progress in a way that is consistent with our shared values. Together with like-minded partners around the world, we must ensure that AI enhances the human condition and experience for all mankind. Without trust – without keeping humanity at the center of our technological advancements—our progress as an increasingly technologically dependent society will not be sustainable.”
Again, it’s my deep honor and pleasure to recognize Stavros Lambrinidis as this year’s recipient of the Boston Global Forum’s World Leader in AI World Society award.
Ceremony to honor Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidisas 2021 World Leader in AIWS
Remarks of Governor Michael Dukakis to honor Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis
Speech of Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis
Congratulations of Greek Consul General in Boston, Stratos Efthymiou
The United Nations Centennial Roundtable “AI International Accord”
The framework for AI International Accord (AIIA)
Chair/Moderator: Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chairman of Boston Global Forum
Speakers/Panelists:
Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, EU
Director for Partnerships and Outreach, UNESCO, Magnus Magnusson
Ambassador P.S Raghavan, India
EU Commission Principal Advisor, Paul Nemitz
Roundtable of Artificial Intelligence International Accord
April 28, 2021
The framework for AI International Accord (AIIA) is a follow-up of the Social Contract for the AIAge. The framework is designed to build the AI World Society (AIWS) and to meet the goals of the United Nations Centennial Initiative — as articulated by the United Nations Academic Impact and the Boston Global Forum.
The AIIA framework serves as a guide to international relations in the AI and Digital Age. It is based on AIWS values, and smarter, quicker, and more effective action.
The AI International Accord Roundtable will address:
Fundamentals of the framework for AI International Accord,
Processs to build AIIA,
Mechanisms to implement AIIA, and
Supports of governments, international organizations, and companies and firms to acknowledge, buttress, and enable this international accord.
Agenda
Governor Michael Dukakis
Introduction & Moderator
Professor Nazli Choucri,
“Introduction to the Framework for AI International Accord”
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis
“View of EU leaders on international accord for AI, and the special EU-US AI Agreement”
Mr. Magnus Magnusson
“Bring Goodness and AI Ethics to AI International Accord, andview from UNESCO”
Ambassador P.S Raghavan
“How to mobilize the consensus support of democratic governments of AI International Accord”
Paul Nemitz
“Mechanism to implement and enforce AI International Accord”
Discussion, led by Governor Dukakis
Concluding remarks, statement of appreciation, and next steps
Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO, the Boston Global Forum
2021 World Leader in AIWS award: Ambassador of the European Union to the United States Stavros Lambrinidis
Delegation of the European Union to the United States
The EU is represented in the United States by the Washington, DC Delegation of the European Union, which works in close coordination with the embassies and consulates of the EU member states.
Ambassador of the European Union to the United States Stavros Lambrinidis
Stavros Lambrinidis is the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, as of March 1, 2019.
From 2012 to February 2019, he served as the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights.
In 2011, he was Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece.
Between 2004 and 2011, he was twice elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the Greek Social Democratic Party (PASOK). He served as Vice-President of the European Parliament (2009-11), Vice-President of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (2004-09), and Head of the PASOK Delegation (2005-11).
Between 2000 and 2004, he was Director-General of the International Olympic Truce Centre, an International Olympic Committee organization.
He served as Ambassador ad personam of the Hellenic Republic (1999-2004); Secretary-General of the Greek Foreign Ministry, responsible for Expatriate Greeks (1996-99); and Chief of Staff to the Greek Foreign Minister (1996).
Between 1988 and 1993 he worked as an Attorney at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C., specializing in international trade, transactions, and arbitration.
Mr. Lambrinidis was born in Athens, Greece in 1962. He studied Economics and Political Science at Amherst College (Bachelor of Arts degree, 1984) and Law at Yale Law School (Juris Doctor degree, 1988), where he was also Managing Editor of The Yale Journal of International Law. He is a 1980 graduate of the Athens College High School in Greece. He is married and has a daughter.
World Leader in AIWS Award winners:
Secretary General of OECD Angel Gurria, 2018
Father of Internet Vint Cerf, 2019,
Father of Causal Inference Methodology, Chancellor Professor Judea Pearl, UCLA, 2020
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, 2021
Chair:
Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-Founder and Chairman of The Boston Global Forum
Chairman of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Co-Founder and Chairman of The Boston Global Forum
Co-founder of AIWS.net and the AIWS City
Co-Author of Social Contract for the AI Age
The three-term Governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Distinguished Professor of Northeastern University and UCLA
Michael Stanley Dukakis culminates a half-century career dedicated to public service, political leadership, fostering the careers of young leaders, and scholarly achievement.
Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan, this former Massachusetts governor, has established The Boston Global Forum as a globally recognized think tank noted for developing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s most contentious issues.
Speakers / Panelists:
Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT, AIWS City’s Board of Leaders
Nazli Choucri is a Boston Global Forum board member and Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her work is in the area of international relations, most notably on sources and consequences of international conflict and violence. Professor Choucri is the architect and Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), a multi-lingual web-based knowledge networking system focusing on the multi-dimensionality of sustainability. As Principal Investigator of an MIT-Harvard multi-year project on Explorations in Cyber International Relations, she directed a multi-disciplinary and multi-method research initiative. She is Editor of the MIT Press Series on Global Environmental Accord and, formerly, General Editor of the International Political Science Review. She also previously served as the Associate Director of MIT’s Technology and Development Program.
The author of eleven books and over 120 articles, Dr. Choucri is a member of the European Academy of Sciences. She has been involved in research or advisory work for national and international agencies, and for a number of countries, notably Algeria, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. She served two terms as President of the Scientific Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformation (MOST) Program.
Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis
See at World Leader in AIWS Award above
Magnus Magnusson, Director for Partnerships and Outreach, UNESCO
Magnus Magnusson joined UNESCO 1 September 2017 as Director for Partnerships and Outreach in the Human and Social Science Sector.
Prior to joining UNESCO, Magnus held positions as Vice President for Emerging Markets and Sustainability at Eco Capacity Exchange, Head of Government Relations, Northern Europe at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Head of Business Development and External Relations at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Regional Manager at the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) with responsibility for a USD 150 million infrastructure portfolio in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana and Ethiopia.
He started his career at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with desk responsibility for the World Bank, regional development banks, IFAD and micro finance. Thereafter he joined the Nordic Council of Ministers as Senior Advisor for the finance, transport and development cooperation sectors.
He also acted as secretary to the Board of Governors of the Nordic Investment Bank, Nordic Development Fund and representative in the Board of the Nordic Project Fund. Hereafter Magnus joined the United Nations Environment Programme/GRID Arendal as Head of the Stockholm Office.
A Swedish citizen, Mr. Magnusson has an academic background in social sciences, business administration and economics and environmental studies from Uppsala University, Swedish
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm School of Economics and University of California, Berkeley. He wrote his thesis on microfinance in rural Laos.
He is a board member of the Stockholm Philanthropy Symposium Foundation and advisory board member of Hand in Hand USA. Global Vaccines Project and ECO Capacity Exchange. He is a frequent panelist and speaker including in the areas of innovative finance and impact investing.
Paul Nemitz, Principal Advisor of European Commission
Paul F. Nemitz is Principal Advisor in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission. Before, he was the Director responsible for Fundamental rights and Union citizenship, the lead Director for the reform of the EU data protection legislation, the “Snowden” follow up, the negotiations of the EU – US Privacy Shield and the EU Code of Conduct against Hate speech on the internet.
Before joining DG Justice, he held posts in the Legal Service of the Commission, the Cabinet of Commissioner Nielson, and in the Directorates General for Trade, Transport and Maritime Affairs. He has a broad experience as agent of the Commission in litigation before the European Courts and he has published extensively on EU law.
Selected publications and interventions:
Human Principle – Power, Freedom and Democracy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, with co-author Matthias Pfeffer, 2020; the more than 1000 endnotes of the book are freely available on the dedicated website for the book PrinzipMensch.eu
Strengthening Democracy in Europe and its Resilience against Autocracy: Daring more democracy and a European Democracy Charter, with Frithjof Ehm, Research Papers in Law 1/2019, College of Europe; to be published in S. Garben, I. Govaere and P. Nemitz (Eds.), Critical Reflections on Constitutional Democracy in the European Union and its Member States (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2019), https: //www.coleurope. eu / study / european-legal-studies / research-activities / research-papers-law
Ambassador P.S. Raghavan, Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board, India
Ambassador Raghavan is Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board, which advises India’s National Security Council on strategic and security issues.
As a career diplomat, he has served as India’s Ambassador to Russia, Czech Republic and Ireland. He had other diplomatic assignments in USSR, Poland, UK, Vietnam and South Africa.
He was an advisor to the Prime Minister of India (2000-2004) on foreign affairs, defense, national security, nuclear energy and space.
He founded, and was the first head of, the Development Partnership Administration, which coordinates India’s economic partnership programmes abroad, with an annual budget of over US$ 1.5 billion.
He was Chief Coordinator of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi (2012). From 2012 to January 2014, he was Special Envoy of Government of India to Sudan and South Sudan.
The United Nations Centennial Initiative:
The United Nations Centennial was launched in 2019 by the United Nations Academic Impact in partnership with The Boston Global Forum.
The UN Centennial programs host roundtable discussions, conferences, new concepts, solutions, think pieces, and reflections as we look ahead to the global landscape in 2045—the United Nations Centennial year.
This initiative will examine issues impacting technology, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, diplomacy, warfare, and other pressing concerns. Our goal is to look to the future and the role the United Nations will continue to play in making our world more peaceful, democratic, prosperous and universally secure.
The Boston Global Forum contributes AI World Society initiative to the United Nations Centennial.
The mission of UN Centennial Initiative and AI World Society: Remaking the world – The Age of Global Enlightenment.
Michael Dukakis Institute to honor Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Ambassadorto the US on April 28 for promoting Internet security, freedom, and AI Democracy
Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Ambassador to the United States, will receive the, “World Leader in AI World Society Award,” at 8:30 AM, Wednesday, April 28, 2021 from Governor Michael Dukakis.
The award honors Ambassador Lambrinidis for his contribution to strengthening security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet and for fostering Artificial Intelligence democracy worldwide.
Ambassador Lambrinidis, who served as Vice President of the European Parliament and as the EU’s Special Representative for Human Rights and has long been active on data privacy issues, will talk about opportunities for transatlantic collaboration on the digital economy and AI in his brief remarks at the upcoming award ceremony.
The Framework for the Artificial Intelligence International Accord, developed by the Boston Global Forum in collaboration with AIWS distinguished thinkers, will be discussed immediately following the ceremony honoring Ambassador Lambrinidis 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM, April 28, 2021.
He stated, “As the development and deployment of artificial intelligence advances, my hope is that Europe and the United States will work more closely together, continuously and at all levels, to guide our technological progress in a way that is consistent with our shared values. Together with like-minded partners around the world, we must ensure that AI enhances the human condition and experience for all mankind.
Without trust – without keeping humanity at the center of our technological advancements—our progress as an increasingly technologically dependent society will not be sustainable.”
Ambassador Lambrinidis will deliver his remarks virtually at the Boston conference on the AI International Accord. The event is being organized by The Boston Global Forum, the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, and AI World Society(AIWS).
Governor Dukakis noted, “The world needs an international accord on artificial intelligence, the Internet, and data privacy and mining. With this in mind, we are calling for an AI Bill of Rights that will build on existing fundamental rights, promote the enforcement of those rights, and recognize emerging principles brought about by the dynamic confluence of the Internet and digital information.”
Governor Dukakis lauded Ambassador Lambrinidis for proposing a European Parliament recommendation to the Council aimed at strengthening security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet, and AI democracy.
Ambassador Lambrinidis is a former Foreign Minister of Greece (2011), Secretary General of the Greek Foreign Ministry (1996-1999), and Ambassador ad-personam of the Hellenic Republic (1999-2004). Between 2004-2011, he was twice elected to the European Parliament where he served as Vice President (2009-2011). Prior to assuming the role of EU Ambassador to the United States (2019), he was the EU Special Representative for Human Rights (2012-2019). He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Amherst College and has worked as a trade lawyer at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington DC in the early 1990s.
In 2010, he delivered a report at the European Data Protection and Privacy Conference titled: A European Parliament recommendation to the Council on strengthening security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet.
The Framework for the Artificial Intelligence International Accord, developed by the Boston Global Forum in collaboration with by a team of AIWS distinguished thinkers, will be discussed at the April 28 conference.
The Boston Global Forum and The Michael Dukakis Institute presented the first World Leader in AIWS Award in 2018 to Secretary General of OECD Angel Gurria. Past recipients include: Father of Internet and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf (2019), and Chancellor Professor of UCLA, Inventor of Causal Inference Methodology Judea Pear (2020).
The Boston Global Forum and The Michael Dukakis Institution have played a leading role in promoting a Social Contract for the AI Age. The Social Contract promote an Artificial Intelligence world that respects human rights, dignity and democratic values while preventing governments and private entities from using AI for harmful purposes. About
The Michael Dukakis Institute (MDI)‘sinitiatives include AI World Society (AIWS), AI-Government, Social Contract for the AI Age, Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security (ECCC), and Global Cybersecurity Day.
The Boston Global Forum (BGF) brings together world leaders, distinguished thinkers, innovators, and promising young leaders to seek peaceful solutions to the challenges of our times.
The AI World Society (AIWS) City, established in collaboration with the World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid and the United Nations Academic Impact, is a virtual digital city dedicated to the principle of the Social Contract for the AI Age.
CONTACTS
For further details on BGF and AIWS contact Tuan Anh Nguyen, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Boston Global Forum, and Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation: [email protected]g
Editors and Reporters contact MDI Press Secretary Dick Pirozzolo: [email protected] / +1 617 959 4613
Combined AIWS City and NovaWorld Phan Thiet to build A Distinguished City to Honor the United Nations’ First Century
Boston – New York, March 16, 2021
The United Nations Academic Impact and Boston Global Forum have co-organized the United Nations 2045 Roundtable: A Distinguished City to Honor the United Nations’ First Century.
Chair: Mr. Ramu Damodaran, chief of the United Nations Academic Impact and editor-in-chief of United Nations Chronicle Magazine.
Speakers/Panelists:
Kamal Malhotra, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam
Michael Dukakis, three-term governor of Massachusetts
Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
Le Tuan Phong, governor of Binh Thuan province, Vietnam
Thomas Patterson, Harvard University
Alex Pentland, MIT
John Quelch, University of Miami
Bui Thanh Nhon, chairman of Nova Group, Vietnam
Speakers will discuss a sophisticated pioneer model: a combination of the virtual, digital AIWS City and a real city of Phan Thiet – NovaWorld Phan Thiet.
Bui Thanh Nhon, Chairman of Nova Group said, “The city of Phan Thiet will be the place for the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and the Michael Dukakis Institute to hold important annual events that gather presidents, prime ministers, and top thinkers from around the world, most especially in 2022, which will be marked by the theme of Building a New Economy for the world in the digital and artificial intelligence era.
Thanks to the partnership with the Michael Dukakis Institute, NovaWorld Phan Thiet, will serve as the venue to announce new achievements in the history of artificial intelligence and the digital economy.”
Governor Michael Dukakis said, “The AIWS City will create new values as AIWS Rewards and presents AIWS Awards to honor new ideas, initiatives, and solutions by thinkers and creators in an effort to build a civilized, prosperous, peaceful, and happy world. We are glad to collaborate with NovaWorld Phan Thiet, World Leadership Alliance Club de Madrid to organize significant events, notably the Conference in Phan Thiet in 2022 – a foundation to contribute to building Phan Thiet as the significant Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions destination in the world.”
Ramu Damodaran, Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact, Chair of the United Nations 2045 Roundtable welcomed the AIWS City-NovaWorld Phan Thiet as an initiative to honor the United Nations’ First Century.
About
TheUnited Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) is an initiative of the United Nations that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in supporting and contributing to the realization of United Nations goals and mandates, including the promotion and protection of human rights, access to education, sustainability and conflict resolution.
Since 2010, UNAI has created a vibrant and diverse network of students, academics, scientists, researchers, think tanks, institutions of higher education, continuing education and educational associations. There are over 1400 member institutions in more than 147 countries that reach over 25 million people in the education and research sectors around the world representing a global diversity of regions and a thematic wealth of disciplines.
TheBoston Global Forum (BGF) Boston Global Forum (BGF), based in Boston, Massachusetts, was founded to bring together thought leaders and experts from around the globe to participate in open public forums to discuss and solve the most critical issues affecting the world. BGF counts on the important engagement of political leaders, innovators, and top academics from Harvard, MIT and AIWS.net in the development of its work. Some of its most significant Initiatives are the Social Contract for the AI Age, the AIWS City (AIWS.city), and the AI Social Contract Index.
The United Nations 2045 Initiative is an initiative of United Nations Academic Impact that belongs to the United Nations with collaboration by the Boston Global Forum.
The United Nations 2045 include roundtables, ideas, concepts, solutions, essays, and reflections looking ahead to the global landscape in 2045, when the United Nations completes its first centenary, in areas of these technologies, including artificial intelligence, cyber security and weapons systems, among others. Such a compilation which looks both to the horizon ahead and the role of the United Nations in making it beneficial and secure, would be timely.
CONTACTS
Further details of BGF and United Nations Academic Impact are available by contacting Tuan Anh Nguyen, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Boston Global Forum, and Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation: [email protected]
Editors and Reporters please contact BGF Press Secretary Dick Pirozzolo: [email protected] / +1 617 959 4613
Contact UNAI at: Ramu Damodaran, Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact: [email protected]
A Distinguished City to Honor the United Nations’ First Century
Co-organizers: The United Nations Academic Impact and Boston Global Forum
8:30 -10:00 EDT/19:30 – 21:00 ICT, March 17, 2021
Chair: Mr. Ramu Damodaran, chief of the United Nations Academic Impact and editor-in-chief of United Nations Chronicle Magazine.
Speakers/Panelists:
Kamal Malhotra, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam
Michael Dukakis, three-term governor of Massachusetts
Le Tuan Phong, governor of Binh Thuan province, Viet Nam
Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
Thomas Patterson, Harvard University
Alex Pentland, MIT
John Quelch, University of Miami
Bui Thanh Nhon, chairman of Nova Group, Vietnam
The United Nations 2045 Initiative
The United Nations 2045 is an initiative of the United Nations Academic Impact with collaboration by the Boston Global Forum.
The United Nations 2045 include roundtables, ideas, concepts, solutions, essays, and reflections looking ahead to the global landscape in 2045, when the United Nations completes its first centenary, in areas of these technologies, including artificial intelligence, cyber security and weapons systems, among others. Such a compilation which looks both to the horizon ahead and the role of the United Nations in making it beneficial and secure, would be timely.
AIWS City
AIWS City is a digital virtual city founded on principles stated in “Social Contract for the AI Age”, “People Centered Economy”, “Trustworthy Economy”, “Intellectual Society”, and “AI-Government.”
AIWS City was introduced on 08/21/2020 at the United Nations 2045 Roundtable, co-organized by the United Nations Academic Impact and the Boston Global Forum.
The AIWS City Board of Leaders are: Governor Michael Dukakis, Chairman of the Boston Global Forum; Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of the Boston Global Forum; Professor Alex Pentland of MIT; Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist of Google; former Latvian and Club de Madrid President Vaira Vike-Freiberga; former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija; Professor Nazli Choucri of MIT, Professor David Silbersweig of Harvard University; Professor Thomas Patterson of Harvard University; and Marc Rotenberg, Director of Center for AI and Digital Policy at Michael Dukakis Institute.
AIWS City includes distinguished world leaders, inventors, and innovators, as well as faculty from universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, UC-Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford, and Cambridge.
NovaWorld Phan Thiet
Phan Thiet, Vietnam is known for its white sand beaches, temperate climate, and proximity to an international airport and port of call. Less than 100 miles from Ho Chi Minh City, Phan Thiet was historically a place of the Champa people and the enlightened Champa culture, remnants of which still exist in the area.
Phan Thiet is emerging as a worldwide destination. At Phan Thiet, Novaland Group is creating a “World Beach City” for vacationers that will also be an international hub for world leaders, creators, innovators, and scholars.
Although virtual in concept, AIWS City will have a physical location – NovaWorld Phan Thiet.
AIWS City will bring to NovaWorld Phan Thiet a rich set of activities designed to highlight intellectual and creative talent and progress. Together, AIWS City and NovaWorld Phan Thiet will serve as a model for sustainable development and high standards, embodying the ideals that marked the founding of the United Nations and that will sustain it as it moves toward its centennial year.
The city of Phan Thiet will be the place for the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and the Michael Dukakis Institute to hold important annual events that gather presidents, prime ministers, and the top thinkers around the world. Especially, the year 2022 will be a highlight with the theme of Building a New Economy, a New Finance for the world in the digital and artificial intelligence era.
NovaWorld Phan Thiet, thanks to the partnership with the Michael Dukakis Institute, will serve as the venue to announce new achievements in the history of artificial intelligence and the digital economy.
Program:
Ramu Damodaran, Opening Remarks and introduction
Kamal Malhotra, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam. “Vietnam and the United Nations: Past, Present and Aspirational Future 2045.”
Governor Michael Dukakis. “Imagining the City of the Future.”
Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
Governor Le Tuan Phong. “Responsible Development of Binh Thuan Province and Phan Thiet City.”
Professor Thomas Patterson: “AIWS City as Concept and Reality.”
Professor Alex Pentland: “Application of New Economic and Financial Ideas to AIWS City”
Chairman Bui Thanh Nhon. “NovaWorld Phan Thiet as a World Model.”
Professor John Quelch. “AIWS City supports NovaWorld Phan Thiet into a Global Brand.”
Discussion, Chaired/Moderated by Mr. Ramu Damodaran.
Concluding, Mr. Ramu Damodaran
Bios:
Chair/Moderator:
Ramu Damodaran
Chief, United Nations Academic Impact, United Nations
Editor in Chief of the United Nations Chronicle Magazine
Mr. Ramu Damodaran is Deputy Director for Partnership and Public Engagement in the United Nations Department of Public Information’s Outreach Division and is chief of the United Nations Academic Impact initiative, which aligns institutions of higher learning and research with the objectives of the United Nations and the States and peoples who constitute it.
He is also the current secretary of the United Nations Committee on Information.
His earlier posts with the Organization have included the Departments of Peacekeeping and Special Political Questions, as well as the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Mr. Damodaran has been a member of the Indian Foreign Service, where he was promoted to the rank of Ambassador, and where he served as Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister of India as well as in the diplomatic missions in Moscow and to the United Nations, and in a range of national governmental ministries.
Speakers/Panelists:
Michael Dukakis
Chairman of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Co-Founder and Chairman of The Boston Global Forum
Co-founder of AIWS.net and the AIWS City
Co-Author of Social Contract for the AI Age
The three-term Governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Distinguished Professor of Northeastern University and UCLA
Michael Stanley Dukakis culminates a half-century career dedicated to public service, political leadership, fostering the careers of young leaders, and scholarly achievement.
Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan, this former Massachusetts governor, has established The Boston Global Forum as a globally recognized think tank noted for developing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s most contentious issues.
Thomas Patterson
Research Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Member of AIWS City’s Board of Leaders
Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age
Professor of Government and the Press of Harvard Kennedy School
Thomas E. Patterson is Research Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation. He is a Professor of Government and the Press of Harvard Kennedy School and served as the Acting Director of Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University for some years. His book, The Vanishing Voter, looks at the causes and consequences of electoral participation. His earlier book on the media’s political role, Out of Order, received the American Political Science Association’s Graber Award as the best book of the decade in political communication. His first book, The Unseeing Eye, was named by the American Association for Public Opinion Research as one of the 50 most influential books on public opinion in the past half century.
He also is author of Mass Media Election and two general American government texts: The American Democracy and We the People. His articles have appeared in Political Communication, Journal of Communication, and other academic journals, as well as in the popular press. His research has been funded by the Ford, Markle, Smith-Richardson, Pew, Knight, Carnegie, and National Science foundation.
Patterson received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1971.
Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland
Director, MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics lab
Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age
Member of AIWS City’s Board of Leaders
Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland directs MIT Connection Science, an MIT-wide AI and Data for Good initiative, and previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India. He is on the Board of the UN Foundations’ Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, and was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy.
John A. Quelch
Vice Provost, University of Miami, Dean, Miami Herbert Business School and Leonard M. Miller University Professor
Co-founder of The Boston Global Forum
John Quelch became dean of the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School on July 1, 2017. He is the Leonard M. Miller University Professor and also serves as the University’s vice provost for executive education. Quelch has a wealth of senior leadership experience, having previously served as the dean and senior associate dean at three internationally-recognized business schools.
Prior to joining Miami Herbert Business School, Quelch was the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He also held a joint appointment as professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – the first to hold dual primary appointments in those two schools, and one of only a few faculty members across Harvard University with this distinction.
Prior to his most recent time at Harvard, Quelch was dean, vice president and distinguished professor of international management of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) from 2011 to 2013. Under his leadership, annual revenues increased by more than 25% to over $100 million; the school’s MBA global ranking in the Financial Times improved from 24 to 15 and its Executive MBA ranking from 18 to 7; and the school launched programs to integrate faculty and staff activities across four CEIBS operations in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Ghana.
From 1998 to 2001, Quelch served as dean of the London Business School, where he helped transform the school into a globally competitive institution and launched seed capital funds to invest in student and alumni start-ups. By 2001, London Business School ranked 8 in the Financial Times MBA global ranking.
Quelch initially joined Harvard Business School in 1979, holding a number of positions over the years, including Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing, co-chair of the marketing department and Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration. He served as senior associate dean of Harvard Business School from 2001 to 2010.
Quelch is the author, co-author or editor of 25 books, as well as numerous business case studies on leading international organizations. He also is known for his teaching materials and innovations in pedagogy; during the past 40 years, his case studies have sold more than 4 million copies.
Quelch has served on numerous corporate, nonprofit and public agency boards, including a nine-year term as chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority. He is a member of both the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Quelch earned his BA and an MA from Exeter College, Oxford University; an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; an SM from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and a DBA in business from Harvard Business School.
In addition to the United Kingdom and the U.S., he has lived in Australia, Canada and China. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011 and, in 2017, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Kamal Malhotra
TheUnitedNations Resident Coordinator
Mr. Kamal Malhotra assumed his position as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from January 2017. In January 2019, he took up the full-time position of UN Resident Coordinator, representing the UN Secretary-General in Viet Nam.
Immediately prior to his two UN appointments in Viet Nam, Mr. Malhotra was the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Turkey between April 2013 and December 2016. Prior to this appointment, he was the UN Resident Coordinator for Malaysia; UNDP Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam and UNFPA Representative for Malaysia (October 2008 – March 2013).
From 1999-2008 he worked in UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy in New York as Senior Adviser and Cluster Leader on Inclusive Globalization (2002-2008), Civil Society Empowerment Adviser (2001-2002) and Senior Civil Society Adviser (1999-2000).
Before joining UNDP, Mr. Malhotra was Co-Founder and Co-Director of Focus on the Global South, (1995-1999) a global policy research organization located at the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute in Thailand. During this period, he was also a part-time Regional Adviser on Macroeconomic Policies and Children’s Rights for Save the Children Fund (UK) for South-East Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to this, Mr. Malhotra was Director of the Overseas and Aboriginal Programme at Community Aid Abroad (Oxfam Australia), based in Melbourne, Australia from 1988-1995. Before that, he worked for the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction in the Philippines (1982-1988) as Research and Rural Credit Specialist, Associate Director, and then Director, International Extension. Mr. Malhotra also worked as a Management Consultant at A.F. Ferguson & Co. based in Mumbai, India between 1978-1981.
Mr. Malhotra holds an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York, USA, with a specialization in economic and political development (1982), a Master’s in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management (affiliate of the Sloan School of Management, M.I.T. USA), with a specialization in finance and economics (1978), and a BA in economics (with honours), from the University of Delhi, India (1976). Mr. Malhotra also completed an Executive Education Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA on “Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict and Courage”, during January-February, 2013.
Mr. Malhotra is widely published with over 125 journal and other articles on global trade, debt and finance, the multilateral system and development cooperation issues. He has also been the lead author, co-author or chapter lead in over 10 books, including the lead author of UNDP’s Making Global Trade Work for People (Earthscan, 2003) and Globalization and the Least Developed Countries (UNDP, in cooperation with the UN-OHRLLS and the Government of Turkey, 2008). He also initiated and led Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development (UNDP, 2011) in cooperation with the Government of Singapore.
Le Tuan Phong
Chairman
Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee
Mr. Le Tuan Phong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee was elected Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee from January 18, 2021.
Prior to that, Mr. Phong used to hold the following positions: Vice Chairman of Phan Thiet City People’s Committee, Director of Department of Planning and Investment Binh Thuan, Vice Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee.
Mr. Le Tuan Phong, born on September 10, 1974, is from Ham Hiep commune, Ham Thuan Bac district, Binh Thuan province. He was admitted to the Communist Party of Vietnam on December 13, 2004. Mr. Phong has a Master degree in Civil Engineering, Road Construction Engineer and Senior Political Theory.
Duong Anh Duc
Vice Chairman
Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee
Mr. Duong Anh Duc has been elected as Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee since March 27, 2020 (Period 2016 – 2021).
From 2017 – 2020, he was Chairman of HCMC Department of Information and Communication.
From 1990 – 2017, Mr. Duc was a lecturer of HCMC General University; Vice Principal of HCMC University of Science; Principal of Information Technology University; Vice Principal of Vietnam National University in Ho Chi minh City.
Mr. Duong Duc Anh was born on August 24, 1968 in Ha Noi. His homeland is in Hai Chau Dist., Da Nang City. Mr. Duc is Assoc. Prof. – Dr. in Information Technology. He holds Advanced Political degree and is a member of HCMC People’s Committee period X (2015 – 2020).
Nguyen Trung Khanh
Director General
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism – Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh was appointed as the Director General of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism from January 1, 2019.
Prior to that, Mr. Khanh was General Director of International Cooperation Department from 2014 – 2018
From 1995 – 2014, Mr. Khanh was the President of Hanoi Tourism College; General Secretary (Part-time) of Pacific – Asia Travel Association, Vietnam Chapter; Lecturer of Travel Operations Management and Tourist Guide Faculty, Hanoi Tourism School, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
Mr. Khanh holds Bachelor Degree of Economics and English, Master Degree of Business Administration (Bangalore University) and Ph.D. Degree of Economics.
Tran Minh Triet
Vice President
University of Science, VNU-HCM
Mr. Tran Minh Triet is an Associate Professor at the University of Science, VNU-HCM.
He joined the University of Science, VNU-HCM, in 2001 and currently is the Vice President of University of Science, VNU-HCM, in charge of Science, Technology, and External Relations. He is also the Head of Software Engineering Laboratory and Deputy Head of Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, University of Science, VNU-HCM. He is IEEE Vietnam Section Student Activities Chair, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Information Security Association (South Branch) and member of the Advisory Committee on Artificial Intelligence of Ho Chi Minh city.
His research interests include cryptography and security, computer vision and human-computer interaction, and software engineering. He was a visiting scholar at National Institutes of Informatics (NII, Japan) in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2015-2016.
He obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., and Assoc.Prof. degrees in computer science from University of Science, VNU-HCM, in 2001, 2005, and 2009
Bui Thanh Nhon
Chairman
Nova Group cum Novaland Group
Founder – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nova Group cum Novaland Group
Mr. Bui Thanh Nhon is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nova Group, a multidisciplinary economic group, providing essential services and products to the community, including Novaland Group – Nova Service Group – Nova Consumer Group.
Mr. Nhon is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Novaland Group.
Mr. Nhon is one of the first private business owners in Ho Chi Minh City since the 1980s and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and the World Presidents’ Organization (WPO).
Mr. Nhon graduated with a BA in Agriculture and graduated from Executive MBA course, HSB-TUCK, Dartmouth University, USA.
Le Quang Minh
Director of Digital Content
Vietnam National Television (VTV)
Mr. Minh is currently the Director of VTV24 News Center, Radio THVN, dubbed the “News Man” in Vietnam.
From 2000 – 2015, Mr. Quang Minh was the Editor of VTV’s 19-hour News Program, Good Morning, Integration, Policy Dialogue, Sports Programs and Television Manager of Vietnam Television.
Mr. Minh was nominated for the Impressive Video Editor of the VTV Awards 2014, received the title of the Most Favorite Presenter of news and essay by TV magazine readers in 2009 and Award of Most Popular TV Host of 2008.
Mr. Le Quang Minh was born on July 30, 1976 in Hanoi. He graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in 1988.
Pham Phu Ngoc Trai
Founder and Chairman
Global Integration Business Consultants (GIBC)
Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc Trai – Founder and Chairman of Global Integration Business Consultants (GIBC), a company which was established with the mission of facilitating the integration and sustainable growth of Vietnamese businesses – has more than 30 years of experience in various FMCGs businesses including state-owned enterprises, joint-ventures and foreign companies, spanning across Vietnam and countries worldwide.
Mr. Trai held the position of Chairman and CEO of Saigon Food Processing Company (Foodexco), General Director of SPco. Holdings Company, Co-founder of International Beverages J.V Company (IBC) in 1991 – IBC was accorded the first foreign JVC license by Vietnamese Government to a Singapore party, which was later became Pepsico Viet Nam. After that, he was being appointed to the President & CEO of PepsiCo Vietnam and South East Asia, Head of Corporate Affairs in Asia Pacific…He was among the very first Vietnamese senior leader in charge of regional business in a leading multi-national company. Under his leadership, PepsiCo Vietnam had consecutively won 4 prestigious DMK awards – the most honorable award of Pepsico International.
Mr. Trai is currently holding the position of the Strategies Advisor for multiple leading corporations and reputable brands in Vietnam, guiding them in establishing corporate sustainability development strategies. Widely acknowledged as the pioneer of CSR in Vietnam, in recent years, he has passionately supported and promoted the concept of ‘Creating shared values- CSV’ which aims for environmental, social and economic sustainability in all business activities .Mr. Trai has participated and been elected to lead multiple Foundation, business associations, and NPOs such as: Chairman – Recycling Packaging Organization (PRO) Viet Nam, Founder – Institute of Circular Economy and Development (ICED)- HCMC National University, Members of Science Advisory Committee for Department of International Business and Marketing in University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City; Sponsorial Association for Poor Patients in Ho Chi Minh City, Leading Business Club (LBC), SGT Foundation Scholarship, and involved in many other social activities…
Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc Trai is also Chairman of the Sustainable Development Council of Novaland Group.
