Imperial College London is partnering with the GFCC (Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils) to deliver a high profile event entitled Cities: Competitive, Innovative, and Sustainable.

In cities population growth is routinely outstripping infrastructural renewal. This is creating a persistent appetite for innovation in sectors such as public utilities, environmental infrastructure and healthcare to name just a few. As more and more of the world’s population continues to flood into city – a percentage that is set to reach 66 by 2050 – this trend will only continue.

As innovation becomes more critical for cities talent and technology are being perpetually encouraged to unite to drive economic growth. Cities – and the businesses that drive them – not only need to look inwards now but outwards to the global stage where becoming and remaining attractive is a constant issue for denizens and their leaders. The conference will bring together entrepreneurs, policy makers, CEOs, investors, thinkers and innovators from around the world from November 29-30, 2016.

Panel conversations and break-out group sessions will investigate four themes:

THE SEAMLESS CITY
How different stakeholders and technology come together in cities to improve urban living and how cities are connected with their surrounding regions.

THE EVOLVING CITY
How cities are transformative entities that change continuously, creating resilience to external and internal pressures.

THE WELL CITY
How sustainability in cities plays an active role in public health, wellbeing and competitiveness.

THE FREE CITY
How freedom of expression plays a role in city growth and development.

A Gala Dinner themed ‘Envisioning our urban future’ will close the first day of the Summit and feature four Imperial academics presenting visions of the future based on their own academic research.

Imperial College London is one of the world’s leading universities. Our mission is to achieve enduring excellence in research and education in science, engineering, medicine and business for the benefit of society.

Imperial staff and students work across disciplinary boundaries and collaborate each year with academic, corporate and charitable organisations in 95 countries. With our partners we define excellence in new and unexpected ways to improve health and wellbeing, understand the natural world, engineer novel solutions and lead the data revolution. The rigour of an Imperial education gives our students the ability to apply their knowledge to real-world problems. We bring pioneering discoveries, innovations and inventions to society and are recognised as one of the most impactful and innovative universities in the world.

The Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) is a network of leaders and organizations from around the world committed to the implementation of competitiveness strategies to drive innovation, productivity and prosperity for their nations, regions and cities. The GFCC develops the tools to understand and navigate the complex competitiveness landscape.