Imperial hosts world's top tech universities

Leaders of technological universities across the world gathered at Imperial this week to discuss collaboration, innovation and global challenges.

The Global Alliance of Technological Universities, known as GlobalTech, is an international network of leading science and technology institutions. Founded in 2009, it aims to address global societal issues - such as climate change, population growth and food security - through science and technology.

Imperial is a founding member of the Alliance, which counts institutions such as Caltech, NTU, and ETH Zurich among its members.

The Alliance’s Presidents’ Forum, this year held at Imperial, brought together leaders of member institutions to explore opportunities for joint initiatives, highlight examples of successful collaboration, and discuss issues affecting education and research.

Achieving excellence

Professor Alice Gast said: “In our strategy we recognise that no university can achieve excellence or realise the full benefits of its work by itself.  Hosting the Global Tech President’s Forum at Imperial has been a wonderful opportunity to share priorities and identify new opportunities for research and education collaboration.”

Professor Yike Guo demonstrated some of the College's Data Science research during the GlobalTech visit

The College’s Althea-Imperial programme – a pioneering entrepreneurial programme for women in STEM - was spotlighted at the event as an example of successful collaboration. The programme is a partnership between Imperial and the Althea Foundation, a social venture fund. Earlier this year, Gabriella Santosa, a final year undergraduate student from the Department of Life Sciences, took home £10,000 for her new water filtration system.

The two day visit culminated with a visit to Imperial’s White City Campus, where guests were given a tour of one of the campus’ flagship buildings – the Translation and Innovation Hub. Scheduled to open later this year, the hub will house co-located laboratories with major corporate partners, new start-ups and fast-growth technology companies.