The 2nd Global Grand Challenges Summit

The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) held the 2015 Global Grand Challenges Summit (GGCS) in Beijing, China, on September 15-16, 2015. 

The aim of the event was to prompt international cooperation to creatively address some of the most pressing issues of the time: the Grand Challenges for Engineering—including carbon sequestration, cybersecurity, health care, innovations in infrastructure, and education of the engineers who will take on such challenges.

This GGCS was the second in a series inspired by the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering, 14 ambitious goals identified by some of this generation’s leading technological thinkers and doers that are believed to be both achievable and necessary to help people and the planet survive. The inaugural summit, held in London in 2013, started the conversation about ways to meet these challenges. Engineering leaders, policy makers, students, and other stakeholders—including, we hope, you—continued brainstorming paths forward in Beijing.

The 2015 GGCS focused on the themes of the NAE Grand Challenges report – Sustainability, Health, Security/Resilience, and Joy of Living – along with Education, Energy, and Infrastructure. Through visionary presentations, top experts outlined ideas within and at the intersection of these areas and discussed them both with each other and with the audience. In addition, there was ample time for networking.

Some of the speakers included Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, Queens University Belfast cybersecurity expert Maire O’Neill, and Princeton University sustainability expert and original Grand Challenges report committee member Robert Socolow.

The day before the summit was Student Day during which undergraduate teams from the three host countries competed in pitching entrepreneurial ideas for addressing one or more of the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering. These and many more students also participated in the Summit itself.