Celebrating 20 Years of Research and Expert Analysis
July 30, 2021, marked the twentieth anniversary of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and the organization was thrilled to celebrate two decades of contributing research and expert analysis to global policy making.
CIGI’s initial focus on international relations and the global economy, which led to its role in laying the groundwork for the creation of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, has since evolved to addressing issues at the intersection of technology and global governance: data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital platform regulation.
In celebration of our anniversary, leading experts and government officials who have been involved with CIGI over the years shared their happy birthday messages. You can watch the messages in two compilations (Video 1, Video 2) or view the full-length well-wishes individually in a playlist we’ve collected on YouTube.
Canada’s twenty-third prime minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, also generously took the time to acknowledge the organization’s twentieth anniversary.
Of course, anniversaries are also a time of reflection, and CIGI President Rohinton P. Medhora reflected on the organization’s role in governance-making in this post, as well as in the following video alongside co-founder and board chair Jim Balsillie and others.
CIGI’s story began with its incorporation as The New Economy Institute. Founded as a non-profit institution on the principle that better global governance can improve people’s lives, CIGI’s first official home was the Waterloo–St. Jacobs railway station in Waterloo, Ontario.
Former CIGI Executive Director John English, founder Jim Balsillie and then Member of Parliament Andrew Telegdi announced matching federal funds for the organization in July 2002. The donation was made by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
In September 2003, CIGI moved into the former warehouse of a whisky distillery operated by Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Ltd. The building housed the Seagram Museum from 1984 to 1997 and was purchased from the City of Waterloo. It is considered an icon of Canadian postmodernism.
Paul Martin, then Canada’s prime minister, was the guest of honour at a meeting of the International Advisory Board of Governors at CIGI’s office. While Canada’s finance minister, Martin was among Jim Balsillie’s early advisers on the creation of CIGI in 2001.
Research publications are one of the core products of a think tank. CIGI’s first official publication was written by Andrew Cooper, a University of Waterloo professor and international relations expert, in October 2005.
CIGI’s early research was focused on two thematic areas: international relations and the international economy. To encourage student engagement in these world issues, CIGI initiated a one-day annual conference for high school students called the Global Youth Forum.
David Johnston, then University of Waterloo president and later governor general of Canada, spoke at the launch of the Balsillie School of International Affairs, a partnership between CIGI, the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
In July 2008, CIGI, in partnership with Makerere University and the Salama Shield Foundation, launched the Africa Initiative, a multi-year, donor-supported program with three components: research, grants and an exchange program.
In March 2009, TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin broadcasted live from CIGI for an episode on the social impact of the economic downturn on Ontario communities. Guests included Jim Balsillie and the Honourable John Wilkinson, then Ontario’s minister of research and innovation.
KPMB architect Shirley Blumberg toured the CIGI Campus under construction. The campus, envisioned as a hub of partnerships among CIGI, research and academic communities, was funded by the federal and provincial governments with a land lease donation by the City of Waterloo.
The CIGI Campus officially opened in September 2011 with the help of Somali-Canadian singer K’naan, who performed with a choir of 30 local schoolchildren. CIGI moved into the building in 2014.
Former Prime Minister Paul Martin, then CIGI President Tom Bernes and investor George Soros spoke at the Sovereign Debtors in Distress conference. The conference was part of a partnership announced in 2011 between CIGI and the Institute for New Economic Thinking founded by Soros.
Former Prime Minister Joe Clark — an early member of CIGI’s former advisory board — spoke to a packed auditorium at the CIGI Campus. He argued that governments can benefit from relationships with non-governmental organizations, such as think tanks with a capacity for innovation.
CIGI is perhaps best known for its role in laying the groundwork for the creation of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, a concept put forward by then Prime Minister Paul Martin. The first summit was held in 2008. CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani was interviewed at the Brisbane G20 Summit.
General Tom Lawson, former chief of the defence staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, spoke at CIGI’s Global Policy Forum. The forum was launched in 2012 and has been a fixture at the Rideau Club in Ottawa for informative policy lectures and discussions.
The final report of the Global Commission on Internet Governance was presented by Sweden’s former Prime Minister Carl Bildt to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría in June 2016. It championed internet access, freedom of expression and the free flow of ideas over the internet.
Responding to a global refugee crisis, CIGI launched the World Refugee Council in May 2017. Chair Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian minister of foreign affairs, Deputy Chair Paul Heinbecker and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan attended the launch.
CIGI hosted a panel on women’s economic empowerment in April 2018. Event organizer Oonagh Fitzgerald, former director of CIGI’s International Law Research Program, was joined by Stephen de Boer, Canadian ambassador and permanent representative to the World Trade Organization.
CIGI and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hosted a presentation on the data-driven economy by former CIGI Senior Fellow Mark Doms, now chief economist at the Congressional Budget Office, at the IMF’s headquarters in Washington, DC, in April 2019.
CIGI President Rohinton P. Medhora addressed global leaders on the need for a multilateral Digital Stability Board at an event hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in February 2020.
CIGI exists to provides policy solutions for the digital era with one goal: to improve people’s lives everywhere.
We thank everyone — from our staff and multidisciplinary researchers to our strategic partners — who have contributed to CIGI’s success and recognition as one of the world’s leading digital governance think tanks.
Here’s to the next 20 years!