WORKING MEETINGS SUMMIT2006

Representatives of universities, government, and the private sector met in Moscow on July 11, 2006 to confirm their commitment to building global knowledge society in the 21st century.

1. In the new global economy, economic growth and social cohesion can be only sustained via production and commercialization of knowledge. This creates a crucial role for the universities that are uniquely positioned to produce new ideas, advanced skills and research, and to participate in industrial innovation. Building flexible, effective, and diverse tertiary education is a priority for the G8 countries which will provide tangible benefits to all the nations.
2. Building a global knowledge society is only feasible through a public-private partnership of universities, governments and corporations, effectively developing “innovational ecosystems” around the universities. Governments should focus on (i) providing incentives for entrepreneurship, flexibility and innovation within universities, and for cooperation between universities and corporations; (ii) providing global public goods such as support for fundamental research, mobility of faculty and students, and basic training in science, math, and foreign languages. Governments should encourage collaboration and diversity in higher education, provide autonomy to the universities, remove barriers for organizational innovation within academia, and promote new forms of university-corporation partnerships both within and across national borders.
3. To accomplish their mission of the cornerstone of the global knowledge society, the universities themselves should be at the cutting edge of innovation. They should build multi-faceted partnerships with the private sector, develop new programs, and adopt new formats and methods of learning. The successful universities will be those which recognize the corporations’ needs for applied research and the demand for skills from the corporations and the life-long learners and manage to exploit the synergies between traditional and innovative teaching, between fundamental and applied research.
4. The competitive advantage in the modern corporate sector is created through innovation in products, services and processes. The leading corporations will be the ones that attract the best talent and provide them with incentives for innovation. It is therefore in the best interest of the universities and the private sector to work together on designing and implementing new teaching curricula and research agendas.