The 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting kicks off Friday at Northeastern University, bringing together more than 1,000 students and experts to hear from former President Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and more over the course of the three-day event.
From Oct. 13 to 15, the CGI U will feature seminars, workshops and panel discussions in order to spur “innovative social action to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges,” according to Northeastern.
Bill Clinton, founder of the Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, will speak Friday evening in an opening talk called “What Unites Us: Building Community in a Divided World.”
He will be joined by Chelsea Clinton, Daryl Davis, a musician and race relations expert, Ibtihaj Muhammed, an Olympic medalist and entrepreneur, and more in order to discuss how we can create a culture of “dialogue and reconciliation,” according to the foundation.
Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, will moderate a panel on Saturday called “Making it: Designing a Sustainable Future,” which will focus on how social media, technology, robotics and artificial intelligence innovations transform our individual lives and how we interact with each other.
Other participants include former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Northeastern President Joseph Aoun, documentary filmmaker Amy Ziering and more.
The meeting will also include a “Code for Impact” event, a codeathon challenge to student designers to create a prototype of something that “improves or facilitates energy efficiency in metropolitan areas and urban centers.” Chelsea Clinton will be one judge of that challenge.
Other talks and sessions will touch on preventing sexual assault on campuses, LGBTQ equality, the sharing economy, creating opportunities for migrants and refugees and using technology to have a positive impact on the world.
Sunday, the final day of the meeting, has been dubbed the Annual CGI U Day of Action, during which Bill and Chelsea Clinton along with Walsh will lead the students involved in a Day of Action to give back to the Boston community.
The Clinton Foundation brings together businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals in order to “improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for girls and women, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change,” according to the foundation.
