The 2012 i20 Summit kicked off today in Abu Dhabi at the Advanced Technology Investment Company’s (ATIC) HQ. The i20 is a community of chief innovation “czars” representing more than 40 countries including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Korea, Russia, the UAE, USA and UK. Hosted by lead sponsor ATIC and the Institute for Large Scale Innovation (ILSI), the summit focuses on identifying areas of need and opportunity in setting an innovation agenda for the coming year.

The summit also includes five young Emiratis, from ATIC’s Al Nokhba Scholarship program, selected on the basis of their leadership potential. They will be given the opportunity to convey visions for Abu Dhabi‘s future while taking part in activities across the two day event. 

“These are the best and brightest driving forward innovation across a range of industries,” said Sami Issa, Executive Director leading the Abu Dhabi Ecosystem Development unit of ATIC. “Bringing these leaders together in one room with our local thought leaders and advocates of innovation and taking a structured approach to recognizing and addressing areas of opportunity is tremendously powerful in creating and growing a global ecosystem of innovation.”

 “Large scale innovation is an approach to societal scale challenges and has become integral to the thinking of innovation policymakers, leaders and activists worldwide,” said John Kao, Chair and Founder of ILSI. “The i20 Summit is an important milestone in our community’s efforts to design and drive a global innovation agenda.”

This year’s summit follows on the heels of the 2011 edition, held in Washington DC in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the US State Department.  

2012’s meeting explores global trends and leading practices in innovation strategy and policy; the innovation agendas of Abu Dhabi and the MENA region; and the ILSI Innovation Cloud, a next-generation platform that supports collaboration and innovation for distributed communities.

A key objective this year is to engage local thought leaders on the subjects discussed - including those from ATIC, the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, the Abu Dhabi Education Council, the Crown Prince Court, local universities and the Technology Development Committee – to interact with some of the world’s top practitioners.

The ILSI is the first-ever organization of its kind dedicated to mobilizing innovation capacity for the common good and enabling societies to achieve their full innovation potential. Apart from ATIC, i20 Summit sponsors include Cisco Systems, Monitor Group, Yamaha Music and Deloitte LLP.