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News release

Global Leader Experience comes to Concordia University


Students help determine what makes a city smart

Montreal, November 14, 2014 - What makes a city smart? Beginning November 18, Concordia University will host a four-day conference of students who will devise a uniquely “Made-in-Montreal” answer. This will be the first time a Canadian university has been chosen to host this leadership development program.

The concept of the smart city has been defined in terms of technological advances driv-en by fresh talent and investment. The student participants will add their vision of a smart city to those already advanced by organizations such as the MIT Media Lab, Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

“Montreal is actively engaged in reimagining its future”, says Alan Shepard, president and vice-chancellor of Concordia. “Students have a key role to play in that future. I’m so glad to see students coming together to enhance a process that will ensure the social and intellectual capital of our city reaches its full potential.”

To shape the Montreal version of the smart city concept, 100 students from five universi-ties will venture out to a variety of private, public and not-for-profit organizations. They’ll be looking to identify the qualities that help define the city as one that is truly smart and forward-looking. Working in groups under the guidance of mentors from the community, the participants will then propose projects intended to help position Montreal as a smart city. A panel of leaders from various sectors will select a winning pitch and work to help bring the project to fruition.

The Global Leader Experience conference is organized by Common Purpose Student Experiences, a not-for-profit social enterprise founded in 1988. The organization runs local courses for leaders in cities across the world and global programs for leaders from more than 100 countries across six continents. 4,000 people participate in these pro-grams every year in cities such as Dubai, Singapore, London and Boston.

Common Purpose selected the Montreal participants from a pool of applicants. Confer-ence participants are currently studying in a variety of undergraduate or graduate pro-grams and represent 36 nationalities. There is no charge for students attending the conference as all costs are borne by Common Purpose.

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Source:

Fiona Downey
Media Relations Advisor
Concordia University
Tel.: 514-848-2424 ext. 2518
Cell: 514-518-3336
Twitter: @fiodow
concordia.ca/now/media-relations



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