Abbreviation CIGI Location Waterloo, Ontario Headquarters Waterloo, Canada | Formation 2001 Website www.cigionline.org Founded 2001 | |
Purpose Generating ideas for multilateral governance improvements Type of business International think tank on global governance Founders Jim Balsillie, Mike Lazaridis Profiles | ||
We are the centre for international governance innovation
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI, pronounced "see-jee") is an independent, non-partisan think tank on global governance. CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world. Until September 2014, CIGI was headquartered in the former Seagram Museum in the uptown district of Waterloo, Ontario. It is now situated in the CIGI Campus, which also houses the CIGI Auditorium and the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA).
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About cigi centre for international governance innovation
History
CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie, then co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry). Balsillie made an initial donation of $20 million to establish the New Economy Institute (renamed CIGI in 2002), with Mike Lazaridis, his then co-CEO at RIM, contributing an additional $10 million. The combined $30 million in funds was matched by the Government of Canada in 2003.
Among CIGI’s first staff was its initial executive director John English, director of public affairs John Milloy and distinguished fellows Andrew F. Cooper and Paul Heinbecker. The first CIGI International Board of Governors (IBG) meeting was held in October 2003, with early members including Jagdish Bhagwati, Joe Clark, Angel Gurria, and Anne-Marie Slaughter.
In 2005, CIGI published its first working paper. In 2007, CIGI partnered with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University to launch the BSIA. In 2009, CIGI announced plans to house the BSIA within a “CIGI Campus” that would be built alongside its headquarters in Waterloo. The resulting $69 million complex received federal and provincial funding totalling $50 million through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program and Ontario’s 2009 budget. The City of Waterloo donated the land for the campus through a 99-year lease. Construction of the CIGI Campus was completed in November 2011.
In May 2012, Rohinton Medhora joined CIGI as president, after having served on CIGI's International Board of Governors since 2009. Medhora is former vice president of programs at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Medhora succeeded former CIGI executive director by Thomas A. Bernes, who previously held high-level positions at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Government of Canada.
In July 2012, CIGI appointed Fen Osler Hampson as Distinguished Fellow and Director of its Global Security research program. Hampson is a former director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) and Chancellor’s Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
In 2013, CIGI appointed Domenico Lombardi as director of its Global Economy program. Lombardi is a former chair of The Oxford Institute for Economic Policy, and has held positions on the executive boards of major international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank.
In 2014, CIGI appointed Oonagh Fitzgerald as Director of its International Law Research Program.
Research programs
While CIGI’s early research focused solely on international relations and the international economy, the centre’s programs now examine three themes: the global economy, global security & politics, and international law. CIGI's global economy program includes analysis on macroeconomic regulation, financial regulation and trade policy.
Publications
CIGI books include Canada-Africa Relations: Looking Back, Looking Ahead, Unleashing the Nuclear Watchdog: Strengthening and Reform of the IAEA, and The Future of Security Sector Reform. CIGI’s ebooks are available for sale through Amazon and Kobo.
Partners
Since its inception, CIGI has partnered with other think tanks and organizations from around the world. A partnership is currently underway with the Institute for New Economic Thinking, an organization founded by George Soros in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 to bring about ideas that will lead to lasting solutions to the world's various economic challenges.
Facilities
After purchasing the former Seagram Museum from the City of Waterloo, CIGI moved into the facility in 2003. Designed by Barton Myers Associates, Inc., the Governor General Medal–winning building houses CIGI’s main offices for staff and fellows, and provides a number of unique spaces for public events and workshops. Since 2010, the building also contains the CIGI Broadcast Studio, available to news organizations for television and radio interviews of CIGI experts. CIGI also hosts the CIGI Campus Library, featuring the John Holmes Collection, which began as the library of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) in 1928.