New Johns Hopkins SAIS partnership with The Delma Institute explores dynamic trends shaping the emerging world
MEDIA ADVISORY
WASHINGTON — Amid a global geo-economic transformation centered on the rise of emerging markets, the growth of a new global middle class, rapid urbanization, and unprecedented physical and technological connectivity, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is pleased to announce a new lab aimed at exploring these vital trends.
The emerge85 Lab – named for the 85 percent of the world's population that lives outside North America and Europe – launched on October 4 with a discussion and reception attended by senior policy-makers, diplomats, media, members of the business and multilateral development bank community, academics, and the broader community.
The lab, a partnership between The Delma Institute based in Abu Dhabi and The Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) at Johns Hopkins SAIS, was inaugurated with opening remarks by the school's Dean Vali Nasr. "The transformation of vast regions of the world, home to 85 percent of humanity, is perhaps the most important economic and social development of our time," Nasr said. "Emerge85 Lab is a unique and innovative initiative dedicated to understanding what this transformation means and how it will change the world as we know it."
The Johns Hopkins SAIS-Delma Institute Partnership on Geo-Economic Multiplicity is co-directed by FPI Senior Fellow and Johns Hopkins SAIS alumnus Afshin Molavi, MA ’97, and The Delma Institute Managing Director Mishaal Al Gergawi, a renowned current affairs commentator and writer.
"I believe we are living in a fundamentally transformative moment in human history, and emerge85 will serve as a platform and hub for some of the most innovative and dynamic thinking on the key drivers of change across Latin America, Africa, and Asia," Molavi said.
"New hub cities are rising, emerging market multinationals are challenging their Western peers, growing middle classes are fueling a new wave of consumption and aspiration, and a multiplicity of new commercial and economic actors are reshaping the geo-economic order," he added.
Al Gergawi of The Delma Institute, an international affairs research house, noted the vast expansion of goods and services in emerging markets in recent years. "Over the last 25 years, we’ve seen a near reversal in global GDP (on PPP basis) contribution by developed and emerging economies from 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively," he said. "The emerge85 Lab intends to study the interdisciplinary and complex impacts of this growth and explore what such a geo-economic multiplicity means for our global order."
FPI Director Carla Freeman said, "This is an exciting initiative. Its focus on the '85'– the center of global change – gives us an unprecedented opportunity to contribute meaningfully to global policy."
Media Contacts
Stacy A. Anderson
Communications Manager
Johns Hopkins SAIS
202.663.5620 office
202.853.7983 mobile
[email protected]
Diala Dabbas
Associate, Communications
The Delma Institute
[email protected]
About The Johns Hopkins SAIS-Delma Institute Partnership on Geo-economic Multiplicity
The Johns Hopkins SAIS-Delma Institute Partnership on Geo-economic Multiplicity, also known as the emerge85 Lab, explores the impact of the emergence or re-emergence of "non-Western," global economic players by taking a holistic approach to geo-economic trends and their impact.
Co-located in Abu Dhabi and Washington, D.C., the lab's mission is founded on the premise that heightened economic activity in Africa, Latin America, and Asia has led to their increasing global relevance. In less than a generation, the world has been turned upside down. To assess the impact of these important geopolitical, geo-economic, and geo-cultural shifts, the lab will work with a network of collaborators, thinkers, and other rising experts to produce original analysis through a variety of media including digital stories, visualizations, multi-city pop-up talks, roundtables, and more traditional events.
About The Foreign Policy Institute
Housed within Johns Hopkins SAIS, the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) was established in 1980 to unite the worlds of scholarship and policy in the search for realistic answers to international issues facing the United States and the world. The FPI seeks to advance practically oriented research and discussion about foreign policy. To this end, it organizes research initiatives and study groups, and hosts leaders from around the world as resident or non-resident fellows in fields including international policy, business, journalism, and academia. The FPI supports the emerge85 Lab.
About Johns Hopkins SAIS
A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today’s critical issues. For more than 70 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school’s interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world.
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