Centre for International Governance Innovation - Wikipedia

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 Think tank on global governance 
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 Centre for International Governance Innovation The CIGI campus Abbreviation CIGI Formation 2001 Type International think tank on global governance Purpose Generating ideas for multilateral governance improvements Headquarters 67 Erb Street West Location Waterloo, Ontario 
 President Paul Samson Website cigionline .org 
 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. 

 CIGI ranked among the top 12 global think-tanks in the categories of "AI Policy and Strategy Think Tanks" and "Top Science and Technology Policy Think Tanks", and 30th globally among the "Top Thinks Worldwide" in the Global Go To Think Tank Index , 2020. [ 1 ] In 2025, during Canada’s G7 Presidency, CIGI organized the Think7 (T7) process and hosted the T7 Summit at its Waterloo campus. [ 2 ] T7 is the official engagement group of think tanks that provides research-based policy recommendations to the G7 Presidency.

 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 , [ 3 ] which also houses the CIGI Auditorium and the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA). [ 4 ] [ 5 ] 

 
 History

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 CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie , then co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM) (now 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. [ 5 ] 

 Among CIGI's first staff was 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 meeting was held in October 2003, with early members including Jagdish Bhagwati , Joe Clark , José Ángel Gurría , and Anne-Marie Slaughter . [ citation needed ] 

 In 2005, CIGI published its first working paper. In 2007, CIGI partnered with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier Univ

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