KTH to host the THE Innovation & Impact Summit 2022

“THE is one of the most prestigious organisations when it comes to ranking universities. In association with the publication of the latest results a summit is being arranged on the theme of rankings. In this particular case, one of the most important of these rankings, the World University Impact Ranking, will be presented. It does not consider academic excellence alone, it also looks at how well universities are performing in terms of social impact, innovation and sustainability,” Östlund says.

“During the summit a number of keynote lectures will be given by people from outside higher education, with the aim of encouraging ways of thinking and acting as sources of inspiration. A number of panel debates will also be held each day on themes such as what does the future of sustainability entail, and what entrepreneurs can learn from universities. We are also going to arrange study visits where we show how we work with collaboration, not least with our strategic business partners.”

What does it mean for KTH to host this summit?

“It is an opportunity to be seen. There are thousands of universities around the world that all aim to be good in different ways and this means that KTH must be seen globally. And a university that hosts this summit will be in focus for a period. If you look at who has arranged previous summits, they are universities with a good reputation and significant penetration. For example, KAIST in Korea hosted the previous summit.”

The summit was meant to be held in spring 2020, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Have any changes been made with regard to the content and structure since then?

“The structure remains basically the same. A few speakers have been replaced, however, either because they were no longer relevant or because they will not be able to travel to Stockholm.”

An earlier interview with Stefan Östlund ahead of the summit that was meant to be arranged in spring 2020.

Håkan Soold