Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business successfully hosted the Global Unicorn Program – Frontiers in Digital Innovation: AI, Future of Tech & Data Science in partnership with Columbia Engineering from May 20-24 in New York City. The program provided participants with the chance to exchange ideas and learn about the latest digital innovations, AI and data science. Throughout the program, faculty and industry experts delved into effective strategies, evidence-based research, and successful cases from both the East and West of start-ups leveraging AI to grow and scale their businesses.
Amid global geopolitical uncertainty, participants explored opportunities and business prospects in the US and across Asia. With a focus on cross-cultural perspectives, social purpose, global responsibility and sustainability, the curriculum not only included lectures and talks from accomplished faculty members of both schools, but also exclusive opportunities to visit Amazon’s Web Services Builder Studio, located at Amazon’s newest Manhattan office. The 8,000-square-foot space is part showroom, part collaboration space, and part prototyping lab, where participants learned about the different ways Amazon is using technology, such as generative AI.
Program participants also received a welcome from Eric James, Mayor of New York City, a welcome from Shih-Fu Chang, Dean of Columbia Engineering and Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor, a unicorn retail tour and a special lecture from Jon Liao, Former Chief Strategy Officer turned Senior Advisor to the Chairman at JD.com and Professor of Managerial Practice, Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at CKGSB.
Program participant, Fan Min, who is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board for Ctrip.com, said that as a business leader, it’s important to continue to learn and grow. He said, “It’s a pleasure to participate in CKGSB’s Global Unicorn Program, especially with an internationally renowned university like Columbia University. I believe that we are entering the ‘intelligent era’ and with that we’ll have a lot of questions for where we are headed in the future. It’s a valuable opportunity to learn from experienced professors and scholars, including many industry practitioners.”
On the fourth day of the program, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and Columbia Engineering hosted the Global Unicorn Startup Summit, a conference exploring how businesses can embrace innovation to become a next-generation unicorn company. As a cornerstone of the broader Global Unicorn Program, the event explored topics such as creativity, equitable growth, the impact of AI, as well as the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation. Inspiring speakers such as Sheena Iyengar, Inaugural S.T. Lee Professor of Business in the Management Division at Columbia Business School, Orin Herskowitz, Senior VP of Applied Innovation and Industry Partnerships for Columbia University, Bing Xiang, CKGSB’s Founding Dean and Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of China Business and Globalization, Jonathan Schulhof, Executive VP and Head of Innovation at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Ali Hirsa, Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Chen Hong, Professor of Management Science, Associate Dean for Americas and Director of Research Center for Clean Energy and Carbon Neutral Development at CKGSB, and David Yao, Piyasombatkul Family Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, spoke at the event.
CKGSB’s next Global Unicorn Program will be jointly offered with UC San Diego on Biotech Innovation on September 9-13 in San Diego, designed to equip CEOs and founders in the life sciences and biotechnology industry with the essential knowledge and connections needed to thrive in this rapidly evolving sector. Following this program, CKGSB and ESMT will jointly deliver the Global Unicorn Program in Deep Tech in Berlin on October 28-31. This program will provide practical business strategies to grow, scale, globalize, and potentially exit deep tech ventures and will touch upon the latest insights on deep tech advancements, such as AI, cutting-edge computing, and cybersecurity innovation.
