The International Student Energy Summit (ISES) is an international congress to be held in Calgary, Canada on June 11-13 2009. The conference is entirely organized by a group of students looking for creative ideas and contributions on the global energy transition that the world is entering. For its inaugural edition, the meeting will take place in Calgary, which is the Canadian energy capital, home to about 2000 energy industry companies.

The conference will focus on three main pillars that address today’s key energy issues: Global Energy Cooperation, Technology & Innovation and Finance, Regulation and Sustainability. On this occasion, worldwide energy leaders will participate along 500 students from different disciplines. Samuel Biondo, US department of Energy, Gustav Grob, Executive Secretary ISEO/ICEC and John Huckerby, Executive Officer of AWATEA, will be some of the featured speakers. The meeting will not only have lectures, but it will also include brainstorming sessions, case studies and networking opportunities.

If you are interested in the conference, you can register now by paying a fee of $ 695 CAD, which covers access to the conference, conference materials and meals. However, there is also a contest through which you can obtain a subsidy which covers the conference fee and also gives you accommodation for 4 days in Calgary. To enter the contest you must produce a presentation which focuses on an energy issue that is relevant to your region, discussing how it is impacting your region and proposing creative solutions that could help solve the issue. Submissions must be in one of two forms, video or essay. For further information, please visit the official site.

The MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa on March 25-27. The GSW is a conference focused on fostering entrepreneurship through the support of the MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Each year, about 30 MIT students organize the 3 day conference in close collaboration with partners from a different host country in order to discuss practical steps that can be taken by students, academic faculty, venture capitalists, government leaders, entrepreneurs, and top business leaders. Since its inaugural conference at MIT in 1998, the MIT GSW has been hosted in Singapore, Spain, Australia, Italy, China, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, and Norway.

The conference will feature keynote speakers such as Jonathan Ortmans, president of the Public Forum Institute, Jessica Flannery is a co-founder of Kiva.org and Kenneth P. Morse, Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. There will also be panels, discussion forums and networking sessions.

One of the aims of the conference is to share practices in running entrepreneurial support organizations and to form a global networks of leaders in venture creation. One of the ways of achieving it is through the Elevator Pitch Competition, a contest created for students and innovators from around the world to have an opportunity to pitch their ideas, and collect feedback in front of a leading network of venture capitalists and investment communities. There will be an instance during the conference in which participants can present a brief overview (no more than 60 seconds) of an idea for a product, service, or project. The presentation will be judged on different aspects, and the winners will receive prizes of up to US$ 1000.

If you are interested in participating of this year’s Workshop, you can register until February 28 and qualify for the early bird fee of $400 which covers attendance to the workshop and conference materials. You can also get special hotel deals for participating in the conference. We hope you are able to take advantage of this unique opportunity!

Win the grand prize with an outstanding, innovative essay.
Join 80 distinguished students from all around the world.
Share your views on current issues of the global village.

Global Initiatives Symposium (GIS) is founded by a group of ambitious college students in Taiwan. It will take place on July 6-12 in Taipei, Taiwan. The purpose of this symposium aims at establishing a platform that connects talented students from different nations and that deals with critical issues via extensive dialogues with experts from different fields. The main topic of this symposium is “Challenges and Opportunities: The Global Economy in the Transition Phase.” During the 7-day symposium, there will be several programs, such as pre-conference activities, keynote speeches, model conference, workshops, and essay exhibition.

GIS not only enhances multi-cultural exchanges but helps realization of workable proposals brought up by participants. We truly believe that even young students as we are, we can still turn our creative and pragmatic ideas into feasible actions, and in turn, make changes to the dire situation we are facing globally.

All necessary expenses in Taiwan are covered. Additionally, grants are offered to international students according to the location of their university. The best essay winner can even win 900 US dollars. All you have to do is to submit a short essay by March 15th, which contains one of the three subtopics we are going to discuss in the conference.

We sincerely invite you to join this symposium. Come to take a look at the peaks and troughs of the Asian-Pacific economy in depth, embrace the fantastic multi-cultural society, interact with leading authorities in various fields, brainstorm with other ambitious students of different academic backgrounds and, most importantly, turn your opinions and enthusiasm into actions!

Register today at the officially website gis-taiwan.ntu.edu.tw , join our Facebook Group “GIS Taiwan” to receive the up-to-date information. If you have further questions, please contact us at gis-taiwan@gis-taiwan.ntu.edu.tw