The University of Pittsburgh will host co-host an innovation and competitiveness forum, Oct. 19 to 21, in collaboration with the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils and Carnegie Mellon University.

“Forging the Future: The Intersection of Health, AI & Tech,” an invitation-only, first-of-its-kind crossover will bring together local, state, national and global leaders — spanning business, academia, government and labor — to experience how Pitt, CMU, the city of Pittsburgh and other key stakeholders are advancing a strategy to drive innovation, growth and prosperity — particularly in artificial intelligence and next-generation health sciences and technologies.

The three-day forum will feature two signature events, held together for the first time in one location:

• Oct. 19-20, the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils’ annual Global Innovation Summit where global leaders from industry, academia, government and labor will exchange insights on competitiveness, resilience and transformative innovation strategies.

• Oct. 20-21, the Council on Competitiveness will host its Competitiveness Conversations series, focusing on strengthening place-based innovation, capacity building and unlocking economic leadership in regional ecosystems like Pittsburgh.

Attendees also will have the opportunity to engage in curated roundtables, interactive demonstrations and site visits to area research and innovation hubs. Working sessions will focus on real-world pathways in AI policy, health equity and tech translation.

“This year’s global forum will shine a spotlight on groundbreaking innovations — from BioForge and AI-powered diagnostics to next-generation clinical training tools and assistive technologies — while showcasing Pittsburgh’s unique innovation ecosystem, fueled by top-tier research institutions like the University of Pittsburgh, one of the nation’s top 20 most innovative universities,” Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel in a news release. Gabel serves as academic vice-chair of the Council on Competitiveness and is a member of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils.

Gabel emphasized that Pittsburgh is uniquely positioned to host a global forum, not only because of its strengths and strong sense of place, but because of the active partnerships already driving innovation across the region. “What sets Pittsburgh apart is the density of collaboration — across research, industry and health care — that’s already happening here,” she said.

Among those efforts are:

• A gift of computer hardware and support services from Dell USA that will help the Innovation Hub for Health Science Medical Research — a collaboration of Pitt, UPMC, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and CMU — fight a wide range of medical conditions, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and common diseases.

• Pitt’s partnership with NVIDIA and CMU to create an inaugural AI Tech Community, aimed at fusing medical expertise with cutting-edge AI tools.

• The launch of the Vijayalakshmi Innovation Center in Women’s Health Analytics and Research, a global initiative leveraging AI to address disparities in women’s health.

• A partnership with Amazon Web Services called the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences and Sports Analytics Cloud Innovation Center, which will revolutionize health sciences and sports analytics through cutting-edge data, machine learning and AI technologies.

• A partnership between the University and Vizzhy Inc., which will result in the creation of a transformative health care platform that will leverage the world’s most powerful AI to dramatically affect health and health care delivery. 

• A $10 million gift from Leidos to accelerate AI-powered cancer detection in collaboration with Pitt’s Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence.

• The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance leverages Pitt’s medical research capabilities, CMU’s expertise in machine learning and AI, and UPMC’s clinical data to create new technologies and services in digital health.

“We have the infrastructure, the expertise and — critically — a culture of innovation rooted in partnership,” Gabel said. “That makes Pittsburgh not just a place to talk about the future, but to build it together.”