President Dr. Irfaan Ali received the prestigious Global Leadership Award for Open Innovation (2024) from the University of California, Berkeley on Thursday.
The Guyanese Head of State was nominated for this award because of his commitment to the use of technology and innovative business models to expand the country’s markets. The university noted that Dr. Ali’s strategies were researched carefully and documented.
President Ali received the award at a ceremony held at the NASA Ames Research Centre, where the Berkeley Innovation Forum 2025 is currently being held.
Several other distinguished persons, from former United States President Barack Obama to business tycoon Warren Buffet, have received this award too. Those who received the award include:
● 1967 Galo Plaza – President of Ecuador & United Nations diplomat
● 1970 Sun Fo, 2nd Premier of the Republic of China and framers of the
Constitution.
● 1973 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
● 1978 Sadako Ogata, Minister of Japan to the United Nations
● 2001 Miguel Echeverría, President of Costa Rica
● 2004 Tom Clausen, World Bank Chief & Chairman of Bank of America
● 2007 Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
● 2011 Yuan Tseh Lee, Reformer, Statesman & Nobel Laureate, Taiwan
● 2014 Janet Yellen, Chair of United States Board of Governors, Federal
Reserve System
● 2015 Pranab Mukherjee, President of India
● 2016 Barack Obama, President of the United States
● 2017 Paul Jacobs, Chairman Executive Chairman of QUALCOMM
● 2018 John Chambers, Immediate Past Chairman of Cisco
● 2019 Francesco Starace, CEO, Enel Group, Rome, Italy
● 2020 Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies
● 2022 Her Excellency and King’s Counsel, Patricia Scotland, the Sec. General of the Commonwealth
● 2023 Dr. Mark Liu, Chairman of TSMC, Taiwan.
This isn’t the first time President Ali has been recognised globally for his leadership. He was also recognised before for his vision and leadership on environmental stewardship and sustainability, food security, and inclusive economic growth.
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