Global Solutions Initiative Foundation, Alexanderstraße 1, Berlin (2026)

26/08/2026

The Global Solutions Initiative (GSI) is making changes to its executive leadership and shareholder structure.

Prof. Dr. Christian Kastrop will continue as President and become the GSI’s sole Managing Director.He will guide the organization as it develops its programs and strengthens its international reach.

After eight years with the GSI, including four years as Managing Director, Agnes Eschment will step down from her operational role to pursue new professional opportunities. We are deeply grateful for her outstanding contribution to the development of the Initiative. Agnes has played a central role in strengthening the GSI's operations, establishing the Global Solutions Summit and building partnerships across our international network. We are delighted that she will remain closely connected to the GSI as a Fellow.

Markus Engels will also step down from the GSI’s shareholder group. As Secretary General and a long-standing shareholder, Markus has played an important role in the institutional development of the GSI and in strengthening its position within the German and international policy community. We are grateful for Markus’s commitment, expertise and contribution over the years, and wish him every success with the projects that lie ahead.

We would like to thank Agnes and Markus for their dedication and for the important role they have played in shaping the GSI.

The GSI will continue its work with its partners, Fellows and wider network, drawing on the experience and relationships built over the years.

25/08/2026

How can we design Generative AI to actively support the development of children and youth?

Our fellow Ron Ivey, Founder and CEO of Noēsis Collaborative, has co-authored a new whitepaper with the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence: "Flourishing Generation: Strategy for Children, Youth, and AI."

The paper addresses a critical question: How can we ensure Generative AI not only avoids harm but actively fosters the well-being of young people? Lessons from social media regulation show we cannot afford another "Sisyphean cycle" of delayed action.

The authors argue that we must reframe the question from "How do we protect children from AI?" to "How do we design AI to advance their development?" They propose subjecting Generative AI systems to the same safety audits as other child-focused products and restricting emotionally bonding AI companions to adult users only.

This whitepaper provides a framework for policymakers, developers, and society to shape AI in a way that strengthens human capabilities rather than undermines them. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of AI and youth development.

Want to dive deeper? Read the whitepaper: https://www.noesiscollaborative.org/flourishing-generation

24/08/2026

Open Source. Digital Sovereignty. The Open Stack. What does it all mean❓

Open source and digital sovereignty are closely connected. Open source alone is not enough to create digital sovereignty, but it is an important building block.
The conversation becomes more complex when we look across the different layers of the “Open Stack” — from infrastructure and software to data.

Where do open practices and digital sovereignty reinforce each other? Where do tensions emerge? What can individual and collective approaches to sovereignty teach us? And what role can collaboration among “middle powers” play?

On the sidelines of Hashtag 81, we’re bringing together voices from civil society, digital rights and technology for a day of lightning talks and panel discussions exploring these questions.

Speakers include:
🔸 Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO, Digital Public Goods Alliance
🔸 Vidisha Mishra, Director of Global Outreach and Policy, GSI
🔸 Ayah Bdeir, CEO, Current AI
🔸 Raffi Krikorian, CTO, Mozilla
🔸 Ellie Bertani, President & CEO, GitLab Foundation
🔸 and many more

📅 September 20, 2026 | 9:30 AM–3:00 PM
📍 New York
🎟 Registration: $25 (standard ticket) | Limited capacity of 80–100 participants
👉 Register here: https://pro.gofundme.com/event/open-unga-81-a-conversation-on-collaboration/e832637

We are proud to co-organize this event together with Public Knowledge, Ushahidi, the Project Liberty Institute, the NYU Law Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, Invest in Open Infrastructure, and The AI Disclosures Project, under the leadership of Creative Commons.

If you’re in New York for UNGA, we’d be happy to see you there.

Featured image: Photo by Allison Saeng on Unsplash

19/08/2026

"We cannot vibe code the future of humanity." – António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

The global discussion on AI governance is at a crossroads. While ambitious processes like the AI Summit Series and the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance have been launched, they have yet to produce binding commitments. However, they represent the most sustained multilateral effort to govern AI before its harms become irreversible.

🔗 **Read the full analysis by Vidisha Mishra, Global Solutions Initiative, Chinasa T. Okolo, Ph.D., Technecultura, and Imane (Ima) Bello, Future of Life Institute (FLI) to dive deeper into the challenges and opportunities ahead: https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/article/weve-spent-four-years-talking-about-governing-ai-geneva-has-to-actually-do-it/

17/08/2026

🌍 Early Lessons from South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership: From Ambition to Action

What happens when a country attempts to turn global climate finance into local progress? South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership offers a revealing case study. With 13.7 billion dollars in international commitments and a 1.5 trillion rand investment plan, the JETP is one of the first real-world tests of how country-led platforms can connect global goals with practical implementation.

The early insights are both encouraging and challenging. Strong coordination through institutions like the Presidential Climate Commission and the JET Project Management Unit has shown how political commitment can be translated into structured action. Yet the experience also makes clear that financing alone is not sufficient. Municipalities, utilities, and local institutions need the capacity, skills, and accountability to turn these commitments into real results.

Timing proves to be another critical factor. The transition must carefully align plant closures with workforce reskilling and the growth of new green industries to ensure that workers and communities are not left behind. At the same time, inclusion cannot be just a process; it must deliver visible and fair outcomes to maintain trust.

One of the most important lessons is that existing infrastructure can create new opportunities. Decommissioned coal plants, for example, can be repurposed for renewable energy projects, while grid expansions enable the integration of clean power on a larger scale.

This policy brief was prepared for the Global Solutions Initiative by Kirsten Pearson, Climate Finance Researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). The research was supported by funding from Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. It is now available on the GSI website and explores these insights in depth, asking a crucial question: How can we use these lessons to build a global green transition that is both effective and fair?

You can read the full brief on our website: https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/publication/early-lessons-from-south-africas-just-energy-transition-partnership/

14/08/2026

What happens when the rules of the international order remain in place, but no longer provide the cooperation they were designed to enable?

This is the starting point of Dennis J. Snower’s latest article, which puts Mark Carney’s middle-power strategy in conversation with the idea of pivotal powers.

Carney’s approach focuses on how middle powers can build resilience, reduce strategic dependencies and renew cooperation through flexible coalitions. Snower’s pivotal-power approach starts with a different question: which actors are actually essential to solving a particular global problem?

The answer can change from one issue to another. A country may be pivotal in climate governance, for example, without playing the same role in digital governance. This opens the door to a more flexible and polycentric form of cooperation—one organised around specific challenges and the capabilities needed to address them.

The article makes a compelling case that these approaches should not be seen as alternatives. Middle powers can help preserve strategic autonomy and build trusted coalitions, while pivotal powers can help organise cooperation when universal agreement is out of reach.

📖 Read the full article on our website to explore how these ideas could shape a more resilient and effective international order: https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/article/rebuilding-the-world-order/

07/07/2026

"We cannot vibe code the future of humanity" - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

The first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance has opened in Geneva this week, bringing together all 193 member states. The Independent International Scientific Panel's preliminary report was launched last week. Its core finding deserves more attention than it's getting: there is no technical guarantee that frontier AI systems remain controllable as capability scales. That is a present assessment, not a future warning.

Ahead of the Dialogue, GSI's Director for Global Outreach and Policy, Vidisha Mishra, wrote with Chinasa T. Okolo, Ph.D. and Imane (Ima) Bello on where alignment is most urgent right now.

Three points from that analysis align with this week's discussions:

1. AI governance is currently trying to do two fundamentally different jobs through one process. Frontier safety requires technical oversight and evaluation. Development and diffusion require financing, compute access, and infrastructure. Running both through a single track weakens both.

2. The Scientific Panel could become the IPCC of this field, but only if its findings are wired into governance outcomes, not published alongside them. The test for Geneva is whether evidence changes what governments commit to, or simply informs a conversation that continues regardless.

3. The Global Fund for AI Capacity Development, proposed between $1 and $3 billion, is the clearest measure of whether this process reduces dependency or reproduces it. Its future will determine which countries can shape the rules and which remain permanently on the receiving end of them.

Success in Geneva won't be measured by another declaration. It will be measured by whether coalitions of middle and emerging powers gain the lasting architecture to align across blocs, not choose between them, and by concrete action from governments and like-minded non-government actors willing to move before capabilities outpace coordination entirely.

Read the article: https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/article/weve-spent-four-years-talking-about-governing-ai-geneva-has-to-actually-do-it/

Photo by Salya T on Unsplash.

07/07/2026

🌍 Rethinking Digital Sovereignty: Collaboration Over Isolation

While the for Good Summit 2026 is underway, we invite you to watch this conversation with Sarah Nicole from our partner Project Liberty. In her dialogue, she tackles one of the most pressing questions of our time:

How can governments design digital infrastructure in the AI era to both protect citizens and enable global collaboration?

In the recent GSI / PLI report, Digital Infrastructure in the AI Era (based on interviews with 13 governments worldwide), she reveals: Acceleration is both an opportunity and a risk. On one hand, countries must push digitalization to ensure access to services and protection. On the other, they risk dependency on foreign providers with questionable business models—and rushed decisions in the "innovation race."

Yet the solution lies in a paradox: To build shared AI stacks, we need transparency and trust—and thus a redefinition of sovereignty. In the digital age, sovereignty no longer means isolation but collaboration beyond borders. The reality? No country can build its AI infrastructure alone.

Sarah’s takeaway in three words? “Forced collaboration. Acceleration.”

🔗 Watch the full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6xyTz9vhkk

23/06/2026

Truth, Trust & the Democratic Mind – Key Takeaways from

At this year’s Global Solutions Summit, we asked: Can democracy survive if we lose control over our own minds?

Generative AI doesn’t just spread misinformation—it erodes the very foundation of shared reality. As Stefano Quintarelli warned: "Without the sovereignty of the mind, we don’t have democracy." When algorithms tailor "truth" to individual users, collective understanding—and with it, democratic discourse—is at risk.

The stakes for young generations are particularly high. On platforms like TikTok, deepfakes blur the line between fact and fiction, while social AI chatbots exploit emotional trust. The answer? Not just restrictions, but age-appropriate design and critical digital literacy to empower users.

So what’s the way forward?
👉 Community-governed information (think Wikipedia, not black-box algorithms)
👉 "Network Source AI"—local agents drawing only from trusted, user-defined sources
👉 Legal accountability for AI providers: Voluntary standards won’t cut it when profit incentives clash with public safety
👉 A "traffic light" trust system to help users navigate platform reliability

The message was clear: AI is human-made, and its risks are human-made too. We must resist the illusion that machines can replace judgment - and reclaim democratic regulation to ensure technology serves society, not the other way around.

What do you think is the most urgent step to protect truth and trust in the age of AI? Share your thoughts below.

Many thanks to Stefano Quintarelli, Sikhulekile (Khule) Duma, Franziska Heine, Ron Ivey for such an inspiring and insightful discussion - and to everyone who contributed their perspectives!

📸Photo credits: Bernhard Ludewig

18/06/2026

The questions matter as much as the answers.

At this year's Global Solutions Summit Hashtag , our Sherpa Panel brought together Hashtag representatives for one of the most candid and forward-looking conversations of the day. 🌍

A few reflections that stayed with us:
💬 "The problems are not solved if you don't face them." - Federico Pinedo, Hashtag Sherpa for Argentina, made a compelling case for dialogue without preconditions: we cannot wait for consensus before we begin the discussion. He called for a new trade order where fair competition is the rule, not the exception.

💬"A gap is not a bad thing - it allows you to build bridges." - Andreas Schaal, OECD - OCDE, grounding what could have been a difficult conversation about global imbalances in something more constructive. Balanced growth, he reminded the room, means we are all in this together.

Lisa Elliston, Hashtag Sherpa for Australia, brought clarity on what meaningful progress actually requires - a defined target, an economic lens that integrates social and climate realities, and above all, accountability. 🎯

💬 Shambhu Hakki, Hashtag Sous Sherpa for India, spoke to the power of coalitions: "Countries like India are going to play an important role in building bridges" - pointing to the International Solar Alliance with France as a living example. And with equal force reminded us that, "Innovation is important. But it needs to be affordable."

Ulrich Oberndorfer, Hashtag Sous Sherpa for Germany, refocused the conversation on balance - reflecting on his own country, where balanced development is not just seen as an economic one, but also a moral one that is strong and sustainable. ⚖️🌱

📸 Photo credits: Robert Schlesinger

Global Solutions Initiative Foundation

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