Dr. Robert Muggah is a political economist focused on geopolitical risk, smart cities, digital safety and security, and climate tech and adaptation. He cofounded the Igarapé Institute, an award-winning think and do tank devoted to leveraging new technologies to tackle global challenges in 2010 . He’s also the co-founder and principal of SecDev Group, a cybersecurity and digital risk firm. He advises senior leadership in government and the private sector in Latin America, Eurasia, South Asia and Africa.
For two decades Robert has provided strategic advisory services to global energy and tech companies (Bytedance, Google, Meta), McKinsey’s, UN agencies, the IADB, IMF, and the World Bank. He is a non-resident fellow at Singularity University, Princeton University, the Graduate Institute in Geneva, the Chicago Council for Global Affairs, Bosch Foundation, and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
At WEF, Robert served three terms on the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Cities and Councils devoted to humanitarian action and conflict prevention. He is an advisor to the Global Risk Report (2018-present). Robert is also a fellow with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime; Know Violence in Childhood Initiative, and Co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on Violence.
Robert provides keynote talks in a wide range of international audiences, including TED talks on fragile and resilient cities in 2019, 2017 and 2015. In 2023 he coordinated a TEDx event in the Amazon, bringing together over 50 speakers and 1,000 participants, including from all 8 countries in the region.
Robert is involved in a number of start-ups and is working on issues of AI governance. He is a co-founder of Bioverse, a forest data inventory company that leverages remote sensing and fixed wing drones to assess biodiversity abundance. He is also supporting SuperNature, a regenerative urban design studio that reimagines the future of cities. With support from GIF, Robert recently set-up a global task force on AI ethics and safety in 2022 which includes representatives from the Americas, Europe, Africa and South and Southeast Asia.
An avid map collector, Robert creates data visualizations and predictive analytics on homicide, arms, and cities, all of which have been featured by the BBC, CBC, CNN, FastCompany, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post. and Wired. A columnist at Foreign Policy, he is the author of eight books, dozens of articles, most recently Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the next 100 Years (Penguin/Random House).
Robert has a PhD from the University of Oxford.
During this pandemic, the leadership demonstrated by city mayors and the skills and resourcefulness of migrants are showing international leaders the way.
COVID-19 is tipping the world into a dangerously volatile new era. Here are five steps global leaders should take to head off emerging security threats.
Nous devons réfléchir aux raisons pour lesquelles la communauté internationale n’était pas préparée à une épidémie si inévitable.
An up-to-date dashboard that tracks the capacity of cities to manage pandemics could hel.p build safer urban centres
In virtually every city, the vast majority of violent crime is concentrated in just a few neighbourhoods. Inequality in all forms is a huge contributing factor.
As many nations fail to do enough on problems such as climate change, city authorities around the world are stepping up.
Even the world's greenest cities are at risk of massive climate disruption – but all cities can prepare if they focus on local self-sufficiency, adaptability and resilience.
Violence and conflict affect millions of people around the world. Here's how we can cut it by 50% in the next decade - saving hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars in th...
Outdated digital infrastructure and a lack of know-how has left cities around the world lagging behind the digital revolution, and cybercriminals are ruthlessly exploiting that gap. But t...
Cities are stepping-up to confront many of the world’s biggest existential challenges – especially climate change. Here are six ways the world's cities are leading the way towards a more ...
We are fast running out of time to save the Amazonian rainforest. Deforestation has spiked alarmingly n Brazil recently, and the effects of its loss would be incalculable. The answer lies...
未来比以往任何时候都更具威胁性与不祥性。一种带着厄运与忧郁的感觉正持续加深，特别是在西方国家。每天的新闻头条也不会起到什么作用。我们得知，美国与朝鲜、伊朗、俄罗斯或中国之间的紧张局势可能会突然爆发。
When citizens everywhere are facing potentially civilization-ending threats, multilateralism is a necessity
Chinese cities are hoping to climate-proof themselves with features like permeable pavements, artificial wetlands and underground storage facilities
City leaders can overcome the global investment gap if they can get creative and define their urban challenges in terms of viable financial opportunities.
